Hiking in the Chugach Mountains...

It was about two weeks ago that Rose and I went on a hike in the Chugach Mountains along the Turnagain Arm. We just set out for the day hoping to get some exercise and to climb up high somewhere to get a good view.

We picked a trail and set off, up and up and up! It was a pretty good climb and we finally broke out of the trees, brush and tall grass. Once we did, we started spotting Dall sheep on the steep slopes and rocky outcroppings. We could easily tell that they were rams but difficult to tell how big they were with the binoculars alone.

We continued climbing and saw more sheep, a band of three rams together, a whole group of ewes and lambs way up high and a solo ram. It was fun to watch the three rams, it looked like they were establishing some kind of pecking order maybe. They would butt heads and posture; definitely interesting to watch.

It got me excited for my sheep hunt in about a month. On August 9th I'll be flying out of Fairbanks in a bush plane to the Brooks Range to the north for a 12 day backpack sheep hunt. It's a hunt that I've dreamed of for a long time and only residents of Alaska can hunt sheep without a guide. Otherwise you have to hire a guide as a non-resident and that'll cost $12-$14,000, not inlcuding tags, travel, and other expenses.

I'm going with a guy I met up here shortly after we moved up last spring. We've been out bear hunting and fishing together and seems like we mesh pretty well when it comes to hunting. It'll be an epic adventure that will include many many miles on foot, extreme weather that could very well include snow, steep steep mountains, grizzly bears and probably almost anything else you can think of! It'll be a well documented trip, we hope to video some of it and maybe put together a good recap for everyone once we get back home!