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Selkirk Expedition


norseman

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Nice, and there's even snowpack.

I had just turned around, there was a bend in which the creek was flowing and I couldn't make it through. The snow is very wet and heavy at this point and about 2-3 feet deep.

Hope you enjoy the new tool in searching for sign in your travails.

It's small and quick and it gets surprisingly good fuel mileage. At least compared to my Ford diesel pickup. But the pickup hauls the mules and they are the ones that really allow me to get "off road". :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
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I had just turned around, there was a bend in which the creek was flowing and I couldn't make it through. The snow is very wet and heavy at this point and about 2-3 feet deep.

It's small and quick and it gets surprisingly good fuel mileage. At least compared to my Ford diesel pickup. But the pickup hauls the mules and they are the ones that really allow me to get "off road". :)

did you go on your expedition? or is it still too early? or was that just a scout trip? hey nice jeep smile.gif

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did you go on your expedition? or is it still too early? or was that just a scout trip? hey nice jeep smile.gif

I went on two scouting trips.

One was into the Selkirks and the other was to the west in the Kettle river range.

The snow level is about 3500 feet. We are having a late spring here, so my visions of getting into the mountains right now are dashed. At best it will be the end of June now.

Thanks! The Jeep is my wife's but I'll steal it now and then. But I'm really looking forward to the pickup/horse trailer/mule combo to really get into the back country! ^_^

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I went on two scouting trips.

One was into the Selkirks and the other was to the west in the Kettle river range.

The snow level is about 3500 feet. We are having a late spring here, so my visions of getting into the mountains right now are dashed. At best it will be the end of June now.

Thanks! The Jeep is my wife's but I'll steal it now and then. But I'm really looking forward to the pickup/horse trailer/mule combo to really get into the back country! ^_^

we got a late spring too, only the last two days of May it did not rain. have you ever been to old cabin site @ Ape Canyon? do you know if there's anything left to see?.

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we got a late spring too, only the last two days of May it did not rain. have you ever been to old cabin site @ Ape Canyon? do you know if there's anything left to see?.

I went hunting in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest last year. That's the closest I had ever been to that area. I believe ape canyon is within the Mt. St. Helens national monument (park service). Which may require more red tape.......I really do not know.

I'm much more of a northern Rocky mountain guy really.

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I went hunting in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest last year. That's the closest I had ever been to that area. I believe ape canyon is within the Mt. St. Helens national monument (park service). Which may require more red tape.......I really do not know.

I'm much more of a northern Rocky mountain guy really.

I love the rockies too, red tape meaning no weapons allowed I take it. wink.gif

Pinchot NP also runs on the east side of Mt St Helen's. yea I'd be tempted to go in there and stay a couple of nights. there been a few expeditions just south of Ape Canyon or there abouts.

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I love the rockies too, red tape meaning no weapons allowed I take it. wink.gif

Oh no. After years of ignoring constitutional law, the park service just got their faces completely rubbed into the second amendment. I can take a fire arm into the park legally now. I was just "illegal" before........ <_<

By red tape I mean, there will be designated camping spots, hiking registration, off limit areas and all of the BS that goes along with a national park. You just cannot bushwhack cross country and plunk down for the night were ever you feel like it.

Pinchot NP also runs on the east side of Mt St Helen's.

No, Gifford Pinchot national forest....... comparing the national park service to the national forest service is like comparing a NAZI experimental breeding program to a hippie love fest. They are not even on the same planet. At least not in my experiences at Yellowstone and Glacier.

yea I'd be tempted to go in there and stay a couple of nights. there been a few expeditions just south of Ape Canyon or there abouts.

I was in there 10 days just above the Lewis river horse camp, hunting elk. I never saw or heard anything that I could relate to a Sasquatch. I saw giant trees EVERYWHERE............and watched a mind boggling amount of water fall from the sky. And I saw five elk, one calf I was close enough to that I could have touched it, but no bulls (3 pt or better is the law).

I genuinely missed my cold clear fall days and high mountain parks of the Rockies........let's leave it at that. :mellow:

Unless your calling it or baiting it, digging anything out of that jungle would be a serious chore for a hunter. The upside was that the country was much more mellow in terrain than I expected, and a person if you stayed out of the older clear cuts could actually move around pretty well under that old growth canopy........not much by way of brush. I'm sure there are mind numbing heights in the Cascades, but I didn't hunt there. To me? Central Idaho is way rougher, steeper and nastier, one mistep and they will never find your body type of stuff.

It's more canyon country than one giant volcano surrounded by forest.

m_arana_crags_ram.jpg

My avatar was takin on the other side of the canyon from where that ram was shot. I cannot ride my mule there, I cannot drive there, I would be forced to go around.

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I was in there 10 days just above the Lewis river horse camp, hunting elk. I never saw or heard anything that I could relate to a Sasquatch.

It's more canyon country than one giant volcano surrounded by forest.

Any recent Bf activity in the Selkirk region, old or new reports? Or are you playing a hunch NM? huh.gif

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Any recent Bf activity in the Selkirk region, old or new reports? Or are you playing a hunch NM? huh.gif

Here is the latest one:

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=29045

And here are the others (focusing on West to East the counties of: Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille)

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/state_listing.asp?state=wa

But I'm playing on a hunch as with each county going east it becomes wetter and wetter, and more coastal like.

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Here is the latest one:

http://www.bfro.net/...rt.asp?id=29045

And here are the others (focusing on West to East the counties of: Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille)

http://www.bfro.net/...ng.asp?state=wa

But I'm playing on a hunch as with each county going east it becomes wetter and wetter, and more coastal like.

yea there's some good counties in there like Pierce and King. Hey wet is good for finding tracks, just bring a poncho. I have a long dark green one. It's great for hunkering down in the shadows. People and animals walk right by and never noticed. I am not sure how well that would work on the big guys with their senses? ph34r.gif

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just a quick SITREP, more later......

Went out this weekend and hit Sullivan Creek and Pass creek pass, got a flat tire and pretty well burned Saturday. As well as being chewed out for riding my four wheeler down to the ranger station to call for help (they lightened up after abit).

On Sunday we took forest service roads all the way from Ione to Orient except for a short stint across the Columbia at Northport. Saw a bull Moose up by Smack out pass and a cow elk later in the day on the Kettle river.

Around Orient I found a very interesting heel strike in mud on the other side of a locked forest service gate. I took a picture using my foot as a comparison. It could be a human track that had eroded, there was some debris in the track, but it was considerably larger than mine (I wear a 12 D) and "human like", couldn't make out any toes though. Nothing conclusive.

A couple of miles from there I found what I think was a grizzly track in soft mud. Long claws were present so it must have been a front foot. I took a picture of that as well. The track was approximately 5.5 inches wide at the pad. Found lots of bear scat as well.

I did do some predator calling with my new calls from F and T Fur Harvester Trading Post

http://www.fntpost.com/

Did not have any success with that this time but have had great success in the past calling in bears.

Will get some pictures up when time allows.

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NM you better pull the trigger on this expedition before the snow starts to fly. smile.gif And post lots of pictures so I don't have to fly out there just to take a look around myself. If I have to I am dragging you into Ape Canyon and then over to Bluff with me.

And don't forget to get pictures of the Alpha and females and of course any kids. And pick up some milk on the way home. What? smile.gif

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Guest vilnoori

Hey Norseman can you give me coordinates for that grizzly track? Post it or PM is fine. Sounds like you had a terrific time. Except for the flat. Take care, Vil.

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I always forget the milk but remember the steak and beer for some reason? huh.gif

That's because you are a male of your species.....

Your lack a mommy gene, and crave fresh red meat.

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