The road left the bottom of the valley and became a rough 4x4 road as it climbed the south side. I decided to park my car at this point and walk a mile further in my exploration. No sense risking a breakdown on the rough road in the vehicle that had to take me 700 miles back to Phoenix. It was on this hike that I met 2 fishermen hiking down the road who were carrying two empty buckets. They said there was a trail leading off this road to a couple small lakes higher up in the mountains. Always a smartass, I asked if they took the buckets to carry back all the fish they had planned on catching. No, they took the buckets to sit on while they fished. Shortly after, I encountered two rifle toting deer hunters who hadn't had any better luck hunting deer than the fishermen had catching fish. Oddly, all 4 knew about the elk in the sheep flock.