Headed up to 12 Mile Summit with Dean with the intent to give him a hand on a few things at their cabin and then do some caribou hunting. Well when we got to the top of 12 Mile Summit it was -3 below zero and a good 20 mph wind and neither of us felt like riding out in 25 to 30 below temps just to do a little maintenance and maybe get a Caribou. So back to town we went, I have to say that once we got back down off of 12 Mile it was a nice morning for a drive. We did stop off at Chatanika Lodge and have breakfast, thanks Dean.
So Sunday I figured I’d go after the Bou again, but this time up to Rosebud which is a mountain about 3500 feet elevation along the Yukon Quest trail. Being by myself it’s a nice easy ride in from Chena Hot Springs Road. I parked at 52 mile CHSR and off loaded the Bearcat and pull behind Otter sled, there was one other vehicle in the parking area, a truck and cab-over camper who had spent the night there.
The snow is still pretty skinny and that made for a slow ride. I usually see sign about 3 miles down the trail, but not this time, fact is I didn’t even see my first Caribou until I was five miles and it turned out to be my first and only caribou I got to see all day.
So at 5 miles down the trail I decided to stop and take a “call of nature” break. Of course I’m layered in gear, so my rife gets set on running board of the Bearcat, coat gets unzipped, bibs get unzipped, pants get unzipped and I’m just starting to enjoy that feeling of relief while holding myself so I don’t pee all over my gear when out walks this caribou about 60 feet away. Oh shoot, do I let go and piss all over my gear or just watch him walk off, hum, well needless to say he is still walking in the woods and my tag isn’t filled.
I never saw a another Bou all day, rode a few more miles towards the top of Rosebud, which I never quite got to as the winds and temp about half way up the mountain side was a DeJaVue moment of Saturdays trip with Dean, below zero and 20 mile an hour winds.
I did get to try out my new Spot Tracker and it worked great, so the attached picture is of my tracks down the trail and back using the Spot rather then my Garmin GPS.
Oh well, there’ll be more weekends coming up to get some meat for the freezer :<)
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