Shakedown Trip

[RockChucker30]

I’m heading to Colorado the third week of September for an OTC archery elk hunt. My partner and I are planning to backpack in between 2 and 4 miles and hunt from there, being mobile as needed.

I’ve backpacked a bit and done some backpack hunts, so I know how experience teaches you a lot of small but important lessons. My buddy has never backpacked, so I wanted to take one or two shakedown trips this summer.

We decided to go climb Big Frog Mountain on the TN / GA line. It tops out around 4500’ and the route I chose is the most difficult with 2500’ of gain in 4.5 miles. The plan was to reach the top Saturday, spend the night, then pack out Sunday.

Driving in on the miles of gravel Forest Service Road it was pouring. The rain broke a little and as we rounded a curve a lanky black bear ran across the road in front of us. This area is a bear sanctuary, so they are pretty common. It was cool seeing one!

We parked and started up the pipe gate blocked access road. A couple hundred yards from the truck I noticed a small hole in the ground with a spider web that looked familiar. It was small, tangled, and messy. Sure enough, it was a black widow. She went inside before I could get a picture.



We found the trail turnoff and hiked in about a half mile before the trail ended in a tangled mess of blowdowns and mountain laurel 6-8’ tall. It was an old burn and we didn’t see signs of it getting better, so we went back to the access road and hiked up it.

We got to the end of the road and set up camp for the night.



This is the first time I’ve set up the BCS with the add in expander panel. I really like it in this configuration. It has a ton of room for two guys and gear, it’s still tall enough to walk into if you stoop a little, and the mesh screen was nice because it was 85° and muggy so we left the door open with the mesh closed all night.





We were lucky that it rained that day because there was no permanent water where we were. We filtered out of a rain pool.



Grass Stained Water…..YUM!



We spent an uneventful night and started out the next morning.



Right after I took that photo we reached the sunlit part you can see in the picture ahead of my buddy. When we got there Jonesey came out of his skin. He jumped to my side of the road, yelled, and had a few choice words.

This little guy was out sunning himself.




I got a short video clip and you can hear him singing to us, but you can also hear my buddy “singing” about how he {bleep} almost stepped on {bleep, bleep, bleep} so I won’t post the video.
The little guy got tired of us watching him and crossed the road behind us to continue on his way.



All in all it was a great trip. We both learned a lot, and we got to see three uncommon and dangerous critters.

[ElkNut1]

Thanks for sharing your venture there! Cool! Can't believe you let the rattler leave alive! (grin)

ElkNut1

[>>>---WW---->]

That's a great looking tarp. What size is it and how much does it weigh? Agree with Elknut. I don't like buzz worms!

[RockChucker30]

Elknut,

He was in some remote, steep, and rough country so I didn't think it likely someone else woud run up on him. Plus I figure that he's got a purpose because if he didn't the Lord wouldn't have put him out there. Ticks on the other hand.....I see NO use for ticks.

WW,

That tent is the Seekoutside BCS. Made in America and owned by Kevin and Angie Timm in Southwest Colorado. Kevin's a great guy to talk to, and he stands behind his stuff.

Without the expander panel it's 12.5 feet front to back, 7.5 feet across the rear, almost 8.5 feet across the widest part of the front, and 7 foot tall in the center. It weighs 3 lbs 4 oz on my scale after seam sealing, without stakes, and with the tail pullout line in this configuration.

Here's a pic of it without the expander panel.



With the expander panel it's still 7.5' across the rear, but it's 10 feet across the wide part of the front, 14 feet front to back, and a little lower at 6'6" tall. It weighs 4lbs 2 oz without stakes on my scale in this configuration.

Without the panel it's huge for just me and big enough for me and my wife. If I've got two guys and gear I will take the expander panel. This was my first trip with the panel in, and it made a big difference. Those tyvek sheets are 3 or 3.5 feet by 8 feet, so it gives you an idea of how much room we had. If we'd moved closer to the sides it would've looked a lot bigger.