One of my Favorites

Well, this isn't my favorite thing to do but, this post is about one of my favorite people.

Gary Jones, my mom's uncle, or my Great Uncle, passed away this last Tuesday and it has truly shocked us all. Gary will be missed greatly but, one thing is for sure-he'll NEVER be forgotten. He created too many memories for too many people for that to happen.

I heard about Gary's passing Tuesday night from mom and dad. I was shocked, as most were, and as I went to sleep that night I shed more than one tear as I thought of Mr. Jones.

While trying to get to sleep that night I continued to think more and more about Gary and the following day I decided I needed to do something to remember him by. Just for me, for some closure, to share with others how I said MY "goodbye" to Gary.

For the last couple of years I'd had this awesome picture hanging up at work. A picture of Gary, holding a beer, giving the thumbs up, with a GIANT load of wood in his truck. I labeled the picture simply "A big load-a-wood". I looked at that picture often, among that mass of other fishing and hunting pictures taped to our office walls. That one always caught my eye though, and I found myself sharing "A Big Load-A-Wood" with others on more than one occasion.

Wednesday afternoon, before heading home, I took that picture off the wall and sealed it up in a ziploc bag for now i had a plan.

I was to go hunting on Thursday, with two good friends. We were headed in on a long hike into my "Favorite" of "Favorite" spots- the "Canyon Ridge Bowl". There isn't a more fitting spot for me to honor Gary, than by taking him with me on that trip.

My goal was to find a nice sized fir tree, with one hell of a view, and tack Gary's picture to the base of that tree, shed a few tears, and say my goodbye.......and that's exactly what i did!

Here is where i left Gary, a view looking up from the bottom of the bowl. From here he can see all the Bear, Dear, cougar and Goats that will roam threw this basin almost every day.

Here he is tacked to the tree, under a few branches so he won't get to wet on those rainy days.

A picture of one of the biggest trees in the bottom, that also had the best view.

It snowed that morning, just a little, this is a shot looking back to the east. This picture doesn't do it justice on how pretty it was that morning.

A little while later, the snow had melted, but the sun was out and I snapped a picture to the North.

And then another shot looking down into the bottom where Gary was to be pinned up.

And last, before I pinned up my only picture of "A Big Load-A-Wood" I had to take a picture of it.

So here's to you Gary. You'll be missed, but NEVER forgotten. May you have clams to dig, deer/elk to chase, fish to catch, and wood to cut.

From the North.......where Great men are missed but always remembered....and we shed tears too.

Mark.....The Iron Skillet

Preseason Hunting Hike

After what seemed like a busy week, Sunday found my hunting partner Chuck and I looking at Church Mtn., for some preseason scouting for Bears. I Goal for the day was to ascend the Western portion of Church Mtn.. This hike was also to test how good our physical stamina is, and if we needed to put in any extra effort before August 1st. rolls around and the season truly begins.


So here is a shot, not to far from where we parked the rig and started our bushwhacking up the Mtn. (there are no trails that lead to the top of Church Mtn., sure makes for some rugged going!)

Here is the view of Baker where we parked the rig and headed into the "Big Timber"

We started our hike at 6 a.m., and by 9:30 a.m. we were almost to the top. It was windy, wet, and icy cold near the top. The ground got so steep is was like climbing a ladder and every foothold counted. The new green plant growth is sure slick with a little water on it. Neither of us took a picture at the steepest point, it just wasn't worth trying to fish a camera out of our packs at that point.

So on the decent, i found a flat spot and snapped a few shots.

This is a shot of a more manageable portion of the slope, but still steep though.

We side hilled for quite a ways, checking meadow pockets, that we wanted to see.

At one point i looked back up the hill, and saw these clouds blowing through at around 30 mph., they were worth the shot, and i like to call this next picture "Bear Country".... A prime spot to see one strolling through, unfortunately we didn't get to see a bear on this trip, just lots of sign.

Here is a pic. of the clouds that moved in seconds after the above picture was taken, the wind was blowing at a pretty good clip, enough for me to stop and put on my thermal top!
Checking the meadow pockets finally paid off, and we came across these four deer feeding. The one in the lower left corner was a nice buck, he wasn't going to have much for horns, but was big bodied. I took this picture at about 150 yards, i know it doesn't look like much, but the digital camera doesn't do much justice for distance shots. Was sure fun putting the sneak on those deer though, and made the hike that much more rewarding.

And lastly, the find of the day. I found a nice hiking pole, laying in the Salal as we were going through the Big Timber on our way up the Mtn. I guess we aren't the only ones crazy enough to try such a hike. What are the odds?
By noon we'd made it back to the truck and had covered around 5 miles. We both felt good, and weren't to sore or tired. A good preseason hike, to get our legs under us!

This morning as i reflect back, i can't help but think what a difference a year has made. Being 55 pounds lighter, and exercising almost every day, found me with lots of energy and feeling GREAT after a hike that would have destroyed me this time last year.

So, I'll close with that.....From the North.....where we hike for a purpose and see animals too!

Mark....The Iron Skillet