In the picture on the left is Lisa's brother Craig, Bob, Chester, Lisa, Lisa's dad Ken, Lisa's sister-in-law LeAnn, niece Emma, LeAnn's mom Sheila, niece Gabriel and nephew-in-law Keaton.
In the picture on the right is Bob's brother Jim, Bob, Lisa, Bob's mom Evie, nephew Lee, and our wonderful kids Caleb and Hannah.
Caleb and Hannah couldn't be with us for the Idaho portion of the trip and flew to Montana where they joined us for the rest of the Holiday.
On the way to Idaho we drove through the southeastern part of Oregon crossing the Owyhee River at Rome, Oregon. This brought back another river running memory where Bob and some of his river running buddies had an epic trip in 2002. In fact, it has become the river trip of reference all other river trips we've done have been measured against.
The trip was scheduled towards the end of April and the weather turned out to be really bad with snow, rain, wind and lots of mud. Added on top of that, Bob caught the flu and had to row the entire trip because his boat partner sprained his wrist and couldn't row.
The original plan was to run the full 90 miles of the Owyhee but when they got to Rome cold, tired, sick and behind schedule they decided to call it and take out here. In this picture behind us is a calm section of the Owyhee where the Rome take-out/put-in is located.
As we drove past Rome and over the Owyhee River we came across this sign explaining something which, in our river running experience of the Owyhee, was completely wrong. :)
After leaving Idaho we drove on to Montana where we picked up the kids at the airport and had a great reunion with Bob's mom, our Grandma Potts.
Our wonderful kids, Caleb and Hannah.
The wonderful Thanksgiving spread Lisa prepared at Grandma Potts' house.
Building puzzles and sharing beer with Chester. How fun!
While in Montana we also got to visit our very good friends Pete and Sharon Melniker. Bob and Pete go back to their time working on the Padlock Ranch in 1983.
While visiting Grandma we always make it a point to fix little things and take care of stuff that's not easy for her to do. This year one of the things we took care of is buying and setting up a new TV for her. Here we all sit enjoying Grandma's favorite movie, The Sound of Music, on her new TV -- how fun!
On our long drive back, Hannah took this amazing picture of the Tetons as seen from the highway near Rexburg, Idaho.
Our wonderful little puppy asleep on Lisa's lap on our long drive home.
On Thursday, November 11th Bob joined his friend Jeff Sutich for a Bull Elk Hunt north of Elko, Nevada in and around the Jarbidge Wilderness Area. Bob first met Jeff in 2011 when he first went to work at the Governor's Office of Economic Development. Jeff was also working for the agency at the time and they've been good friends ever since.
Elk hunting permits in Nevada are awarded by drawing only and the chance of pulling one is fairly low. In fact, Jeff had been applying for a permit for eight years and finally drew one. Soon after he learned about it he asked if I were interested in coming along and helping him out and I was honored to do so.
Also joining us were two of Jeff's childhood friends, Derek Metz and Shane Santistevan. Jeff is a seventh generation Nevadan and spent his early years growing up in Elko. His friends Derek and Shane are avid hunters and know the region extremely well. Having them support of this hunt was like having two guides who not only generously shared their expertise, but also their vehicles, camper and other equipment; they were great.
It was a great opportunity for Bob to tag along with these three close friends who, almost 25 years younger, welcomed him along. All in all we made a great team.
Click here to read through Bob's detailed journal of this fun trip.
Bob doing his part glassing this beautiful country trying to find a bull Elk for Jeff to stalk and harvest.
Glassing this expansive country from high on a ridgeline. It's hard to capture how big and beautiful this remote part of Nevada is. It was truly a pleasure to cover so much of it on this hunt.
Glassing west up the Camp Creek drainage into the Jarbidge Wilderness Area.
Derek Metz looking for elk.
Jeff's permit was to hunt Area 072 and Area 074. Both of these are great areas to find elk.
Shane Santos and his son Heston looking for elk high on the ridge above the Middle Fork of Canyon Creek.
Still looking...
One of the challenges we had on this trip were flat tires. This can be a big problem in country as remote as this, but it all worked out. For more detail on how we worked through this challenge, read Bob's detailed journal.
Bob took this picture of his boots while Jeff and Shane stalked a couple of bulls he had spotted. Here is an excerpt from Bob's journal describing what happened:
"On Saturday around 8:00 a.m. at the top of Middle Fork Canyon I spot two bulls, one a raghorn and the other quite a bit larger. I only got a brief view of the bigger bull because he was behind a grove of willow bushes but am quite sure it was a decent six point. Jeff and Heston saw them as well and none of us saw them leave the willows and assumed they had bedded down.
So, we decided that Jeff and Shane would stalk down from the top (they were about 1,400 yards below us) and Heston and I would go to a good vantage point on the opposite side of the valley to spot for them and communicate with 2-way radios.
We thought we would be able to see all movement around the willow grove but as it turned out there was a steep gorge we couldn’t see that they apparently went down, and we lost them. At least we got to see a couple of good bulls and not downing one may have been a good thing because it would have been a lot of work packing one out.
As it was, it was a very steep slog through deep snow getting back to the side-by-side."
It was all part of the adventure...
Bob and Derek glassing up Cottonwood Creek, again, no Elk.
This country is so big that you have to drive much of it to get it covered. That said, we did quite a bit of hiking as well which was very enjoyable.
Jeff Sutich and Derek Metz. Great friends!
Stuff laid out in the back of Bob's pickup to clean up and put away after a great trip.
Unfortunately, Jeff didn't get his Elk but for Bob and the others the trip was still a win just getting out and going hunting in this beautiful country for five wonderful days.