First Trip 2018 Journal entry #1

Left out early Friday morning heading for the wilderness. I drive my truck and pull my neighbors gooseneck stock trailer and he goes along with his horse. So I have 3 mules and his horse. My buddy and friend of his follow along with his gooseneck and 4 horses ... 2 that he will pack and 2 they will ride. We aren't going on a long trip really just short trip of 1 night and 2 days. Really just trying to get out and ride the wilderness and camp. This time of year the bowhunters are out after Elk and Deer so we can't take the hounds. Which is really ok because the guys don't have the time to stay out and hunt. Really I don't either but would probably make the time if it was possible. It takes us about 4 hours of driving to get to the trail head.. not that many miles but about the last 1/3 of the trip is slow winding mountain roads with some steep grades up and down. My dodge does good going up hill but the steep down hill parts are a little scary because there aren't any brakes on the trailer I'm pulling but we make it just fine. We get all packed up and head out.. I'm riding the famous Jet Johnson mule and packing Big Agnes and my new mule Ruth.. Ruth does good and leads out just fine. We wind our way up and over the ridge heading out to our overnight camping location. I'm constantly on the lookout for lion and bear sign but after the first day and about 7 miles rode all we see are a couple of Does, a Fawn and a small Buck that looks much bigger then he really is due to the velvet still on his antlers. We make our way down to the river and ride up aways. We find a good level spot where there already is a fire ring and decide that's where we should camp. We unpack all the animals and start setting up camp. My buddy has a large 16' Noah's tarp that we string up to sleep under. I like to stay under a tarp even if the weather looks good just to keep the dew or frost off of out bedrolls. We use our manty tarps for ground cover and roll out our bags on top of them. We gather up fire wood and get a fire going. Get out the morals and fill them with alfalfa pellets, soak them in the river and feed the mules and horses. There are 4 of us in camp... we all get our cups and then the whisky flask is brought out. A toast is made for a safe and good day.. There are some cliff dwellings above us and a couple of the guys go up to check them out. One guy decides to cool off in the river while me and my buddy finish with another shot of whisky. Story's are told that night around the campfire while steaks and corn on the cob is cooked. Now like what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas stories told around the campfire at night after some whisky has been drank stay there and are not repeated. We eat our steak and corn.. best corn I have ever ate by the way.. then climb in the sack. The weather is really warm so the bag and bivy sack stay half unzipped most of the night.. At about 2 am we all wake up to horses pawing the ground and Big Agnes one of my mules is loose. This being just a one night trip all we did was just tie them up. I get up and slip on my camp slippers and catch Agnes and tie her up. My buddy is standing next to one of the pack horses that is showing signs of colic, switching his tail and kicking at his belly. As usual we forgot to bring banamine. I take the horse down to the river and he drinks good and craps on the way back.. so no more colic. Finally some good sleep and it always amazing me how well I can sleep outdoors on the ground. Next morning you can see some light coming through the sky to the east but it won't shine in this canyon for a while. Its 6 am and everyone is moving and getting dressed. Its not cold at all and it was a good thing we put up the tarp because there was a heavy dew. First item on the agenda for me at least is coffee.. My Jetboil and big off brand yeti cup is ready with starbucks coffee singles already in the cup and water ready to boil in the Jetboil. I always like to prepare my coffee the night before so it doesn't take too long to get that caffeine in my system. After my coffee is ready I carry my cup and take the mules down to the river to get a drink. Ole Jet drinks his fill as does Agnes.. the new mule Ruth won't drink, but she will learn to drink when water is available so I don't worry much. Again we fill the morals and feed the animals and while we wait for them to finish eating my buddy and the other guys eat some dry cereal and prepare some peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. I'm not much on breakfast anymore so I just work on my coffee and then start breaking camp. I have summer sausage and some nuts for lunch already in my saddle bags so I'm pretty much ready to go. Saddling all the animals is a chore but they are all saddled without mishap. My buddy and I have traveled the wilderness every year now for 5 years straight we just tie a one man diamond that takes 2 men but we are pretty good at it and it takes us no time at all and once its tied it lasts all day. We study the map and decide on our course and head out. The climb out of the canyon is long and steep.. one of the horses that one of the guys is riding gets tired and starts to fight it some so he has to get off and lead.. no since in taking a chance on an accident this far back.. after we get on level ground he gets back on and his horse does better. I took one hound with me "Maggie" I always like to take at least one hound but I have to be careful because I can't take one that will get off running a track and cause us to be late. Maggie has had a kinda of rough life.. she jumped out of the dog box once going down the highway.. I still don't know how she fit, and then she was bit one time by a rattlesnake. She listens to me good and goes with the other hounds when they are trailing but I didn't believe that she would start her own track. Well on the way up I see her right off the top below the ridge whipping her tail back and forth and then pretty soon I hear bahhh bahhh .. of course I get excited but nobody else really pays attention. I rush over to see if I can find a track but there's just too much rock.. she doesn't go far with it but I'm pretty excited that she found something she liked and wanted to trail.. she just might make a hound yet... Finally we top out and decide that the ride from where we are at will take long enough if we just head around a short circle to the trucks. We had intended to take another route but everyone was in agreement that getting back to our rigs early would be best so we could at least get back home at a decent hour. I wonder if our trips have been shortened up because we are getting older or we are just getting too busy with other things. Well I can't do anything about getting older but I will change the being busy part. This country is beautiful and there is lots of it I want to explore. Tall pines and junipers and cedar trees. Deep canyons with big rock bluffs and rivers. It was designated a wilderness on June 3rd 1924 making it the first in the US and with over 558,014 acres its a big place.. and want to see it all. On the way back like always I have my eyes peeled looking for lion and bear sign but I never found any... a few deer track here and there but that was all. I didn't put shoes on my pack mules and on the way back I think Ruth's feet get sore and she breaks the lead string from Agnes to her. I have to start ponying her with Jet and one of the guys leads Agnes. Ruth gets pretty sore footed I guess because Jet dang near has to drag her in... but Jet is up to the task because he has been down this trail we are on many times and knows we are headed back to the trucks. We got back to the trucks pretty early .. around 2pm and figure we rode 10 or 12 miles .. not a bad day really. We unsaddle and head home.. It was a good trip .. short but sweet and we had a good time. We stopped and ate in a small town on our way home after I had to buy a fuel filter for my old dodge but we made it. During our dinner we discuss future trips and plans for maybe a lion hunt in the same area. We will see. As for me I will be back and head in further and stay longer. And with some hounds. This is what I hope is the first of many trips. My off grid living days are over.. sold my place but I have to find other ways to get out and find adventure for me the hounds and mules.. Just a gypsy with mules and a pack of hounds #born100yearstoolate #CBVTV #nevertoolate