Family Home and Life: Game Trails

Both of my sons are outdoors men. My youngest son asked for a game camera for Father?s Day; as in a camouflaged?camera triggered by movement that you place on a tree to photograph whatever might walk?by.?

He placed the camera on a pine tree out in a wilderness area and after it had been there a week he wanted to get it to see what it had photographed. He asked me to go along with him. Did you get that? He asked me, his mother, to go. At first I thought he wanted me along to stay?with the car and take care of his child that he would surely be taking along because his wife wouldn?t/couldn?t go with him. I didn?t say that though, but I thought it. I asked him who else was going and he said no one. It would be only he and I. Me and him.

Wow that put me on cloud nine! When your 25 year old son wants to hang out with you, you say yes! I did have some questions about the day, clearly it would be a bit of a hike to retrieve the camera. He knows I can?t really do that so after assuring me it was a very short and easy walk from where we would be leaving the car and I could surely make it. I knew in my heart it was actually about twice as far as he said and not like a walk in the park. No matter, I was going and nothing would stop me. I just decided that if it was too much for me I would sit on a tree stump or rock and he could find me all rested up on his way back.

One really great thing about living in Phoenix is that in a mere hour and half to two hours you can be walking in a forest of tall pine trees north towards Flagstaff or to the east towards Payson. We left early that morning, 5:30 am, and had a very nice visit all the way up the hill on I-17. We left the highway and continued out into the Cocnino National Forest on dirt roads.

Car parked on the shoulder, we packed a few things in?my sons?backpack and I stuffed an inhaler in one pocket, a cell phone in the other, and with my camera dangling from my wrist we started off. It wasn?t too bad and we walked on a while enjoying the cool breeze of the high country, but I saw a little rise up ahead. I thought I would be looking for that tree stump soon. I asked how much further and he said not far, we were about half way. I gave up on the idea of finding a stump to sit on when we saw the bear track.

Elk

Elk

Coyote

This is an area filled with all kinds of wild game, even mountain lion. Bring it all on; I?m not worried about any of those?.except the bear. That was a game changer for me. There would be no taking a break while my son retrieved the camera; I was not going to be left sitting there all alone. We continued on to the water hole and found the camera in good shape. ?We clicked through to see the pics it took and saw images of elk and a coyote. There were some night pics that we couldn?t quite make out. A wind storm had come and the trees shadow movement had caused the camera to photo repeatedly using what was left in the memory. ?As we left we saw more bear tracks.

The hike back was pleasant. Most of the wild flowers had already bloomed.

We found old bones of an elk and I picked up a few to take home to show the kids.

We came across a dump site and wondered how long ago it had been used as we kicked and dug around the rusted cans and broken glass. I found the bottom of a glass jar that read Purex, so?the dump must have been in use pre plastic days. I made it back to the car just barely; I was pretty used up. I think the hike was probably 3 miles or so, not at all a lot but a huge accomplishment for me. I loved the time spent with my son and really enjoyed the time outdoors in the high country.

My son dropped me at my house then at home he downloaded the photos and immediately sent them to me. One, he marked, "look at this one closely?.

Bear

?And, there?s our bear! I know it's not easy to see here. It's in the left corner in front of the trees, it's walking away to the left.

Copyright? Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved

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