My Journey

PNWY.....any good news on Courdel ? That broke my heart when I read your post. I'm so sorry.....

tgil.....thanks.....if you happen to be looking for a good book to quarantine with I'd recommend Ghengis : Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden. I picked it up at a Goodwill store and once I started reading it I had trouble putting it down. Apparently the author has written a series of these type of books so I believe there's (5) in total to be read. I'm typically a reader of non-fiction so it surprised me how much I enjoyed this one.....

Arjan.....thanks.....the seller / installer pro rates the tires meaning that if had I purchased the Hankook tires from Les Schwab they would have given me 25 % credit on the Hankook tires since they only lasted for 75 % of their guarantee.....they do not take into account how the tires were used. I felt that I got my moneys worth from the Hankooks since I'm really hard on them (as you point out).....



I woke up the following morning sitting in that Walmart parking lot wondering where to go next. I pulled out my trusty road atlas that's traveled with me since 2005 and scanned the highways of the state of Utah and then it hit me. In the past month give or take, I had driven well over 6,000 miles and I was getting road weary. So I went into that Walmart and I filled the cart as high as I possibly could. I remember paying well over $200 for my groceries (that's a lot for me) and then we drove south.....

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Back in the spring we had camped in the Fishlake National Forest just to the west of Koosharem, Utah and I recalled that morning how much I had loved my stay there.....

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That day we emptied the black and grey tanks on the camper, we filled the propane tanks, and we filled the Jeeps gas tank too.....and we filled (28) one gallon jugs of water.....

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The plan that I had in my brain that morning was to chill in those mountains for two weeks.....basically no interaction with man.....just two weeks of me and Tanner camped high up in the mountains (our campsite was at 8,800').....

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My biggest concern coming here at this time of year was the number hunters that we might encounter since it was the height of Elk hunting season.....

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And once again.....this place was good.....

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tgil

Well-known member
The pic of Tanner and his toy, made me chuckle.
"Trusty road atlas", I used to keep one in my truck. With the modern day GPS, I've put it away, deep in a closet. I recently learned how invaluable they still are, even in our technological days. During your hiatus, I shared with Foy (privately) the error of my ways. "Mapsco" used to be often used tools for me here in the metromess as well. That reminds me, I should just but a new road atlas and keep it in the Jeep.
Thanks for the reading suggestion. I can't sit still long enough to "read" much, but I will see if it is available in an audio version.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
Ace....."the pathless woods" are our escape from the insane world & lifes realities.....

tgil.....this made me think of you tonight.....

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So we headed into "the pathless woods" to escape lifes realities.....something we often do.....it's in these pathless woods where I often find my peace and solitude.....

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Tanner & I.....we never tire of this wandering in the forest.....everyday we were in that forest climbing hills & mountains, descending into deep ravines, hiking along extended ridgelines.....sometimes with a purpose.....but most often not.....

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Just to be out there.....to be alone in our thoughts was all that we needed.....to explore and to discover.....that is our life.....

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tgil

Well-known member
Thanks, Jerry. I usually start my day, checking for your latest post before my shift starts.
Mirrored safety glasses...check!
 

longhorn1

Observer
Beautiful photos. Glad to see the colors hang around. Not sure what it is with our dogs toys. Sarah has this large puppy pillow she hauls around, takes to bed and brings back out in the morning. Well tomorrow headed for 3 days of fly fishing. Made a pact with my wife, No Internet, no checking on the election. Just peace and the river.
 
JD.....thanks.....have fun & stay safe.....



We climbed a few mountains during our two week stay here in the Fishlake National Forest.....the first one was Indian Peak (9,830'). Now we had climbed this one back in the spring so I decided that this time we'd attempt it from a different direction.....

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We started hiking from our camp just like we did last time but after a mile or so we changed our route and started bushwacking our way through the forest.....passed by some trees that unfortunately had been marked for no good reason.....

