Iron Skillet: When you think you're all alone?

hello to all,
Haven't posted in awhile, but been a little busy. So i've found a little time this morning.

With last Sunday, marking August 2nd, and the 2nd day of Bear season here in Washington, the urge was too much to resist and Chuck and i found ourselves near mt. baker. Grinding out some trail and batteling the bugs!
After 4 miles of being in the timber, we finally broke out into the open....and a few less bugs, to allow us a couple of quick pictures.
Mighty pretty country!

Have to have a picture of the "c-man" with is modified head net. Those hunter orange saftey vests worked suprisingly well, for keeping the bugs out of our faces....yes they were that bad!

Just when we thought we were all alone, we hear the sound of a chopper. Odd time to hear a chopper, especially up here. Pretty soon, the chopper bears down on us, and sets up at a hover at eye level! Pretty wierd, it was a border patrol chopper....and we were a hell of a long ways from the border!

After a couple of waves, he hovered on down the ridge towards where we'd parked the truck.
Turns out he was looking for lost hikers, and he actually found them a short while later.
(two young men, that got lost and spent the night) So i guess he had a reason for buzzing us.

an hour later we reached the end of the trail, and were at where vegatation ends and rocks begin.

Here is a shot from the end of trail, we proceded to dive down in the hole from here.

It wasn't long and we were down in the bottom looking back at the top where we'd been just a short while ago. At this point one thinks about the fact that we have to go back UP THERE and then still back to the truck!

It was worth going down though. We spotted one of the biggest bodied bucks either of us had ever seen! To far away for the little digital camera, but we ended up eating our lunch, watching the deer and searching for fossil rocks for over an hour.