AssKickin' Country

[BCBOY]

Just got my asskicked on an early season muley/mountain goat hunt out in the Ts'yl-os area of BC. We had never been there before so it was really a scoutin' mission more than anything. The country is very BIG!!!

Our huntin' rigs

Chilco Lake Views

BaseCamp

Track on the Beach at Base Camp

Had planned to solo backpack it for 6 days into the highcountry by using an existing trail network. WRONG! None of the trailheads were where the maps showed them to be, they weren't marked in the field either, so with hours of bushwhackin' through some serious blowdown, I found remants of a trail. The trail hadn't been cutout for several years, so the up and down of climbing over and under blowdown with a 55lbs pack on my back was very slow going. I finally hit some semi-open country but not the early season alpine I was wanting. I got a good view of the drainage I was hiking up and all I could see was kms of heavy timber bushwhackin to get to where I wanted to go. Figured with the condition of the trail it would have taken me a couple of days to get to where I wanted to go. So I bailed on that idea and formulated Plan B, climb the mountain right above me. A day of climbing up a tight chute between 2 cliffs, with a fare amount of technical climbing, I broke out on top with some serious vertical cliffs keeping me from getting to the lush alpine. Plan B failed.

View of Base Camp from on top. It is located where the creek flows into the lake.

 

[Prism]

Looks like God's country to me Great pics.

 

[ridgerunner]

Figured you were out in the hills somewhere, too bad it didn't turn out like you had hoped, sweet looking country(at least in pics). REminds me of our country here in Washington a little bit. Better luck with the next hunt.

 

[dakotakid]

Beautiful country............. big hardly is a fair way to describe it. Did you see any animals? When do you get to go back?

Mike

 

[BCBOY]

There was limited deer sign at the top. It was really just rock, dirt and a few stunted pines. With several chasms between me and the country I wanted to get to, I decide to head back down the chute I had climbed up. It was a hairy decent but I made it back to the timber just as it was getting dark. I was still a couple of hours from Base Camp so I set up my fly and decided to hunker down from another night. Just as I got the fly up and was starting to relax I was suddenly attacked my a bunch of wasps. Don't know how many times I was stung as I ran to get away. Then had to run back in and get my fly and pack. Which led to being stung several more times.
I bailed on that location to spend the night and set up a little further away. Just as I got the fly up a second time, the sky opened up and it started to pour buckets. I huddled under the fly all night and stayed remarkably dry giving how hard it was coming down.
In the morning, I threw on the raingear and started working back to base camp. When I hit the lake, I encountered the biggest windstorm I've ever seen. The lake was just pounding with huge waves. Just as I arrived at Base Camp, mom and dad were taking down the Wall tent and moving it furthur into the timber to get out of the wind. We got the camp set back up. We waited 2 days for the storm to settle down. Thank God for a warm wall tent.

Our Swamped Boat

 

[dakotakid]

Holy scnhitt, you really did take an asskicking didnt you!!!!!!!!!!!


Stunning pictures.

Mike

 

[BCBOY]

The wind in this country normally comes out of the South, but we had a North wind and she brought plenty of rain and huge waves. We were able to Come-Along the boat up on some logs on the beach and pull the plug to drain it.
I was very happy I had bailed out of the highcountry as it was pounded by heavy snow and fog. It would have made that hairy decent even more scarier.
2 days of pounding the wind finally died down. We took down camp and decided to take advantage of the calm water and headed back to the truck and camper.

We spent a couple of days boating from the truck and camper, glassing for goats and fishing and such.

A Nice Bull Trout dad caught

A Nice Rainbow Trout dad caught

Even got some shed hunting in.

Friendly pine marten

Young grizz we saw from the boat

 

[Chef]

Great pictures.
Nice to spend quality time with Dad in such beautiful country.
Thanks for taking us along! (even if it's just in pictures)

Chef
"I Love Animals...They're Delicious!"

