The trip for the year 1970 seemed to take on the air of being a Wild one. We started planning and working out the details early in the summer, since there was so much involved. Harry, Bud, LeRoy, and I came up with the idea of packing up the Bench Creek Trail to the summit overlooking the head of Canyon Creek. It was about five miles from the main highway. Uncle Charlie got wind of the trip and invited himself and an acquaintance by the name of Flick Johnson along. Flick would bring along three horses for pack animals. I Will get more into the story of the horses later. LeRoy had two Welch Ponies, a Shetland horse, and two donkeys. Harry had two donkeys, one was very experienced, the other was young, but she would learn fast enough. The horses had to have new shoes put on them. The donkeys do not get shod. They have their feet trimmed, so they can walk in the mountains. All this had to be done in early summer so the animals could get used to the changes in their feet. LeRoy would haul his five animals in his truck and trailer. Harry would haul his two donkeys in his stock trailer and Bud would pull the trailer house to leave as a base camp near the highway.
A lot of time went into the planning besides the work on the animals and trailers. Making up a grocery list was quite a chore. All the food had to be loaded on the animals for the trip of five miles. Since I would be doing most of the cooking, my job was to make up some kind of menu. We did not want to have more than we really needed, but we still wanted enough to feed everyone. As the summer went on, more word got out that we were planning an elk hunting pack trip. Uncle Charlie invited one of his daughters, Kathy and her husband, Ed Ashton along. Bud invited a friend from Church, named Marty Sielaff and two of his friends. L knew Marty from working with him for several years. We finally had to tell everyone not to invite anyone else along. Eleven people on a pack-in trip was getting to be a little much.
Fall finally came, it was time to head for the hills. It was mid-October, we had to plan for wintry weather and maybe some snow might fall on us. We would be packed in about a week and five miles one way. We must have looked like something out of the old west movies as we headed for Canyon Creek, then on over Banner Creek Summit on our way to the Bench Creek Trail. There Were not any problems with equipment or animals on the way to the place we wanted to park. Uncle Charlie would be a day or two later getting in with the other horses. There was a large area to leave the trailer house and the trucks back off the main road. The trucks and trailers would be okay there for the week. Uncle Charlie checked out the place to park and had found a trail over the first hill to the main Bench Creek trail. We should have made our own scouting trip, as it turned out. The trail over the first hill was not a trail at all but just a place where some deer and elk had been used a few times in the past. We should have camped at another place and went up the main trail to start with.
Anyway, we loaded down the animals with as much as they Could safely pack. Even the little Shetland carried her load in decent shape. Some of us packed our own sleeping bags in backpacks because we were not working with the horses and donkeys. Finally, we had everything Packed on the animals to head up the hill. We found a trail to use but it was a poor one, it did go up hill. We were getting along rather good, resting the animals often, they were working hard. I was following along behind Harry, who was leading his older donkey when she suddenly lost her balance and started to fall over backwards. I could see she was in trouble, so I quickly ran up behind her and shoved my shoulder into her hip to hold her up until she regained her footing. She took a few quick steps then righted herself. Now, under most circumstances you do not shove your head and shoulder into the business end of a donkey. She looked around at me as I Stepped away from her with the expression as if to say thank you and went on up the hill. Loaded as she was, a fall down the hill would have been bad. After much work we reached the top where there was a good trail down to the Bench Creek Trail. Now that we were on the main trail, there were not any more problems. The animals had to be rested regularly in every little way. It would take most of the day to reach where we wanted to camp. On our way in, the case of fresh eggs was on one of LeRoy’s donkeys when she tried to go under a low limb on a pine tree. She managed to hit the case a good shot. Several dozen eggs were broken, when we checked them at camp, but the broken shells were removed, and we used them anyway. We think she hit the limb deliberately, but she would not. We were about a half mile from the campsite, when Harry’s young donkey wore out and laid down in the trail. She was young and had not packed before. She was carrying a bag of grain and it got heavy. We unloaded the bag and went on up the trail leaving her lying there. LeRoy knows donkeys well and he said as soon as we were out of sight, she would get up and follow us on to camp. Sure enough, it was not long before she was right behind us. She followed us on into camp like he knew she would. LeRoy would get the grain later.
