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Tip o' the Day

It is said -- and I believe it true -- dogs will seldom bark at their image in a mirror. The reason is because their first sensory reliance is on their nose; there's no dog there. Let a dog outside in the morning and watch him make his rounds. He's not staring about, as is his master. Nope, his nose is near the ground. Trot by the lilac bush and he may pause long enough to raise a leg where that isufferable mutt next door peed at midnight, then he's on his way. Why did he stop and sniff so earnestly at that particular spot in the lawn? Obviously the brain is registering something, but what?

Nature works pretty much the same way in the wild world. It's truth one should entertain if one wishes to interact with God's wild creatures.

True, pronghorn antelope and mountain goats depend on eyesight for safety. But deer and elk place more stock in their ears than eyes. And with them, the most positive indicator is the nose. So it is with wild canines: foxes, coyotes, wolves. And so it is with bears.

The point of this is if you're looking for wildlife and wish to sit and watch a meadow, open hillside, or forest glade, you should not expose the site to your scent, either through wind-drift, or by ambling around the place before deciding to sit and watch. I'll give an example:

There's this rolling 100-acre opening where Jane and I have spotted grizzly bears in the spring. We love to sneak up on the meadow, take a position at the forest edge, and simply sit and watch. Willow brush and swamp fills half the opening, with a tiny stream slicing the meadow in half. The meadow's edge has a couple of classic bear-rub trees, and there's a low forested ridge jutting a little into the meadow. The ridge is a prime place for daybeds for bears.

For a while after discovering the place, it was Jane's and my practice to circle the meadow, looking for recent bear sign (scat, ground squirrel mounds, cropped grass and forbs, tracks in the creekside mud). Then, after examining the rub trees for bear hair, we would retreat to the forest edge, set up a spotting scope, and watch.

One time, we did our usual routine, circled the meadow, then crossed it about 150 feet from the edge of the impenetrable brush-filled swamp. An hour later, Jane hissed and pointed. I glanced up from the book I was reading; a grizzly bear grazed from the brush field out into the meadow. The bear's route angled toward us! Jane had the binoculars, my eye was glued to the spotting scope. Closer and closer the bear fed, up to the edge of the tiny creek, perhaps a hundred feet away.

Then the bear stopped as if it butted into a brick wall! She sniffed the ground, then turned for the willows. "She smells where we walked," I whispered. The bear glanced back over her shoulder, then returned to our scent trail for a second opinion. That was when she made a bee-line for the willows and we saw her no more.

Testimonial on the way to a five star (*****) amazon.com rating:

"My Best Work is Done at the Office is pure Roland Cheek, that is, a rollicking blend of wit, wisdom, and adventure in the Northern Rocky Mountain country and written down in his newspaper articles for more than two decades. This highly recommended compendium showcasing some of the best of his writing is a "must" for all his fans and will serve to introduce to new generations of readers one of the country's truly masterful, witty, and memorable western storytellers."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rural Montana Magazine says this of Chocolate Legs, an entire book about a single grizzly bear:

"In the wonderful, descriptive way Cheek aficionados have come to expect, he brings the bears and other wilderness denizens to life in the reader's imagination. The book is not a documentary. Neither is it a novel. Cheek has simply filled in the blanks with plausible storylines. The animals and events he describes arise from knowledge gained during a life in the mountains observing nature in general, but with concentration on elk and bears."

ALL ABOUT NETTLES AND MOUNTAIN VIEWS

 

The trail had formerly been a main thoroughfare for packstrings snaking up and over mountains of the Swan Range. Their route was through Inspiration Pass (which is a name guaranteed to conjure substantial images) into the northwest corner of the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

The path's grade was superb all the way up the South Fork of Lost Creek, though it's a bit overgrown during recent years of declining U.S. Forest Service trail maintenance standards. (The access road to the trailhead could also use some help.)

The day was overcast at the beginning, but clouds were parting by the time we reached the trailhead, and several members of our hiking party slipped out of their long trousers, opting instead for shorts.

