Posted by David Sherman on Sunday, December 31, 2006 at 01:42:01 :
In Reply to: Re: fourwheelin' the FFFPW posted by Russ Roth on Sunday, December 31, 2006 at 00:50:07 :
Around here, they say the first snow of the fall is the warning. It'll melt enough for you to pack up your camp and leave. But if you don't leave, the next snow will stay till spring and you'll be hiking out. So far, my experience has been that that's exactly how it is.
A guy I knew was a wrangler for a packer who used to set up his pack camp (for hunters) in the meadow above my place. One year when he was left to pack up the camp at the end of the season, it commenced the second snow. He had a big horse trailer, which was a project to get through that narrow, steep road even without snow, but by the time he got everything loaded and headed out, the snow was deep and he got stuck part way up to the saddle. The meadows are at 3200' and the saddle's 4700', so there's quite a difference in the snow. He knew this snow was going to keep snowing and it wasn't going to be melting any time soon. He ended up unloading the stock, packing as much of the gear as possible on them, and leading the pack string over the mountains and down through Wallace. I wasn't there yet, but he said people were coming out of the stores taking pictures of him bringing his pack string through town, thinking he was doing some kind of historical re-enactment or something. He was too tired to stop and explain. I don't recall whether he ever got the truck and trailer out that fall or if it had to stay until spring.