By: Bears Butt

About a year ago, I was looking on Google Earth and located a small pond high above any access roads near home, at that time I told myself…Butt, you need to make that hike!  It isn’t as though I’m into hiking all that much, it’s more that I like to find out of the way places that might hold a game animal I’m in pursuit of.  At this pond there could be deer, turkey, moose, elk, grouse….all of those critters live and play around this place.  At the same time I also saw, not too far away, the remnants of an old cabin.  I figured I could hike and visit both some day.

Well, this old body of mine will be 67 come August and if I’m going to be doing any hiking I figure I best be getting on with it.  I needed a full day, good weather and an excuse to go.  Yesterday I had two out of the three and chose to “do it”!  What do I mean I had two out of the three?  I had nice weather.  An excuse to go…turkey hunting.  But I only had until 10 o’clock….I had promised Wapiti and Tracker I would meet them in Logan at 11 a.m. to do a mountain man demonstration to a group of 90 some 4th graders!

I was at the parking spot at 5:30 a.m. and it was just light enough I could travel without the aid of a flashlight.  I also had the makings of a full moon (not quite).

So, up the trail I had never been on before I went.  It is quite steep at the beginning and I thought as I plodded along that if it continued to be that steep, I could see I was not going to make it.  But after a couple of switch backs it mellowed out a lot.

As you can see the trail is very well defined and so a lot of folks use it.  It used to be a trail that ATV’s used, but that activity has been banned and so the trail continues to grow in to the path it is today.  I noticed some bicycle tire marks in some of the muddy spots.  So some very ambitious people are using it for that.  I know I could not bike up, or down for that matter, this trail.

I took pictures every once in awhile to document the trail so that YOU can see what it looks like if you ever decide to venture up it.

My goal was to make it to a pond that is situated just to the lower right of this point of pines on the hill.

I’m still quite a ways from there and I trudged on, all the time hoping a turkey would present itself for a shot.

The morning sunrise from up on this trail was very pretty.

And as I climbed and climbed my goal became closer and closer.  Again, the pond sits just to the right and down from that point of pines on that far hill.

Soon the trail began a slight down hill grade and I knew I was nearing a junction in the trail.  If I were to go to the left at the junction, it will lead me to the pond, the trail to the right will take me to old Petes Cabin.

It was an amazing morning for a hike like this one.  It had rained pretty hard the day before and so everything was wet and the air was crisp with the smell of the rain still in the air.  Not a breeze was blowing but I could hear running water rushing down the narrow draw to my left.  Some of that water would be coming from the pond, while other water would be coming from other narrow draws that seemed to converge on this spot.

I chose the left trail and forged the small stream.

The picture is looking back toward the junction in the main trail.  I took the picture after I made it across the water without getting too wet.  On up the trail a little ways farther I found an old fire ring where someone who spent a night or two camping had made.  What a nice little hide out for a quiet camp.

In the background you can see the trail climbing up the hill beyond the fire ring.  That was going to lead me to the pond.  Looking back toward the fire ring you can see the nice little grassy spot to pitch your tent.

It was only 100 or so yards from here to the pond and the nice little meadow that it sits in.  I really expected to see deer, moose and turkey in this meadow and I moved slowly and quietly up to it.

You should be able to put these two pictures together  and see how it looks.  The meadow stretches for 3 or 400 yards off to the south ending in a large stand of quakies.  A perfect spot for deer, moose, turkey and elk.  But wait!  Perhaps a fox as well!

I stayed around the pond calling for turkeys for about a half hour and decided I was wasting my time.  Except for the fact that it was such a pretty spot in the world to be…peaceful, quiet and beautiful.  I hope to return this fall.

Well, with it being around 7:30 a.m., I decided I would venture up to Old Petes place to see what that was all about.  What I didn’t know was in store for me was the extremely steep climb up portions of this trail!  And how narrow the trail is in some places.

There it is!!!!  My first view of the cabin from down below!  I knew I would make it at this point and so I continued my slow ascent until suddenly there it was!

In its day I’m sure Old Pete enjoyed staying up in this out of the way place watching his flock of sheep grazing the hillsides.  But those days are long gone now.  Luckily for me the cabin is still in as good of shape as it is.

I took a picture down toward the pond area to give you an idea as to how far it is from the pond up to the cabin.

That narrow strip just out of the shadow, way down there, is the meadow and pond.  I’d guess somewhere close to 1/2 mile, maybe 3/4 mile.  Don’t be scared of the steepness of the terrain…..the trail makes two switchback turns on the way up. 😉

Well, what a great place to be at 8:30 in the morning!  Time for a snack!

It was sure a pleasure to have had the health to be able to climb up to this beautiful spot.

After munching down a whole can of Kipper Snacks by myself, I looked at the time….8:45!  I have to be in Logan by 11, so that gives me 2 hours and 15 minutes to get off this mountain and drive to Logan.  I gotta hustle!

My trip down the mountain was pretty much uneventful until near the end when a hen turkey putted her way around a bush and then came straight at me!  When I finally decided to take a picture of her and reached for the camera, she noticed me in the trail and high tailed it out of Dodge as quickly as she could.  Why can’t I get a dumb tom turkey to do that?

I made it to Logan by 11 and got things arranged at the school before Wapiti and Tracker got there.  Our show went off with only one minor hitch….I demonstrated how to start a fire with flint and steel and had a good smoke going on right under a smoke detector.  90 plus kids were all yelling as loud as they could….”GO BEARS BUTT, GO BEARS BUTT, GO BEARS BUTT…..”  I’m glad the alarm didn’t go off!  We won’t do that trick again inside a building….always load and shoot parade loads outside and always start your flint and steel fires outside….two very important lessons for any of you who like to show off your mountain man skills!

May 24, 2016

Bears Butt