An Unplanned Hike Above Home

“Hey Mark,” a co-worker said as she popped her head into my office, “we’re all getting an early out today. Tell your crew to head home at 3:30.”

Sweet! It was a Friday afternoon. And outside we had sunshine and early fall temperatures in the 70s. Now, what to do with that perfect weather to take advantage of a 90-minute head start to the weekend? One hour later, there we were in the mountains just above our house.

He said: When you need a quick meal, you defer to a favorite – or in this case, two favorites and an all-time favorite side “dish.” For me, favorite number-one is what I call “salad pizza,” though this was a mini-version of my usual full plate mounding. That’s a base of lettuce and then all kinds of ingredients on top like white cabbage, red cabbage (yeah, I like cabbage), carrots, tomatoes, banana peppers, pickles, ham, cheese and slather it with a healthy dose of sweet and spicy French dressing just like you’d bury a regular pizza in cheese. (Side note: I’d usually include pears or apples, craisins and a handful of honey roasted peanuts but passed this time because of my other dish.) 

My other favorite I toted up the mountain in my pack is something I often eat for breakfast – vanilla yogurt, granola, apples, oranges (sometimes bananas and huckleberries) and topped with strawberries fresh from the garden. 

And my all-time favorite side dish of choice is Doritos. Why? Because. Doritos. Make. Everything. Better!

She said: (had an early pre-hike dinner so just ate some watermelon on the mountain)

By the way…We are really fortunate to have a one-mile-by-one-mile section of U.S. Forest Service land just up the dirt road from our house. It’s great forested habitat loaded with wildlife. In fact, after years of trekking all across western Montana to hunt deer and elk, now I just pretty much wander into this section of land above my house during hunting season. The forest service land gradually slopes upward and is home to a bunch of deer. It also shares a northeast corner with State of Montana land that shoots up high into elk country in the mountains above. I’ve taken a number of deer down low and seen elk high but I’ve yet to catch up to one there.

Freezer-filling meat isn’t the only thing for which I hunt up on the mountain. I also look for Christmas trees. When the kids were home, taking them into the mountains to find and cut down a Christmas tree was an annual jaunt. We did it for years. Knee-deep snow or not, I always loved it! I love being outside and this was just another way to enjoy the outdoors and its natural resources.

Well, the last couple of years as empty nesters, we got away from that tradition and put up the dreaded artificial Christmas tree. I was never really a fan with so many real choices up on the mountain. Last year, my wife conceded that fake trees drop as many needles as real trees. And since she, too, likes the fragrance of a real tree, I got the green light to chop down and bring home the real thing this holiday season.

Already ahead of the game, I had my eye on a particular tree I took note of last hunting season. Granted, it was covered in snow at that time plus I was a bit distracted while scanning the horizon in search of big game. Still, I noted the location so Lori and I swung by there on our hike. While that tree was decent, we thought we could do better. We found a good stand of Douglas fir trees. These wild trees aren’t your specially-raised, super thick variety you can’t even stick your arm through found on a Christmas tree lot. However, if you keep looking, you can get rewarded. And we were. We eventually found a dandy of a Doug fir – stout, decently thick, tall and majestic.

I’ll be back in December to chop it down, throw a strap around its trunk and drag it a mile and a half or so back to the truck. If I’m really lucky, I’ll follow the same path I will have already taken one month earlier, dragging a deer or elk (or both) during hunting season. Either way, I can’t wait to make the trek.