September-1 2008

September 2008
It didn’t take long for us to need to go on a camping trip again. Gail and Tom were keen to go to Lost Lake over the pass to the west of Crested Butte and so it was. We left from our cabin and travelled over Cottonwood Pass to Taylor Park and then on to Crested Butte. Tom and Gail left from Salida and came across Monarch Pass, through Gunnison and met up with us. The route on to Lost Lake is all on graded gravel road but increasingly rutted over the last few miles. That does not stop some vehicles from doing 60mph round blind bends! The campsite was nearly empty and had few services - just right for our tastes!
We undertook a circular trail around the three local lakes and Tom brought along his fly rod just in case. The hike took us high up near the tree line and gave great views down to the campsite from above.

We found beautiful flowers and berries on this hike but the star was a Gray Jay - Clark’s Camp Robber. He was determined to share some of our picnic and quite happy to steal food right out your hand while you were chewing the previous mouthful. He stayed with us a long time before he realised the opportunities had all been eaten.
Tom and Gail will do anything for a fish although they rarely bring them to table. Our philosophy is quite the opposite! On this occasion they had brought their inflatable kayak and were quite successful out in the middle of Lost Lake Slough right by the campsite.
Our evening drinks and nibbles by the fire were enlivened by the local golden-mantled ground squirrel - they look like big chipmunks but have no facial stripes. He - like the gray jay - new all the best tricks for stealing the nibbles. Of course we started by encouraging him but soon learned that if we gave an inch he just took the proverbial mile. Eventually we had to chase him off!
On the way back home we visited the town of Crested Butte and had a great lunch out on the deck before going down to Gunnison where there is a monster discount store for all things huntin’, fishin’, shootin’ and camping. We were all worried that Angie had no boots with ankle support and I was determined to find some before she sprained her ankle in some out of the way spot - how prophetic that would be...

Before our trip I had taken delivery of a game spotting camera. These are simple, low definition cameras that huntsmen use for scouting game so that they know where to go in the fall season to bag their allotted animal.
We experimented with it for a while and finally got the hang of using it well. It is set up to wake up on infra-red movement. After 2 seconds it takes three shots one second apart with flash if at night then goes to sleep again. Our real hope was to get one of the local bears since we knew from fresh bear scat that they were about.
While at Lost Lake we got him! This one was a BIG bear and he was about 50 yards from the cabin at the back. We set the camera up in a different place and caught the local bobcat by day. Before his visit we had three fat and friendly golden-mantled ground squirrels who came to be fed - after his visit we had none at all... Inevitably we caught lots of mule deer but not the mountain lions who are also there.