Brower-bark98
FNG
As some you have read my previous blog or story about me and two good friends, Thomas and Isaiah on a goat hunt up in Northern British Columbia. We live in this beautiful place and are so thankful for the beauty and adventure it brings us. Sometimes, the wilderness gets the best of you.
1. Aug 17th 2020
We had just finished caping and de-boneing Thomas's billy of a lifetime. 9.5" long and 6 3/4" bases. A great goat for the interior! We made our way back down toward camp, slowly we went taking in the view and replaying what just went down over the past 3 and half days. From a jet black grizzly we seen and 14 year old billy, to a run up the mountain to fill anothers tag and much more! After getting to camp and taking the loaded packs off our backs we sat for a moment and discussed whether we go down to the truck right now or spend one more night up on the mountain. Already having shot a goat the day before we didn't want anything to spoil! Being 21, 22 and almost 24 years old, full of energy and spunk we thought it was possible to make the 17+km trekk back to the truck. Not the way we came, but what we thought was a shorter distance, we all agreed. We packed camp up quick and made our way back toward a mountain range that If we got up on and followed it it would cut off lots of time. (I'll try and find a picture of the area behind us so you can see it) about 4 in the afternoon hits and we are cruising, we managed to ease our way up the top of the range we had wanted and are now headed toward an area the I call God's trench. It looks like some one took there finger and drug in along the side of of the mountain toward our truck, making a long cliff and rock garden the goes straight to the truck but stops about 6km away. As we walked across the top we took many breaks, packs reaching 100+lbs each we revisited the idea of staying one more night ontop of the mountains. Looking down toward where the truck is behind the mountain we came up, and then turning around looking at where we just came from after shooting Thomas's goat, we soaked in the sun as it slowly started to change its position. Doing one quick glass around to see if there are any more spots we could potentially hunt in the future, I noticed a cave on the side of the mountain looking back at Thomas's spot. To my surprise 4 goats came out, I wondered why but observing the cave i saw many track and trails leading into and out of it. If you had rain storms hit you as hard as they do in the summer, you would want shelter no matter what. Coming back to the reality of having two dead animals and meat on our back we decided to continue and take the plunge into God's trench. As we got closer to the rock wall we found our water supply was getting low, our bodies were tired. It was now 8pm and the sun started to really take a dive. We regretted not stopping up in the high Alpine and pitching camp, as we started our way down gods trench, the bolder garden that followed the cliff face was slippery, loose and looked like a broken ankle waiting to happen, Isaiah having been carrying a cape and head 1 day longer than Thomas and I was starting to show his exhaustion. As we made our way down Isaiah bent one of his trekking poles from slipping off one of the rocks, as he got up, out his frustration he threw the pole. I could see where he was coming from, the day before we put on over 20km back and forth from camp after getting one goat, the next day up at 5am and now its 8:45 pm. We have hiked most of the day and ate one good meal, as much snow as we had higher up, we no longer were in a drainage or snow patch so we had little water. We kept going. What we thought was going to take us an hour to get down the rock garden turned into 2 and by the time we hit the bottom of God's trench we looked at eachother and laughed. We all have some hunting experience, me personally having more years under my belt, and both Thomas and Isaiah having been only hunting within the last 5 years we were learning quick that sometimes its not worth it to just give-er. I grew up hunting with Rcmp officers, conservation and a fishery officer. I have hunted some hard hunts but most of all have learned alot about surviving the pain and fatigue of it all. Sometimes you don't make the right call!
Being at the bottom of the trench we had to carry on, it was now a side hill going down toward the fsr, this slope faced north west and had lots of down timber and devils club like you wouldn't believe. I'm a short stocky guy, 5' 8" and it was 2" or more thick devils club stock and the Alders, really thick as well. We made our way into the bush, slipping on the Alders, and following our map the best way we could, 10 pm rolled around and our head lamps came out. All I could think of is the truck is getting closer, and the berries we see walking through make us look like a food platter. Making as much noise as we could, playing our yeeha cowboy music blasted we tried to follow the path of least resistance. The mountain started to get steeper, more brush and more slippery spots. I was breaking trail and I was focused, looking back every 70-100 yards making sure I can still see Thomas and Isaiah we kept making our way. The map showed a open spot of the mountain, kind of like a cutblock but it wasn't. We made our way into a shithole. We stopped looked around at tree on tops of trees, an on land log jam. Again we thought to ourselves why did we keep going? Was it worth it? Back to discussing we found another route, we made it through the hell hole and Isaiah was out of water, both Thomas and I are getting super low on ours as well. Sitting down sweat dripping, the cold air cutting through our gear into our back we took a rest, 25 mins. Our legs throbbing, mouths thirsty, I know I needed to ration my water, there was nothing around to drink other than what is left in my bottle. I looked at the guys and said let's keep going. In the back of my mind I felt an set of eyes on us. Being in grizzly country I wanted out. I pushed Isaiah and Thomas onward, the further we went the slower we got and the more we fell. Isaiah took anther fall, breaking his other pole again he was upset, not only was he tired he had no support going down hill I passed him one of my poles, so we could both have at least one. 50 yards away we could not see what was coming up, a cliff ledge buried behind the alders, as I butt slid toward it I yelled out to stop, but with the vertical of the hill they both followed. We stood at the edge looking for a way down, nothing. We side hilled until we finally found a way down. This time we stopped and didn't want to keep going.
