CAMPS REVISITED

[KC]

Here's some pics from camp over the years.

Ruby Lake; tastey cut throats and nice climb of Pigeon Peak

On the Kahiltna Glacier of Mount McKinley 1989

Half way up Mount Shasta

On the beach, Olympic Penninsula

I started car camping with my family in the early 50's and went on my first backpack trips in the early 60's. I've averaged probably 8 trips every year since. So that's maybe 300 trips? You know I've never had a bad trip. I have had problems along the way though, such as;

Broken bindings on cross country skis and broken pack frame, 6 miles form the trailhead.

Broken tent zipper, leaking Thermarest pad and leaking stove fuel line all on the same trip. I can't count the number of times I've had problems with finnickey stoves.

I've had animals eat my food, run out of water and narrow misses with skunks. I've endured frost bite and injuries.

I had 3 feet of snow fall on our camp and had tire chains break. I had new tent canvas shrink and had to adjust the legs of the tent to compensate.

I once I hiked in a circle. Man that was embarassing. I've been narrowly missed by avalanches at least twice.

On one rainy trip there was a rock slide in the middle of the night right next to our tents. You better believe that will wake you up fast.

I've had tents collapsed by wind a couple of times and once had a tent fill with 1" of water in the middle of the night.

But over the years, I have never aborted or cut short a trip as a result of these inconveniences. I always solved the problem or found a way to work around it. Each trip was an adventure and every trip was better than being at work.

More pics to come.

KC

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 04-12-2003 11:09: Message edited by: KC ]</font>

 

[KC]

Elk Camp 1978 West Elk Wilderness

Elk Camp 1991 West Elk Wilderness

Our big Elk Camp 1997 West Elk Wilderness

Inside the big wall tent Elk Camp 1997

Still more pics to come.

KC

 

[KC]

Over the years I have had to adjust my definition of camping in order to maintain domestic tranquility. Here's my current camp in North Park.

KC

 

[Elkhunter]

Nice pictures KC. Sounds like you are not the one to go camping with.

 

[KC]

Elkhunter:

Hey I'm just the one to go camping with. I've had inconveniences on maybe 10% of my trips. That's not a bad average. Anyway you know I've probably already had that problem and solved it once before. So no big deal.

I've had a lot more good things than bad happen. I've seen more wonderful sights and had more great thrills than I can count. I've had great times with good friends, achieved high goals and overcome challenges.

I'm ready for more tommorrow if you can keep up with a fat old man.

KC

 

[Elkhunter]

Anyway you know I've probably already had that problem and solved it once before. So no big deal.
Words of experience.

I like that.

 

[KC]

Elkhunter:

That was a fast reply. You must be sitting there right now just like me.

I once had an interesting experience in your back yard. A friend and I got stormed off of the Black Ice Colouir and tried to retreat via the Valhalla Traverse. We got caught in an ice storm and spent the night tied into a tiny ledge a thousand vertical feet above the valley floor. That was a miserable night.

But we had a great time doing the two step at the Cowboy Bar a couple days later.

KC

 

[tmsander]

Cool pics, KC. Your camp in northpark looks just like the one the wife and I would like to have someday. We keep saying how much we'd like to get a place somewhere near Walden. But, with our family just about to double in size (twins due in 7 weeks), that's not going to happen for a while!

 

[Elkhunter]

All I can say is better you than me.

 

[Muledeer4me]

KC,sounds like some great time's.
I have to admit a few of those im glad I havent tryed

Nice adjustment

Great picture's.

 

[KC]

tmsander:

I love North Park. It's an hour east of Steamboat Springs, a couple of hours west of Fort Collins and fifty years behind the rest of the country. It's a place where people don't lock their doors, where a promise means something and where people just naturally trust each other.

The winters are brutal but that just means there's opportunities for skiing and snowmobiles. The summers are cool and green.

KC

 

[KC]

Muledeer4me:

Thanks for the kind words. Idaho just might be the only western state that I haven't camped in yet. I gotta change that.

KC

 

[tmsander]

KC,
I hear what you're saying about North Park. We attend the RMEF banquet Walden holds every year. Its a real small affair, but the home-town atmosphere is wonderful. The people are great, and I've been given a few good hunting tips by the locals (although I have yet to kill a bull up there).

I wonder, however, what the effects of that guy buying up the whole town are going to be

 

[KC]

tmsander:

I hunted Owl Mountain in 2001 and only got a fork-horn buck. No elk. Didn't do enough scotuing.

I went on 11 separate scouting trips last summer and it paid off. Last Fall three of us hunted GMU 16 and we each got a bull. I know the country much better now but I still have a lot to learn. So I have ample excuses to go backpacking/hiking this summer.

Are you talking about John Malone? He's the biggest stock holder of AT&T. But all I've heard that he bought is the Boetcher Ranch. That's 50,000 acres on the headwaters of the North Platter River. The ranch has it's own resident elk herd that wanders around between the ranch and the Mount Zirkel Wilderness. But I haven't heard about him buying up anything in Walden.

The Elk Horn Saloon just went out of business and there's nobody who wants to take it over. The Coffee Pot Restaurant had a fire and they are re-building with insurance money. He didn't have anything to do with either situation.

KC

 

[pa mt man]

Nice Pics!!!! Really like your house in the mts. Thanks for posting them.
My friends that use to hunt with us go with a guide now, Whistling Elk ranch. I remember them saying they hunt around owl mountian sometimes. They do good with him.
We hunted West Elk in 2001 at the soap creek basin. Didn't do any good.

 

[KC]

pa mt man:

The Whistling Elk Ranch is just a guest ranch now. Nice place. I talked to the owner in 2001 and they don't do any guiding anymore. But if you rent a cabin during hunting season you can hunt on the ranch. The owner said that if we hunted on National Forest land uphill from the ranch and got something down, he would allow us to cross his land to get it out. Seemed like a reasonable compromise.

I too have hunted Soap Basin, Soap Creek and Big Soap Park. The elk are there. In 1998 we took out two respectable bulls and three cows. You just have to know where they are and go after them. I scouted all summer to get an idea of where they were hanging out.

KC

 

[Tom]

Nice pictures, its got to be great memories too! I remember the West Elk Wilderness camp one year, it was awesome. 1000 sq ft of tent space. A planning room with all the topo maps on the table, a regular elk & deer hunt headquarters planning room in that tent. Plenty of company, heat, drinks, and food. I never ate so good. Really, I never ate so good, and it was right there at the wilderness border. Great company there for sure! Several guys in that camp were major Boy Scout leaders and could plan anything and "be prepared" for anything. We got a few animals that year too.

 

[KC]

Tom:

I think maybe you were the one who took that picture, using my camera, inside the big wall tent. Or were you there in 1996?

KC

 

[ELKCHSR]

These were great and brought a flood of memories of places and times I have been, I don't remember much of any thing bad happening, because I alway's just made the best of it and smiled the next day. The adventures you and the rest of us share are those things that no one can ever take away and we can sit back and enjoy those conquests that we have endured and the ones that we have lined up for the future..Thanks for the pics and memories...

 

[1_pointer]

KC- If you are near Mt. Zirkel, I'm assuming Big Agnes, the sleeping bag company, is nearby. Have you used/checked out any of their bags?

Nice digs! I'm gonna try to use your pics to help convince my wife we don't 'need' to move back to the Mid-West.