There's so much to write about right now that it's hard to choose a topic. I just tested out a Winchester 1250 WS air rifle, went backpacking with my daughter, packed into the backcountry on horses, visited Lake Fork Trophy Lures and fished with them a couple of days and am about to go elk hunting.
The outdoors is in full swing and I could write an article per day right now.
This summer my buddy Shawn Lee talked about taking a 200-mile trip over a two week period of time. Let's back up, Shawn wanted to go on a 200-mile backcountry jaunt.
I reminded him that the last time we had to ride 20 miles in one day that it about killed all of us. Of course, I was on a stud and a mare in front of me was in heat so it wasn't the smoothest ride. Then we lost the trail and had some rough riding for a while.
But back to this story. I'd just gotten out of the mountains backpacking with my daughter and Shawn wanted to go on a horse ride. I got packed and off we went. It was Shawn, Brian and me. I love backpacking. You're in the backcountry by yourself but on horses is even better. You can pack a few amenities to make yourself more comfortable.
Also, while you're riding you have time to look around and enjoy the country more. Sure, when you're in tight spots brushing the side of the mountain on one side and looking straight down 300 feet on the other it can get intense, but if you're on a good trail you can enjoy it a bit more than if you're hiking.
This was going to be a low-key event. Pack in, do a little fly-fishing and have a good time. We had packed in to this same spot before but wanted to go a few miles further this trip. We did, but the creek was tight and the fishing was tough. We caught some, though, and had a few for dinner.
Last time we had packed in a guy from Boston that had never been on a horse or fly-fished. We had some super fishing the first day and got back to camp at dark.
Shawn had supper whipped up so he told us to clean them and store them in the river for breakfast. That night a rotten little river otter found them and ate all of our fish so I cooked these tonight!
Right after we crawled into the bedrolls something spooked the horses and they broke the picket line so we had to gather them back up, but the rest of the night went peacefully.
If you've never packed into the backcountry on horses you have to try it. The first few times take a good cowboy/cowgirl, though, because it's easy to have a rodeo.
You'll need to learn how to tie down a pack and have good mountain horses that are surefooted and don't spook too easily, and even then things can happen.
This trip, as we were crossing the third and last creek, Shawn's horse feet kicked out from under him and flipped on his side. So even if you know what you're doing and on a good horse things can happen. But still, packing in on horses is the ultimate outdoor adventure.
Just because summer is over doesn't mean that it's too late. You still have a lot of options. You can pack in for an early fall fly-fishing trip. In fact now is an excellent time. The rivers have dropped and fish are congregated in the bigger holes. They've been feeding all summer and you should be able to catch some bigger fish. Then hunting season is starting. I'll be elk hunting soon myself.
I tested a lot of new gear on this trip. One item that I liked was the Jetboil Flash backpacking stove. They're lightweight and in inclement weather you can still cook when the wood is wet.
I've always thought that they were for backpacking yuppies, but I'm surprised that more hunters and fishermen don't use them. (You can read an article about them on basspro1source.com. Search for my name and then look for the Jetboil article.)
Well don't waste the last few decent days left before winter. Get up in the mountains and have fun.
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