More Than I Thought I Had
I had an awesome weekend here in Grizzly Country. Came across a pile of fresh digested grass on an evening walk Saturday. We rode horses in and camped about 9,600'. The southern half of the world's first national forest is a pretty darn great wildlife habitat. I was glad to see multiple sets of moose tracks. Perhaps I'll see them on the Ranch again this fall. Lots of Elk. Fair amount of other Grizzly sign. Heard wolves. I would guess either an elk, moose, or Grizzly crashed through the creek at Midnight waking some of us. I'm pretty sure my snoring put the fear of the Bruin Bachae in whatever they were.
Sunday I left East Sixmile Creek and by the strength of something within me I haven't drawn on in a lot of years I followed sheep tracks to the summit of Point 11,894'. This was a sensational trip, but a very dangerous one. There is one way in, one way up, and back. I should not have gone solo, should have had a helmet at a minimum with considerable rockfall amidst high temperatures melting respectable snow; but this route was important to me for a longtime. I'm fortunate to have family and friends that give me relatively close access to this rarely visited treasure. The public access is not only a considerable distance but long abandoned trails have become quagmires of beetle killed fuel covering much of the forest floor at levels cumbersome to horses and hikers.
The Ramshorn is a fabulous plateau. I highly reccomend accessing it from Bear Pocket per Ralph Maughn's Guide or pursuing whatever options you can other than this one. IT might be a walk in the park for some of you, but it really tested me and my middleaged body. Its the good pain though. Burroughs Creek is like yesterday's hike, one I simply can't reccomend. They are nightmarish scrambles however celestial the pay off. Burroughs Creek is probably the closest access though. ITs beautiful up there too, but this Southwest Absaroka Range is as we all know rotten to the core.
I put some photos up. I don't know how to drive the site too well so the best I can do is tell you to click "most recent" on my profile here:
https://www.summitpost.org/user_page.php
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