My Top Ten Outdoor Experiences

Being an early riser, lets say before sunrise almost every day, I decided to take a walk outside the cabin that we just bought in the Brookville area of Pennsylvania. We purchase the cabin so that we could access the area for trout fishing. But this morning, I decided to walk outside and enjoy the sounds, or lack there of, and listen to the woods wake up as the sun rises. The time of year was early May, the morning was quite cool and crisp. With a hot cup of coffee in an adult sippy cup, I ventured the 80 feet away from the cabin porch to the chairs at the fire ring.

All was quiet, like the night before Christmas, not a sound. No wind or breeze. Just silence. As the sky in the east started to lighten, the sound of a bird, maybe a chickadee, making a peeping sound off in the distance started. As the light continued to increase the more sound from different birds came from around me. Then the rustle of the early rising squirrel. Little guy looking for food.

Then, all of a sudden, I hear this sound off in the distance. Letters cannot really describe the sound. As the light increased, so did the number of times I heard the same type of sound. Then it dawned on me, that this was the call of the wild turkey. The call of the male, or Tom turkey to be exact. I had never heard it before in person. Sure, you can go to a farm that raises turkey and hear them sound off. Just not the same. As I listened to this wild performance, I could not help but think back to the settlers first arriving in north America, and their first experience with the turkey. Can you imagine the first time a settler heard the gobble sound and not knowing what it was? Can you imagine the stories?

Since this first time I have been able to hear them sound off many times, and each time it is a thrill the hear the bird that Ben Franklin wanted to have as our national bird.

On our second trip to Alaska, and our second visit to Denali National Park, we decided to take the full length park tour. If you are not familiar with Denali, the park is over 4 million acres and has one road. The first 5 miles is accessible for everyone. The remainder of the road, to Wonder Lake is by permit only. So a bus tour is you best bet. On this particular tour we saw many animals, but the best in my opinion was the wolves.

The picture in this section was taken from the bus window, at a distance of more than 300 yards. The female her is collared for tracking purposes. This was an amazing sight. Most people who go to the woods will never see a wolf. Here, we were able to see the female and two of her offspring in the open. Perhaps it was because it was cold and rainy, but a truly unexpected pleasure. And to have her howl as in this picture was one of the wonders of nature few will ever experience.
All of the people in the bus were in awe of the spectacle before us and not a sound was made. What an experience!

I would have to say that even though there were over twenty people along on this trip, the sound of the females howl gave me a very lonely feeling. Imagine an explorer to the area, and at twilight you hear the call of the wolf. You would then know that you were truly alone in a wild untamed place.

On the same trip to Alaska as number 9, we decided to take an ocean tour. This one is out of Seward and is called the Kenai Fjords Tour. Leaving the docks in Seward we did not know what to expect. As the boat made it's way to more open water, we passed Sea Lions on a small island, watched many species of birds as they flew from the cliffs to far off places and back again.

Once we made it to more open sea's, and following the coast, we settled back to enjoy the scenery as we were heading to one of the glaciers in hopes of seeing the ice calving into the ocean. Suddenly the Captain calls over the PA that a pod of Killer Whales has been sighted about a mile away on the starboard side (right for you land lovers). There is a rush to the outside portions of the ship and all eyes are on the water. Then there is the sighting, a spout of water, and the tall dorsal fin break the surface. Then more, seven in all! WOW, this certainly has made the price for admission worth it! As we watch I am able to take several pictures as the pod swims away. Most of the people have left the deck for the warmer insides of the cabin, but I am still on the lookout. That's when it happens. Another dorsal fin, about 500 yards away. It disappears. A moment later the Orca bursts out of the water in a leap that causes it's entire body to be airborne. I take the picture, and keep watching. It breaches again! Closer this time! that is the shot you see here. And then it breaches again! Less than 100 yards away. Unfortunately I had a telephoto lens on and the last jump only had two thirds of the Orca in the frame even at the lowest power. What a great experience! It happened so fast that most of the people from inside never had the chance to see this very awesome and rare experience.

The old west. The phrase conjures up images of cowboys, riding the range, and wide open spaces. I had the opportunity to experience a modern day old west recently. The trip was to hunt Elk in Montana. No, I did not harm an animal on this trip. But the idea of a wilderness trip on horseback was something I have always wanted to do. Yes you can do things like in "City Slickers", and run cattle. But my choice was different, only a starting point, the camp, with no time schedule except to ride out after a week to the trailhead and be picked up.

