After a short break in between wilderness trips and hunting camp, we once again departed for the mountains.  We went in early and set up hunting camp, I stayed behind to watch camp and cut wood we would need for the next few weeks.  As we were leaving my horse stomped on my foot and it was very swollen and sore for a few days. Our hunters were not terribly skilled and only successfully shot one deer.  I packed that out, but was hoping for them to quit missing their shots, because if they got an elk I would get to pack it out.  Since they did not most of my days were spent making minor repairs around camp, taking short rides, and waiting for the hunters to shoot something for me to pack out. On our last day in the wilderness a snow storm decided to blow in.  Our herd of horses and mules also decided to hide from us, so Dan and I spent most of the morning searching for them in blizzard conditions.  When we finally found the stock the camp was mostly torn down, so all we had to do was saddle up and pack our loads.  This was a great … Continue reading →

This trip we rode along the continental divide some more.  It was another amazing trip!  We left a lot of our camp up on our way out of the wilderness, so we had an easier set up when we rode back in.  Our third day Dan, Nicole, and I stayed in camp while the rest of the folks went exploring.  While they were gone a bear broke into Karen’s tent.  For those with no bear experience it is a bad idea to throw pistachio shells right outside your tent and also bad to have a bag full of snacks unattended in your tent.  We saw the bear after he ravaged the tent, but didn’t think anything of it.  We just assumed he was passing through.  I saw him while we were playing cards and said to Dan and Nicole, “Hey look a bear.”  They thought I was just messing with them or that it was some plot to cheat at cards, until they finally looked and say the bear ten yards away slowly walking by.  We had our last act of the Mark & Dan Show, which was a goofy thing we did singing, reciting cowboy poetry, and telling jokes.  We had a great time … Continue reading →

This trip we saw our first pack of wolves.  Dan and I were out wrangling horses when they started howling all around us, which is a really eerie feeling while riding in the dark.  We saw them across a stream from us once it got light.  It was a hot trip, but thank goodness there were some good swimming holes that we found. Our horses and mules played hide and seek with us one morning and we ended up not finding them and leaving camp until after noon.  I had tracked them within a few hundred yards of where they ended up being found, but then lost their tracks in a meadow.  Dan and Dave finally found them over the top of the mountain and hiding in a grove of trees, but apparently they did not want to cooperate and it took them another couple of hours to get them herded in.   I also saw the crash site of a WWII model fighter plane that crashed into a mountain many years ago.  In all this was another great trip and I can’t wait to get back on the continental divide after a few days of rest. Above is a photo of a wolf track … Continue reading →

This was a great 10 day jaunt in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.  This is probably the most scenic trip we made this summer.  Lake Lavalle is one of the best camp spot in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.  Its beauty cannot be properly capture in photos, but I tried my best.  At Lake Lavalle we kept our horses grazing about three miles away from camp.  Dan and I camped at might near where the horses were grazing, but the rest of the folks camped overnight about 100 yards from the lake.  On the first night the horses left grazing and came back to camp about 5 in the morning, so our morning wrangle was easy.  On the second night they went back to cam at about 3:30 and Dan’s wrangle horse got loose and went with them.  My horse got to travel 6 miles to get it before sunrise and then we packed up and moved to Sock Lake.  At Sock Lake our horses came in from grazing at about 2 a.m.  We kept Snipper, who we believed was the culprit who was bringing them in early, picketed overnight at camp, and for the rest of the trip they stayed put until morning.  From Sock Lake … Continue reading →