We'd not gone far before encounterng our first nettles. Jane, in her usual lead position, pointed out the stinging plants and those wearing shorts side-slipped past, avoiding the troublesome leaves. More nettles were encountered, then more. Some of our group changed back to long pants; but Doug and I swished through.

The day turned hot as we climbed to the ridgetop. With the nettles far below, everyone was in shorts and cut-offs. We ate lunch with spectacular views fifty miles east, to the Continental Divide. There wasn't the slightest trace of haze in the atmosphere. "That's Silvertip Mountain," I told the group. "And Pentagon to the east, northeast. Trilobit is just north of it. And I believe the one just poking up the farthest out, due east, is Rocky Mountain Peak, the highest in the Bob Marshall."

I told what I knew of the old-time use of this, one of the main trails into the north end of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. "The owners of Flathead Lake Lodge use to pack up through here on their way down to the forks of Bunker Creek, where they had a hunting camp. That was before the Forest Service brought the road up the South Fork of the Flathead to the Wilderness boundary, then turned a spur road up Bunker Creek.

"They put up a 31 million-foot timber sale on Bunker Creek with the idea, if it sold to Missoula mills, they could then justify a road up and over the Swan Range--right here through Inspiration Pass--in order to expedite hauling out the timber. Instead, Plum Creek Lumber Company (of Columbia Falls) raised Champion International (of Missoula) sixteen times in oral buiding and thus, kept Missoula mills out of the South Fork. Hence no need for the road."

Silence fell, then I said, "One of the main Kootenai Indian's main trails to the east side of the Rockies came through Inspiration Pass."

But my mind still dwelled on the Forest Service road up Bunker Creek. "The Bunker Creek sale, and its concommitant road system into some of the best hunting area in the entire Flathead Forest brought the national logging controversy home to this area. Fish & Game opposed the sale and roads, so did most hunting groups. Then came the Endangered Species Act and concern over grizzly bears and wolverine and lynx.

"At one time, this section of the Swan Range was thought to contain more grizzly bears than anyplace outside of Glacier Park. Maybe parts of the North Fork--I don't know. Anyway, Bunker Creek was one of the centerpoints for the South Fork Grizzly Study that Chuck Jonkel headed up for ten years."

At last we started down. The day was warmer yet. And though we plodded downhill, we cut no slack and was sweat-streaked by the time we struck the final four miles of nettles-laden trail. By then we were tired, too, and thus plodded right through with no thought of avoiding the plants.

My hide is tough--like old whang leather--so I wasn't as bothered as were Jane and Marilyn. Both said their legs were burning as we reached the car.

It must have been true because Jane was awake most of that night, rubbing her legs with all kinds of salves and ointments. Marilyn apparently suffered likewise; she said she even tried rubbing her appendages with milk.

Doug, as it turned out, suffered little, but then his legs are covered with a thick mass of black guard hair, not unlike that of a hoary marmot.

The women say they will someday return to South Lost. But they claim they'll never again hike the trail wearing shorts.

All the foregoing makes good background fodder when a lady new to our hiking group asked if we knew any place where she could pick a mess of nettle leaves?

"Do we ever!" we chorused. Then I added, "But who'd want to?"

Turns out the lady, a diligent herbalist, wants to make what she knows as tasty greens. When Jane asked for the recipe, the lady says she first washes the leaves, then steams them. She drains the greens, then adds a spoonful of peanut butter with a tiny bit of hot water and drizzles the concoction over the greens. She says the resulting greens are very tasty and a little spicy.

All of which proves Jane's and Marilyn's sacrifice was not in vain. Besides, I'll eat anything if it has sufficient peanut butter on it.

By the way, Inspiration Pass is one the world's best lunch spots.

 

Roland Cheek wrote a syndicated outdoors column (Wild Trails and Tall Tales) for 21 years. The column was carried in 17 daily and weekly newspapers in two states. In addition, he scripted and broadcast a daily radio show (Trails to Outdoor Adventure) that aired on 75 stations from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. He's also written upwards of 200 magazine articles and 12 fiction and nonfiction books. For more on Roland, visit:

www.rolandcheek.com

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