Monday Morning:

Woke up Monday morning to dense fog. Bummer. Took up the trail after freeze dried eggs and bacon breakfast. Broke another arrow trying to bust through the rain forest. We caught a fresh smell of bear which put both Johnnie and I on alert. We headed up out of the berry bush area, across two mountain streams to a landing of muskeg at the foot of the steep stuff. A very difficult and slippery climb (I did not wear my caulks) was had getting up to goat elevation but by late morning we were there.

On the way up we spotted a lone goat walking directly above us, 300-400 yards. By the horns, fluffy coat, and posture we both agreed it was probably a good billy. We picked up the pace. By the time we reached the area there was no goat and the drizzle and fog had gotten worse. We ate a soggy lunch and headed across the backside of an alpine lake to an area we nicknamed 'the craggies'. On our way there we stopped at a mineral lick and checked fresh goat tracks in the sand - only a few hours old.

Monday Afternoon

We worked our way higher through to an alpine meadow and we split up to increase the odds of finding a band of goats in the drizzle. As I crept along I caught movement 25 yards in front of me. It was a non-typical blacktail buck feeding. I motioned for Johnnie that there was a buck. He came over and we both glassed it. It had a double main beam on one side with lots of points. Not a big rack but a rare find for blacktail. I had a tempting shot and could have easily gotten closer but decided to not shoot it this early in the trip. Eventually the blacktail spooked and took two other bucks with him. This was the first Sitka Blacktail I had ever seen. We spotted some bands of goats in the distance during those rare times when the fog blew away for a few minutes. No billies and nothing close.

The fog moved in and out and at times it was necessary to use a GPS to get our position. After a long day we decided we needed to get back to camp2. We headed back through the craggies and I noticed that our tracks in the sand had been walked on by a good goat - probably the billy we saw earlier. He was there around us the entire time but we never saw him on account of the fog.

Tired, cold, and wet we made our way back to camp. Three long hours later we were wolfing down a freeze dried and right into the bag. If the weather is like this again tomorrow, it was a camp day for sure.