On the summit was a wide place to camp with lots of large trees all around to tie to. Many years ago, this was used for a hunting camp from the way it looked. We found a frame for a tent laying on the ground where a tent had been at one time. The frame was stood up and tied in place. We brought in a roll of plastic to make a tent to sleep in. The plastic was stretched two layers thick around the frame. This would be the sleeping area for the week, since it was big enough for the eleven of us and it was not crowded. We found an old grill to put over the fire to set the pans on. While putting some ropes in a tree to anchor the tent, Bud was standing on a round block of wood reaching as high as he could. The rope hung up on his pistol holster on his hip. The timing was perfect. Harry had a small fire pile of firecrackers for some reason. He lit it and it hit Bud’s foot just as it went off. At the same time, Bud gave a jerk on the rope to free it. He just knew he had shot a hole through his foot because he felt the blast against his boot. He got down and looked at his f○○t. Checked his pistol to see if it had fired′ then he saw us laughing and realized what had happened. Harry received a good cussing, and he deserved it. We thought it was funny, especially the look on his face because he really thought he had shot himself.
The next day, Uncle Charlie and Flick came into camp with the three horses that Flick claimed to be mountain wise animals. As we s○○n found out, they were thoroughbreds being used on the racetracks pulling chariots. They were scared half to death of the hills. One was an older mare and the other two Were two-year Olds. None of them knew how to eat mountain grass, they lost weight during the week. The other horses and donkeys thrived very well on what they could find. They did not have to work hard to eat, they were standing in the grass up to their bellies. The Shetland was almost out of sight in the meadow. Along with Uncle Charlie, was his daughter Kathy and Ed. This made up the rest of the party of eleven. Everyone threw their sleeping bags in the tent to be ready for the night. That night the weather turned bad with about two inches of snow falling on us. This was not any problem. We were prepared for it. We had hoped the fresh snow would help the hunting.
We hunted close to camp for a few hours without finding anything. Harry and Leroy led the horses most of the time, while Bud and I walked. Marty and his friends only stayed three days, then packed up to head for home. They had an enjoyable time while there and we enjoyed their company. They did not find an elk, but they still had fun. Everyone tried to get along most of the time. With that many people in camp, fixing meals was quite a chore. I still did most of the c○○king along with Kathy’s help and everyone had enough to eat. All the cooking was done on the campfire. We brought plenty of food last week.
After hunting for several days, we were getting desperate to find an elk. Everyone spread out in different directions to look for some fresh tracks of some kind. Bud and I were hunting together and had covered several miles during the morning. Each group came into camp about noon to Compare notes on what tracks were seen. Ed had stayed on the trail. We came in on which was easy for him to walk around on. He told us some elk had crossed the trail a mile or so below Camp and had gone up the hill. He thought they were fresh that morning.
Away we Went to find the tracks to check them out. Bud and I were on foot, while Harry and LeRoy rode the two Welsh ponies. Ed was right, a herd had crossed the trail that morning. We took off after them on the run. However, the running came to a halt when they went straight up hill. All of us followed them for some time until the horses wore out and had to stop. Bud and I left them behind and on up the mountain we went in hot pursuit. The tracks were getting fresher all the time, so we knew we were getting close. They did not know we were following them, so they were just walking and feeding as they went. We slowed down to sneak along and walked right in on them. A fat young cow stepped out in front of Bud in a clearing between some trees. He dropped her with a heart shot, which spooked the rest of the herd. They took off so fast, we did not get another shot. We field dressed her, then looked around to see exactly where we were from camp. The sun was still shining bright, but it was late afternoon. The best plan was to drag the elk down close to the main road to leave her for the night. She was hung in a tree as high as possible, so varmints would not get to her. A place on the highway was marked with some rocks and sticks so we could find her the next day. Seemed like we were about three miles down the main highway from where the trail took off to camp then it was another five miles up hill to camp.
