Hike Towards Mt. Roosevelt

After a week of snow and rain there is finally sun in the Hills again. Josh, our roommate; Nate and myself went for a hike behind our new house. Our place is located at the top of the steepest hill in town and has no neighbors. It feels like the country but we're just a few steps from downtown. Our lawn blends into the prairie grasses and gradually blends to evergreens. Each day so far we have seen deer (whitetail & mule) next to turkey's feeding on our lawn. The cat thinks it great and likes to stalk them. No luck so far.

The first twenty minutes of our adventure were spent walking up hill.

After about five I was seriously wondering where we were heading. We followed an old two-track up a ridge. Wild grasses had taken it over and just a remnant of a road remained. After several rest stops we made it to a landing point. We found ourselves in a little clearing between small mounds with rock outcroppings. The boys hiked up to the top and I realized that was the place to be for great views.

After a few minutes of meandering I noticed I was going a different direction than the guys. This is typical. I tend to wander. Crap. We grouped up and walked up to the top of the ridge. On the way we came across some unusual scat and then the scattered and bleached remains of an Elk. We tried to find the skull but we didn't have any luck. The wind was unbelievably gusty and consistent. I was happy I'd grabbed my beanie.

The three of us finished walking the ridge line and ended up sitting for a bit in a thicket of birches. As we were trying to find a place to rest three deer came upon us and then skidded away. Maybe those were the deer that would be finding their way down to our place for dinner. Their dinner not ours. Not today anyway.

As we headed back down the hill it was much easier going. My legs ached from the hike up but that didn't seem to matter as I chose the easiest way down. It was the perfect afternoon for a long hike.