We were up at 6:00, eating a fast breakfast of cereal so we could get out quickly for another moose hunt. Temperatures were in the low 40s, when we spotted our first moose of the day--
a cow and calf moose heading across the open meadow.
We saw that our camping neighbor had beat us out of the campground this morning. They were already parked at one of our favorite willow spots, counting the moose.
We watched as a moose cow and calf approached the fence. That fence was no obstacle for the long-legged mother.
The clouds and her silhouette made one of our favorite pictures of the morning. The clouds made it look like it could rain any time, but we're not wet--yet.
The moose calf looked a little bewildered on what he should do. That fence was an obstacle to him.
That gave us an opportunity to show how this year's moose hunting was harder than our previous trip. The last time we were in the Big Horn Mountains, when we spotted a black dot in the distance we knew it was a moose. But with the ranchers leasing the late summer grass, there were cattle everywhere. That black dot was usually an Angus cow this year. We found that it was not unusual for the cattle and moose to co-mingle.
Along with our camping friends, we found seven moose at that stop. That included mature bulls . . .and more calves hunkered down in the brush.
Just in case you would think that we only take pictures of moose, we can say that the deer population seems to be doing well in these mountains as well.
We headed five miles down highway 14A to see if the three resident bulls were in sight this morning. Just like clockwork, they were nibbling the willow shoots in the valley.
But we noticed a little animosity among the group this morning. They were clashing antlers in a little jostling match to see who was the toughest of this trio.
Just like a group of school boys on the playground, they stopped their games and came to attention when a female sauntered by.
We spotted a bull with a much larger rack striding near the fence on the other side of the highway.
He stopped to pose for the group of cars that had paused along the highway to see him. We love it that Highway 14A is a less-traveled road with wide shoulders that allow for safe stopping to watch the wildlife.
Another moose cow and calf also stopped for a photo opportunity.
But the bull with the most impressive rack of the day was the star of the show. We continued to watch him for a quarter of a mile.
When he got to the corner of the fence, he easily jumped over and headed up the mountain.
It was a good morning to be out moose hunting, and we weren't wet--yet. Our morning wildlife totals were:
24 moose
19 deer
1 marmot
We stopped in for a piece of pie at Bear Lodge, as well as to send a couple text messages using their free wifi. Then at 9:00 a.m., we head south on Highway 14 towards a hike. On the way we spotted another big group of domestic sheep.
While not as impressive as the thousands we saw on a different day, this time we spotted a sheep dog among the flock.
The dog was standing at attention at the edge of the flock of sheep--all displaying numbers on their backs.
It was still in the 40's this August morning, with no break in the clouds. But we weren't wet--yet. The rocky outcrops made for a pretty landscape picture . . .
and if you look carefully, you can spot two moose in the valley below. We verified with binoculars that they weren't Angus.
While the wooden rail fences certainly can't keep the wildlife in, they usually do a pretty good job with the cows. But this morning, a couple of cowboys on horseback were wrangling a bunch of cattle back into the fenced area.
The hike for the day was down dirt forest service roads. At first we found lots of trailers pulled off and enjoying some free boondocking spots on these little-traveled back roads.
It took us an hour to drive the 18 miles on Forest Service Road 26. We went slowly over the washboard roads past Flue Campground and Dead Swede Campground. Driving on these narrow roads was like hiking--but our legs didn't get tired because we were riding in the pickup. There was an occasional signpost that explained this was an old stagecoach road. Another sign pointed out the remnants of a flu dam that was used to float fallen logs down the mountain.
It seemed like this should be an ideal spot to see wildlife. But these two deer were the only thing we saw on our long drive.
We finally arrived at the trailhead for the Saw Mill Lakes Trail. We headed out through the forest, and we're not wet--yet.
This trail included three lakes. We arrived at the first reservoir just as we met two fishermen leaving. They explained that the area drought meant the lake was down four feet in the last two weeks. Our lake pictures would have been better with blue skies. But we weren't wet--yet.
