River Day 10/13/2014

You could see as much as feel fall in the air at the river this week.  The trees are starting to change quickly now, and we had a "leaf storm" around the camp (guess that's why they call it fall?).  As nice as the leaves look now, they'll all be gone in a few short weeks.  We enjoyed temps in the low 70's and clear blue skies.  All of the regulars were able to attend this week - Ted, Jay, Tim, and I (Mark).  We saw Freddy for a while, and Ron had come down for a bit just before I got there.

Not too much activity this week; Jay and Ted fished for a while, but most of the evening was spent in conversation.  Most of the talk was about the fall camping trip, which everyone enjoyed.

No fire pics this week, but we certainly had one.  It's getting to be that time of year to start stacking some wood for Mondays!

Fall Camping Trip - October 1-4, 2014

Left to right: Tom, Ted, Tim, Pat, Jay, David, Kevin, Mark, Scott, and Damon.

The annual fall camping trip was a little earlier this year - the 1st weekend of October instead of the last weekend.  We ended up with a pretty large group, and a few visitors to boot.  Those that camped were Damon, Jay, and Tim Harper, Ted Hemmelgarn, Scott Allison, Pat Conway, David and Mark Morgan, and Tom Givens.  Kevin Stafford came down a couple of days.  A couple of old high school buddies, Jim Givens and Randy Meador came down one evening.  And of course we had a short visit from Freddy Hudson.

We camped this year at the Glade Creek campground, along the New River.  On two sites we had four campers, one tent, and a trailer loaded with fire wood.

The weather was pretty good for the majority of the trip, despite rain on and off for most of Friday, and a dip in the temperature Saturday night (upper 30's).

I didn't take as many pictures as usual for the trip, but I'm posting all the good ones here.

As usual, the trip was a great success; good food, good company, and an overall great time.

Can't wait till next year!

!st camper for a change.

David relaxing

Chow time

THE River.

Best fire on the river!

River Day 09/15/2014

Just me and the Harper boys this week for River Day, and as usual, it was a great start to a new week.  We had good weather, but you can tell that fall is right around the corner; low 70's and clear.

Freddy came down to entertain us with this week's drama, but he was the only other person we saw.  The days of Ron and Judy (okay, Mom) being down at the camp are starting to wind down.

Jay tried fishing for a good while - trying to get in as much late season fishing as he can - but no luck this week.  He seemed to enjoy it, catching or not.

Fires aren't as important to us during the summer months, but we had a small one this week that was appreciated, especially with the evenings cooling off quickly.

We've gotten really bad about keeping this blog updated, and this post is pretty late.  Rest assured we haven't given up on River Day though!

River Day 08/11/2014

Jay and I were the only ones that made it to the river this week (unless you count Freddy and Duwan).  We had a little rain while we were there, but it was otherwise a nice afternoon.  Temps stayed in the mid to upper 70's.  We had some rain at the end of last week and over the weekend, but I was still surprised to see the river up as high as it was.  Usually at this time of year you can walk half way across the river without getting your feet wet, but that wasn't the case on Monday.

Not much going on this week.  Jay and I tried a little fishing between rains.  I caught one small bass but I that that was accidental; the hook got him by the head, not the mouth.  Nothing else was interested.

Duwan got involved in some other project this week involving a Bob Cat.  Kinda looked like he was moving the same rocks that he pulled up a few years ago.  Hope the loader survived the effort.

Sorry for not taking many pics this week, but hey, given the fact that we haven't made a post in over a month, I feel okay with it.

River Day 06/23/2014

Tim, Freddy, and Jay

It's been over a month since the last post to this blog, and nearly as long since the last River Day celebration. All of the regular crew was able to make it this week: Ted, Jay, Tim, and I.  Ron and Judy were at the camp as well, and we had our usual visit from Freddy (we have an actual picture of Freddy this time!).

We could not have asked for any better weather; blue skies and temps in the 80's.  As you can tell from the photos, summer is in full swing, with everything being lush and green.  Even the blue room was smelling fresh this week!

 As usual for this time of year, a good portion of the day was spent fishing.  We weren't catching much, but everything counts - a few suckers and a couple of red eyes.

Sorry to all of the diligent readers of this blog for the lack of posts, but better late than never.

