camping at long draw

For our weekend (Friday), Georgia, Rach, Dow, and I went camping at Long Draw.  Which looks something like this.  

Yes, I agree, it is quite beautiful.

On the way there, I had my nose stuck in the directions for my new watch and Dow scolded me, telling me that's why I never saw wildlife.  So I put the directions down and started looking.

I shouted, DEER!

But alas, they were big horn sheep.  Which I think look a lot like deer.  Except they're radio collared.  And the girls have horns, too.

And then there was this lil feller.  A little bighorn sheep!

We saw a few more wildlife - a doe with her fawn (he still had spots!) and some huh-UGE elk.  All males with massive antlers.  One was a 6-point which is pretty big.  At least I think so.

Since we couldn't leave until after supper, we got up to Long Draw after dark, made camp, and went to bed.  I have to tell you, this is the first time I can ever remember sleeping under the stars.  It was pretty cool.  And, um, when I say cool, I mean literally.

When I woke up in the morning, Dow was gone. He had gone to sleep in the truck because this is the sleeping bag he was using for a mat.  And I guess the one he was sleeping in wasn't much better.

The girls, on the other hand, were quite comfortable, because Dow, being the gentleman he is, gave us all of his good gear (you know, 30 below sleeping bags) while he slept in the not-so-good ranch bags.  I kind of think we look a bit like gophers popping up, don't you?

Dow, still being ever the gentleman, also brought us everything we needed to make breakfast and lunch, so here he is boiling our water, while Rach tries to warm herself in the sunshine.  You see, Rach is from Florida and she doesn't realize yet that mountain evenings drop into the 30s even in the summer, so she only brought shorts.  Poor thing.  She'll learn.

Anyhow, after breakfast and packing up camp we headed out to hike up Lulu Mountain - a trek of 6.8 miles to a height of 12,201 feet above sea level.    

But first we had to hike through a really boggy, wet meadow.  And the only person, again, with the right equipment (waterproof boots) was Dow.  So the girls shrieked and eeked as we stepped in muddy spots and got our feet soaking wet.

  

And see how happy Dow looks?  It's because his feet are dry.  We actually took off our socks and shoes during one break hoping that they would dry a bit.  I suppose it was good to get them aired out, even if they didn't dry. The good news is we had enough time, sun, and dry air to get our socks completely dried once we were at the top.

After Dow harassed me about never seeing wildlife because I always have my nose buried in a book, I spotted this guy.  He was actually pretty close, but after all the moose horror stories Dow told us the night, we decided to head the other direction.

Plus, there was a really nice snow-run-off stream and with Dow's handy-dandy water purifier, we could just pump out that ice-cold delicious water and not worry about microscopic bugs that would give us the runs.  Not that we were worried about that or anything...

Onward and upward, this is near the summit...as you can see, we're well above the tree line.  And I realized now, that I don't have a picture of us at the top.  Gosh darn it.  Well, anyhow, to the downhill trip...

On our way to the summit, we decided that we should ski or sled down the little snow crags on our way back.  It would make our trip faster.  Ok, so maybe it just seemed really fun.  Dow ski/slid down.

Rach and I decided it would be much more fun to use a raincoat and sled down.  Tell me how often you get to sled in shorts without freezing! 

Georgia was a chicken and just walked down the grassy area.  But this picture also shows the streams created by the snow run-off.  They're still going strong.

This is just a gratuitously beautiful picture of a lake at the base of where we camped in Long Draw on the drive out.  Enjoy!

We saw this moose and her calf just a few miles away from the ranch.

And took this sweet picture through the binoculars...it's always a good idea to keep your distance from a momma moose and her calf.  

This is a picture of the lil guy through the binoculars.  Pretty cute, huh?

And so ends our camping adventure that was made possible by Dow's equipment and experience.  I can guarantee you, we would have frozen to death, starved to death, or had the runs to death from drinking the water.  So thank goodness for Dow!!!