An old Outlook.

Last summer, Bobby, Kaylee, Nick and I found an outlook over the Hoodoos through bushwhacking. This summer I thought I would share the view and try to find the same place once more. Seth was quarantined due to the Norovirus so I took Michael who was not one for hiking. We drove up to Bunsen’s parking lot and walked a little bit of Glen Creek Trail before we hopped off and went our own way. We hiked through some dense brush and made are way through some open Lodgepole Pines. From there the pines thinned out and some smaller high-dense pines were our new route. Each tree was a couple feet apart and the branches from each overlapped its neighbor’s branch. At points in time we were lucky enough that large dead pines would lay on the ground and give a small but helpful bridge to navigate through the brush.

I recall from the last experience that the trees would come to a complete end and there would be about a foot before a large deadly fall. Keeping that in mind, we moved slower and slower holding on to the branches as we passed through. Looking up over the eight foot trees, I could see Bunsen and judge the distance to the edge. We made through the trees but we found no ledge. We went north hugging the tree line trying to find the old spot. We climbed over numerous dead trees going up and down hill for 500 feet before finding a new place we would claim ourselves. There were dead trees around us and one made for a good bench that we would sit on for the next half hour. I pulled out my phone and played some music from the artist The Cat Empire. Michael had never heard of them before but seemed to really enjoy the view, music and spirits of our new outlook. We looked at the time and wanted to make it back to the EDR for one reason; hoping it was going to be good. We made it back to the car and the whole hike took just over an hour. Dinner was nothing to write home about.