Sierra Ancha Wilderness - Oct 24-25 2009

Oct 26, 2009 07:18 PM #1

This past weekend I went up to find some color changing in an area I hadn’t been to before. The Sierra Ancha Wilderness Area is located above Globe, east of Roosevelt, and off the Young-Globe Highway that connects up to the 260 near Forest Lakes. The elevation pushes 8,000 feet and the forested area contains many waterfalls and ruins, some dated back to the 1300’s.

I drove up Saturday morning and about 3hrs later was in the thick forest. I parked at Falls undeveloped campground right on the creek and began hiking Workman Creek. I forgot how slow creek hopping can be especially with a camera and tripod ;), but eventually made it to the 200ft falls. The creek was flowing but the falls weren’t too impressive with our lack of rain. Also, it should be added to the falls badassery resume that they are radioactive because of the many Uranium mines in the area.

I kept up the creek until I reached a creek tributary and then hiked along it until I found the now almost grown over FR 151. Not far down the trail I saw deer everywhere, more the eyeballing type compared to the skittish ones, many time them gawking at me before I knew it. A little further I saw movement in the woods and saw my first bear doing a fast walk away from me. It was more brownish than black, and medium small- a wrestleable size. I was a little saddened that I couldn’t get a good picture, but it wanted nothing to do with me.

A little further the elk started complaining and calling about me being there but I hadn’t seen any as of yet. As I started to try a call of my own, I looked over to my right and saw 5 big ones just off the trail trying to size me up. I got a few pics and they moved a little further away but still in view. I left the trail about that time to work my way up and over a ridge that would drop me down into Knoll’s Hole. I was pushing daylight but I wanted to at least touch the next trail I would access from another point tomorrow. I followed a heavy game trail on my way up and then down. Before reaching the bottom I stopped near a tree to consult my GPS. As I was doing so, an elk came clambering down the trail but couldn’t see me because of the tree. As he reached the tree 12 feet away from me I realized how close our contact may end up being so I pocketed the GPS and raised the camera slightly. That movement startled it into stopping and as it peaked around the tree, I snapped off the camera at chest level. That noise did it and it turned, trotted off and presumably found a new way down. I met more elk at the base of the hill and found the next trail and lots of tree color. The daylight was almost gone on this side of the hill, so I headed back the way I came to the old faded road. I had my headlamp with me just in case but the sun was still present on this face.

The woods were still very much alive with deer and elk, sometimes seeing them along the trail, at other times hearing them run off breaking through the forest in retreat. It was for this reason, when I heard the forest explode to my right, I didn’t react much, but slowly turned to see how many I scared up this time. Instead of seeing brown and white disappearing through the trees, I saw black running at me. Without thinking, my gun was in my hand and my acquired walking stick went up. Time slowed and as the bear close to full run burst onto my back trail I yelled, “Hey!” as loud as I could and it stopped 50 feet away. We had a staring contest for what only seemed long at the time, all the while making sure not to give up the fact that she was bigger than I had expected. Without lowering the stick or gun I took one small step back to let her know we didn’t have to do this but I wouldn’t be backing down. That seemed to do it and she dropped eye contact and crossed the trail into the other side of the woods. While I would have liked to unhinge my camera from my chest, doing so would have bid me lower one of two of my weapons and I felt that to be the wrong decision at the time (and still). My adrenaline was off the charts, but there was no fear however, and immediately after, I felt elated. What was supposed to work and happen did, we both left unscathed and neither of us had to officially back down. I was glad though that it hadn’t gotten dark yet.
I saw more deer the rest of the way down and a large owl. I made it back to camp right at dark. Only two other vehicles were around, and one guy offered to slice up a log with his chainsaw so I could chop my firewood better. A nice fire and food later, I turned in for the night. I was awoken only a couple times as a skunk came into camp and licked what he could off my propane stove top.

In the morning I woke with the sun, ate breakfast and drove to the Reynolds Creek trailhead to hike the other side of the hill. While only 7 miles, because of its seclusion and elevation gain, it is listed as difficult in the Forest Service site. The 50ft falls there were still flowing slightly as I began my ascent around the cliffside and up into the woods. The color was great along the creek and when I reached Knoll’s Hole again, I took pics with the better light than the fading day before’s.
It really was a beautiful area with color even still left on the aspens. The maples were every shade from green, white, yellow, orange, to red. Also present was a tremendous amount of large bear skat and rooting. No elk at this time of day, but I saw a few groups of deer and some turkeys.
It had a great time and got to see some fall color. It was pretty spotty where sometimes there would be large patches and then sometimes just yellow. The Workman side and Knoll’s Hole were the best. I hadn’t seen so much wildlife in so short an amount of time before, and this was actually my first time seeing a bear in the wild. I brought back a backseat full of colored leaves for my sis who had too much studying to do this go around. :))

Elevation gain day 1: 1362 in 5mi
Accumulated gain day 2: 1375 in 7mi

Oct 26, 2009 07:43 PM #2

Skatchkins wrote:

Bear with me - pics later

Funny real funny

Oct 26, 2009 08:34 PM #3

Skatchkins wrote:As I was doing so, an elf came clambering down the trail but couldn’t see me because of the tree. As he reached the tree 12 feet away from me I realized how close our contact may end up being so I pocketed the GPS and raised the camera slightly.

ARE YOU SURE IT WASN'T A HOBBIT? WAS IT LOOKING FOR ITS PRECIOUS OR GANDOLF?? MAYBE IT WAS A LEPRECHAUN.:clap:

Oct 26, 2009 08:54 PM #4