Elk Hunt

I need to post these pictures of a memorable camping trip/elk hunt down to the J Bar Ranch East of Salina.  It was a wonderful experience all said and done even though there was no elk to show for it (thus far).  It all started with Casey getting 2 cow tags given to him.  He also arranged for us to stay at the cabin on the ranch.  (The Yorgason's who own the ranch are super nice people  and tried hard to make our experience special)  The area is remote.  A drive in on dirt road that turns into slick mud under wet conditions made for a harried trip into the cabin, situated at 7200' elev.  Thanks to the help of  the Polaris ranger our neighbor Earl Britton had loaned us, and towed us through the worst part of  "soggy bottom"  (an especially rutted, muddy, sloppy  mile or so of the road) we arrived safe and exhausted at our abode.  The Yorgason's met us and got the generator going so we could have some light, and we fired up the Majestic (a very heavy duty old cook stove) with wood that we kept stoked to keep us warm. The cabin had running cold water and bathroom with flushing toilet, bunk beds in 2 different bedrooms and a kitchen area with sink and a gas cook stove as well as the wood cook stove.    All very cozy.  It would be our home away from home for the next 4 days and we managed to adapt to the conditions pretty well.  After all, we are pioneer stock, right?  Helen warmed up some premade dinner and we threw our sleeping bags on a bunk and we retired for the night (Thurs).  Doug and Casey were up early and out before daylight hunting Friday morning, while Helen and I and Sophie, Hallee and Zeke slept on in our warm sleeping bags till it was really daylight.     The women folk and kids entertained ourselves by going on walks around the ranch and just trying to take life easy.  There was a wonderful stream/creek just behind the cabin, beautiful mountains, trees, meadows with cattle grazing, and just right day time temperatures--sunny days, blue skies, and cloudless nights that made for spectacular star gazing.  The perfect weather probably had a lot to do for why no elk made an appearance.  It was just too nice of weather.  That was to our benefit as we could be outside so much of the time in shirt sleeves, rather than hunkering down inside a cabin the whole time.  Sure was nice just relaxing.  Sean and Kim made it to the cabin on Friday afternoon to stay thru Sunday afternoon.  We didn't leave until Monday afternoon.  Sunday the men took hunting off and we had our own church service that was special.  Took some drives and did some sightseeing that day too.  We shared the cooking -- each took a day.  So now Doug, Casey and Sean want to head back again to try to find some elk.  Should be able to do that right after Thanksgiving. We were glad that it turned out to be such good weather for us to enjoy the location and the time away from the world.  We really didn't miss the cell phone or internet and it was nice just spending time with each other.  We all thought it sure would be great to share this with the rest of the family, if we could all just fit.  Anyway, we're thinking. 
Oh yeah, and we think having one of these rangers sure would be fun--enjoyed the little bit of riding we did on that.  (Just read Helen's blog--she does a much better job of writing up our trip--thanks Helen).