The trip left from Pray, Montana, via truck to the trailhead, then by horseback for 16 miles as the crow flies, to the base camp in the Grizzly Creek drainage, just north of Yellowstone Park. Most of the ride was decent, along well worn trails, but the largest accent was up to Wallace Pass. Elevation 10,691 feet, and the trail was a switchback that if you fell off the horse, you would have fallen and rolled to the valley floor. Very steep! This was not a good portion of the trip if you don't like heights. The descent was more gradual, riding through meadows, pine forest, and the regrowth areas from the 1988 fires that burned mass areas not only here in the Gallatin National Forest, but Yellowstone as well.

Each day we were in this area, we would ride out before dawn, scout areas either on horseback or on foot, and return most of the time as night was falling. So we carried gear and our lunches into the wilderness. Yes, this is grizzly and wolf country. We even saw a mountain lion track on the return trip that wasn't there the day before.

On our way to the trip listed in #7, we decided to take a detour from the regular freeway route and take the Beartooth Highway into Yellowstone National Park. This is a nice scenic drive through Cooke City and some very fun and winding roads through Beartooth Pass. This trip was in August and there was still snow in the pass. Amazing! As we continued our drive into Yellowstone we were able to see Buffalo on several occasions. Some were grouped along the braided river system, with some along the edge of the road. We left these behind and continued our drive through some of the most beautiful areas I have ever seen. As we climbed one of the hills, we rounded a corner to see this Bull Buffalo walking down the road. We drove past him and then parked along the side out of the way. He stayed the course in the middle of the road as if following the double yellow line to greener pasture. Not moving for even the cars heading head on. You can just feel the power, the attitude of this majestic beast that he was the king of all he surveyed. This is his land, and we are just passing through, so get out of the way!

Driving through North Dakota, on our way to north east Montana, we discovered the not so known park called Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We had been driving for hours and were nearing the end of our day. Most of the drive was uneventful looking at the mostly flat or rolling land around us. When suddenly the ground on the north side of the road gives way to what looks like a mini Grand Canyon. One might think nuclear testing, but you'd be wrong. The canyon is a natural feature created thousands of years ago. So we stopped as the sun was setting and enjoyed the view as the sunset changed the canyon to a brilliant red that darkened with the setting sun. Having watched this spectacle, we ventured to the small town of Medora for the night, which just happens to be outside of T. Roosevelt's historic cattle ranch.

Upon wakening the next morning we decided to take the driving tour of the Park. Mule Deer, Antelope, and Prairie Dogs were observed in the early morning hours. As we continued on, we came upon a small herd of Buffalo making their way along the road. As we followed them the large male would occasionally turn and look over his shoulder. We thought he was looking at us. But Noooo! He was watching the trailing male that we had not seen. The first male stops in the road not 20 feet from our motorhome, turns and starts to walk toward us, moving around the unit and starts to posture with the other male. They circled each other until the larger one had had enough and finally butted heads. Their antics caused a lot of dust to fly and a lot of grunting, but no casualties this day. The intruder left for greener pastures, and our proud bull returned to lead the herd to their destination. I can only imagine what the prairie could have looked like during the time of the Indians. The millions of buffalo! A time long gone by.

Deer. What can I say? Interesting creatures. My next moment took place on a ranch in Texas the first week of November. Leah and I had traveled there for Leah's first hunt. Well, this isn't about hunting, it's about the animals.

The third morning at the ranch, my guide and I left the lodge way before daylight so that we could get into our blind before the deer started to show up to feed. We climbed into the blind and settled in for the morning. Coyotes could be heard in the distance, as the sun was just starting to make it's presence known. As the sun continued to rise, the deer started to filter in from the surrounding brush to feed. Quite a few Does, and some Bucks walked into our view, but the memory that will stick with me is the little buck that walked in. Probably a year old, he had two points on each side of his rack. That is the antlers in case you were wondering. Well, he walked in from my left and started to feed. I don't know why I kept watching him, but all of a sudden he became very tense. Almost as if someone had walked into his territory.

The bush never saw it coming!, this little buck decided that this small bush was an intruder and attacked it with it's antlers. Thrashing about in the branches, jumping back, dancing around and then back to beating the bush with his antlers again. Twigs were torn off and went flying, dust erupted from the ferocious attack. I really wish I had a video camera with me. This little guy was asserting his dominance all over this bush. Each time he would jump back, the rest of the herd would spook, look in his direction, and you could almost tell from the body postures, that the rest were saying " just junior playing again". This went on for at least 10 minutes. When he was finally done kicking this bushes a.......branches, he strode off so proud of himself.

Weather plays a great part of many things. Sunny days and animals bed down. Cloudy days, the might move but if it's hot, nope. So the conditions, and a lot of luck are involved in the woods.

