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excerpts.
Back Country Access Problems
Lordy,
ALWAYS
Point
Your
Vehicle
Toward
an
Emergency
Exit!:
The
entry
road
to
the
southern
Flat
Tops
traverses
a
low
saddle
in
the
uplift
that
is
always
prone
to
deep
snow
drifting.
There,
in
2018,
was
a
tall
truck
bed
camper
was
camped
on
the
roadside
exactly
where
the
biggest
drift
usually
occurs.
I
stopped
to
the
tell
the
squatters
that
they
should
get
their
rig
pointed
toward
the
south
so
they
did
not
have
to
back
up
in
a
snow
emergency,
and
perhaps
back
into
a
ditch.
I
know
what
can
happen
there
after
forty
five
years
of
encountering
stuck
vehicles
in
that
at
that
spot!
The
truck
owner
said
he
would
try
to
reorient
the
two
rigs.
However,
he
was
waiting
for
a
sympathetic
and
helpful
hunter
to
return
from
Eagle
with
purchased
tire
chains.
ALWAYS
GO
PREPARED FOR AT LEAST HALF THE WORST YOU CAN IMAGINE WILL HAPPEN.
Communication
Problems:
Many
hunters
are
accustomed
to
using
their
electronic
crutches.
Do
not
believe
you
can
rely
on
them
in
the
Colorado
back
country.
There
is
little
money-making
incentive
to
erect
cell
towers
in
sparsely
populated
remote
areas,
especially
places
used
only
temporarily
by
hunters.
Phones,
GPS,
internet
and
even
satellite
walkie-
talkie
phones
may
not
work;
or
not
work
when
there
is
an
emergency.
Bring
paper
copies
of maps, trail routes and perhaps satellite images of your immediate hunting area.
Back
Country
Weather
Alerts
:
NOAA
National
Weather
Service
operates
some
radio
stations,
which
relay
recorded
weather
messages
from
valley
towns,
which
do
not
represent
high
backcountry
conditions
helpful
to
Colorado
hunters.
You
can
get
their
Call
Signs
and
radio
frequencies
at
http:”www.nws.gov/nwr/stations/php?State=CO
Write
down
the
frequencies
of
area-applicable
stations
and
tape
it
to
your
vehicle
and
camp
radio(s).
Forest
Service
Fines
Road
Blocker:
In
the
early
1980s,
a
blocked
irate
Forest
Service
employee
awakened
a
Flat
Top
hunter.
The
hunter
had
bogged
down
on
the
snowy
road
and
simply
set
up
his
tent.
He
was
professionally
castigated
for
being
inconsiderate
to
other
hunters,
and
additionally
fined
for
cutting
many
fresh
pine
boughs
for
a
tent platform.