River Day 05/19/2014

It was a busy time at the river this week.  Tim and I were the only ones (Rivertarians anyway) to make it down: Jay was under the weather and Ted was MIA (working?).  It was a nice afternoon/evening - temps around 70 and nothing but sunshine.

I brought a little lumber to add to the woodpile, but from the looks of things around camp, we won't need bring any wood for a while.  The area had some heavy rains over the last week and the river had risen nearly to the fire pit.  As usual, when it receded, lots of stuff to burn was left behind, including some fairly large logs.  We did keep a small fire going while we were there, but we didn't do any real debris pick up.

Tim and I fished for most of the time there, and between the 2 of us, we must have caught nearly 50 fish - we even caught a couple of real ones!  Last week we couldn't find helgies for bait anywhere, this week there was one under nearly every rock we turned over.  Guess they were left behind by the flood water.  I had stopped at the store in Piney View and bought a dozen (needlessly), and Freddy and a guy named Curtis gave us a bunch more.  There is a styrofoam container nearly full to the top of hellgrammites at the camp now.

While Tim and I were catching the "big ones", Wolf (aka/Uncle Si) came down carrying a walleye that Toby caught a few miles upriver.  The fish that he was carrying with a rope (not a stringer) was easily 30 inches long and probably went 15 pounds or so.  Shortly after that, the guys cleaned and cooked the fish.  Wolf came back with a plate loaded with fried pieces and some salsa for dipping.  Can we all say "Yummy!"?

All in all it was a busy place around the camp this week, with lots of visitors: Freddy (along with a volatile can), Wolf, Curtis (?), and Austin (baby daddy) Hix.  Always some great conversations when you have a mixed group.

Sorry the other regulars weren't able to make it this week, but it was a great time at the river.

River Day 05/12/2014

Thought I'd better squeeze in the River Day post from last week before we actually celebrate another one (today!).  Jay was out of town on vacation Monday, so it was Tim, Ted and I at the river.  After an early downpour, we had perfect weather as you can see in the photos; blue skies, low 80's.

Ted and I got down a little earlier than Tim and right after the rain stopped we broke out a mower and weed-eater and gave the camp its first trimming of the season. It wasn't cut as low as we'd have liked, but it was too high (and wet) to try to cut any lower.

After the mowing it was time for fishing.  Tim caught a couple right off the bat with a nightcrawler.  We looked under multiple rocks around the river bank but still couldn't find any helgies.  We'd just about given up on finding any when I turned over a rock about 30 yards away from the waterline and found the first one of the season (no award for that...yet).  Tim found one in the same area and we were able to catch a few, including a small-mouth bass.

For once we can't claim to have had the best fire on the river - we didn't even bother building one.  But if we had...

River Day 04/21/2014

Everyone was at the river again this week to enjoy the holiday.  Seems like we make extra efforts to get there when you get nice warm spring days like we had on Monday.  Some (okay, one) of us even drove a few hundred miles just to get to the river.  Temps were in the low 70's with nothing but blue skies overhead - t-shirt and shorts kinda weather!

We all tried a little fishing early on, hoping to continue what Jay started last week.  No one caught anything, and we still haven't started finding helgies yet.

We had another Bocce tournament - 3 out of 5 - that Ted and I lost.  We either need more practice, or fewer trips to the ice box.

Ron had moved his camper from its temporary spot out of the flood zone, back to the driveway of the camp.  I'm sure they're looking forward to another summer season on the river.

Believe it or not, I didn't take any pictures of the fire this week.  We tried keeping it low key due to the dry conditions; we didn't want to add any more brush fires to the area.

Sorry for the late post this week.

River Day 04/14/2014

1st catch of 2014!

Despite a little drizzly rain, we enjoyed another spring-like River Day this week (with temps right around 70). Jay, Ted, Tim and I all made it down again.  Work schedules have allowed all of us to make it for the last several weeks.

For at least the third year in a row, Jay pulled in the first catch of the year (for a Monday anyway).  We still haven't seen any helgies for bait, but he brought down some night-crawlers and snagged a sucker.  Sadly, the first catch was also the only catch of the day, but I'm sure activity will pick up over the next week or two.

We didn't make a post last week (we DID have River Day though), but I had brought down my Bocce Ball set for something different to do.  It's a bit faster paced than washer-toss and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  I had it with me again this week, and we played a few games in the rain. Those darn grapes keeping winning!