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We attempted to downclimb a significant rock wall without much success.....bypassed that obstacle and found ourselves in a good mile or more of tree downfall on a steep decline.....

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At the bottom of the ravine we connected with a small creek.....

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.....then we worked our way upstream through dense brush.....connected with yet another steep ravine and continued through more dense brush......we broke out of that mess and then we finally began our ascent of Indian Peak.....

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Eventually we were back on the summit of Indian Peak.....it took a lot of work this time.....

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On the return.....we took the easy route.....

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We passed by yet another No Campfire sign.....sure has been a dry season this year.....I don't even remember the last time we had a campfire.....

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It felt good that late afternoon to return to camp.....

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.....and to welcome the evening sky.....

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.....followed shortly by the dark star filled night sky.....

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tgil

Well-known member
Beautiful photos. Glad to see the colors hang around. Not sure what it is with our dogs toys. Sarah has this large puppy pillow she hauls around, takes to bed and brings back out in the morning. Well tomorrow headed for 3 days of fly fishing. Made a pact with my wife, No Internet, no checking on the election. Just peace and the river.
That sounds like a fabulous plan!

.....passed by some trees that unfortunately had been marked for no good reason.....

Last Dollar Road, outside Telluride, is a pretty and scenic drive through aspens. I've never seen so many carved up trees!
 
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I had plans here to climb quite a few mountains while camped here but unfortunately that did not happen for unforseen reasons. So the climb of Monument Peak (11,047') turned out to be our only other climb.....

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I had attempted to climb this one this past spring but deep snow kept us away so I knew when we arrived here that this was high on my list. This is Tanners look when I say " lets go hiking".....it's funny really.....as soon as he sees my daypack he's on high alert.....he waits and watches.....

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Now I found absolutely zero information on any trails that reached the summit of this peak so much like Indian Peak we hiked from our campsite and just bushwacked our way up.....

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This amazing log cabin sits at the southern base of the mountain.....oh how I would love to live here.....

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Here too there was quite a bit of tree downfall and we did our best to avoid as much as we possibly could. Sometimes our avoidance of downed trees led us up steep inclines of rockfall.....

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.....and occasionally working our way up smallish cliffs.....

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This climb turned out to be quite the challenge and there were times that I thought that it just wasn't worth all the effort.....

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We persevered and finally we reached a massive plateau and it seemed as though all the challenges of this climb had been left behind.....and they were.....

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What a surprise it was to see footprints and small rock cairns up there.....we followed the faint footpath to the summit.....

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This day turned out to be one of those perfect weather days.....little wind on the summit with temperatures in the 70's.....one of those days where you see little reason to hurry back down the mountain.....

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So there we stood on that summit and took in all the worlds glory.....for me.....nothing more special than standing on a summit and looking out at the world.....

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As my eyes scanned the horizon I took notice to something white in the rocks down below us.....

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She died just below the summit.....her last views of the world were the same as I was seeing. So I sat nearby her and wondered her story.....I noticed a broken bone pertruding from her hind leg. Had she broken her leg and struggled to make it here to this high point where she knew she would see the world one last time ? Had the herd brought her here to take her last breathes ? I couldn't help but wonder about her pain ? And I thought too what a noble animal that she was.....and it made me think of my own immortality and how I too wish that my last views of the world could be as majestic as hers. We stayed a long time with her.....on the side of that mountain.....sometimes we have experiences in the wilderness that stick with us for a very long time.....and this one still travels with us to this day.....

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Eventually we had to downclimb.....to leave that noble animal behind.....

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They say that this is where some of the finest elk in Utah reside.....we only saw two elk during our entire stay here. Several times we heard the bugling of the elk.....a majestic sound that I always cherish and am hopeful to hear. I think that we saw mule deer everyday that we were here.....the mountain animals were cautious.....it was hunting season in Utah.....

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.....and we followed the road home.....

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Wherever that may be.....

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