Hunting Kind of

After 2 years of being in Washington I finally got all of my stuff out of storage and decided it was time to get back to hunting. The trip didn't turn out the way I planned but I'll say being out again felt awesome, and the views were worth it alone. I left on Friday, September 7th. A good friend has a nice cabin right on the Yakima river, and about 3 other guys were also going.

After arriving on Friday the group really just wanted to look at topos and have a few drinks and discuss strategy for the coming days. I knew I was in the right place. It was decided that we'd go in 2 man hiking pairs with one group working the top of the ridge and another down lower in places where they'd scouted for the last month and had been seeing animals.

On Saturday we headed out at 4:30 AM, with a load of 4 wheelers. I have to say there is something about getting up before the sun that sets a persons day off right. Combine that with great conversation and the day was off to a great start. We took a 4-5 mile 4 wheeler ride on some of the coolest logging road I've ever seen. Then hiked in.

One of the first views I had was of Mt Rainer:

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Then my hunting partner and I hiked for what seemed like a million steps uphill. We saw ton's of elk sign and decided to sit and glass for a bit....then movement. It was exciting and a pretty cool sight as a goat emerged.

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The photos were all taken with a camera phone so you won't get any BigSky or LJ quality and quite frankly even if I had a top dollar camera the talent isn't there. But, I think you can still see him. About 15 minutes later momma and a baby popped out:

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All of this just re-affirmed I was in the right place. Maybe not to see elk but I was in the wood, with no cell phone access and for a guy that spends hours at a computer everyday the time was pricesless.

We headed back to the cabin at dark, and I got a call from my wife that our oldest had bad abdominal pain and was headed to the ER, with what they thought was a appendicitis. She said they'd know in 1-2 hours for sure as they were doing a catscan and to wait for the results. The problem for me was if it was and they rushed her into surgery I wouldn't be there so I packed up and went. Good news it wasn't that serious and she was released that night, and I was back to take care of my baby. Bad news, my hunt was over.

Overall though it has renewed my desire just to be outside. Now my son and i have started talking about a pheasant trip soon. I'm looking forward to the coming trips already!

Man that is some pretty country. I'd love to do just what y'all did, ride 4-wheelers, hike and put tracks in the mud. To get to hunt would be icing on the cake!

It looks like you've re-opened the door on some grand adventures to come.

Welcome back and keep us posted on your future hunts. After all, that is what we USED to talk about around here.

Not sure how I missed this - stunningly beautiful country!