SKS

SKS, a set on Flickr.

My new SKS all cleaned up!

Heart Attack Hike... With Fishing!

Saturday I decided I wanted to go fishing. Since there's so much snow and all the places I really wanted to go are closed I figured I'd try my luck and Moon Lake. After an hour of fishing and getting hot from standing on the shore I decided I'd had enough. One little bite wasn't enough to keep me on that lake.

I figured I was close enough to Yellowstone Canyon so I'd head over that way. Water is RAGING!

3 of the 5 campgrounds in Yellowstone are closed. Water is dirty and cold. Then I had a crazy idea. I figured it was only 12:30 so I had plenty of time to go to Lily Lake. I knew there was a trail and it had been a long time since I have been there. I think it was in 97 or 98.

I got my pack set up, put on the fishing vest and headed up. That trail goes... STRAIGHT UP!


About half way up I jumped a 5 point bull elk. Unfortunately I couldn't get the camera out in time. The trail is tough to see at times but it is there. There are a few spots where you have to sit on the log blocking the trail and swing your legs up and around and the you're basically sitting on the ground when you're on the uphill side. It's a steep one. I was glad I had my hands free to grab whatever tree/rock I needed to to help myself up. It took me about an hour to hike up. And after a good little rest I was ready for fishing!

There's about a 5 foot patch of grass around the edges of the lake that you have to fish over. But it wasn't too bad with my 7.5' pole. A few fish were jumping and There were a couple beavers swimming around where I first started fishing the lake.


I ended up catching 5 good 12-14" brookies.



I brought 2 home. It was nice to be fishing and catching such beautiful fish.

It was only a 40 minute hike coming down. And even though it'll wear you out and give you a heart attack going up, I think I need to hit it again this year when I have more time.

I went Fishing!!

I've been waiting and waiting to go fishing for quite some time. The weather this year has been odd to say the least. Snow is melted at the lower elevations in the mountains for the most part. Snow up high is still deep. I watch the SnoTel and StreamFlow sites regularly. From those I can see that the water is fishable still and whatnot.

Shari and David are heading to NY for the summer so we had a hot dog roast up Uinta Canyon today. Amy, Lily and I went up early so I could get some fishing in. We went to the trail head and headed to the ponds to the west. I caught two rainbows out of that pond. I wanted to wander and search more ponds but Amy and Lily didn't. So we eventually ended up back at the car and shortly after that we met up with the rest of the clan to eat.



I've never liked rainbows, they always look plain and boring to me. But a fish is a fish. I really was sad that I didn't catch a brookie. That would have been good eating for lunch. Oh well, there's always next week!

Bored...

March sucks... It's so boring.... small game hunting ended in February.... Snow all over still... Mud is coming... and is here in the driveway because of the great melt every day... You can't go fishing cause things are still frozen... and for those loony people that ice fish it's dangerous time because of the melting and filling of lakes.... March sucks... nothing to do... and now Sunday is the start of daylight saving time.... so now another hour of light after work with nothing to do.. March created cabin fever... BOO on March...

Goals......

This year I have a few goals I'd like to accomplish...

Camping!
I want to go camping a lot more this year than I did last year. And not just alone. Dan, Jeremy, Kyle, that means you need to come camping with me. Get a fishing license or get your hunter safety info swapped from AZ to UT and get a combination license and plan on coming camping. Friday night to Saturday Afternoon. I've got the Bronco, Jeremy has the Astro. Let's go explore the Uinta's this summer!

Hunting!
I want to shoot an elk! Right now I have an elk tag for the Nine Mile Range Creek area. We saw some cow elk just before dark last weekend. No good shot unfortunately. I took a shot, but it wasn't a good one. I think I want to apply for some closer areas for cow elk. I don't need to get a bull. I'm totally fine with a cow for now. I also want to shoot a coyote, a fox, and a lot more rabbits!

Fishing!
This goes along with camping. I want to go fish more areas and lakes than I have in the past. Maybe I'll even take a camera and take pictures for once. And even GPS my locations and log things to make it seem like I'm getting places knocked off the list.

Weight.....
Yeah, I'm not excited about this goal, but I need to lose about 15-20 pounds. I just don't have the ambition to do it. I know I know... cut out the soda... but... but... water is just so bland and blah... And I get bored with Gatorade and the like. I just love a good Mt. Dew fountain drink.

And last but not least... ok.. last for now...

I want to buy another GUN!

I've really been eying this:

It's a Stag Arms 2L LEFT hand AR. I am right handed, but I have this problem. My left eye is my dominant eye. Being cross eye dominant there are a couple of options. One is shoot right handed with the left eye. That just results in half moon cuts above the left eyebrow due to scope contact. NOT FUN! Another option is close the left eye and use just the right. That would work if I could shut just the left eye! Doesn't work for me. Never has probably never will. The option I have chosen is shoot left handed. It works best for me. Doing such I kind of have some limitations on what guns I shoot. I LOVE my pump .270Win it is quick to load and is pretty much ambidextrous. I also love pump shotguns. I have been known to do well back in the day with a pump Mossberg 500A. I like the tang safety. Not really a fan of cross bolt safeties. I'm not so quick with bolt actions. And I can't justify buying a left handed one. Seems most of them are over charging just to be lefty models. But the Stag 2L..... that's just awesome! I just need to get a LOCAL dealer... or get my own FFL... but I don't see that happening in the near future.

