The drive was 2 hours but seemed exceptionally long. We were headed to another hunting unit but were still in the same forest. This part however, would not be wilderness area and we would potentially need to compete with ATVs.
The only road up to this area was a terrifyingly narrow windy dirt road, made even more treacherous by the dry dusty conditions and numerous campers and trailers leaving the area. Looking down from the sheer drop offs at times reminded one of being in an airplane. The terrain in was a little different with much sage brush, but once we got into the hunting area it was back to grassy meadows dispersed between dark pine timber. Classic elk terrain.
We found a site at the campground and there were several other groups of hunters with trailers and ATVs, but not the crowds we saw in the other area. Chris was itching to scout an area we saw on the drive in, so Neil dropped him off while the rest of us established camp. We would not bother setting up the tipi this time, and would just sleep out in the open on our bags.
The sites backed up to a small pond they called a "Lake", but I suspected there might be some trout in there to catch with the Tenkara rod.
After unpacking and a meal, the guys took both vehicles out to glass in different directions to see if we would locate any animals at dusk, and find some areas for us to hunt in the morning. I volunteered to stay back and try to catch some fish for dinner. There were plenty of small trout rising and feeding on midges, though I could only hook up this small guy on the dry patterns I had with me. Too small, I released the pretty brook back to fight another day.
When we started out many days ago, the moon was just a sliver, now it was almost half and bright in the clear evening sky. This photo does not do justice at the beauty of the moon reflected off of the lake at dusk.
Back at camp that evening, the guys reported no elk glassed on their scouting mission, though they did find good looking areas to target in the morning. Neil spoke with a couple others glassing a deep meadow with a lake and was told that there was a citing of two bulls battling it out several days ago on the far side of the lake at dusk. You all know how those "stories go", but since the area seemed popular we decided to attack two other drainages in the morning.
Time was ticking and we only had two full days left of hunting. It was time to get it done!
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