Another Great Day

Yesterday was another one of those great days that once again made me recognize how wonderful my life is. It may sound arrogant, but how many people can say they woke to a bull moose grazing 50 yards from them and finished the day flying like an eagle!

Trail head

Rock Creek Lake

Thursday I headed into the mountains to climb a few peaks, one of which was rumored to hold snow/ice year round. It was about 6 mile approach, but when I got to the lake 4 miles in, I could see that the snow/ice couloir was melted out. Uninterested in scrambling the rock, I decided it would be nice to camp at the lake. I found a nice level spot on some bedrock perched 30 feet above the lake and called it camp.

Back of the Lake

The afternoon was nice and quite. Some nice alone time to relax and think about things. As night crept in, temps dropped quickly and I found refuge in my sleeping bag. The night was spectacular. There was a near full moon and when it disappeared behind peaks, the stars were brilliant. I laid awake watching shooting stars and listening to a moose walk around my camp.

Camp

I awoke to spectacular lighting and quickly grabbed my camera. Took a few shoots then spotted the silhouette of my host. The moose was grazing about 50 yards from me and occasionally took notice of me when I snapped a shot. After about an hour I got up to make breakfast, pushing the moose out of it's comfort zone where it quickly ran off to the woods.

Sunrise

The Wildlife

I headed home shortly after breakfast and got a call during my drive that people were meeting at the LZ to fly. Perfect. I'd be just on time.

Karl, Josh, Nick, John and I headed up the hill for what we thought would be a great flight. As it turned out, the winds didn't come that were forecasted leaving us with sled rides. Not as great as a soaring flight, but fun enough. I mounted a camera on my wing and snapped some pics on the way down. Tried to get some wing-over shots, but there are still some kinks I need to work out of my camera system before that will work.

Flying over Mount Sentinel

Everyone landed safely and then headed over to beer fest to do what we love the most after flying, kick a few back!