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Headed out to the Deep Creek Mountains along the border between UT and NV. Some 12,000' peaks there, it's a remote range with little human presence. Access via the Pony Express trail, a long dusty washboarded affair. With wild horses: And squatchless salt flats: Up into here: Set up camp with much needed shade. Possible cougar scat in the pinyons behind Rover but no sightings: Scrambled up the peak behind for a looksee, tired old mountain top: Cooked up some grub at dusk and went for a stroll down the "trail." Poorwills and nighthawks overhead, crickets and katydids providing soundtrack. Nothing anomalous throughout the night. Following day we made 1300' of bushwhacked gain up through pinyon/sagebrush and 2 steps up, 1 back rottenrock scree to the various peaks S of camp. Saw jackrabbits and a golden eagle who met us at the summit, outside of indeterminate tracks, no other wildlife. Camp down there somewhere: Intended peak but after 1300' up at 8200' we retreated: Down through a slide/tumble scrapefest that often looked like this: Beautiful area with a little water flowing downstream but maybe still too dry...idk

Indiefoot would be pleased.

Norse - that is a sweet setup. Just got back this week from the BWCA in northern MN. Fishing was spectacular for the first two day. Between my buddy and I we caught 80+ fish. Last 2 days were slow, 15-20 mph wind with gusts up to 30 out of the SE which really fouls up fishing from a canoe. Saw a family of otters one day. Highlight of the trip was actually seeing what I believe was a wolf. From about 100 yards, it came out of the woods to drink from the lake at dusk. Soon as it saw us it ran back into the woods. Looked too big and dark colored for a coyote. Wasn’t able to snap a pic. I’ve heard them howling many times but first I’ve actually laid eyes on one.

Spent two days on the black river catching Apache trout. Apache Sitgreaves NF. Bighorn came off ridge and grazed right through camp this morn. Currently in Alpine Az, staying at RV park, getting showers and ice and catching up on emails and texts. Update on Smittybuilt RTT. I love the ease and simplicity of taking it down and putting it up. Stayed dry in pouring rain and hail. Don’t worry about lumpy ground or tree roots like with traditional tents. My only complaint is the platform is made out of some white material that bows a bit. We tried to keep sleeping bags in tent when it folded up. The hinge didn’t like that. And will try to pop out of its track. Would prefer if the deck was more rigid and deeper so the bedding could stay in the tent, dry and ready for bed time. It’s well worth 1200 bucks I think. A cabelas alaknak costs similar. And is just fabric and a pole set.It also doesn’t come with a rain fly and you would get wet in bad weather. My son likes the light bar and charging station that came with it. Hang a IPad off the ridge pole and we are watching westerns when the sun goes down and charging phones. These look like rainbow to me. They stock the river every friday.

Apache Sitgreaves NF Elk bugled all last night. We stayed right above John Wayne’s old ranch the 26 Bar ranch. Its kinda yellowstone like. Flatish with big meadows. Checking out the Gila NF right now to the east. It seems lower with more juniper.

@norseman Those are 100% rainbows. You're really making me miss living out that way with all the pics. The area you're in looks identical to our favorite spot near Woodland Park, CO.

Great pictures Norse. That's great looking setup.

Yup. I'll sit back and watch.

Hunster...well sure, violating a federal game law is never a percentage play. But, there is no federal rap possible here. I'd doubt if any state game laws could be classified any higher than a Class A misdemeanor, so I'm not thinking you'd be in any serious doo-doo. Still, I get that is not something YOU would choose to deliberately step in, but you don't have to. There are probably thousands of volunteers who would step up to the chance to put this mystery to rest and have their names chiseled next to those of the storied intrepid explorers, scientists and adventurers of all time. In fact, I can point out many who are BFF members!

^^^^Been practicing law for 30 years and I'd say that shooting anything that looks remotely like Patty, even intentionally (and self-defense would be a "given" defense to that)would, at most result in a fine for hunting a protected, non-game animal, no matter what the DNA reads. Any other outcome that is predicted is in the realm of legal fantasy and not supported in the law or predicted facts. A fundamental precept of enforceable criminal statutes is that they not be so vague so as to not put a citizen on reasonable notice of the particulars of the prohibited act. Almost by definition, a statute that says "It is criminal to shoot this ape/human/hybrid/other, whatever it is, and we can't tell you what it is, but don't shoot it, because it might be human, but we don't know because we've never identified it" is comically vague and unenforceable. If you can't say up front, definitively, that is a species of human, you can't create a crime after the fact if it turns out to be one. As it stands now, as we all here know very well, even if you did define it as a human, there would be no definitive scientific basis to support that. You cannot place the burden on the perpetrator to discern if what he is about to do is homicide, or not, when the state could not reasonably tell that either when the law was passed by the legislature and signed by the executive. It is just nonsense to predict any other outcome, sorry. Now, the SECOND person to kill one, after the DNA is sequenced and the laws rewritten? Oh yeah, he or she better lawyer-up, bigly.

Thaniks, norseman, pdub, and Kiwakwe for the scenic additions to the thread. It's a joy to see where all of the members are getting out to.

It is hard to know without seeing what is making the sound .. make the sound. A sort of off-topic-ish story: I bought my first predator call back in about 1987 or 88, just a little mouse squeaker. I was living in Grants Pass, Oregon. One morning about 3:30 or 4:00 I took off to go fishing downriver near Grave Creek boat ramp where the floats through the wild section of the river put in. Just above Hog Creek boat ramp the road punches through a low ridge of hard rock maybe 20 feet high. I pulled up on the riverward side, parked, walked a dirt 2 track 75 yards to the highest point, and made some squeaks and squeals. What came back out of the dark from the buck-brush on the other side of the road cut was a deep throaty roar that put me into flight for my truck. I still don't know what it was. What it sounded like more than anything else was an African lion. Sounded BIG. Gravelly. Most likely it was a fox, but I wasn't taking any chances, I left. MIB

Many, many critters growl. All predators that I can think of. Fox, raccoon, bear, coyote, cougar, yada yada yada. It would help to know the nature .. volume, pitch, etc .. of the growl but in the end, a written description is going to fall flat, it's one of those "ya had to be there" situations. Whatever it was, I'm glad you came back unscathed. MIB

Pdub, That's an awesome sighting. I've wanted to canoe the BWCA for quite a while with hopes of spotting a wolf. Otters are cool to watch too, seem like they are genuinely enjoying being alive when I've seen them. sounds like a good trip sans the winds, Great pics! Norseman, as always beautiful country, and the new set up looks sweet! Coming back from this weekend's adventure we've come to the conclusion that we need more space, Springbar or RTT. RTT may make more sense given the scrub free ground a 10X10 tent requires. I've eyed the Eezi-awns for quite a while, they're not much more than the China made Tepuis I see everywhere out here, though I've read mixed reviews. How's the quality seem on yours? Smittybuilt correct?

Norseman, you're on quite a scenic trip!! How IS that camper setup working out for you? Ease of set-up/take-down? Sleeping comfort? Any problems with it on the road? Pdub, the BWCA is always beautiful, but did you get to see the Northern Lights or did you come back beforehand? You probably did see a wolf.

Beautiful country Norse. Kudos on the camping setup; wow is all I can say. You did a fantastic job. I like how it keeps you significantly off the ground and out of reach.