Oh So Sore

Well, I did it!! I made it through the most dreaded week of all my time out in Utah!! The infamous pack trip. I was really worried about spending a whole week with my boss, not to mention two other people whom I didn't know a thing about, searching in some of the most inhospitable areas for the coveted pika. Well, I was supposed to head out with Kevin's boss (also Kevin, we'll call him K.B. for short) and some other random dude on Monday at 7am. It turned out Kevin would be late, and they decided it was best if I just drove out with him while they took the horses up to our campsite. I did meet them that morning, though, to hand off our equipment. K.B. seemed pretty friendly, but the other guy, Dean, was tall, somber, and quiet...and he looked at me suspiciously, so that made me a bit nervous, too. I took care of some business in the morning, and when Kevin was ready to go, we hit the road.

On the way, I told Kevin if we had a choice, I'd rather go with K.B., since we know where he works and know he's reputable. Kevin made a big deal about it, in a joking way, claiming I wanted him to be alone with some random serial killer in the woods. Heh. Actually, Kevin was mostly well behaved on this trip and didn't aggravate me TOO much (probably because we paired off with the other two throughout our time in the mountains). We even joked a bit - it was like the Kevin I knew the first two weeks out here. Thank GOD.

So we got to the Henry's Fork trailhead and began our 4.5 mile trek to the campsite. We were in pure wilderness, which means no vehicular traffic of any sort, just horses and hikers. Our hike out was really nice, as we headed past an old flying squirrel plot and into some beautiful mountain taiga areas. Just as we caught glimpse of Kings Peak (the highest peak in Utah), surrounded by other monumental mountains, all striped with snow, our GPS indicated we should bear left, leaving the trail and heading into the woods, so we did just that. Shortly thereafter, we found ourselves at the camp. Two tents awaited us, nestled under the protective cover of large fir trees. A fire was ablaze in the pit, and the site looked as though someone had lived there for a long time, with all the amenities up and ready to use. I had my own tent, being the only girl, and it was already full of all my things. Talk about first class service!

We sat around the fire that night, just talking and getting acquainted with everyone. I wound up talking more to Dean and discovered he was actually a retired highway patrol officer, and he was a lot more personable than he seemed in the morning. He's also quite the horseman, which is why he came along on this venture. I also found out that K.B., whom I WANTED to work with initially, was the one I had to watch out for...turns out he'd been arrested for ARMED ROBBERY in London! No joke! He told us the whole story...he was out there on his mission (yes, I was the only non-mormon on this trip) and his car matched the description of the getaway car - they were pursued by hoards of cops, including by helecopter, and were in custody for a whole day! It sounded like quite the ordeal!

I spent the night huddled in my four person tent, absolutely freezing. We were at quite a high altitude, and for some reason my sleeping bag, which is supposed to be good up to -35 degrees F, doesn't do the job it used to. Needless to say, I didn't have the best night, and my trepidation for the following day didn't help much, either.

Tuesday was our first day on the trail. The four of us did the first pika point together, so Dean could learn the ropes. He wasn't expecting it to be as strenuous as it was. We found ourselves out on the rockslide at 11000 feet, trying not to kill ourselves as the rocks shifted. Luckily, we found pika and no one was hurt. Oh, and on the way up, the scariest thing happened. K.B. brought us up this rediculously steep hillside on horseback, and Dean's horse (who was in front of me) couldn't get up and fell DOWN the hill INTO my horse, knocking MY horse down the hill...luckily my horse, Shebar, was able to catch herself and recover, holding up Dean's horse as it collided with us, and before he could take any worse of a tumble. That was SO scary, and after that I was really put off to riding up and down some of those hills. Oh, and it didn't help that later, while trying to get DOWN this hill, I had to lead Shebar by hand. She was in such a hurry, pulling clutzy me down faster than I could go, that I almost fell right under her as she was speeding downward. That pretty much spooked me out of ever wanting a horse...who'da thought the day would come! (I'll probably change my mind again soon...)

