Wayne in BC
New member
Cliff crawled out and into his warm duds to go round up the horses who were belled, hobbled, and grazing in the 1/2 mile long meadow next to my base camp. As i fired the woodstove and began coffee, his long whistle and the rattle of the oat bucket was soon joined by hoofbeats, eager nickers, and bells, a foreign but comforting sound that is so welcome as you always worry that the boogers have run off in the night.
Because it was to be an overnighter or maybe two, (4 of the 8 miles of mountain trail could not be traversed in the dark) and hopefully there would be several hundred lbs of meat to be brought out, we packed grub and gear on two pack horses. The last item to go on was a common thing to all of us, a very small Homelite chainsaw which saved much time in clearing the many deadfalls on the miles of trail. Difference was that i had replaced the lubricant in it with cooking oil and it would split a large game animal right down the spine without tainting the meat while eliminating the nasty job of hand sawing.
Thus equipped and setting out more grain so the other 8 head of horses would not follow, (we could not lock them in the corral with nobody in camp for a few days) we set out at daylight with a different attitude, this was not business but two close buds with no dudes to worry about taking on a minor adventure!
Crossing a creek here, i cannot remember which trip photo this is as many were lost in the business re-orginization circa 1986 (divorce) but you get the feeling i am sure.
[attachment 65729 Packhorses.gif]
Two hours of reasonably uneventful travel and a few rest stops for the horses put us here and Cliff looks down on the steep but good trail to our first camp in the valley below where we would overnight and walk up to the high meadow in the pre dawn, unencumbered by noisy horses. Just after this pic was taken we were happy to see several Elk on the edge of the feeding area through my spotting scope, the cheap old camera would not show it though and my ability to scan these dog eared old pics is poor.
[attachment 65721 Ciffabovecamp.jpg]
I must back up a bit here and remind you that these trips took place in the early 80's. At that time our drop off point for the horses enroute to my Elk camp was some 5 miles by mostly 4x4 road from an also fairly remote and poor forestry road, then 10 miles to base camp by horse.
It has been 20 years since i have been there, many shocking and sad changes have occurred since then due to the huge oil boom in Alberta and the pursuit of wilderness by hordes of "campers" who insist on all possible amenities
Here is an 06 pic of my daughter and son in law only a half mile from my old basecamp, note the RV barely seen in the background, it sits right where my camp was!!!They still live in Alberta and have used much of my equipment and my old territory these many years. They were shocked when, expecting to park their RV and take the horse to the old camp, an oil company had put through a road and opened the valley to hordes of "mainroad campers"
Note the nice Quarter horses Fred? The Dun is direct Poco blood and the Bay "Three bars"
[attachment 65733 DonnyandDawn1907.jpg]
Our hunt begins soon.....continued........
Because it was to be an overnighter or maybe two, (4 of the 8 miles of mountain trail could not be traversed in the dark) and hopefully there would be several hundred lbs of meat to be brought out, we packed grub and gear on two pack horses. The last item to go on was a common thing to all of us, a very small Homelite chainsaw which saved much time in clearing the many deadfalls on the miles of trail. Difference was that i had replaced the lubricant in it with cooking oil and it would split a large game animal right down the spine without tainting the meat while eliminating the nasty job of hand sawing.
Thus equipped and setting out more grain so the other 8 head of horses would not follow, (we could not lock them in the corral with nobody in camp for a few days) we set out at daylight with a different attitude, this was not business but two close buds with no dudes to worry about taking on a minor adventure!
Crossing a creek here, i cannot remember which trip photo this is as many were lost in the business re-orginization circa 1986 (divorce) but you get the feeling i am sure.
[attachment 65729 Packhorses.gif]
Two hours of reasonably uneventful travel and a few rest stops for the horses put us here and Cliff looks down on the steep but good trail to our first camp in the valley below where we would overnight and walk up to the high meadow in the pre dawn, unencumbered by noisy horses. Just after this pic was taken we were happy to see several Elk on the edge of the feeding area through my spotting scope, the cheap old camera would not show it though and my ability to scan these dog eared old pics is poor.
[attachment 65721 Ciffabovecamp.jpg]
I must back up a bit here and remind you that these trips took place in the early 80's. At that time our drop off point for the horses enroute to my Elk camp was some 5 miles by mostly 4x4 road from an also fairly remote and poor forestry road, then 10 miles to base camp by horse.
It has been 20 years since i have been there, many shocking and sad changes have occurred since then due to the huge oil boom in Alberta and the pursuit of wilderness by hordes of "campers" who insist on all possible amenities
Here is an 06 pic of my daughter and son in law only a half mile from my old basecamp, note the RV barely seen in the background, it sits right where my camp was!!!They still live in Alberta and have used much of my equipment and my old territory these many years. They were shocked when, expecting to park their RV and take the horse to the old camp, an oil company had put through a road and opened the valley to hordes of "mainroad campers"
Note the nice Quarter horses Fred? The Dun is direct Poco blood and the Bay "Three bars"
[attachment 65733 DonnyandDawn1907.jpg]
Our hunt begins soon.....continued........
