Mountain Man - Day 3

This morning I didn't have to cook breakfast, so I slept in till 7:30.  Once again the tent was warm and wonderful to wake up in.  I dressed in the blissful comfort of a warm tent (was I supposed to put on clean clothes?  I forget).

DaveB was cooking this morning, and like yesterday, we were nearly done eating before the sun finally climbed over the mountain and warmed the camp up.

Once again they prepped the quads for a long day of riding,  I waved goodbye and got my guns out for some more target practice.  The sun was really getting hot today, so I moved a 10 x 10 EZ-up over to shade me while I loaded.

After yesterdays long drive I had decided not to go anywhere today, so got myself really comfortable with a few snacks, cold water, my hammock, and a good chair.  My chair wasn't so great, so I stole DaveB's chair from the camp fire to sit in.

Our shooting range is actually across the creek from camp, so every time I want to change a target, I have to walk 30 yards up the creek to set of rocks to cross over, then come back through the bushes, change the targets, then reverse.  It's a bit of a pain, but shooting from this bank of the creek, across the water, and over to the hillside on the far side of the creek means it's very safe to shoot.  No one is going to accidentally walk in front of you because they'd have to be walking into the water.

I shot about 50 rounds through the muzzle loader but couldn't really tighten my groupings up much more than yesterday.  The trifocals still make it hard to line up the sights well, but it was still very therapeutic to load and fire the rifle.

For lunch I took some of the left over pulled pork from last night's dinner and fried it until it was very cripy.  I added some of the left over hashbrowns and made a crispy pork hash.

After lunch, I pulled the hammock into the shade and took short nap.

I looked at my GPS a bit more, looking at yesterday's route and decided to drive up the road a ways to see where the road went.  I only got 2 miles before I turned around.  I'd scrubbed my tires pretty bad yesterday and didn't want to get a flat tire.  So I just meandered my way slowly back to camp.

When I got back, I did a bit more shooting.  After a while I heard the rumble of thunder off in the distance.  A big storm was brewing south of me which is where all the guys had gone to ride.  It looked pretty nasty and fast moving, so I spent a while checking vehicles, tents, and making sure nothing would be ruined.

Around 4:30, SteveH and BlakeB drove up in Steve's jeep.  They had rented quads and left the Jeep at the store, so when they turned the quads in, they just got in the Jeep and drove to camp.  No one had to drop them off or pick them up.

They had seen the storm coming, so they returned the quads a bit early and avoided any downpour.

By now the thunder and clouds were right on top of us.  They liked my little nest by the shooting range, but Steve decided to expand it.  He got his 15 x 15  EZ-up and we lashed up against the other so we had a big area safe from the rains.  We parked his and my cars on the south side of the awnings to block any heavy winds if they came.

It started to rain, but it never got too heavy or windy.  I think the nasty stuff went to the west of us.  We sat in comfort for the next hour and shot pistols, rifles, and black powder.

At 6:00 we heard the rumble of quads and saw Andrew, Eric, and Chris pull in.  They were all cold and wet from the storm.  They'd ridden through some nasty rain and hail.  They parked the quads and headed for tents and trucks to get some dry clothes on.

The rain had fallen to a trickle by the time Andrew was warm, so he set about cooking dinner for us.  He was making fajitas with tri-tip.  We pulled DaveB's BBQ grate out of his truck and tried to get some charcoal lit.  The wind was blowing and made it hard to really get much heat on the meat so we kept lowering it and lowering it.

We heard another quad approaching and saw DaveW pull in.  He'd missed all of the rain and hail while he searched for semi-precious stones up in the mountains.  He took it on himself to get us a big fire going to warm everyone up.

Dinner was nearly ready by the time DaveB and SteveB pulled into camp.  DaveB had rolled his quad and lost all the coolant in his overflow bottle.  He filled it with water to get back.  They had also missed the rain by hanging out until the storms passed.

By the time dinner was done the rain had stopped entirely and the skies were darkening.   We all grabbed our fajitas and headed to the campfire to share stories and show pictures.

DaveB built the fire up so big we all had to scoot our chairs back a few feet, but no one could say they were cold any more.

As with the other nights, once the sun went down, you could start a short countdown until people started going to bed.  By 9:00 it was just DaveB, DaveW, and me.  And we didn't last long.

