This is the shit I get into all the time here. This is some seriously knarly country.  

Alright. So this is going to be quick. Check this day out:

I got up at 3:30 in the darn morning. I left the house at 4:30. I searched and searched for this trailhead after 2 hours of driving with no luck. So, I settled for a nice landmark of a creek coming into another creek as well as roads diverging. I was headed directly south, so it was no worries getting back to the truck. OK. So, I was led to believe the stream would be very small and I could get across without getting too wet. WRONG. It was shin-deep, so over the boots it went. Oh, by the way, it was freaking RAINING. So what the hell, right? But, I had my warm-weather hunting clothes underneath my hunting rain jacket and hunting rain pants. I start up the hill. Hill is an understatement. Cliff. So I'm headed up this moss/stick/blowdown/hemlock-infused hill in a cloud (it was a misting rain) and instantly sweat in all my clothes. Now, I WAS going very slowly, trying to keep myself from getting sweaty, but it just cannot happen with that kind of elevation gain...no matter how slow you go. Seriously, I could have walked five steps in five minutes and wouldn't have been able to get around it. NO JOKE. (See photo)

Ok, so I never really topped out on a ridge (because it wouldn't end until I was higher than I wanted to be), just a lot of Hemlock and brushy areas. I saw elk sign. Was it fresh? No telling because of the rain. Elk poop was cold, rubs were aging, I was cold, shoot. It was like hunting in a rainstorm...go figure!

I walked up that hill. I walked down the hill. I cut across many draws, many openings (brush covered openings, don't think I had it easy), blowdown, trees, sticks, moss, creeks. NOTHING. I am seriously discouraged and think I may have made a mistake paying the money to hunt an area I am unfamiliar with without someone who can show me how to do it. Then I started to get worried. What would happen if, while walking down the hill (or up for that matter) I slipped on a wet log or branch, or freaking twig (they were all slippery) and hurt myself? So I'd be sitting there with an injury, wet clothes (inside and out), and little chance of making a fire. SCREW THAT. So, cautiously, I hunted back down at about 12:30. Somehow, I made it to the creek safely and simply resigned to walking IN the creek until I got to where I thought I would make a camp. I peeled off my layers and let them sit out on the truck to dry and thought about setting up camp. And I thought. And I considered. I did NOT want to go up that hill again, with so little fresh sign, why would I? But, not knowing the country better, I didn't have many options. So instead I chose to leave that place, take a road up to the top of a ridge and find a place there.

That's what all the locals do.

That ridge was CROWDED with trucks and tents. That sealed my fate. I was pissed. I was disappointed in myself. I paid a lot of money for this opportunity and here I was, tapping out. But I was done. I had had enough with people, of assholes tailing me on a dirt road at 5:00 in the morning, of steep hills, of wet feet, of all that crap. So I made for home. On the way, I started to think, now what would make this better? A float in the canoe, on a calm lake, with a bobber and a beer!

So that's what I did.

I was in and out of the house as fast as I could get everything taken care of. Had to wrestle with the canoe to get it in the truck and then battle TRAFFIC up the lake. It's amazing what I nice day will do to fisherman. This lake has been empty the past week...but not tonight. OK. So I got launched okay, and met a nice gal and this kid, who caught a REALLY nice catfish. So we chatted about recipes and I helped them get there boat on the car, and I was off! Relaxing time! NO. Motorboats all over. Fisherman crowding a lone canoeman. So I paddled far FAR to a little cove. NOTHING BITING. I heard the kids across the lake (on the shore) catching fish. I saw guys in a boat near me catching fish. But, my bobber and worm were not doing it. OK. So I did that for a couple hours, then figured, "how pleasant would it be to paddle out to the middle of the lake and let the (constant breeze) blow me to the put-in site?" Very nice. So I paddled out to the middle of the lake and JUST THEN, the downslope breeze began and sent me in the wrong direction! So there I was, fighting a headbreeze alone in a canoe. Great.

I was approaching the landing when I noticed a Suburban pull up. About 8 Asians kids piled out. Pretty quick, the one with really white shoes ran over to my truck then ran back to his friends. Then four of them ran back to the truck. (I'm paddling like a sonofabitch now...wishing I had my pistol with me, but glad I didn't because I would have fired on them.) So I can't see what they're doing over there, but seeing as how my truck was the only vehicle in the area, I knew they were trying to break in. They posted on gal on the dock to keep an eye on me. She threw rocks in the water until she knew I was committed and coming in fast. So she screams, "Hurry hurry, get going! We got to go now! Come on!" They all piled in that Suburban and were gone. I had no description, no plate numbers, nothing. (You can only paddle so fast in a canoe alone.)

The good news? Shit, I explored some country. I got exercise. I took some nice photos. I fished. I floated. All in the same day!

But crap folks, I am DONE with it. Tomorrow, I am giving in. Yes, despite the "timeline" I'm on with hunting season. I thought about that a lot today and realized something. I hunt where I'm happy to hunt. I hunt areas that are pleasant to be in. When it takes upwards of two hours to START ON THE TRAIL, then another two hours to get to a decents spot, the rewards start to get a little trivial. I used to hunt because it was fun; it got me in areas that I wouldn't normally go; it was interesting and had lots of views; it made me happy. In THIS shit, I'm not happy, can you tell? So I think I might have jumped the gun a little in buying an elk tag for an area I wasn't familiar with. BUT, I have time, and I'm sure after a good rest, I'll want to go out some more. But for now? Shoot. Tomorrow is mine to laze around the house and get caught up on Tom-time.