We had attempted to schedule this ride last year, the year of our 30th wedding anniversary. That didn't happen, so we tried again this year. Our idea was to ride up to Upper Palisades Lake and continue on to the waterfall just past the lake, but we ended up going up Big Elk Creek, a few drainages east of Palisades Creek. Below is a random shot of Big Elk Creek near the campsite.
We arrived at the Big Elk Trailhead a little before the appointed time of 10:00 AM. The company was already there and getting the outfit rigged up and packed. Our little pile of overnight belongings sits at the end of the trailer. That's Crew the owner's son with the two ranch dogs, Buster Moon aka Buster a Blue Heeler - Corgi cross, and Grace an Idaho Shag Border Collie
More Rigging & Packing...
Gari is already up on Theodore the Buckskin Half Draft. Carter, the outfit owner makes certain Gari's rigging is well adjusted. Crew holds Theodore. The dogs are ready to go!
Within 30 minutes we spotted the first moose, a young Bull. We saw about 6 or 7 moose over the two days.
Zoom out
Random shots from the trail. Gari took these shots, I would have dropped the camera and fell from my horse Cody the Half Draft Bay. The shot below looked like a little frozen waterfall.
Zoomed in and you can just see the frozen waterfall at the bottom.
Garrett leads the way on Skittles, his Overo Half Draft Paint
Garrett leads across a tamer creek crossing. We crossed Big Elk Creek about 5 times going up. There were also 3 or 4 wooden bridges we crossed as well. The most exciting crossings had plenty of current and the water was just below our stirrups.
An open area on the way up to camp; Garrett in the lead.
A couple of beaver dams.
Another tributary drainage.
More Beaver Dam...
Long dead tree, tall too!
Coming up on camp! Gari measured 8.11 miles going in.... felt like 81.1 miles to me!
Oh my does that ever feel good to dismount! I am HAPPY!
My legs don't work yet. That's Cody the Bay Half Draft.
Garrett gets our mounts organized for camp arrival.
The moving crew, Carter and his 12 y/o son Crew, arrived shortly after us. They were about 15 minutes behind us and we never saw them on the ride up. Crew is on his pony Eddie. Carter rode the mule up to camp.
Getting ready to unpack, Crew ponies a pack horse into position.
Garrett and Carter continue the unloading process.
Once unpacked, we got our fishing gear together, and took a scouting trip about 400 ft downhill to the creek to see if it looked fishable. We saw several moose tracks in the mud going into the creek there. It looked doable so we went back up to camp, enjoyed a snack of smoked trout, cheese and crackers that the guys prepared for us, then collected our fishing gear and returned to the creek.
As we rounded the top of the creek bank we flushed two moose yearlings standing right where we entered the creek. Needless to say we were all surprised! The moose went downstream without much hesitation, and we proceeded up stream.
Back at camp, below is the Cook Tent. One outstanding feature of this camp is the running water. It is a little hard to see in this shot, but there is a cooler chest at the close end of that bench, you can see the hose going up to the bench top. There is a 90 degree PVC elbow that can be twisted to direct the flow of water, say if you're cleaning a fish or the like. The line is a 1" line and has plenty of flow. It comes from a spring about 800 ft uphill from the camp. This water is drinkable and precludes from having to haul and boil creek water.
The guys got busy cutting firewood for the entire camp. Crew built a nice big campfire. We had firewood delivered to our tent for the little stove in there to keep us warm.
Our accommodations for the night. Great Views!
Inside, 2 cots and a tiny wood stove. Crew went up and made us a fire for the night, we were toasty in there. Thanks Crew!
This was a staging area for the horses above the corral and tack tent.
Tack tent between the corral and the staging area above.
Corral gate below.
A peek inside the tack tent. There are bells and hobbles hanging on the main pole. The guys put a bell around each horse's neck and hobbles on the front legs. This is because the corral is only a two wire fence and the horse can and have escaped. This way they don't get too far and they can hear them with the bells.
Garrett cooked some pepper poppers that he claimed were experimental. He used jalapeno peppers stuffed with a cream cheese that was part of lunch, it had smoked trout in it, then he wrapped them in bacon. They were outstanding!
Gari & Garrett enjoying the campfire.
Packing up the next morning to make the ride out. Gari already has her hi-viz rain coat on.
On the ride in the weather was mostly cloudy, which made the temperatures cooler and more comfortable. We all agreed that it was perfect weather for a ride. Coming back it started to drizzle before 6 AM. We rode through light drizzle most of the 3 hour ride back The pros had rain suits, us amateurs only had rain shells. We were soaked to the bone by the time we made the trail head. Fortunately it wasn't cold and therefore it was surprisingly comfortable. We sure need the moisture here. A couple of the bigger creek crossing seemed even bigger, at least that's what my brain told me. 😮
I am almost walking somewhat normally 24 hours later...
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