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Geezer Trek 2006 Trail Day #2 Camp Diary Wednesday
morning at 3:50 AM we heard something none of us had heard before: a group
of coyotes howling and yipping right outside our camp and between us and
the lake. First the alpha male began to howl, and it was taken up by
the entire group. It's one thing to hear about it, it's We were up at about 7 AM and enjoying the cool (low 30's) air at altitude. Doc, Colby and Ross sang "Happy Birthday" to Tony, who later said it was a crying shame that he had just put in his hearing aids and that he could hear us. Tom, who had been doing some paperwork away from the camp, reported that he heard some "disturbing" noises as well. Happy Birthday, Tony! Wednesday was "take it easy and enjoy yourself" day. Dave, Karl, Tony and Tom had a hike planned into Electric Pass, while Colby and Ross had a day of fishing planned. But in the early morning light, the guys headed over to the log cabin, which was only about a five minute walk from the campsite.
Does it
get any better than this? Today we had no The Park Service trail crew the day before had told us on the trail that there was some Grizzly Bear scat (feces) below the cabin window, and we found it readily enough. Bear scat and bear prints tell much about the critter- it's size, it's diet and even how long it had been since the "deposit." This scat looked to be about a week old, and of course, we had to take pictures. This photo shows a glove next to the scat to give an idea of the scale- certainly it was a mature bear, and it probably spent some time trying to figure out how to get into the well-bearproofed cabin.
To our amazement, the same family of coyotes decided to check us out, with one coming up to within 30 feet of our campsite and looking over the tall grass at us. None of us had ever seen coyotes that closely before, and it was pretty amazing. The alpha male gave us a look like, "What are you?", and had no fear of us. After looking us over for about five minutes or so, he simply trotted off to the east with his family, across the meadow and up towards Electric Peak. Gone. But being geezers, it was time for our breakfast and morning coffee. Time to heat up some of that cold mountain water, make some coffee and grits, eat our Cliff bars and have some fun. It was still in the 30's, but we knew that the day would heat up after the sun was out.
The hikers reported a pretty nice hike in deep timber- after hiking with a full load the previous day, today's hike was just for fun, and it was a morning hike only- although Doc would have probably kept on hiking until he got to the Arctic Circle, then returned for a light lunch! Tony and Tom came back first, late morning- today being Tony's birthday we decided to give him anything he wanted to eat, as long as it was trail food! They said the hike went great, just wanted to circle on back early and get a hot drink, some lunch and a mandatory Geezer nap.
Karl and Doc came back about 45 minutes later, having
hiked all the way to Electric Pass Fortunately, better sense prevailed and the made it back for lunch and a nap in record time. What about Colby and Ross, the feckless fishing dudes? It was a successful morning fishing, in spite of the high late morning winds which began to kick up in very strong 20-30 MPH bouts and make it difficult to cast a fly line.
Fortunately, the cutthroat trout were taking
terrestrials (flies that look like bugs that fell into the water)- especially anything that About every tenth cast Colby or Ross would get a strike, about half of which turned into hooked fish, which were released (Park Service regulations require that all cutthroat trout in Yellowstone be released). Because they were fishing barbless (another regulation) and because it was catch and release only in the lake, they didn't need to worry about landing fish. They would get them up close to the bank and let them go. Colby caught the first fish of the day in nothing flat, in spite of not having his reading glasses to tie on the fly. He hadn't been fly fishing in over twenty years and we can report that he had the time of his life- like a kid at Christmas. The largest fish was caught by Colby, about a 14-inch fish. Very nice, very fat, a hard fighter. They were beautiful fish- most (but not all) had a bright red slash on their gills. Ross reported that the first one he caught he thought he had fowl hooked the fish and that it was bleeding from its gills and dying. Nope- just a cutthroat trout! Real fighters, too- they would go airborne when you hook one and it would (just like a rainbow trout) try to spit out the fly. Two of Ross's fish managed to spit out flies as did some of Colby's- but then, that's fly fishing! Compared
to the tame 10-12 inch "stockers" that are raised in hatcheries and
deposited in the streams of North Georgia, these wild trout were a real
treat to even tussle with- catching So while Colby and Fearless Leader fished, Tony and Tom came back in late morning with smiles on their faces. The hike up to Electric Peak Pass went great. They went most of the way, then decided to head on back to camp for lunch, a hot drink and a mandatory Geezer Nap. Carpet Diem, baby- SNOOZE THE DAY! Tony opened his birthday cards from his family about lunch time and had a few laughs and a few tears in his eyes- cards from his wife Linda, his daughter Amanda and his son Adam. As nice as it is to have a birthday in such beautiful surroundings, it's even nicer to have your family in your mind- those that mean the most to you.
