Upcoming Ptarmigan Trip

Our first annual White Tailed Ptarmigan trip to the High Uintas is close approaching. I’ve done all of the mapping and a lot of research on where to go and I think weather permitting we should have some pretty good success. The plan is as follows:

Thursday Sept 11 - 4:00 am leave Bountiful area

It’s about a 3 – 3 ½ hour drive so that would put us to the trailhead about 7:00 – 7:30 am

The hike is laid out as follows:

Mile 0 starts at 9477.9ft elevation

Mile 1 – 9577.5ft – gain of 99.6ft

Mile 2 – 9722.5ft – gain of 148ft

Mile 3 – 9852.9ft – gain of 130.4ft

Mile 4 – 9886.8ft – gain of 33.9ft

Mile 5 – 10004.5ft – gain of 117.7ft

Mile 6 – 10184.2ft – gain of 179.7ft

Mile 7 – 10285.7ft – gain of 101.5ft

Mile 8 – 10584.1ft – gain of 298.4ft

Mile 9 – 10791.4ft – gain of 207.3ft

Mile 10 – 10956ft – gain of 164.6ft

Mile 11 – 11311.8ft – gain of 355.8ft

Destination 11.13 miles – 11325.6 – gain of 13.8ft – Red Castle Lake

Along most of the hike there is a stream that I’ve heard has some great fishing to be done there. I imagine as we hike that we will take a few fishing breaks and simply take it easy on our way in. With little to no fishing breaks I would estimate our hike to take around 5 hours. Throw in a few fishing breaks and that will probably set us back a few hours putting us in camp roughly 2 or 3pm. That should give us plenty of time to make camp and get some fishing in on Red Castle Lake as well as relax for our next two days of hunting. I’ve also heard that Red Castle Lake has some awesome fishing.

Friday Sept 12 & Saturday Sept 13^th the plan is to hunt, fish, or whatever else everyone wants to do. As long as my dog is still running and I don’t have my limit I imagine I’ll be looking for a few birdies. Hopefully we’ll get into a bunch of birds on Friday and limit out, go back to camp, eat them and then limit out again on Saturday. At least I’m pretty sure that’s legal to do. The bag limit is 4 and the possession limit is 2 bags so I don’t see why not. That would make for a lot of birds between all of us. I know that’s dreaming a bit but why not (especially knowing how some of us shoot J).

Sunday Sept 14^th – Hike out and drive home.

We’ll need to watch the weather reports closely as the trip approaches since at that elevation snow storms and thunderstorms would be the likelihood if we get into bad weather. I hear it can get pretty nasty up there so we’ll want to be prepared.

There are 4 guys going as well as 4 dogs (3 German Shorthairs, and 1 Brittany). This is the first time any of us have taken this trip but I feel pretty comfortable with our plan. Hopefully we’ll make this an annual trip. I’ll post how the trip goes when I get back. I’m still debating on whether I should pack my D300 or my wife’s little digital camera. Hers is small and really nice but I’d love to have the D300 up there to take some nice shots. It weights a lot though especially considering we’ll be hiking over 22 miles.

2008 Yellowstone Cabin Vacation

We just got back from our yearly vacation to our cabin just outside West Yellowstone. We had a lot of fun this year.

The weather was so much cooler than Salt Lake City. I love the cool evening breezes blowing through the window while you sleep. Salt Lake City has been way too hot for my liking. The mosquitoes were really bad this year though. It has been a very wet year up there.

Genie had a lot of fun hanging out the entire week at the cabin and her favorite thing was just relaxing. I’m too restless for that so I spent the week riding the horses and my 4-wheeler in the mountains, boating on the lake, fishing Hebgen lake and the Madison River, picking huckleberries, watching the wildlife, shooting guns, hiking, catching frogs, playing with the kids, exercising myself and my dog (we are trying to get ready for our 28 mile hike next month to go Ptarmigan hunting), and then a little relaxing and playing the Wii in the evening. We also went to the Bear and Wolf discovery center which was awesome to watch the behaviors of those powerful animals. The boys lost interest pretty quick but Genie and I loved it. Next year I think Genie and I will go by ourselves so we can spend a lot more time just watching the animals.

Fishing was a little slow for me this year. I did manage to catch one really nice Brook trout though on our private lake at the cabin. There is a big natural spring on our property that flows into a lake. I’ve caught Brook trout in there over 24” but they are the toughest buggers to catch.

One of the days we went hiking to Mystic Falls. It was 2 miles round trip. Mason hiked the entire way and was very proud of it. I carried Caleb on my shoulders most of the way and Genie struggled to haul Cody in our little stroller. We realized we should have brought the Kelty kid carrier to carry Cody in. O well, next year. The falls were really pretty.

In Yellowstone we didn’t see much wildlife. We saw a bunch of Elk and a couple Bald Eagles.

When Mason and I were out riding the 4-wheeler one day we ran into a really nice 4 point buck and a doe on the trail. We saw a lot of Elk sign but no bear. Genie’s aunt was up at their cabin just down the road and they ran into a bear while up huckleberry picking the day after we went.

Mason had a lot of fun just playing with a bunch of his cousins that were up there. They all went to town and bought Bionicals and he has fallen in love with them. He told all his cousins and grandparents that they can buy him Bionicals for his birthday and Christmas if they want to. Grandma Ann made a bunch of Jedi capes and Mason ran around most of the week wearing his Jedi outfit and playing with his lightsabre. Mason loved fishing and riding the 4-wheeler as well.

Caleb loved picking huckleberries and when I took him fishing all he wanted to do was go back up and pick more huckleberries. Him and Mason were both big helpers picking the berries. The berries were huge this year. A couple times I had to double check that we were picking the right berry. They looked too big. We got quite a few and ate them on our ice cream and pancakes the rest of the week.

Cody just played, slept, ate, cried, and laughed.

We had a super heroes night that the boys absolutely loved. Caleb dressed in a black Spiderman costume most of the week. Genie dressed like Zorro and I dressed like a Pirate.

Mocha, our dog, always loves going to the cabin since she is free to just run and enjoy herself all week. We really wore her out with the horseback rides and the 4-wheeler rides. When we went fishing she just laid in the boat and Caleb used her as a pillow so he could lay down.

Here’s a few pictures from the week:

Cody, Genie, and Matt dressed up for Super Hero Day

Mason dressed as a Jedi and Caleb as the Black Spiderman

The beautiful scenery in Montana - Looking out from the deck on the cabin

Mocha - Our Hunting Dog

The cabin

Mr. Cody playing with his toys

On our hike in Yellowstone National Park

Matt, Mason, and Caleb sitting below Mystic Falls

Wildflowers

Wildman Cody

Caleb

Caleb and Mocha - They love to hang out. Mocha will just stand there while Caleb lays his head on her back and gives her hugs.

This was as it was getting dark on the Madison River. I was fishing just below 3 Dollar Bridge. I really wish I would have had a tripod with the way the moon rose up over the mountains.