He's the reason I have to buy so many pair of hiking shoes!!!!!!!! Sid.....You're KILLING me!!!

For the past decade I've been following this man around the Rockies and I'm just about worn out!

That doesn't begin to mean that I'm through following! "Worn out" is only a condition..."Broke Down" is a state of mind. Sid is, and has been, my high country teacher and In his quiet, self effacing way...using the clearest of analogies,  has unlocked hundreds of mountain mysteries.

Eleven years ago I came to Soda Springs, Idaho on an archery elk hunt with Jim Teeny. Trail Creek Lodge, owned by Sid Davis was to be our unguided headquarters. In my mind, Sid was simply a gracious lodge owner who picked me up at the airport. I was yet to learn that Sid was the heart and soul of elk country! 

That first evening, before the hunt and over adult beverages out by the archery target, I noticed how Jim Teeny (an accomplished elk hunter) and the other hunters in camp deferred to Sid; and how they hung on his every word about the animals, the conditions and the possibilities of the upcoming hunt. It became abundantly clear during the week long hunt, that Sid Davis wrote, the as yet unwritten, book on elk hunting!!! What he knows about elk he knows about deer, fox, bear and all the four-leggeds of the Rockies. And what he knows about them....he knows about the mountains themselves! He teaches that no sound should ever be made that does not belong in the neighborhood and when speaking elk, say nothing more, and usually less, than what elk themselves say. His knowledge of their habits can come only from hundreds of days each year in their house.

Some day you'll be able to read the Book!

In later years Sid and I began to fish in his mountains. He fished there all the time as a boy with his Dad. He knew the watersheds all around and the haunts of trout. It was my pleasure to introduce him to fly fishing (which he learned overnite). Sid, Craig Reagor and I have now had some years to explore nearby trout waters and develop fishing techniques for the area. Sid now hosts, not only elk hunters, but trout fishers through the summer months and Trail Creek Lodge has become a hangout for folks needing a Rocky Mountain Fix.

Reach Sid at:  Trail Creek Lodge 208 547 3828 or check out the Trail Creek Bed and Breakfast web-site