 

[BCBOY]

Overall, the trip was great!!!! Even though I didn't see that monster 200 inch plus buck in the highcountry that I dreamed about, I still consider the trip a success. I still have 3 months to kill a whopper around home so I'm not concerned. I did see a ton of goats, probably 40-50. The one side of the lake was open general season goats and did see some billys a long ways up that would have been impossible to get at. I've got a Limited Entry goat tag for around home so I wasn't about to kill myself going after those billys. I got to do yet another trip with my mom and dad, and given dad's heart condition, that in itself is worth it. I had always wanted to see this part of BC and got to learn the country a bit for possible future trips. It is amazing country that is so vast that it really makes your jaw drop.

"Have you suffered, starved and triumphed, groveled down, yet grasped at glory,
Grown bigger in the bigness of the whole?
?Done things? just for the doing, letting babblers tell the story,
Seeing through the nice veneer the naked soul?
Have you seen God in His splendors, heard the text that nature renders?
(You?ll never hear it in that family pew.)
The simple things, the true things, the silent men who do things ?
Then listen to the Wild ? it's calling you."

-Robert Service

It was really cool to see all the Chinook spawning at the base of this slide. The water was choked full of them.

 

[tufferthandug]

That lake is a doozie isn't it. Wicked for dollies.

 

[AZbowhntr]

Looks like a heck of a trip. Those are some awesome pics of the country.

 

[eelgrass]

Stunning! Absolutely stunning! Your dad looks as tough as you. It doesn't surprise me that you found a shed!

Thanks for the great adventure story, and the Robert Service!

Steve

 

[Smokepole]

Beautiful, awsome pictures, thanks for sharing them and your experiences of the trip.

Smokepole

 

[Hornseeker]

Duh AMMMMMMMMM! That is some nice country....flat wild though huh! Good Luck man, its definitley ASS Kickin!

 

[ICMDEER]

Amazing country, super pictures and a story to remember. Congrats on a a great adventure. BC really does have some amazing country. Thanks for letting us get a glimpse of what is out there.

 

[boneaddict]

Thats what I call an adventure! Thanks for sharing. Ridge runner is right, it does look sort of like this country a little around Lake Chelan. No grizzs though, or not likely anyway.

 

[sjhgraysage]

Awesome post! Thanks for allowing us to share some of your adventure.

 

[heartshot]

Talk about a great story and awesome pics to back it up. Once again many thanks.

 

[OSOK]

Cool stuff, Steve...

 

[littlefoot]

as always, very nice, bboy...thanks...quite an adventure..

 

[bobcatbess]

BCBOY

IF THATS AN ASS-KICKIN I'LL TAKE TWO OF THEM!!!

WHAT MAKES THE WATER SO BLUE???

WE ALL GET A KICKEN ONCE IN A WHILE!!!

YOU KINDA HAVE TO JUST TAKE IT!!!

AFTER YOU GOT BACK OFF THE TOP & SEEN YOUR DADS FISH DID YOU THINKAMN,I SHOULD OF STAYED LOWER & FISHED,JUST KIDDING,WE ALL KNOW WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR!!!

THE ONLY bobcat WONDERING IF YOU'D INVITE ME UP FOR A KICKIN???

 

[SoTX]

Wow, that is truely some beautiful country. I hope you realise just how lucky you are. Thanks for sharing. AWESOME

"We MUST Hunt"

 

[BCBOY]

Bobcat,
The blue colour of the lake comes comes from all the glaciers in the area. I haven't bought a fighing licence for years, kinda lost the passion because of other things (ie muleys). It was cool seeing dad fishing. Reminded me of when I was a kid. I had to actually push him to fish. He was worried about finding me a goat. I told him, "I can glass right from here. Get the rod out and start fishing." It wasn't much more than 2 casts and he caught that bull trout. LOL! Probably one of the biggest fish he's ever caught.

 

[Muleyslyr]

Very Cool BC....definately a trip you'll remember for a long time. Thanks for takin' the time to take all the pics.