The fishermen also noted that it was tough to get around the big rocks on the side of the lake, so we shouldn't attempt that. To Mark, that sounded like a challenge.
He obviously got up and around those big rocks.
To Denisa, the fishermen's words sounded like good advice. Besides, she had a date with the raspberries growing on this side of the big rocks.
They were red and ripe for picking!
From afar, Denisa zoomed into Mark's sketchy attempts at getting back down off those steep rocks.
We headed further down the trail through the forest . . .
to the second . . .
and third Saw Mill Lakes. We loved finding these isolated mountain lakes! The water on the third lake was like glass, and would have made for a beautiful picture if it weren't for all those gray clouds. But we weren't wet--yet.
On our hike back to the pickup, we stopped along Coney Creek for a picture by a waterfall. If this picture had sound, you would hear the deafening roar of that creek tumbling over all those rocks.
We had hiked 2.8 miles with little elevation gain on the Saw Mill Lakes Trail. After a lunch at a picnic area just down the road, we decided to take advantage of the long drive to take another hike. We decided to start on the Twin Lakes Trail. The clouds were gray, but we weren't wet--yet.
From this vantage point we could see both of the twin lakes in one photo.
To get a good view of the second larger twin, we had to hike the entire length of the dam. As we climbed over the dam we got the view of the lake . . . and the view of the approaching rain storm. The mountains in the distance were completely shrouded in the rain that was headed our way.
We picked up our hiking pace, and we had an amazingly fast time on the trip back to the pickup. After a day under the clouds, we can no longer say that we weren't wet. We were in fact very wet. We had added another 1.3 miles to today's total, but we probably pushed our luck too far.
Back inside the warm and dry pickup with the heater blasting in August, we shared the melting coconut cream pie from Bear Lodge. We're keeping up our one-pie-per-day challenge.
The 18-mile trip back down the long washboard road was in different degrees of rain showers. In all that hiking time and over two hours of driving time on dirt roads in remote locations, we saw only a few vehicles and just two deer. Obviously all the moose were hanging out at the highway!
We headed back to Bear Lodge to use the wifi to plan the last couple stops on our journey home. Then we headed back to the trailer to cook dinner. This was our last evening for a moose hunt, but the rainy day and cloudy skies made it feel like it was getting dark early. We drove our usual route, but found few moose. Had the rainy weather changed their schedule? The sun finally came out, with a rainbow in the sky, and we got one good shot of a bull among the willows.
A fellow wildlife spotter reported he saw elk near the woods, so we headed in that direction. Sure enough, we saw several standing in the shadows of the forest.
We saw more when we moved to a different vantage point. And then HE showed up.
Out of the shadows of the woods, a ten-point buck elk stepped out. He posed in the open, even giving us a side view so we could count the points.
Just as quickly, he turned around and headed back into the woods. We're not sure how he could navigate among the trees with that huge rack on his head.
We were actually looking at the other side of the highway, where the sun was lighting up the meadows. After a day of clouds, it was nice to see the blue skies this evening
That's when Mark turned back to the woods to see that a herd of a dozen elk cow and calves had emerged from the woods.
It was like watching a nature documentary, as the big bull later came out of the woods to check on his harem.
He threw back his head and bugled a warning to any elk bulls in the area. That sound of an elk bugle gave us happy goose bumps!
Then he herded his women and children back into the safety of the forest.
The moose totals were low this evening, with only 16 on our tally sheet. But the elk were the stars of the show this evening, and made up for it. It was getting too dark to spot wildlife, so we headed back to our campground seven miles away. We enjoyed the changing colors of the clouds as the sun was setting.
This was an amazing area that we both love! As we pulled into our camp site, we saw the bushes moving. A moose was just a few feet from our trailer! While it was too dark for a picture, we'll count that as moose number 17 for our last evening in the Big Horn Mountains. It was another great day--even though we did get wet.