So these are just a few of the goals I have for the year. I just want this year to be a year of fun. Last year went too fast and I didn't get to get out and enjoy the outdoors like I wanted to. And if the current administration has their way many places may become locked up sooner than later.

Week of Ranting...

I've felt like ranting more this week than usual. I blame Roosevelt City. They started it.

As we all know, Monday was Flag Day. Although I don't have a flag to put up on our house yet, I like to see those that do. Roosevelt City has all kinds of banners that they put on the street lights that line main street. They have Union High School ones, USU-Uintah Basin ones, Roosevelt City ones, Spring ones, etc.. They do have flags that are put up on other holidays. I've seen them with my own eyes. I've even seen the city employees putting them up and taking them down. That being said, why on FLAG DAY were there NO flags on the light poles down main street?!? If they want to complain that they didn't want to put them up the night before cause that would be a Sunday night, then they should have put them up on Friday! If they work four tens and don't work Friday then they could have done it Thursday! Are they taking notes from the unpatriotic El Presidente of the Socialist States of America? Just cause he doesn't go to Arlington National Cemetery for Memorial Day doesn't mean our town should follow his lead and ditch patriotism out the window! It's really too bad someone doesn't get a good tongue lashing for dropping the ball on this one. It would be very well deserved.

Another thing that I want to rant about this week is early voting. They advertise everywhere that you should go vote early for the primary elections so you can avoid the lines on election day. It also allows someone to be out of town on election day and still cast their vote. So I thought I'd look up where we would be able to vote early. Roosevelt and the surrounding area is where the majority of the population of Duchesne County resides. Yes Duchesne is the county seat, but we all know it would become nothing if it weren't for the county offices being there. I figured we'd be able to go to the city building in Roosevelt to vote early. That would be the logical place. WRONG! The only place Duchesne Co. residents can vote early is IN DUCHESNE! And they wonder why they get a low turnout for early voting!? I'm not about to take well more than an hour out of a work day to drive 30 miles, cast a vote, and drive back home! If the local gubment had brains they'd have early voting available in Duchesne AND Roosevelt. It would greatly change primary elections because of the convenience of it! Then 20 people wouldn't decide the primaries anymore!

One more thing. This is for Dan the Man since he posted about customers. Wal-Mart employees. Without customers, you wouldn't have a job. Got it? I'm not saying that customers should get in the way of Dan pushing pallets of goods. I'm just saying that when I'm pushing a cart down a WIDE aisle and you clearly see me coming, DON'T CUT ME OFF!! You made eye contact with me! You know I was going straight! It's kind of like trail etiquette. If you're hiking on a trail, and a guy on a horse is coming the opposite way, you stand aside and let him pass. Why? He's got a horse that's why! You by yourself can get out of the way much easier than a horse can! Just like you walking down the aisle at Wal-Mart carrying your scanner can move aside and wait a half second for someone with a full cart to pass by you!

That's all I have for now. Sometimes it's good to rant. We can all learn from it. At least I hope we learn from it. Lesson one? Don't do something stupid to make me ticked off. Simple as that.

The Wants....

Lately I've come down with a pretty bad case of the wants. I want this, or I want to do that. Raging rivers and poor weather have kept me inside all too much lately.

A couple weeks ago I got a truck bed trailer for free. I had to put the wheels back on and air up a tire, but it was still free. Now I don't really have a legit use for a trailer per se, but I just wanted it, and the price was right. I got to thinking I could modify the trailer to become something I would use and enjoy. That got me thinking, which at times can be a long process. I thought about turning it into a weatherproof box to store and haul all our camping gear. Then we'd just get the food/water loaded, the clothes, hook up and go. So I started to take a gander at things. Then I saw on a forum a RTT for sale. I had to click on the thread cause I had no idea what a RTT was. Then I was enlightened. It is a Roof Top Tent. I want one. That got me onto safari/expedition/off-road trailers. They have many names but they all serve the same basic purpose.

The discovery of RTTs led me to search on home built expedition/off-road trailers. I want to build one! I found one that a guy did a build thread on a forum that was 48 pages long! Yeah I know, it would be a lot shorter if the comments from the peanut gallery weren't there, but hey, that's huge! It took me 3 days to read it. I was in awe the entire time. He went from not knowing how to weld, to having a completely fabbed up trailer in a couple years. This is what it ended up looking like.



Isn't that awesome?!? I'd do a few things different, but still the same concept is there.

Another thing I want is a 4x4 to haul the whole family. I've looked at Envoys, insurance was too much to justify getting it. I've looked at Jimmys/Blazers, but they all have too many miles and are too much for what you get. I've looked at the old K5 Blazer/Jimmy, the old Suburban, the Yukon/Tahoe. I just want something. I need a great deal to fall in my lap like they used to when I was younger. I used to buy things, drive them for a year or less and make killer profit on them. But now I don't want to sell it in a year, I want to keep it. I need something of my own to go play in the mountains with!

One more want is a mountain bike. Not just any bike, a Specialized Hardrock.
Why that bike in particular? I had one on my mission and I liked it. So why spend countless hours looking around when I know something I like? Yes, I purchased my mission bike over ten and a half years ago. But I still want it.

And since we're talking wants, I want to win the lotto... Not millions... just enough to pay off the house. Cause if I didn't have a house payment every month, I could get all the other things I want :)