Westward Ho!

                Work is no fun so I won't discuss it here. What is fun is our annual/bi-annual elk and mule deer hunt in southern Colorado with the horses and mules. We pack up a small army's worth of gear and food into the backwoods for 9 days of solitude and camaraderie. We usually invite family friends along to join in on the experience, but this year it was just my dad, my brother Mike and I. It would seem that with about the same amount of gear, that we would have way more work. It wasn't any more work and it was nice not to have to worry about greenhorns messing something up like they always do.

                The trip was exceptional in the fact that weather was quite good for the first half or so of the season and it had snowed before we got there. Walking in the woods was peaceful on the wet Quaky leaves and pine duff. Quakies were a vibrant yellow as always and the smell of fall was in the air. Nothing spectacular happened like on our summer trip this year like a wildfire or dad setting himself on fire, which is a good thing but doesn't make for good story telling. About the most exciting thing that happened was me crossing the freezing knee deep creek so I could hunt the other side of the draw. I waded across quickly in the early morning light in my skivvies but had forgot my hunting boots in camp. I had to cross it twice more to get to where I wanted to go. Once was bad enough but three times will teach me to double check that I have everything before doing that again!

                We were fortunate enough to fill three out of our four tags. My deer tag was the only one left unfilled due to me wanting a wall hanger. Oh well, you can't shoot the big ones if you settle for the average ones! Needless to say, we have plenty of meat for the year. I filled up my freezer in my trailer with elk back straps and steaks. They are going a little fast, but I have plenty more waiting for me down at Mike's place.

                After elk hunting I headed back to Denver to pick up my rig. I got to shower and wash clothes for free at the always hospitable Caity Reis' place. I wish I could have stayed longer but I got booted out of the storage facility I was keeping my rig at and all other places cost too much. I can't complain considering the guy gave me an extra five days for free.

                A free campsite awaited me on the Colorado/Utah border with a gorgeous sunset over the desert. I looked at the fuzzy map for a campsite and started heading the right way. Well after a couple miles of sketchy ass roads with washouts and just as wide as my rig, I found a place to turn around and figure out what the hell went wrong. The signs kept pointing me towards the little brown and white sign that has tent on it, but something wasn't right. I went back to the main sign and read the fine print that those were OHV (off highway vehicle?) trails! Glad I got out of that mess without anything screwed up, just a little red dust covering everything on the outside of the rig. I broke down and went to the campground since it was dark and I wasn't about to get into another adventure in the middle of nowhere in the dark. Turns out it was a free campground, not what my info source said. It would have saved me a lot of hassle and some life on my shocks, but made for a good chuckle at myself for getting into crazy shit once again to save a buck.

Butterfly in Central Gorge, Bishop

                I was planning on heading straight for the climbing mecca of Bishop, but  winds 40mph sustained and gusts to 60mph shut me down and forced me to stop in Moab, UT. Shucks, to be stuck in a place that has world class climbing. Only problem was that the weather did not cooperate one bit. It drizzled and rained for three days straight. Moab has world class sandstone rock, but sandstone is frail and it takes quite a bit to dry out and be safe. Luckily, I had not set up my solar system yet and gave me the opportunity to get it up and running fabulously! It's so nice to have power and not have to worry about where my batteries are at with my Trimetic 2025 meter. It cost 200 bucks but otherwise it's like driving without a gas gauge, your just guessing at where you are at! I have to thank Bob over at www.handybobsolar.wordpress.com for all the information to do my set up right the first time (well second time if you consider my attempt at solar on my last rig). If your thinking of going solar, check out his site and there is most anything you want to know on there.

                I did get to climb on Wall Street on my last afternoon with a Random. The dude got sketched out on some 5.9 lead and turned into a self-destructing party pooper after bailing on the route. I lead a 5.8+ thing on the right side of the wall and it turned out to be a flaring crack that took gear like a full baby takes more beets, it just spit most of the stuff I tried out. I did find two decent placements in 30 feet and finished the ugly thing while smearing on sandy feet and cursing sandbagged routes. He was still in implosion mode and I had had enough for the day so we parted ways.

