Goat Camp- Behind the Scenes….

There is a lot of prep work that goes into a multi-day, do it yourself hunt. The piles of gear, groceries, proper apparel and well tuned equipment all has to be prepared and organized for the trip. It doesn’t stop there, once in the field you are continually loading/unloading packs, ATV’s and trucks, prepping for your hunt, all the while thinking about what is required to do it safely.

I’m not sure as to the total amount of time and money I’ve spent on shower systems to-date. For the last week in the woods I purchased a portable, hot water on demand shower system that had to travel as my carry-on in the plane from the north country, as there were non available down south. The people in security defiantly thought I was dedicated to wanting a shower.

For meals, I loaded the camper with groceries but truth be told, when we were coming back to camp at dark every night, the last thing on my mind was firing up the stove. I cooked one great meal during the week and the rest of the time we ate MRE, Military meals with 1,200-1,300 calorie portions and self heaters that when you add a drop of water are great in a pinch. I thought they were wonderful, I told G2 it was like opening up an adult-like Kinder surprise every time. One even had chocolate peanutbutter it was like being in heaven to find that when on the side of a mountain.

Then there is the question of laundry when you have limited room for clothes, I found TIDE sink packs that worked great in my dish pan with some river water and Voila- no more stinky undershirts! On a side note we tried using merino wool base layers for the week and sock liners, G2 tried the KUIU 185 base layers, and I improvised with some finds from Costco (hint, hint KUIU). Overall I found the merino much better than synthetic base layers as it seemed to easily wick sweat, minimize odor (very important if you can’t get to base camp to have a shower!) which essentially kept us warmer and more comfortable. I would highly recommend it if you are doing a multi-day trip or need a solid base layer.  But that’s just some of the background that goes into making the hunt an adventure- G2 told me I like to do too much luxury stuff, but heck you might as well be comfortable while making the effort! More to come on our Endurance Test!

Hot, dry and dusty- who wouldn't want a shower after this?

A hot meal, one of the few during the week

My packhorse for the week, the little yellow quad took us up some gnarly trails to get us to our starting point for climbing

With all the prep work, finally on top of the world- Ironically the mountain behind G2 is called Destroyer's Peak