Thursday September 9, 1999 • bowhunters in camouflage outfits, their faces painted to resemble dappled leaves in sunlight rush purposefully about the place in trucks looking for elk • I look for a quiet vantage point and all afternoon carry food + water + equipment up to Bell Ridge + make camp at a spectacular + lonely site • 26 elk graze peacefully on a neighboring ridge in the evening light before finally catching my scent + vanishing into the valley below • September 10 • hot • like L + C I am plagued all day by eye gnats • draw all morning + paint all afternoon until 8 • woken at night by a crashing thunderstorm + howling winds that fill the tent with dust • September 11 • an awkward day of intermittent sun, wind + rain • the rain turns the badlands into greasy gumbo which transfers itself to everything I touch + is impossible to remove • I work doggedly on until a blood red + ominous sunset • September 12 • work all day in a fierce cold wind • September 13 • up before dawn + hike down to Slippery Ann to hear a large herd of elk bugling • back up to Bell Ridge + finish painting • pack • leave for Fort Benton + a G + T with BV • the last day of 12 weeks fieldwork •