For nearly a year, I planned and prepared. In mere hours, I realized it wasn’t enough for what we were about to encounter.

From the last small town to the end of the forest service road was about a 3-hour drive. It was well after dark, and we could only see what the headlights illuminated. The trailhead at the very end was packed with vehicles and barely enough room to turn my truck around. I managed to do so, then head several miles back to another side road. This spot served as our first camp. 

With excitement, we woke to a whole new world that we had never laid eyes on, and it was nothing like ever before. With the map showing a trailhead at our location, we elected to make a run down it for our first few days. 

We stuffed our packs with the essentials and 3 days of food, knowing it could be stretched to 4. We struggled to locate the trail as shown on the map and even where judgment said it should be. We decided to strike out through the deadfall in hopes of cutting it down the drainage at some point. That we did, at nearly a mile away. 

We wanted deep in and farther away than most would want to travel on foot in this harsh terrain. We settled in a spot that night at over 6 miles from the truck. We followed a small creek most of the way as we gazed at near-vertical peaks towering above. Our packs were heavy, and the day was long. No sign of humans and, unfortunately, no sign of elk. 

This first campfire would be needed to wind down and then sleep to recover from the heavy miles traveled.