Woke up to steady rain and mountain tops shrouded in clouds. We all lounged in our tents until about 10:00AM before accepting the rain wasn't going to let up. We had a lazy breakfast under the shelter, sending text messages to our fathers wishing them a happy Father's day. It was noon before we motivated to go on a day hike: Rob came back to the shelter with a beautiful moose brown horn which Matt thought was the mate of a shed he found yesterday up the other creek, so we decided to go get it as well as explore the beautiful canyon. We got dressed in our rain gear and headed off.
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| Day hike up to the Sheenjek headwaters |
It was a beautiful hike. We quickly came across the other shed and determined it a match but left it for the return trip. We also found a sheep skull with the horns still attached. We spotted several sheep high up as we continued up valley. The rain would occasionally lighten to just a faint sprinkle and we could pull our hoods down. The low clouds would move in and out revealing glimpses of steep rocky cliffs above. We spotted another robin, Mat and I have a new respect for these birds being all the way up here. We eventually reached a bend and ascended a rise that revealed the rocky moraine-like passes to the neighboring drainages. The "Mat(t) Pack", as I like to call them (instead of the Rat Pack), always pushing ahead, had reached the crest first and spotted a golden eagle sitting on the ground before taking flight. The rest of us eventually caught up with them to take in the view. A heard of caribou were lingering up there and behind us, the clouds parted enough to let us see far down the Sheenjek.
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| Dall sheep skull |
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| Headwaters of the Sheenjek |
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| Heading back down towards camp |
We turned to head back, spreading out along the hillside, Mat and I staying high until we came across a Dall sheep. We sat and watched it for a bit before moving down closer to the creek. We were about to drop down the back side of a small rise when we looked behind us and saw a group of caribou cresting the last small rise. We dropped to the tundra to watch them. We could see Matt and Krista squatting above the herd looking down on them. We turned to Matthew and Rob ahead of us and made the signal for caribou. Half the caribou crossed the creek and came up the rise directly across from us about 50 yards away but the other half were still munching on lichens on our side of the creek and slowly moving towards us. We slithered out of the pathway and into some very low bushes at the edge of the creek, settling onto our stomachs. A handful of caribou passed right by us at 10 yards away!!
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| Caribou ten yards away! |
I snapped a photo or two but the shutter was too noisy, making the caribou stop and sniff in our direction, so I stopped but not before a big bull passed right next to us. Our adrenaline was pumping - do caribou stomp or gore people like elk do? Eventually, they passed us and continued making their way towards Matthew and Rob, who were sitting up against the rocks of a small creekside cliff. The caribou were still grazing as they slowly walked downstream. They looked like they might go up over the rise above Matthew and Rob but, at last second, they decided to move down to the river and ended up walking 10 yards in front of them! Very exciting stuff! When the last of them passed out of sight, we all got up and started again towards camp. Mat and I caught up to Matthew and Rob and chatted excitably about our incredible luck.
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| Caribou walking ten yards in front of Matthew and Rob |
We made it back to camp and were changing out of our wet gear before we heard Matthew cry "wolf, wolf, wolf ". It took us a few seconds to register what he was saying and drop down into a squat. Krista and Matt were walking towards us between camp and the creek, having picked up the moose antler, so Matthew whistled to them and shouted wolf. They dropped down and pulled out their binoculars and camera. The wolf was alone, slate grey, very hard to spot, and interested in the caribou which were now up on the hill across the creek from us. But our commotion put the caribou on alert so the wolf moved down to the creek bed and continued to make it's way upstream towards us. It stopped on the far side of the creek opposite of Matt and Krista, considering them for a moment and even forded the creek towards them before deciding to head upstream again. Krista got some great photos. After it moved out of sight, we all continued to change out of our wet gear and settle into the shelter to cook dinner. It was 7:00PM at this point and we were ravenous from all the critter excitement. The rain started in earnest again as we ate next to our set of beautiful moose sheds. We all climbed into our dry tents by 9:00PM. What a memorable day!
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| Matching moose shed |
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| Close encounter with a wolf! |
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| Grey wolf checking out our camp |
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