Tuesday Morning:

Rained off and on throughout the night. At dawn we awoke to more showers. My tent was wet from condensation making my clothes lots of fun to put on. Johnnie was up already and boiling water for coffee and hot chocolate. Glancing up to the alpine the fog was hanging right at goat altitude. We discussed the benefits to trying another fog hunt like we had yesterday and both agreed that running around bumping into goats was not a smart idea. Besides, one wrong turn in the fog could get you in trouble in those cliffs. I now know why they call this area the Mistys.

So we decided to hang tight at camp, build a campfire and try to wait out the fog and rain. Johnnie collected firewood and before long we had a smoky fire going. For the entire day we waited for the fog to lift but it never did. By late afternoon it was apparent that our second real day of hunting was a write off. No problem, these things happen when you hunt AK. I just hope it doesn't happen too often!

We had a nice time sitting around the fire talking. In our busy lives, we don't get to do that as much as we should. I really enjoyed our sometimes lively conversations on subjects like Ronald Reagan (both Johnnie and I have strong views on politics) Logging, the Native American Subsistence Issue, the Alaskan Guiding requirements for brown bear, sheep and goat, and lots of other topics. I am really getting to like Johnnie which was nice because sometimes when you are cooped up with one person they begin to gnaw at each other.

By late afternoon the brief showers and drizzle had all but ended and we attempted to dry out some of our clothes. We discussed the hunt strategy for the next few days and decided to try and find a route up to the North Pass directly in front of camp - weather permitting. We had seen a few goats there and by the looks of it, could shave off several hours from our previous days hike.