Base Camp Legends

09/16/2017

This is the second video of our Pack Trip. Day three Seth Forsyth and Todd decided to hike cross country into He Devil Lake. It would be a tough hike so we told the kids that if they stayed with Grandpa and Grandma we'd stay on the trail and it would be an easy day!... a long hot day and 8 miles later we made it back to camp. It ended up being a tougher hike than the backpack in! The boys did great... it was the old folks who seemed a little done in after the long hike! Benji stayed with us and it looked like he was the leader of a boy scout troop with a couple of seniors thrown in! He had a busy day going back and forth making sure all his charges were OK! The beautiful scenery made the effort worth it.
Todd and Seth had adventures of their own hiking into He Devil.The country they hiked through was more suited for Mountain Goats than humans! But the fishing was fantastic and they brought some nice fat trout back to camp for supper. Todd wrapped the fish in foil and baked them in the coals for a supper fit for a king!

Part two of our pack trip in the Seven Devils Wilderness. Day two Todd and Seth hiked into He Devil Lake across country as the trail was blocked by lots of deadfalls.…

09/09/2017

The end of July we took a pack trip into the Sevin Devils Wilderness with our sons, Benji and Todd, Grandsons Keaton, Camden and Kason and friend Seth Forsyth. For Kason and Camden this was their first backpack trip. It was a pretty impressive hike for these two 8 year olds! The rugged peaks, sparkling alpine lakes, colorful sprinklings of wildflowers, and kids enthusiasim made for a wonderful trip in the high country of Idaho! This is the first of 4 videos of the trip.

This is part one of four videos of our Backpack trip in the Seven Devils Wilderness this summer. We had three of our grandsons along. For two of the boys it was…

08/14/2017

07/21/2017

I'ts been a long absence from posting! Summer always gets crazy busy with gardening and all the other family activities, but we did manage to sneak away this week for a little scouting and setting up a trail camera. The trip had a two fold purpose.We are planning a backpacking trip into the Seven Devils Wilderness next week. It will be a nine mile backpack, and Gary thought it would be a good idea to take a little test run to make sure these two old people can still hike that far! So we headed up our favorite little canyon where we elk hunt in September. We hiked about 5 miles in and then back to the trailhead. Perhaps not the smoothest and prettiest sight to watch as we made our way up the trail... but we made it without any major collapse!😀
On our way out Gary saw a little bird fly out from the grassy bank along the trail. When we checked it out there was a little nest tucked up in the grass and two little eggs nestled there. Amazing how these vulnerable little creatures manage to survive!

Summer scouting trips in the mountains! Love to get out and explore!!

05/04/2017

Took a trip this Spring to the Salmon River country. The raw beauty of this place never grows old! We took a side trip up Slate Creek and then hiked 4 miles up Little Van BuerenTrail. When I say up, I mean UP! We gained about 2,000 feet of elevation in the 4 miles... making for some pretty amazing views.
Slate Creek and Van Bueren Creek are an added bonus for scenery... not to mention the Salmon river it's self! Love this great country we live in!
We enjoy staying at the Steelhead Inn right along the river. Turkey, elk and whitetail deer can be viewed on the mountain across the river from the Inn. The turkey flock has some of the biggest Toms I've ever seen, with long thick beards. When I mentioned it to the folks who run the Inn they laughed and told us the people who own that property don't allow any hunting... guess those big ol' longbeards will just die of old age!

Here's a little video of our trip...

https://vimeo.com/215994355

This is "Trip to Riggins 2017- Hiking Little Van Buren Trail" by Sue Sorenson on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

04/29/2017

It has been a crazy Spring, no Bear or Turkey hunting... not even any shed horns to show! Someone decided it was a good time to get cataract surgery... had no idea it took so long for the restrictions to be lifted! First it was the left eye... two weeks of no lifting anything heavier than 20 # and no dirty work... no cleaning out the barn, mucking out the chicken pen, all those fun spring activities!... and I discovered there're not many things that are under 20 #! Then it was the right eye this week... 2 more weeks of being hog tied! But on the bright side... I can SEE!! No excuses anymore for missing the target!
So to pass the time I've been sitting around dreaming about hunting! Watching some old videos, I came to realize the amazing country we have had the privelege to behold... I think that is one of the perks of hunting that I love the most...
Here's a short little video of some of the wild places we've roamed...
https://vimeo.com/215289066

One of the greatest perks of Hunting is the country we find ourselves surrounded by. Here is a tribute to the amazing wild places we love to roam!

03/23/2017

Here is Part II of the tribute to the Steens Mountain in Eastern Oregon. If you ever get a chance to go there, do it! A very spacial place indeed!
https://vimeo.com/209773059

This is the second part to a tribute to one of the most amazing places on earth! This mountain rises from the desert floor to a towering height of 9,000 ft. If you…

03/15/2017

I have been looking back at some old footage from Gary's Deer Hunt in 2007 in the Steens Mountain. This special place has a lot of memories for our family. My dad and Grandpa started hunting there in the late 50's. It had always been a productive hunting ground. So when Gary drew a deer tag in 2007 we were so excited to get back to this unique amazing country after a long absence.
We discovered the deer population has declined drastically. We only saw a few does the entire hunt. Later we talked with a wildlife biologist about this and he said the increased predator pressure, in particular cougars, had taken a real toll on the deer. We also found out that if you hunt the Steens now you need to stay lower, out of the rim rocks. The high rim rocks is where we hunted primarily, because that is where the nice bucks always were, but not the case now. Even though the deer were not what we had expected, the country never disappointed!
I decided some of the footage I took while we were on this hunt was worth sharing, even though there is no wildlife on it. This mountain is truly a special one of a kind place! The landscape goes from desert floor to high mountain, and the weather can change from nice shirt sleeve to nasty blowing cold in a very short time! We experienced two storms while we were there, both rolled in fast with little warning. We knew this was a very regular occurrence in the Steens, so we were prepared, but our tent didn't hold up in that extreme wind and the fly blew off during the night!
Here is Part I of a video tribute to the Steens Mountain.

(click on the link below to watch video)
https://vimeo.com/207986180