Sept. 25th Tombstone Territorial Park

Anthony

I was on the road at 6:00 this morning with plans to hike to Grizzly Lake and return. The weather forecast was cloudy with some sun around 11:00. Since sunrise is at 8:00 it was dark when I started. Within 15 km of Dawson I saw a bear on the road. The bear took off quickly but I could see it was all black. Just a black bear, not a Grizzly. When I got to the Dempster Highway, it started to rain. I did all 60km on the gravel road, in the rain, in the dark. I drove into the trail parking and was surprised to see another car already there. Since the rain was heavy I sat in the car for an hour and a half, drinking bad coffee and listening to my iPod. At 9:15 I decided to pack up and go home. The rain was solid and I couldn't see any mountains. I was peeing in the parking lot, when a girl walked in from the road. She looked like she had had a rough night – way too much alcohol. She walked by me to her car, checked the stuff beside her car and came back to talk with me. She got lost in the woods yesterday and had spend the night in the woods. When the light came this morning she had followed a river until it hit the road, and she walked back to the car. She had been with her boyfriend Anthony and his brother and she had lost the path on the way back. The gear beside her car was theirs and they must be out searching for her. She was going to walk back up the path to look for the brothers, but I volunteered to hike up and look for them while she rested. Off I went, and 1.5 km up the trail I found Anthony's brother. He was sitting under a large tree which protected him from the rain, with a small fire going. He was waiting for Anthony who was out searching. I gave him the news and carried on. About 2 km later I came across Anthony. He told me he had walked the trail to Grizzly Lake and back 4 times during the night looking for his girlfriend. I gave him the news and down he went. I went up to the lookout, and by the time I got there the rain had turned to snow. I took a few pictures, but I could not see the big mountains, so I descended. At least I was useful.

Snowcaps