Eating eggs, bacon, and pancakes for breakfast


Prepping quads for another day of riding


SteveB's cool beenie. Or is that a mexican wrestling mask


The road near the top of Taylor Valley


My wife's poor abused Highlander. It was a much better 4x4 than I thought it would be


More views


Still more


More


Our bonfire


Getting roasted


DaveB and DaveW watching trail videos

Mountain Man - Day 2

I heard Andrew get up a couple of times to stoke the wood stove through the night, but it finally went out sometime in the early morning.  The temperature in the tent might have gotten down to 40, but I doubt it.

At about 7:00, he lit a big propane heater that warmed the tent up to near 70 degrees.  I was cooking breakfast this morning, so I got up quick.  I couldn't even see my breath in the air.  I could really get used to this kind of camping.

Outside the tent it was very cold.  The mountain east of our camp blocked the sun keeping the whole camp very cold.  Everything was wet from dew and my fingers quickly got numb.

My plan for breakfast was allot of bacon, omelettes, hot chocolate, and orange juice.  I diced all of the fixings before we left so I just needed to cook them before I could make the omelettes.  Don't ever put raw ingredients in an omelette and expect them to cook with the eggs, they won't.

My butane cook stove had a little bit of trouble.  It was so cold that the butane was coming out as a liquid rather than a gas, so I had to warm the canister a bit before it would work right.  I got all of my cooked while DaveB cooked the bacon strips, then I started taking orders for omelettes.

I had everyone take a bowl and fill it with whatever they wanted in their egg.  I had bacon, ham, sausage, mushroom, green onion, saute'd onion, bell pepper, and cheese.  Then I'd crack 2 or 3 eggs (depending on what they wanted) and cook the omelette.

It took me about 20 minutes to make 9 omelettes and everyone seemed to like them.

By 9:00 everyone (except me) had their quads loaded and ready to ride.  I've had one child's wedding this year and have another coming, so I decided to forgo the $400 quad rental.  I waved goodbye to everyone, then cranked up the music and cleaned up my breakfast mess.

After cleaning up, I decided to do a little target practice with my black powder rifle.  I like black powder because it's a more slow and methodical way of shooting, rather than just jamming in ammo and pulling the trigger.

For each shot I have to:

1) measure out the gunpowder (55 grains)
2) pour the gunpowder into the barrel
3) place an oiled patch of cloth over the end of the barrel
4) place a lead ball onto the patch (.54 caliber)
5) use a bullet starter to pound the ball and patch into the barrel
6) use the ramrod to push the ball all the way down to the gunpowder
7) tamp the ball tight to the gunpowder
8) put a percussion cap onto the nipple of the gun

All of this takes me about 2 minutes for each shot, plus eating a piece of beef jerky or grapes, or just sitting and enjoying the cool breeze.

Finally I can cock the rifle, aim at the target, breath slow and steady and pull the trigger gently until it fires.

The first 10 rounds were fairly wild and all over the target.  Then I started controlling my breathing better, paying attention to how I was holding the gun, and relaxing a bit.  The next 10 shots were all grouped in the upper left hand corner of the target.

After 90 minutes I was ready for something else, so I put everything way and decided I should go for a drive.  I unpacked most of the food for dinner to leave at camp.  I was sure I'd easily be back by 4:00 to cook but I thought I'd leave the food just in case.  That was a good call as you'll see.

I drove the 17 miles back to the paved road, then continued south through Taylor Park.  I wound through some canyons and small towns till I reached the main highway between Gunnison and Crested Butte where I turned left (south) toward Gunnison.  It was a short drive into town where I gassed up and bought a case of water bottles for camp.

I headed back North toward Crested Butte.  That's a small town with a ski resort.  I've only been here once before, and all I did then was drive up and take a few pictures of fall colors, then drive right back out.  This time I took my time and drove around town a bit.  The main street is much like Breckenridge, or Estes Park.  It's like with little shops and restaurants.  I thought I'd grab a quick lunch, but there was absolutely no where to park.  I wasn't really very hungry, so I decided to skip it for now and get lunch later.

At the end of the road, a sign pointed me left for the "Scenic" route.  I was hoping it was the road to kebler pass, and it was.