The afternoon was spent easily- fishing, snoozing and generally taking it easy by everyone. No place to go, nothing to do other than relax and re-charge the batteries. While Ross and Tony were coming
back from some afternoon fishing, exaggerating, insults and general mayhem,
as they crossed the creek on the trail, eagle-eyed Tony discovered a fresh
black bear print from what looked to be the day or evening before (see the
photo to the right and below). We knew it was a black bear track
from the size of the print and configuration of the claw marks- and the
track was most definitely fresh. VERY fresh. We weren't
worried- bears generally go out of It was just another reminder that we were the visitors here; that we were no longer at the top of the food chain or the only "top dogs" walking around- and that there were larger critters around than us. Tony and Ross mentioned it to the other guys, and of course, everyone wanted to go see the track, so plenty of electrons were killed by their respective digital cameras. It was late in the day, warm but pleasant and just a nice time to stand around and talk. No one was in any hurry to do much of anything. Standing in the cool, late afternoon air with the warm sun setting in the west was one of our best memories of the trip. We knew that this was a special place and that we were truly blessed by God with a short-term stewardship to stand in it, enjoy it, revel in it, and to leave it better than we found it.
As Ross and Tony were standing close to the campsite, not really wanting to go back, just enjoying the warm afternoon sun, Tom walked up with his camera and said, "Fold your arms and stand still. I want to get a picture of you guys- the light's just right." So Tony and Ross, the "Four-Peats" of Geezer Trek 1999, 2003, 2004 and now 2006 struck a pose in Yellowstone in front of Electric Peak. All of us have pretty big responsibilities as husbands, fathers, grandfathers and managers at work, and it was great to watch the tension simply melt out of us that afternoon. The worries of all of that got left behind on Wednesday afternoon. Our only regret was in knowing that we'd be leaving tomorrow morning. Bummer.
But we couldn't put the camera away without having some fun first, so as the sun was setting over the horizon we decided to waste some more electrons on one final group shot at our campsite, one we thought was truly fitting of who we really are as the manly men and Geezers that show off our true selves.
This photo
proves once and for all that not only are their aliens that walk among us,
but that the mother ship landed in different parts of America at the same
time- Pennsylvania, Texas, Oregon, Georgia, Louisiana and California. Sunset showed a final orange glow on Electric Peak, and shortly thereafter supper came- Miso soup, Mountain House meals, hot drinks and Gatorade. Dinner preparation involved Tom and Doc doing "Dueling Dinner" as they made sure things were stirred up enough to eat! Afterwards we had an evening devotional from Ross, who spoke about "The proof of God being all around us" (from Paul's sermon in Acts 17) with the proof that God supplied us in the death and resurrection of his Son, Christ Jesus. He challenged us to seek out God's will and to do it. After the devotional we had a very windy campfire (the wind had really been coming out of the pass all day long, a draining wind that would come about every 5-10 minutes or so), complete with burning windbreak, the big hollow stump we set next to the fire to block the wind. About 9:00 we said our "good nights" and hit the tents. Tomorrow was the hike out.
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another thing to hear at VERY close range. Way cool.
The
log cabin was way cool. It had a solar array and antenna in the rear
for back-country radio communications, but was otherwise a primitive, bear-proof
shelter that Park Service employees could use in the backcountry.
Because the sun was rising behind Electric Peak, we had a beautiful view
of the orange glow on the facing mountains just above the cabin, the
meadow and Sportsman's Lake. NO- we did not stay in the cabin.
It was locked up and had iron bars across the doors and cabins to keep the
bears out.
hike to make, no packs to haul around, nothing major planned- other
than naps, side hikes for the strong boys and what ever we felt like
doing. So in the early morning light (our bodies were still on
Atlanta time) we just watched the sun rise and cast it's glow on the
opposite peaks behind the cabin.
It was an excellent reminder
that we were visitors in Grizzly country. While bear attacks on
humans are rare, it's important to have a high level of respect where
critters like these are concerned.
After
breakfast we decided to head our different ways, so Doc, Karl, Tom and
Tony started heading up towards Electric Peak while Colby and Ross decided
to try their luck with the cutthroat trout in the lake.
and back to the lake and camp. You can see from the photo that there
was just the right amount of tree cover on the trail to keep the sun at
bay, but not too much to make it boring. You can also see that it
was definitely an uphill climb along the trail- what were these guys
thinking of, anyway?
remotely resembled a grasshopper, which were hopping all around us in the
mountain grass. Ross lost his first fake grasshopper to a nice fish
in nothing flat, while Colby was actually CATCHING fish (instead of
wishing, like Ross was). 
was just an extra treat.
But
Tony's big surprise came when he saw a huge meteor in broad daylight that
traveled from east to west and was a bright as daylight. Since none
of us had ever seen a meteor in daylight it was an interesting surprise
for Tony- he reported that it was "as bright as daylight" and that it was
a long streak as it passed over the mountain from sight.
their way to avoid human contact, and unless there's bear cubs or fresh
kill between you and the bear, they'll stay away from you.
So
as
evening came on and the light began to fade, we decided to take a group
photo in front of Electric Peak, so we set up our camera on a stump right
outside our campsite. The late afternoon sun was in our faces, but
wasn't hot at all- just a warm and pleasant reminder that soon enough it
would be the end of the day, and that tomorrow we'd have to button up our
camp and head back to civilization and home.
In
case you forgot who this feckless crowd may be, it's (left to right) Dave "Doc"
Moore, Tom Dillon, Colby Strom, Tony Bagwell, Karl Hebert and Ross
"Fearless Leader" Statham; all
