Trip and Gear Report
Trip Thoughts: Looking back I still had an awesome time, but the altitude sickness, possible flu resurgence, or both really put a damper on me in the moment. I’m already thinking about a redo and things I would change. Staying a night between 5k and 8k is something I would do for sure. I plan to look into Diamox but am unsure if the juice will be worth the squeeze due to the dehydration and other side effects. Hopefully I can get this sorted, because I love glassing the high country. Now I just need to decide if I want to do an archery hunt or accept the longer wait for a muzzy or even rifle tag. I really like dead deer and things would have been a lot easier with a rifle. We’ll see… I’ve got 6 years of building points in multiple states, so I’ll be operating under the “best available” draft strategy.
Noteworthy Gear: Alpha glass is awesome. The time I spent looking at deer, elk, and the mountain goat were awesome and a good part of my hunt enjoyment. The crazy creek hex 2.0 chair was money for long glassing sessions. Way better than a cut up sleeping pad or BTR stool (I’ve tried both). The back support is worth the weight penalty if you’ll be glassing for longer than an hour. I’ll still carry the cut pad on day hunts I don’t expect to do much glassing but if I’m bringing a spotter I’m probably bringing the crazy creek. Trekking poles are mandatory for me. If you see me hiking, I’ll always have either a weapon or trekking pole in hand. Softshell jacket. I hate rain gear as I feel I sweat out as much water as the rain. We never had any significant rain, but I figured if things got that bad, I’d be under my tarp or if I was away from camp could turn my trash bag into a poncho. Also, the milder weather in September had me willing to roll the dice on less resistant gear. I’ll be testing this out more and more particularly on day trips where the consequences aren’t so high.
Disappointing Gear: GFI keani chest holster. I never got comfortable with the handgun behind my bino harness. I had walked around the house and a few trails around home prior to taking it. I’m still searching for a carry option that provides immediate access but zero to minimal inconvenience. Currently I am looking at paddle holsters that I can swap between my pack belt and pants. Another thing that was an inconvenience rather than disappointment was my shelter setup. I was using a seek DST. In general, I love this thing and use it when we camp for fishing or any other quick minimalist camp setup. My disappointment was because when we had camp set, I lost 1-2 trekking poles depending on the tree situation and had to reposition the tarp twice due to a prevailing wind shift. I like the weight savings and added versatility, but may be considering a more traditional tent as a “set and forget” option next time. My other option might be just adding carbon poles to support my tarp (roughly 1/2 lb add).
Gear to Buy/Consider: A lightweight 1.5-2 person tent that has its own pole/support system. I need to do some research, but offhand am thinking about tarptent, stone glacier, zpacks, ect (looking for something in the 2lb range). Glassing with my friends 15s had me wishing I had some. The 10s weren’t enough beyond much more than ½ - ¾ of a mile. Not that I’d want to carry 10s, 15s, and a spotter, but I’ll be adding 15s to my stable of optics one day. As a team we have all the bases covered and seem like we are effective when glassing so it’s not an urgent need. We do need to get aligned with pan head attachments so we can share glass between tripods. Another item I want to look at is sleeping bags. I currently have a slick bag which was warm and comfortable, but it’s big and takes up a large amount of space in my pack. $600 for a good down bag is steep though and a good chunk of the way towards the swaro SLC15s I’ve been thinking about. The good news is all these things are 1st world problems and I have everything I need to go hunting