Just a few miles out of town the pavement ended.  But just for a couple of miles, then the pavement picked up again.  I wonder why that short stretch is dirt.  Maybe they have avalanches and it's just not worth repairing pavement every year.  Who knows?

The road climbed and the aspen trees grew more and more yellow around me with the altitude.  I stopped quite a bit to take pictures, but sometimes I just had to point the camera out the window because there was nowhere to pull over and the road was very busy.

The pavement lasted for about 12 miles.  I turned around shortly after the pavement ended because I didn't want to be late getting back to prepare dinner.  The return trip to Crested Butte was almost like a whole different road because I noticed different views and mountains.

I stopped at the top of Kebler pass, but there was no sign  commemorating the location or altitude.  I was very disappointed about that.

Back in Crested Butte I easily found a parking spot because the lunch rush was over.  I grabbed a slice of pepperoni pizza at Savage pizza (or something like that).  It was such good pizza that I even ate the rim.

By now it was after 2:00 and I needed to hurry back to get dinner ready.  I punched the longitude and latitude into my iPhone app and asked the GPS to route me back.  Just a few miles out of town, the GPS directed me to turn onto Concrete Creek road.  This wasn't the way I'd come out, but looking at the map showed the road leading almost directly to camp, much shorter than the 60 miles it would take going the long way, so I followed it.

The road turned to dirt after 3 miles, but it was a well maintained road and there were many cars driving, so I figured it was a major road and kept going.

After 6 miles the road narrowed to 1 lane but it was still a nice road.  At 9 miles the road crossed the river and began climbing up a hillside.  I stopped to look at the road, and while I looked, a group of offroad motorcycle riders came down the road and stopped by me.  I asked what the road was like and they assured me it was pretty good and I'd be fine if I knew how to drive well.

So I kept going.  The road wasn't bad, but it wasn't maintained.  There were lots of ruts and bumps but it was obviously well used and clearly defined.

After 15 miles I began to cross small streams and larger rocks began to protrude here and there.  I passed a big camp with several tents, cars, and ATVs in it, so I knew I had some fallback if I needed it.

After 23 miles the road was mostly rocks with large bushes to each side, and the road began to ascend a bald hill.  I looked at the GPS which said I was only 5 miles from camp, but I looked at that rough road and thought to myself "I have no business being on this hill".  It was very hard to turn around because I was so invested in the road by now, but I slowly backed around and headed down.

By now I was well past 4:00 and too late to cook dinner.  But I figured they were capable of feeding themselves and stopped worrying about it.  And once I stopped worrying, I could drive slower and take more care to miss rocks.  I was amazed at how high I'd climbed.  It hadn't felt nearly so steep as I came up, but it sure was tricky going back down.

It took me nearly an hour to backtrack to the highway, then another 90 minutes to reach camp.  They had cooked dinner and were getting ready to go looking for me when I pulled in.

When I told my story, Andrew told me that the road I was on couldn't possibly have connected to camp because our road dead ends only 3 miles on.  So the GPS app (made by garmin) was leading me to a dead end anyway.  The roads haven't connected for years.  I've since looked on google earth and sure enough, I can't see where the roads connect.  I'd have climbed to the top of that bald ridge and been stuck there.

But most of the guys also said they couldn't have stopped when I did.  They'd have driven to the dead end before giving up, so I guess that's something.

I ate my pulled pork sandwich, corn, and potato salad with everyone else around the camp fire.   They told me about their adventures on the quads and the views they'd seen.

I stayed up till nearly 10 looking at the stars and talking before crawling into my sleeping bag, safe and sound.


Flipping an omelette. I didn't drop a single one


Quads all lined up to go


Meditating on the forest


The meditation room


The view outside Crested Butte


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Switchbacks descending from Kebler Pass


More fall colors


The tree lined road


More fall colors


Horses Grazing


Yet more patchword colors


Stopped on Kebler Pass


Almost back to Crested Butte


A valley surrounded by color


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My lonely road


Nice views from the lonely road

Mountain Man campout - 3 nights of "Bein' Guys"

The "Mountain Man" campout is run by my friend DaveB.  He's run it for 10 years now.  It's not one of those Rendezvous that you see on the nature channel where the guys dress in buckskins and throw hatchets.  It's just a 4 day campout in the high country of Colorado with a bunch of guys.