Morning view from my trailer in Bishop

                The next morning was off to Bishop! I stopped in St. George, UT for a bite to eat. I remembered I had part of an Outback Steakhouse gift card my mom gave me about 5 years ago. I weaved my way through the geography of nowhere(suburbia and franchise businesses) to finally find the joint without getting hit by anyone, but sweaty palms none the less. The card was still good and I had a great meal with a beer. I figured I'd get a Foster's to keep it Australian, but didn't realize it came in a 26oz can! I had to stay a little longer to make sure I wasn't going back into the urban jungle driving a little intoxicated.

Alpenglow at The Pit

                I decided to go down to the north side of Vegas to avoid "the loneliest highway in America". A little farther but at least there was gas! I decided to take the Wheeler Pass road into Bishop. I thought I remembered from two years ago that someone said you don't ever want to take a rig on that road. I played it off as a wild imagination since it didn't look that bad on the map. I found my turn west in the dark into the White mountains and started climbing hard immediately. It was still 40 miles to the summit though. I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on! I was crawling at 25 mph (which means about an 8% grade in my rig) and I was not even close to the mountains yet. I started flipping a little bit due to there being 150 miles between gas stations and I was sucking down the liquid gold at an alarming rate with the next station being 60 miles away and it being 90 since I filled up. All of a sudden a sign came into view stating a summit of 7300 feet. This summit wasn't on the map though but it's name matched a micro-village that I needed to go by so I had to be on the right route. Down, down, down I went back into the 3000 foot range which pissed me off since I knew I had to gain all that back to cross Wheeler. I found my next turn and a sign stating "Road not recommended for large or heavy vehicles". "I'm not that large or heavy", I thought. Up, up, up I go twisting and turning in the sage brush like a Brahma bull getting spurred out of the chute. To make the corners, I had to be in the opposite lane most the time and mind you I was only going 15mph! I was climbing once again at an alarming rate and losing fuel at the same rate but this time I was still 20 miles from Wheeler Pass. Once again, I hit a sign saying some other random ass pass and down, down, down I go again into a valley weaving like a snake trying to hold back my 10,000 pound rig from taking a dive off the deep end. I hit the valley with wet armpits and a deep thirst. Turns out there is a miniscule college town in that valley and being a Friday night, I assumed a party had to be going on. Too bad only about 4 lights were on in the whole town. If there was a party going on, it would be a game of Twister or Uno with "college" students sipping on ginger ale's and shirley temples by the looks of it. I pressed onward with hopes that the worst of it was behind me. I knew I had at least one more climb, but it couldn't be as bad as what I just went through. WRONG! Not only did I have the bobbing and weaving of the road but huge dips in the road now got added just for the hell of it! It would seem that California being the all-including state it is, decided that they should give a black crayon to a kindergartner and told her to draw a "cool" looking road on a map! This kid also though it would be a great idea to turn the road into a one-lane cleft in a 40 foot high rock band for a little bit with a sign saying "Yield to oncoming traffic".... AT AN 8% GRADE DOWNHILL! I'm sorry, but if you were on the other side of that tunnel, you'd had better got on the reverse program real quick otherwise we were going to be playing a game of bumper cars where I automatically win. After 15 miles of 8% and dehydrated due to loss of fluids by osmosis through my steering wheel and seat, I was in Big Pine. Next stop was the infamous Pit in Bishop, dirtbag heaven!

Group dinner in my trailer!

                The Pit, an old gravel pit turned campground by the BLM, nestled in the cleavage between the Eastern Sierras and the White Mountains. The best views around for two bucks a night. There is free camping around but almost all the dirtbags end up staying here to find climbing partners. I find that $2 is cheap security for my rig. The only issue is a 60 day stay limit, which I plan on testing the waters of this year. The Pit would be my base camp for my WFR up in Aspendell and for my climbing adventures afterwards.

               

Jackie getting high and scared

Brandon yarding hard