by Rick M » Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:43 am
Hi Cy,
I used to live in Twin Falls Idaho and frequently hiked and climbed in the Tetons, Sawtooth and Pioneer Mountains. While trying to climb Hyndman Peak without a topo (I had one of those section and township Forest Service maps that had been tattered at the fold for the area making it unreadable) I realized that there were not any "official trails" in the area but simple cattle and game trails. After climbs of two of the wrong peaks (I would get to the top to realize the next one was higher (and I'm not talking close together like SanJ, Jean, and Marion), I finally made it up.
On the way down the narrow valley, I encountered a large (~100) herd of cattle with horns that looked at me like I was an intruder (or grizzly???). Since there was nowhere to go but up, I quickly climbed about 10 feet above them. I then had big horned range cattle on both sides of me in this ravine. Not wanting to do the running with the ~100 bulls in the middle of nowhere, I waited for them to get hungry and sure enough, after about 10 minutes they walked off into a wider area where I was able to "shooust" them away...is shooust a word? Def Shooust: the silly act of yelling and waving ones arms while jumping from rock to rock in the middle of nowhere where no one can see you acting foolishly. A friend later told me I should have road one down the valley.
ps the second of the peaks I climbed had a rusty tobacco can in it with two logged entries, the first from the thirties and the second from the fifties. I think prospectors may have climbed it before since it's in a mining area but tweren't interested in leaving that kind of mark...more interested in piling up claim marker rock cairns (I've done lots of those in my prospecting days). This must be a sign of old age...story telling.