Anyway, we split up after our first pika point, Kevin with K.B., and me with Dean. I was glad to be working with someone older and not so spry. We completed two points that day, and I felt awful about dragging him clear up the shear edge of a mountain, but we found pika at both spots, so it was all worth it. That night, we came back and K.B. cooked us dinner (he cooked all our dinners...first class all the way, I tell ya!) At one point, K.B. asked where his stove grate went, and I mentioned I'd washed it down by the creek and returned it, to which he was surprised and grateful...of course Kevin, always trying to look good in front of his boss, chimed in that HE washed all the soup cans, to which no one reacted much. Hah! Speaking of which, while K.B. and Dean thought of just about EVERYTHING, they completely forgot eating utensils and bowls, so we had to eat all our food out of tin cans and we whittled all our utensils. Talk about living like mountain men! It really was an experience not to forget.

My second night in the tent went a lot better than the first, as K.B. suggested boiling some water and putting it in a Nalgene bottle, and then putting it in my sleeping bag. It actually did the trick and kept my bag warm most of the night. I couldn't have been more grateful.

Wednesday, we headed out even earlier. Whenever I'd hear the guys stirring, I'd pretend to sleep until I knew a fire was going and light started to appear. I was paired with K.B. this day, and we were going to hit three pika points, while the others were just going to do two. I didn't find that at all fair, but what could I say? This was the big boss-man, and I had to make a good impression. Of course, once we headed out, we wound up on the wrong trail - it went in the right direction, but it was NOT suited for horses. After a very tricky uphill climb, including a spot in which we had to jump a downed log while rising up 4 feet on very narrow trail with a cliff to our left, we were able to find our way back to the actual trail. We headed up to the top of Flattop Mountain, a vast, though flat, tundra that spanned across a number of connected mountaintops. I talked with K.B. a bit, but I was nervous, and I'm sure I sounded like a total moron...plus, I think I've dumbed my conversations down for so many people I've talked to in the past so as to not make them feel bad or think I'm elitist that when I talk to anyone, even my bosses, it comes out that way. NOT good. He didn't seem too weirded out by me, though, and we had decent convos about horses and field work and all sorts of things.

Our first pika point was a field of rocks that spilled out over the edge of the mountain. It went pretty well, in my opinion, but K.B. could see I wasn't too steady on my feet out there. I admitted I was a clutz, and he was pretty understanding the rest of the time, so that was good. Our next two talus slopes were pretty small, so we didn't have to spend too much time on them and still found pika. Between point two and three, we noticed that it was snowing on the mountain just across the canyon from us, so we debated on whether or not to even DO the next one, but we rode over there and did it anyway. While I was doing my survey, thunder boomed and we deemed it time to high tail it out of there. I was SOOOO sore from all this riding, but K.B. wanted to trot us out, so I became a veritable ragdoll on my poor horse, Bandit. It didn't help that my stirrups seemed to be too long at this point, and I couldn't even post (stand in the stirrups) to offset the bouncing. Luckily I think K.B. noticed my agony and we just walked at high speed out of there. There wasn't much thunder before we made it down the mountain and back to camp, though we did get pummeled by little pellets of snow the whole way down. Luckily, nothing accumulated.

We'd discussed the option of leaving that night, as we were done with the points and we expected the other two to be back at camp before us, but they were nowhere to be found, to our surprise. We sat around, nursing a fire as we were pelted by the wintry mix. About an hour later, the other two appeared with stories of horses falling down mountains (and giving Kevin a nasty rope burn, since he'd dismounted and was trying to lead it down said mountain) and hidden trails. By this point, it was too late to leave, so we just settled in to camp, admiring a lone bull moose who decided to bed down in the valley behind us, and sharing stories of the day.

I spent the final night freezing in my tent again. K.B. lent me his Nalgene along with mine, but it was so darned cold that even that extra warmth didn't help. The frostiness just penetrated my sleeping bag. It didn't help that this pack trip burnt off any fat I may have had left, so I had no insulation of any sort. I was treated to some weird dreams while I did sleep, and when morning came it was none too soon.

The guys were up before first light, and I made sure to pack all my gear before emerging from my tent. We packed up the horses, which convinced me again that I'm not suited for keeping equines. I could barely lift anything, and I am no good with knots, so forget about figuring out all those crazy straps and buckles. Eventually, K.B. and Dean told us to start hiking down (we only had 4 horses, and 2 of them were for pack at this point), so Kevin and I hiked the 4.5 miles back to the trucks and actually beat the horse guys back by about 10 minutes. By that point, I was so achy and dead that I had Kevin drive and stared blankly out the window the entire drive back. I'm so glad to be "home," and to know that I only have one more week of craziness left to endure! I hope everything is well with all of you and hope to hear from you soon!