Field trips 2.0

[JustCurious]

12 hours ago, norseman said:

He is on the edge of some of the greatest wild places still left on Earth. I had a step grandpa that lived with my grandma in Gold Bar, Wa. He was from Bella Coola, BC. And I’ve hunted SE Alaska. And been on the Cassiar Hwy. I don’t think most people comprehend it’s vastness.

 

I hear ya.  I've had communications with people from the Midwest who call what I'd refer to as a stand of trees as a forest and what I'd call a creek, they call a river.  Our family cabin is about a mile outside a small town of pop. 200 and as you continue on the road past our cabin, it's 13 miles before you reach another road.  I know by comparison that what BCWitness photographed is far more vast.

 

 

[Catmandoo]

9 hours ago, Doodler said:

I used to work there. At HQ, Kodak Park, Elm Grove road, etc

 The weather report for Rochester, N.Y. calls for 18% grey.  I am a Kodachrome guy, have a lot of slides in dark storage that are older than many forum members / visitors. Very few are aware that Kodachrome slides taken in 1937 look great.  I have "Making Kodak Film   Expanded Second Edition"  by Robert L Shanebrook.  Simply amazing.

[PNWexplorer]

On 2/10/2021 at 12:13 AM, JustCurious said:

 

I hear ya.  I've had communications with people from the Midwest who call what I'd refer to as a stand of trees as a forest and what I'd call a creek, they call a river.  Our family cabin is about a mile outside a small town of pop. 200 and as you continue on the road past our cabin, it's 13 miles before you reach another road.  I know by comparison that what BCWitness photographed is far more vast.

 

 

I've lived in Iowa and I absolutely despised it.  I went deer hunting a couple of times.  Once, at a state park that was literally 100 acres with 20 other hunters showing up to try and get a herd of about 8 deer.  It was pathetic and dangerous.  The other time was on a private church camp of about 500 acres.  I could see houses the whole time I was there.

 

If you can walk in literally any direction and hit a paved road within ten miles, you are not in the woods.

 

Where I go a lot for berry picking and exploring, you can literally head East and not hit a paved road for nearly 100 miles.

 

This is looking East from a lookout site in Idaho.  The next paved road is over 100 miles away near Lolo, Montana.    There are no towns, no civilization, no power, no nothing for 100 miles.

 

 

 

Most city folks and others from populated areas have no concept of just how vast the wilderness is out here.

[BC witness]

Agreed! I've been at the end of a trail, 50 km off pavement, and stood atop a ridge where I had nothing but more mountains and forest for as far as I could see to the horizon. It's a great feeling, and a little intimidating at the same time. I once stood at a boundary cairn on the BC/Montana border, on a mountaintop near the headwaters of the Yahk River, looking over vast wilderness in two countries, with not a single building in any direction for at least 30 miles, and felt my spirit soar with the wonder of it.

Edited February 24, 2021 by BC witness

[wiiawiwb]

22 hours ago, PNWexplorer said:

If you can walk in literally any direction and hit a paved road within ten miles, you are not in the woods.

 

 I'm sure you say that in jest. 10 miles in either direction means at least 40 sq miles which is over 25,000 acres.  So you're not in the woods unless you in more than 25,000 acres?  There is always a bigger dog in the fight.  By comparison, the unhabited forests of Alaska would make the sasquatch-dream states of Oregon or Washington State look like Central Park in NYC.  I'll take those two "urban" states any day.

Edited February 25, 2021 by wiiawiwb

[PNWexplorer]

5 hours ago, wiiawiwb said:

 I'm sure you say that in jest. 10 miles in either direction means at least 40 sq miles which is over 25,000 acres.  So you're not in the woods unless you in more than 25,000 acres?  There is always a bigger dog in the fight.  By comparison, the unhabited forests of Alaska would make the sasquatch-dream states of Oregon or Washington State look like Central Park in NYC.  I'll take those two "urban" states any day.

You have your standards for wilderness and I have mine...  Those of us who grew up in the West have different standards for what we consider wilderness.

[NCBFr]

11 hours ago, wiiawiwb said:

 I'm sure you say that in jest. 10 miles in either direction means at least 40 sq miles which is over 25,000 acres.  So you're not in the woods unless you in more than 25,000 acres?  There is always a bigger dog in the fight.  By comparison, the unhabited forests of Alaska would make the sasquatch-dream states of Oregon or Washington State look like Central Park in NYC.  I'll take those two "urban" states any day.

You may want to check that math.  

[wiiawiwb]

Thanks NCBFr as my math was abysmal. It is 400 sq miles (20x20) which means we're talking about a quarter-million acres as a bright-line test.

 

All that aside, PNWexplorer is blessed to have absolutely gorgeous wilderness to enjoy and lots of it. I'm thrilled he does and wish I had that type of opportunity as well.  I'm tired just thinking about trekking around all of those acres and I get out and hoof it all the time in the woods. 

 

My research area isn't nearly as spacious which provides the added benefit of a more narrowed search.  I've never been to Idaho, Montana, Washington State, or Oregon but they are all on the list of most beautiful parts of this country.

Edited February 25, 2021 by wiiawiwb

[norseman]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wilderness_areas_of_the_United_States

[Kiwakwe]

 

Headed up N to check out the latest local Class B: https://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=67335

Bushwhacked the woods behind the incident area for a few hours looking for any possible track sign in crusty snow.

Not quite thick as grass but anything sizeable isn't getting through quietly...

Out to the brook which I followed the frozen edge of for a while, passing beaver lodges, black huckleberry, labrador tea, rhodora and alder. Patches of open water in places. Not too fond of ice over moving water:

Headed back into the woods up stream a ways--but not before busting through the ice, kept thin by insulating grasses, I was grateful for waterproof boots and gaiters-- and followed up a skidder trail, coyote and bobcat tracks into a cut/blowdown field that agitated my inner ocd sufferer:

Then back to scope out the camps in an attempt to ascertain the reporters place, may have been the camp with this at the gate. By the look of things, I didn't think I was "here" but obliged regardless:

I saw one trackway of 6 large prints, straight line, ~4' between steps, possible mid-tarsal break before I realized someone with snow shoes had walked down the access road with one foot in old tire track so it only showed every other step. All of this had been rained, lightly snowed upon and refrozen. It was vague but got me hopes up for a sec.

On the way out:

 

 

[BlackRockBigfoot]

Looks like an awesome time!

 

Was it your first time in that particular area?

[Kiwakwe]

2 hours ago, BlackRockBigfoot said:

Looks like an awesome time!

 

Was it your first time in that particular area?

That specific area yes, though one of the spots I've spent a good bit of time in and had a rock thrown was 5 or so miles away--part of why I wanted to have a look.

[NatFoot]

On 2/26/2021 at 2:54 PM, Kiwakwe said:

That specific area yes, though one of the spots I've spent a good bit of time in and had a rock thrown was 5 or so miles away--part of why I wanted to have a look.

 

What are you driving? You taking a Mercedes SUV out? The front hood looks boxy like one.

[Madison5716]

@BC witness, @Kiwakwe, @PNWexplorer - gorgeous photos. Spectacular.  Looks like FUN!

[norseman]

1 hour ago, NatFoot said:

 

What are you driving? You taking a Mercedes SUV out? The front hood looks boxy like one.

I think its a Land Rover defender.