The city, Pocatello, a clear beautiful morning. Now how was I to know that. My eyes were still glued shut, trying to find the button to turn off that @#$%# alarm. The sun isn't even up yet and I just want to sleep. Tired? You Bet! We spent the night before loading and weighing our backpacks and of course, stupid me, I loaded mine as though I were a pack horse. At around 50 lbs with my tripod, mine was the heaviest pack of all. Gordon took pity on me and carried my tripod. Still, over 45 lbs, what was I thinking??
I manage to haul my old, over-weight body out of bed and stumble around the house bleary eyed making sure the rest of the crew is up and preparing to hit the road. We manage to get our gear loaded and after a quick breakfast at McDonald's we are on our way. Destination-Upper Palisades Lake. We had to make a stop for fishing licenses on the way - well - two stops. The first place didn't sell them. Little did I know, until the end of the month, I had accidentally used my state credit card to buy my license.
At the trail head, we donned our packs and got under way. Did I just say donned? More like I managed to struggle into mine without falling over. Bryce and Devin led the way and most of the time were well ahead of Ryan, Gordon and I. We stopped to rest for awhile at a nice wide area. Looking around, we saw a small bird an a branch, and with binoculars, determined it was a hummingbird. I got my camera out, put on my long lens to take a picture just in time to see the bird fly off as I was raising the camera. What happened next was good for laughter all around. Believing the bird was gone for good, I started to put the camera and lens away again. I had it almost back into my pack when it came back to the same branch. Out comes the camera and lens again just in time to see it fry off again. Darn camera shy bird.
After what seemed like an eternity and on shaky legs (for me anyway) we reached Lower Palisades Lake. I was sure glad to be using my mono pod as a walking stick. It was probably the only thing keeping me upright. Bryce and Devin decided to try their hand fishing Lower Palisades while the rest of us trudged on. After all, the rate we were traveling, it wouldn't take long for them to catch up and again take the lead. The hike from Lower to Upper Palisades was, for me, the toughest part of the hike. The last 200 to 300 yard was absolutely excruciating. Selecting our camp site was determined by the best places available to pitch our tents. Me, I collapsed on a log and watched Devin and Bryce put up their tent and Gordon and Ryan put up ours.
OUR CAMP
I manage to haul my old, over-weight body out of bed and stumble around the house bleary eyed making sure the rest of the crew is up and preparing to hit the road. We manage to get our gear loaded and after a quick breakfast at McDonald's we are on our way. Destination-Upper Palisades Lake. We had to make a stop for fishing licenses on the way - well - two stops. The first place didn't sell them. Little did I know, until the end of the month, I had accidentally used my state credit card to buy my license.
At the trail head, we donned our packs and got under way. Did I just say donned? More like I managed to struggle into mine without falling over. Bryce and Devin led the way and most of the time were well ahead of Ryan, Gordon and I. We stopped to rest for awhile at a nice wide area. Looking around, we saw a small bird an a branch, and with binoculars, determined it was a hummingbird. I got my camera out, put on my long lens to take a picture just in time to see the bird fly off as I was raising the camera. What happened next was good for laughter all around. Believing the bird was gone for good, I started to put the camera and lens away again. I had it almost back into my pack when it came back to the same branch. Out comes the camera and lens again just in time to see it fry off again. Darn camera shy bird.
After what seemed like an eternity and on shaky legs (for me anyway) we reached Lower Palisades Lake. I was sure glad to be using my mono pod as a walking stick. It was probably the only thing keeping me upright. Bryce and Devin decided to try their hand fishing Lower Palisades while the rest of us trudged on. After all, the rate we were traveling, it wouldn't take long for them to catch up and again take the lead. The hike from Lower to Upper Palisades was, for me, the toughest part of the hike. The last 200 to 300 yard was absolutely excruciating. Selecting our camp site was determined by the best places available to pitch our tents. Me, I collapsed on a log and watched Devin and Bryce put up their tent and Gordon and Ryan put up ours.
OUR CAMP
Doe a deer, a female deer! Yes, we had camp company almost immediately. We saw the doe as we entered the camp site and it hung around eating, watching and just generally checking us out. After awhile, Devin asked if he could chase her off. With an affirmative, he ran yelling and screaming at the doe effectively chasing it out of sight into the woods. We all had a good laugh over the whole thing.
Who would believe a person with an innocent face like this would be so ---- .
Time came to go look around the lake, try a little fishing and just generally see what we had gotten ourselves into. Then it was time to try out our Wal Mart purchased dehydrated meals. Surprisingly they were very good.
Did I mention the rain? Well, it rained. Gordon didn't have a rain fly for his tent so we stretched Ryan's poncho over it to protect the interior as much as possible. Fortunately it didn't rain much.
As darkness fell, we sat around discussing what we would do the next day. Fishing in the morning was the first order of business. Then it came time for - Sleep, glorious sleep.