The sun was still shining as we started up the highway but by the time we found the trail, darkness was setting in fast. The trail was easy to follow even in the dark. We had flashlights along but did not want to use them until necessary to save the batteries. When total darkness finally set in, the faint moon cast strange shadows everywhere. We were a couple of nervous wrecks by the time we reached camp. We were glad we had each other for company. Once an owl flew out of a tree beside us and we thought we were goners right then and there. It had been dark for several hours by the time we reached the camp. Harry and LeRoy said they thought about going down the trail away from camp to Scare us as we came in but decided it was a bad thing to do because we may shoot at anything moving. In our condition. They made the right choice. Play it cool for a change. They had supper waiting for us and it was sure good. We were too tired to do anything but sit down and rest. After some supper and hot coffee and chocolate we gave them the run down on the hunt. Harry and LeRoy knew about where we had the elk hanging. They cut around the hillside as a short cut. Bud and I followed the trail most of the way then went around the hill to the highway. We found the markers on the highway then headed up the hill to the elk. Harry and LeRoy were already there by the time we made it up the hill. The horses had smelled the guts from quite a distance and went straight to where Bud had killed her then went downhill to where she was hanging. We pulled her on down to the highway by hand before loading a half on each horse. The trip up the highway took an hour or so to the base camp. The elk would be put in the trailer house where it was cool and where she would be safe until the trip was over. Harry and LeRoy took the horses up the trail to camp while Bud and I went on hunting for another elk. We had felt we would get to camp somehow, so we might Just as Well hunt on the way. It was past noon by the time we reached camp. We were not about to go out anymore that day. We figured we had walked around sixteen miles the day before and another twelve or more already today. Tomorrow we will rest in camp for the day. The next day since Bud and I were not going out hunting, Harry and LeRoy walked down the trail to get the kinks out from the day before. Ed had gone up around the mountain above them looking for an elk. He flushed out some grouse from a fir thicket. The grouse came winging down the hill like a bullet. As fate would have it, Harry and LeRoy happened to be in the path of the grouse. It suddenly went to a stop and lit in a tree beside them. LeRoy drew his pistol and shot its head off and it fell at their feet. They had just picked it up, when Ed came puffing down the hill to where they were. He wanted to know if they had seen the grouse go by. Harry held up the dead bird and told him that LeRoy had shot its head off on the fly as it went past. They never told him any different and to this day he still believes the tale they told him.
That same day Ed was complaining about his lips being chapped. He was asking around for some advice. This was not the thing to do around this crew of hunters. Harry′ again took advantage of the situation. He told Ed to get some donkey manure and rub it on his lips. Ed was quite serious when he asked if that would really help. Harry told him the manure will not do anything for the chapped lips, but it would sure stop him from licking them. I am not too sure but I think Ed saw through that story.
We hunted several more days without finding another elk. The activity in and around camp was calm most of the time. The evenings were spent shooting the bull, around the campfire. With so many people in camp, fixing meals took a lot of time. Everyone had plenty to eat. Ed and Kathy left to go home before the week was over. Flick sat around with a bottle of whiskey and complained because Harry kept calling his thoroughbreds worthless broom tails. This irritated him to no end. Harry finally Conceded that they were thoroughbred broom tails, which still did not make him any happier.
An enjoyable time was had in spite of everything, but time ran out on the hunt, the trip was over. We started packing up and getting everything ready to load the animals. The animals knew it was time to go home. They were ready to get their loads and behaved very patiently for all of them to be loaded. They took to the trail with much eagerness. Even the donkey that gave us problems on the way in packed out a load. We found out she did not like to be led and she followed behind and stayed close. The trail was downhill all the way to the main road. The animals were not loaded as heavily, so they did not need to rest as much. We went around the hill we had gone over. When we first left camp a week earlier, staying on the main trail clear to the base camp was easier on the animals. We were at the base camp for about three hours. Everyone was ready to head for home. This was the last time we would plan a Pack-in camping trip and we would not have so many people joining us on any more hunts. We informed every one of our decisions thereby dissolving the great partnership for hunting that we had enjoyed for years. LeRoy was going to take a job out of town and would not be around to hunt with us. Uncle Charlie would still be invited along but not everyone he knows. We were burnt out on group hunting and would limit future trips to no more than four guys, if possible.
We hung the elk in Harry’s garage until we could get her cut into steaks for the freezer. She was particularly good eating. During the next summer we would decide where to go the Coming fall.