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Gravelly Range, days 7 -
11
Day 7
The Gravelly's. Last night was a dry camp in the rain. The north forks of Gazelle creek are dry. Right off, I saw a whitetail doe, which lightened the rain considerably. FOR SALE! 20 ACRE WEEDETTES! You, too, can take a toll on Montana! Buy now before the wildlife is gone. This crossing of private land between the Madison Range and the Gravelly's is narrow, but being developed fast. Will rich large landowners lock up big chunks? Will our rich actor/rancher get bored and sell? (note: when I get back to Bozeman, I read in a busineess newspaper that, yes, he did sell.) Private land ownership is a big responsibility of trust in this region of the Rockies - well, anywhere. We must respect that which we take title to.
Imagine that. A huge Crewcab, all chrome and extras, pulls up. "Whatcha doin?" Eating my lunch. The Texas plates and discussion of the cabin below on the river tell the story. Then the ranchers a mile or 2 up the road. They have the allotments. Cows look pretty good after the time thinking about wildlife crossing development. Ah, the mountains again! When I get to where the road is gated, cow tracks and plop change to elk tracks. Does somebody know? Do the cows push the deer and elk to less readily accessible ground?
I walk a road. A long day nearly to the divide.
Day 8
Mostly I lounge and wash clothes and sit and stare at the meadows and mountains. No driving this road for awhile - too many snow drifts, still. Late in the afternoon I move camp up a few miles high on the side of a ridge above a beautiful basin. The water is red with soft dirt being carried as sediment. They call it Ruby Creek. I melt snow. I watch elk and hawks, and I climb the ridge for sunset. Beautiful.
Day 9
I get up early and start up the ridge in the already-building heat. Monument Ridge. The range is crossed east to west by a road, and a "ridge road" runs north and south most of the length of the range. So I spend the day following the ridge north. Quite the alpine feel to it. I think Lazyman Hill has the only trees. But the elk like it. I see 5 bulls boasting the velvety new growth of what will be respectable racks this fall. Another long walk. But nice. When I drop into Clover Meadows, more elk. Coyote seems to think the road is an outhouse. For them, I guess a good choice! At the head of Cherry Creek - some 8500 feet on the ridge - I run into a pair of antelope. A surprise. But we sure cannot depend on the high country for the survival of antelope. They need the valleys. I camp in "Devil's Lane," a unique rock formation with a natural lane down the center. A pair of kestrels must be nesting nearby. I even saw Clark's Nutcrackers chasing them. I watch a coyote hunt for awhile and on the next ridge over, Fine Ridge, there are 200 elk that I can see. I'm afraid cows will displace them in another few weeks. Enjoy it!
Day 10
The elk are there in the morning. Coyotes serenaded me at sunset and sunrise. More up and down today as I bust out the north end of the range. The good road headed back down to the east, and I walk a 4 wheel drive road all day. The character is changing. I pass a cabin, and more fences. But I either saw the hugest coyote track in history or maybe a roaming wolf. All the coyote tracks are way smaller. And no sign of recent people for 1/2 mile, where I hit horse tracks, but no big dog tracks there. I suppose there could be a roaming dog. But...
The Brown's Gulch Mining District means more sign of ORV's. All the way to the end of the public land at Grassy Lake. A sage brush camp. A muley buck and a pair of whitetail does and more coyotes singing.
Silly me followed a vehicle leaving just as I hit the forest edge. I thought it was a BLM rig. End up a mile or so southeast of where I was planning. A reservoir and an inhabited house. The house, maybe someone's idea of a cabin, is right on the fence line at the edge of public land. And it is 12 miles (by air) to the next solid chunk of public land.
Day 11
I walk the access roads that cross those miles. Mostly sagebrush. No more building. The Virginia City Highway. And cows and a couple of inactive mines. A hot, dry walk. Little wildlife sign except for coyote. This would be a good place to talk with the ranchers that own the land about conservation easements.
Now it is National Forest at the edge of the Tobacco Root
Mountains. I can tell by the huge clearcut that started 100
feet from the forest boundary. Day 2 Half or 3/4 of
a mile and we're on skis. Perfect conditions. An easy way to
do the pass into the Burnt Fork. More goats on the top of
the ridge. As we scurry from snow patch to snow patch,
darned if a pair of songdogs don't jump out in front of us.
Then it's up over the pass into Upper Tepee Basin. Our camp
is named for the two chipmunks that keep us company on our
10 x 10 square foot bare patch. The tent's on snow
tonight.