If you know me, you already know that sleeping in means awake by 6 a.m. A normal morning for me starts about 5 a.m. No matter what, weekday, weekend, holiday, doesn't matter. So it is no surprise that while staying at our cabin one fine early fall morning, I awoke before the sun. Now I enjoy being outside especially when the air is crisp, a slight chill, and very little to no breeze. Well one such morning is what I had. So leaving the cabin behind, I took a walk outside to enjoy the stars and the awakening of the world.

Crossing the yard and looking at the stars, I realized that there was a somewhat heavy mist this morning. Visual distance on the ground was down to maybe 20 yards. So I walked out past the quarter acre pond, and found a place to sit to enjoy the sunrise over the valley in the direction I was facing. All was quiet, no sound. No chirp of birds, or of insects. Almost an unnerving still. If your a fan of scary movies, you would have run back to the cabin. Me, I just sat there listening. Occasionally I would hear a twig break, or a leaf rustle.

As the light increased to a still dim but seeable level, I heard movement in the leaves. Squirrel was my thought, but appearing out of the mist a form transformed from a dark shape with no form, to that of a full grown whitetail doe. All by herself, slowly and cautiously walking through the woods. Un aware of my presence, she looked for browse, and moved to my right. The wind must have swirled as suddenly her head shot up and she stared strait at me. I froze and did not meet her gaze. She snorted, stamped her feet, and stared. I remained motionless. Sensing that I was not a threat, she moved on, all the while keeping track of this thing in her woods. Her tail flicked continuously, but still she just went about her morning, and ultimately faded back into the morning mist.

Once again surrounded by the solitude I sat and waited. The sun continued to rise and as it did, worked at the mist until it was mostly gone. The crescendo of bird song and other sounds of the woods prompted me to return to the cabin and the warmth of a fire.

In my younger days I was drawn to the north woods of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota, and the Canadian Quetico Provincial Park.A place of solitude, natural beauty, and wonderful fishing.

I have venture to the area many times but one of the most memorable was early on. The trip consisted of myself and four friends. We began the journey in Ely, and flew on a float plane into Canada, to travel by canoe for the next 7 days, covering about 60 miles to our destination and the return to civilization. The trip was great, with waterfalls and fish, pristine lakes, and water so clear you could drink from the lake. Indian pictographs met us along the way. We looked at them and wondered what the artist was trying to say to us so many centuries later.

One of the first nights that we camped turned out to really hit home that we were nowhere. Camp had been set, a fire made, dinner completed, and the setting of the sun was to conclude our day. Relaxing by the fire, and the moon rising, off in the distance I heard this sound. A sound I had never heard before. Somewhat of a trill from a bird, but none I had heard before. My words will never be able to describe it. The sound sank deep into our bones, letting us know that we were now out of our element. All four of us listened to the concert as other birds joined in, and at one point, we believe that we heard a wolf or two join in. No cell phone, no radio, just us and the woods. And the calling of the Loon.

On another trip to the woods of the Quetico, I was joined by three other friends for a 5 day trip to a small island camp on Sarah Lake in the Quetico Provincial Park. For myself, this was my 8th trip. Can you tell that I liked the area?

We set off from Moose Lake and travel across several lakes, making several portages, to wind up on our island retreat. A wonderfully secluded lake that during our time there, saw only one other group as they passed through the lake onto other areas. Camp was set up and included two tents, and a wonderful picnic table created by the park service out of fallen logs.
What a unique pleasure to have a table to eat on and converse over.

One particular evening, after a day of adventure and fishing, we all sat around a fire and enjoyed the stars and the quiet. One of the others spotted on the horizon a glimmer of light, like a curtain rippling in the breeze, but very faint. The Aurora! We watched the spectacle fade and grow for a time I do not know how long. Finally it faded from sight. The fire was low and it had been a long day, Off to sleep we went.

As we each prepared to climb into our sleeping bags, Bill, my friend for many years, remembered he had forgotten his camera out by the fire. So he went to retrieve it. Suddenly, breaking the silence we hear "Guy's get out here! Quick!". Not knowing what was going on we all raced from our tents with our flashlights to provide assistance. We found Bill standing next to the fire ring staring straight up. Now we knew what the excitement was all about. The Aurora had returned. But not waves on the horizon, but multiple waves that layered inside each other to form a circle, like an old time parachute with the hole at the center. The awesome image rippled and shifted, changed color and flowed around our little island like a celebration of light. The sky was filled to overflowing with wave after wave, ripple after shimmering ripple. Four observers to an awesome spectacle that many will never experience in their lifetime. Stunned by the beauty, none of us moved a muscle, nor said a word. The camera Bill went to retrieve lay motionless where he left it. Not a one of us remembering it was there. My words now do not do justice to the event we experienced.

Time stood still for all four of us. I have no idea how long we stood there. But after a time, the spectacle faded to a black sky filled only with stars. And our lives changed for ever.