2 weeks out from my first sheep hunt. Its a DIY, solo, Stone Sheep hunt here in BC. I've wanted to do this hunt since I was a kid, but it never seemed feasible, until speaking to my wife last fall I realized that I could afford the financial investment and more importantly the time to train. I've always kept myself at a fairly decent level of fitness with the sports that I do, but after 2 broken knees and 2 infants in the last 4 years, I was in the worst shape of my life. I told my wife that 9 months seems like a short window to prepare, but it could happen if everything went according to plan.
I started training in November, things seemed to be progressing well. Then Covid happens. The gym was a major part of my trainings, so that hurt. Fortunately we are in a town that has access to some burley backcountry hikes. So I double and even tripled the amount of miles that I was hiking. I'm not where I wanted to be with my core and shoulders, but I'm pretty close and the legs are feeling strong, so not a complete disaster.
We have had an abnormal amount of rain here in BC this summer and the snow is late to come off the mountains. I realized a couple weeks ago that every single place that I'd picked as an option to hunt requires a river crossing that is now likley to be impassible, as water levels in the region are currently higher then any point in the previous 16 months. But alot of late nights over the last 2 weeks and I think I have another 2 options. Not as good as my original options were, but still decent.
Despite planning on having my gear dialed by May 1, I've had a few failures and setbacks in the last 3 weeks. But with the help of others, including advice from this site, I've gotten everything sorted. So everything is still on track.
I told my wife this morning that I was a little bit incredulous that this was going to happen. I couldn't believe how lucky I was that everything seemed to be coming together. Then instead of a hike, I decided to take my 14 month old for a trail ride on the mountain bike... in sandals. Since I don't like bouncing the little guy too hard in his bike seat, i work the whole trail and try to keep it as smooth as possible. While trying to swing wide around some roots I dragged my foot thru some weeds at the trail edge. Didn't see the rock that was hidden.
Smashed my foot pretty good. Broken toe. Tore off the nail. My wife stitched it back on and I'm currently laying here wondering how I'm gonna pull off this recovery in 2 weeks. Oh ya, and to boot the freezing we had at home expired 6 years ago, so it only kinda numbed the toe before the stitches.
I started training in November, things seemed to be progressing well. Then Covid happens. The gym was a major part of my trainings, so that hurt. Fortunately we are in a town that has access to some burley backcountry hikes. So I double and even tripled the amount of miles that I was hiking. I'm not where I wanted to be with my core and shoulders, but I'm pretty close and the legs are feeling strong, so not a complete disaster.
We have had an abnormal amount of rain here in BC this summer and the snow is late to come off the mountains. I realized a couple weeks ago that every single place that I'd picked as an option to hunt requires a river crossing that is now likley to be impassible, as water levels in the region are currently higher then any point in the previous 16 months. But alot of late nights over the last 2 weeks and I think I have another 2 options. Not as good as my original options were, but still decent.
Despite planning on having my gear dialed by May 1, I've had a few failures and setbacks in the last 3 weeks. But with the help of others, including advice from this site, I've gotten everything sorted. So everything is still on track.
I told my wife this morning that I was a little bit incredulous that this was going to happen. I couldn't believe how lucky I was that everything seemed to be coming together. Then instead of a hike, I decided to take my 14 month old for a trail ride on the mountain bike... in sandals. Since I don't like bouncing the little guy too hard in his bike seat, i work the whole trail and try to keep it as smooth as possible. While trying to swing wide around some roots I dragged my foot thru some weeds at the trail edge. Didn't see the rock that was hidden.
Smashed my foot pretty good. Broken toe. Tore off the nail. My wife stitched it back on and I'm currently laying here wondering how I'm gonna pull off this recovery in 2 weeks. Oh ya, and to boot the freezing we had at home expired 6 years ago, so it only kinda numbed the toe before the stitches.
