Just post some pictures and I’ll write a response……where does one begin?!
Friday:
Leaddog and Steve’n arrives at an icy cold camp, -11 degrees. A beautiful sunny day is on the menu, with temperatures actually rising above zero. Warmy-changy residue is still present, with an additional topping deposited just for good luck. As luck has it, there was no luck at all….both slog into local watches where yet another wait ensues. The crew decide that a hunt off the hill may be in order.
Saturday: “Highway through hell, as well as a walk through hell”
The gang unanimously votes on hunting off the hill, down where all the mules are supposed to be migrating towards better wintering grounds. The gang loads up, with four in one vehicle and the remainder in the other (both Chevy’s). The Toucher is in command of vehicle #1, and Robba in #2….what occurs next will be engraved in Leaddog’s memory for some time to come. As Toucher backs down from the upper lot, with Leaddog and Digger in the back seat, the Toucher’s touch-mobile decides it doesn’t want to leave the hill. As a matter of fact, it almost went OVER the hill! The icy grips of warmy-changy grabs his non-BFG tires and like a train switching tracks, the ride from hell commences! Over the bank it goes, with Leaddog on the downhill side looking at what may be the last thing he sees, a creek, trees and rocks on the left – and Digger on the right! Thankfully, a rock the size of Gibraltar (which we didn’t know about existed until during extrication of said vehicle) kept it from a full roll over, or worse. Exiting likes rats on a sinking ship, all now known as the “Over the Bank Gang” escapes possible doom! 😉
Comealongs, cables and chains, (sounds like a country song, no?) are deployed with physics as well! Just like the TV show, “Highway through Hell” the gang retrieves the Touch-mobile from its precarious position and all is back on for the hunt! THAT should have been an omen of what’s to come next…..
Off the hill, drivers are dropped off at a spot never hunted by the gang. Watchers go low, to watches where traffic was the only thing observed. Meanwhile, 1.7 miles away the drive begins, in knee deep snow after a 0.8 mile walk just to get to the starting point. Tracks abound, old and new – they’re here! NOT! Leaddog has so much phun, getting caught in spruce swamps over and over until it’s realized that at 4:15pm, with still 0.42 miles to go – Polecat is nowhere in sight. Finally it was announced that Polecat is in someones tracks – Leaddogs! It was conveyed that it probably wasn’t a good idea to follow said tracks – but we’re talking about the Polecat here….Darkness ensues as time flies, finally Polecat catches up with Leaddog – who apparently had the bell handed over to him – and a slog out to the beaconed watchline is completed. To the pavement at dark-30 the gang is picked up and brought back to camp.
Sunday:
After the phun of the last two days, all goes the hell home without hesitation!
***Link to Flickr for the videos:Â Pics & Videos’s on Flickr