1. Aug 17th 2020
We had just finished caping and de-boneing Thomas's billy of a lifetime. 9.5" long and 6 3/4" bases. A great goat for the interior! We made our way back down toward camp, slowly we went taking in the view and replaying what just went down over the past 3 and half days. From a jet black grizzly we seen and 14 year old billy, to a run up the mountain to fill anothers tag and much more! After getting to camp and taking the loaded packs off our backs we sat for a moment and discussed whether we go down to the truck right now or spend one more night up on the mountain. Already having shot a goat the day before we didn't want anything to spoil! Being 21, 22 and almost 24 years old, full of energy and spunk we thought it was possible to make the 17+km trekk back to the truck. Not the way we came, but what we thought was a shorter distance, we all agreed. We packed camp up quick and made our way back toward a mountain range that If we got up on and followed it it would cut off lots of time. (I'll try and find a picture of the area behind us so you can see it) about 4 in the afternoon hits and we are cruising, we managed to ease our way up the top of the range we had wanted and are now headed toward an area the I call God's trench. It looks like some one took there finger and drug in along the side of of the mountain toward our truck, making a long cliff and rock garden the goes straight to the truck but stops about 6km away. As we walked across the top we took many breaks, packs reaching 100+lbs each we revisited the idea of staying one more night ontop of the mountains. Looking down toward where the truck is behind the mountain we came up, and then turning around looking at where we just came from after shooting Thomas's goat, we soaked in the sun as it slowly started to change its position. Doing one quick glass around to see if there are any more spots we could potentially hunt in the future, I noticed a cave on the side of the mountain looking back at Thomas's spot. To my surprise 4 goats came out, I wondered why but observing the cave i saw many track and trails leading into and out of it. If you had rain storms hit you as hard as they do in the summer, you would want shelter no matter what. Coming back to the reality of having two dead animals and meat on our back we decided to continue and take the plunge into God's trench. As we got closer to the rock wall we found our water supply was getting low, our bodies were tired. It was now 8pm and the sun started to really take a dive. We regretted not stopping up in the high Alpine and pitching camp, as we started our way down gods trench, the bolder garden that followed the cliff face was slippery, loose and looked like a broken ankle waiting to happen, Isaiah having been carrying a cape and head 1 day longer than Thomas and I was starting to show his exhaustion. As we made our way down Isaiah bent one of his trekking poles from slipping off one of the rocks, as he got up, out his frustration he threw the pole. I could see where he was coming from, the day before we put on over 20km back and forth from camp after getting one goat, the next day up at 5am and now its 8:45 pm. We have hiked most of the day and ate one good meal, as much snow as we had higher up, we no longer were in a drainage or snow patch so we had little water. We kept going. What we thought was going to take us an hour to get down the rock garden turned into 2 and by the time we hit the bottom of God's trench we looked at eachother and laughed. We all have some hunting experience, me personally having more years under my belt, and both Thomas and Isaiah having been only hunting within the last 5 years we were learning quick that sometimes its not worth it to just give-er. I grew up hunting with Rcmp officers, conservation and a fishery officer. I have hunted some hard hunts but most of all have learned alot about surviving the pain and fatigue of it all. Sometimes you don't make the right call!
Being at the bottom of the trench we had to carry on, it was now a side hill going down toward the fsr, this slope faced north west and had lots of down timber and devils club like you wouldn't believe. I'm a short stocky guy, 5' 8" and it was 2" or more thick devils club stock and the Alders, really thick as well. We made our way into the bush, slipping on the Alders, and following our map the best way we could, 10 pm rolled around and our head lamps came out. All I could think of is the truck is getting closer, and the berries we see walking through make us look like a food platter. Making as much noise as we could, playing our yeeha cowboy music blasted we tried to follow the path of least resistance. The mountain started to get steeper, more brush and more slippery spots. I was breaking trail and I was focused, looking back every 70-100 yards making sure I can still see Thomas and Isaiah we kept making our way. The map showed a open spot of the mountain, kind of like a cutblock but it wasn't. We made our way into a shithole. We stopped looked around at tree on tops of trees, an on land log jam. Again we thought to ourselves why did we keep going? Was it worth it? Back to discussing we found another route, we made it through the hell hole and Isaiah was out of water, both Thomas and I are getting super low on ours as well. Sitting down sweat dripping, the cold air cutting through our gear into our back we took a rest, 25 mins. Our legs throbbing, mouths thirsty, I know I needed to ration my water, there was nothing around to drink other than what is left in my bottle. I looked at the guys and said let's keep going. In the back of my mind I felt an set of eyes on us. Being in grizzly country I wanted out. I pushed Isaiah and Thomas onward, the further we went the slower we got and the more we fell. Isaiah took anther fall, breaking his other pole again he was upset, not only was he tired he had no support going down hill I passed him one of my poles, so we could both have at least one. 50 yards away we could not see what was coming up, a cliff ledge buried behind the alders, as I butt slid toward it I yelled out to stop, but with the vertical of the hill they both followed. We stood at the edge looking for a way down, nothing. We side hilled until we finally found a way down. This time we stopped and didn't want to keep going.