He invited me last year, but I had too many other things going on and couldn't make it.  So when he invited me this year, I didn't even look at the calendar, I just said "Yes" and drove the money to his house to reserve my spot.

So last Wednesday, I woke up at 4:00 and packed my last few things in the car.  I was all set to leave at 4:30 so I'd arrive at the scheduled time of 4:45.  All was great until I tried to turn on my Spot GPS.  The batteries were dead, so I ran inside and grabbed new batteries.  Dang IT!  Now I'm going to be 5 minutes late.

I pulled up to Dave's house and sure enough, I was the last arrival.  I hate that.

We talked for a few minutes to be sure everyone knew where we were heading and meeting for breakfast, then said a prayer and climbed in the cars.

We meandered our way out of Dave's neighborhood to the freeway, then turned south down I-25 for a few miles to highway 24 and headed into the mountains.  As you can imagine, the roads were empty and we were able to Buena Vista  (in Colorado it's pronounced Beeuuna) where we stopped for breakfast at Jan's Cafe

We headed West out of town towards Cottonwood Pass which is over 12,000 feet in elevation.  It's a nice paved road to the top of the pass, then switches to dirt on the other side.  I left before the rest of the group so I could take pictures of them as they drove up.  I wound up playing leap frog with a Porsche as I drove up.  He'd stop for pictures and I'd pass, then a few minutes later he'd just blow past me, then stop again for another picture.  That was a nice car.

I reached the top and only had to wait 5 minutes before I spotted the rest of the group and snapped a few photos.  2 of the group kept going, but the rest stopped for some group pictures by the sign.

The dirt road down the far side was not too bad, but there were a few bad spots here and there from the rains we had this summer.  We took the road all the way down to Taylor park where we reached another paved road, but we turned right on the road and the pavement ended after only a few hundred feet.  We drove another 17 miles up to our camp site.

We camped a hundred foot south of the road, right beside Bowman Creek.  We could hear the creek babbling all through the night and it was wonderful.

As soon as we arrived, we began setting up camp. AndrewF had offered to bring his big (HUGE) tent for several of us to sleep in.  He said he had a wood stove in the tent to keep it warm and I was sold.  So those of us bunking in the big tent set to work helping to set it up.  It was the biggest game of slot A goes in segment B that I'd ever seen.  There were about 60 different poles, clamps, joints, pegs, tarps, and assorted pieces that all had to put together in just the right order.

Andrew directed us and soon the whole thing was up and ready.

DaveB and his brother Steve were sleeping in a "Jumping Jack" trailer.  It functions somewhat like a popup camp trailer, but instead of having a plastic top, it has a corrugated steel top that can haul a couple of ATV quads on it.  It was very cool to see him drive those quads off, then flip the top open to each side and put up a nice tent.

Another friend DaveW set up a seperate tent for himself.  And EricF was sleeping in his SUV.

That left 5 of us in Andrew's big tent, SteveH, BlakeB, ChrisV, AndrewF, and of course me.

We spent a while cutting firewood, setting up little luxuries like hammocks.

I spent a while shooting my 54 cal black powder rifle while DaveB cooked some nice fried chicken, corn, and mashed potatoes.

As it got dark we sat around a big fire telling stories and laughing till about 9:00 when everyone slowly filtered off to sleep.  The starts were amazingly bright out and we saw quite a few shooting stars before I finally went to bed.

Breakfast at Jan's.  Our waitress ChrisV, DaveB, and me.
DaveB was asking for pancakes with an "Insane" amount of butter.  He became known as "Butter Boy"


Driving West out of Buena Vista towards Cottonwood Pass


This low, the trees are only just starting to color


Looking down off of Cottonwood pass as the convoy of Mountain men approaches


The last switchback


7 of us posing by the sign
ClayJ (me), SteveB, DaveW, ChrisV, DaveB, EricF, and AndrewF


Another pose with Taylor Park lake wave off in the distance west of us


Descending


The caravan


Camp all setup. I'd have taken pictures of setting up camp, but then I'd have been yelled at


Me with my 54 cal black powder rifle getting ready to shoot


DaveB's jumping jack tent and the kitchen while he cooks dinner


Sitting around the fire eating dinner


Enjoying the warm fire


A nice big fire.  That big log on the left is about 10 inch diameter and 3 foot long