. . . To him who has once tasted the reckless independence, the haughty self-reliance, the sense of irresponsible freedom, which the forest life engenders, civilization thenceforth seems flat and stale. Its pleasures are insipid, its pursuits wearisome, its conventionalities, duties, and mutual dependence alike tedious and disgusting. The entrapped wanderer grows fierce and restless, and pants for breathing-room. His path, it is true, was choked with difficulties, but his body and soul were hardened to meet them; it was beset with dangers, but these were the very spice of his life, gladdening his heart with exulting self-confidence, and sending the blood through his veins with a livelier current. The wilderness, rough, harsh, and inexorable, has charms more potent in their seductive influence than all the lures of luxury and sloth. And often he on whom it has cast its magic finds no heart to dissolve the spell, and remains a wanderer and an Ishmaelite to the hour of his death.
Francis Parkman
Hiking and Scouting trip into Craigs via Fog Saddle and Big Fog Mountain
We took 4-wheelers up from the Selway to Fog Saddle and camped at the trailhead Friday night. On Saturday we hiked up over Big Fog Mountain and up onto a no-name peak to glass for game and check out the scenery. Neat country, and can't wait to have the time to spend a couple weeks back in the Craigs.
Trail head at Fog Saddle
Fenn Mountain peaking out behind Jesse pass on ridgline between Big Fog mountain and Gedney Mountain.
Gedney Mountain
Snow banks on the back side of Big Fog Mountain.
Canteen Meadows from Big Fog Mountain, in timbered draw below peaks.
Heading for an un-named peak to hike up onto for a view.
View of Fog Lake from un-named peak.
View of the upper Selway Country, Shissler Lookout on middle Butte behind ridgeline. You can see if you click on pic for full sized image.
Looking back at Big Fog Mountain and where we just hiked from.
My mug and Dustin on un-named peak.
Chipmunk on peak that had no fear of people. I think we will call this peak Chipmunk Mountain from now on.
Dustin Glassing with Big Fog Mountain, Fog Saddle, and Fog Mountain in Background.
Sunset over Gedney Mountain.
A 4 point whitetail in the morning hours.
Looking back at ridge and peak we climbed from our camp on Big Fog the next morning.
A large ruffed grouse on our way back to the trailhead.
Trail head at Fog Saddle
Fenn Mountain peaking out behind Jesse pass on ridgline between Big Fog mountain and Gedney Mountain.
Gedney Mountain
Snow banks on the back side of Big Fog Mountain.
Canteen Meadows from Big Fog Mountain, in timbered draw below peaks.
Heading for an un-named peak to hike up onto for a view.
View of Fog Lake from un-named peak.
View of the upper Selway Country, Shissler Lookout on middle Butte behind ridgeline. You can see if you click on pic for full sized image.
Looking back at Big Fog Mountain and where we just hiked from.
Chipmunk on peak that had no fear of people. I think we will call this peak Chipmunk Mountain from now on.
Dustin Glassing with Big Fog Mountain, Fog Saddle, and Fog Mountain in Background.
Sunset over Gedney Mountain.
A 4 point whitetail in the morning hours.
A large ruffed grouse on our way back to the trailhead.
4 comments:
gorgeous pics---again!!
Found your blog today -- fantastic pics! I worked a couple of summers doing forest inventory for the feds (primarily north of Wallace, south of the Clark Fork.) The pictures you have posted of the whitetails are what I'm going to show my buddy to justify why we're spending $260 apiece extra this fall. We're doing a bow elk trip mid-September (its my first elk hunt, when I lived out there it was always seasonal and I couldn't afford a non-res license, not that I can now either, but figured I'd better do it while I'm young!)
You've got a few pics of kitty-cats posted (and I hope you don't think I mean that in an offensive way -- here in Minnesota where the wolves are thick, we mostly refer to them as puppy-dogs) and I wanted to know if you, or people you know, have hounds available to drag a flat-lander around this winter/next winter? Take care,
Mitch
Glad you like the Blog. Good luck on your hunting trip. I do have a few friends with hounds, though they have become fewer and fewer as wolves have been killing their dogs while chasing game. Another option for finding a cougar is to drive the lochsa drainage and look for birds circling a kill, then set up in a spot where you can see the kill and wait for them to return. Along with the cougars you also will have coyotes and bobcats come in to kills, just takes patience.
Let me know how you do on your hunt, and if you are successful, and have some pics I can post them here if you would like.
Thanks,
Robert Millage
Thanks for the advice. As a sidebar, I've heard that before about wolves and hounds in the West before. But I think I've only heard of it once in the Midwest (Wisconsin), and one of my friends here runs bobcats during the winter. They haven't had wolf problems yet, but anecdotally, one of the ways a guy can tell when cat season arrives here is that you start seeing lots of wolf tracks on the roads. (The local thought is that the wolves get "pushed" out of the godforsaken swamps.) Good luck this season!
Mitch
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