Mountain Madness

Jeff LundJUNEAU EMPIREAs I was leaning against a tree wondering how squirrel tastes since no deer were stepping in front of me, I wondered if I really loved hunting and fishing, or simply trained myself to tolerate it until something exciting happened.Four of us had hiked a mountain the previous morning to get prepared for Opening Day. By noon it was too hot for deer to be cruising around, and we didn’t want to walk around and spook one the day before we could hunt. There was no snow left on our particular mountain so there was no chance to find some enduring the heat there. So, we retreated back to camp and into the tents that were only more miserable. Take the rain fly off and you get burned through your tent. Keep it on and you’re in a shade that’s hotter than outside of the tent.Zack chose to endure the heat and claimed it wasn’t so hot, which we thought was a lie.Cody and Jake made shade out of their rain fly and the trekking poles, but were exposed to the bugs. At the time Jake was so happy he even took his shirt off. By the time he left to return to California five days later, he had 56 bites … from the elbow down … on one arm.See full column at:http://juneauempire.com/2018-08-10/i-went-woods-mountain-madness