Even though the weather was mild, we kicked the fire up a bit to keep it alive during the rain.  Pallets are wonderful things.

River Day 03/31/2014

Spring is in the air (finally) at the river!  It was this week anyway.  We (Ted, Tim, Jay and I) enjoyed a mild afternoon at our usual spot; sunny skies and temps right around 60 degrees.  There was a fairly steady breeze most of the time we were there, so I wouldn't call it a warm evening, but at least we weren't bundled up like Nanook of the North for once.

Jay, Tim and I tried a little fishing (and really, how can you NOT at this time of year?) but none of us had any luck.  Still a little early for helgies.  I tried with a nightcrawler, Jay and Tim used lures.  We weren't discouraged; it just means we're getting closer to the first catch of the year!

Tim brought down another trailer load of pallets this week.  Looks like we're trying to build a condo.  Not that there's a shortage of stuff to burn this spring, but a pallet or two sure does kick the fire up to a respectable level.

No local activity at all this week, except for our regular visit from Freddy.  He was in good cheer this week, and even bought everyone a round!  We've noticed that we haven't seen Leo for a few weeks.  Not that we ever see a lot of him, but it's a little unusual not to see him at all.

Not much in the way of pics this week, just one of the best fire on the river, and another of what has now become my regular River Kit.

Mark's River Kit

Once again, a great way to start the week.

River Day 03/24/2014

Ok, so we've been a bit lax in posting anything here since the end of February, but rest assured there has been a River Day celebration nearly every Monday in March (we took one snow day).  This week all of the usuals were able to make it down: Jay, Ted, Tim and I (Mark).  Although it wasn't especially warm out (around 40, and windy) we had nothing but sunshine and clear blue skies.

Tim brought down a trailer load of pallets to add to the wood pile.  With some of those and all of the winter high water debris that Ted raked up, we had a nice fire going without having to venture out for wood.  We did have to keep an eye on the fire because of the wind (watch out for those embers!), but thankfully, nothing got (too) out of hand.

Since the weather was good we broke out the washer-toss game, where Ted and I lost two in a row to the Harper boys (I can't figure out why Jay keeps referring to them as "grapes"?). Oh well it's still early in the year.

Of course we had our weekly visit from Freddy.  He always has some good stories for us Mondays; we should probably start writing some of them down.

Tim and Jay turned over a few rocks by the edge of the water, but no helgies yet.  Maybe in the next 2-3 weeks.  The river is turning that nice green color that is typical for spring.  The race will soon be on for the first catch of the year!

Be very careful!

As usual we had a great River Day with friends.  Ready to face the week now.

River Day 02/24/2014

Only two of us made it down for the last River Day in February; Jay and I (Mark).  Hard to believe that two months out of the new year are already gone.  Also hard to believe was the fact that all of the snow from last week was gone, except for one little pile anyway.  Sure wasn't because it was just so warm!  Temps were in the upper 30's but we had a steady cold wind from off the river.  The wind was the only thing that kept Jay from trying a little fishing (he may be the only one of the Rivertarians to actually have his 2014 license).

We enjoyed a quiet, uneventful Monday afternoon (excluding a short visit from Freddy).  Home improvement (or lack thereof) seemed to be the main topic of conversation.  There's always some project that needs to be done; whether we actually get around to them or not...

We seem to be on a roll keeping up with this blog for the year; I don't think we've missed a post yet.  Another month of winter left and it'll be all about the fishing.  Looking forward to it.

River Day 02/17/2014

We might not have had a snowy Monday, but we still had lots of snow...the remnants of last weeks 12 inch plus snow storm (probably about 5 inches left on the ground).  Jay, Ted and I made it down to enjoy River Day.  The fire was a little slow to get started, but Jay brought down several pallets, and we ended up with a nice blaze.  Temps were just under 40 degrees.

I'm sure there was a lot of wood laying around for us to burn, but we never saw any of it.  So we ended up burning the pallets and some of the wood we already had stacked.

We had our weekly visit, but without any of last week's slaughter.

Lots of snowball throwing this week.  Doesn't really take much to entertain us.  All-in-all, just a nice relaxing day at the river.

World's ugliest snow...thing.

River Day 02/10/2014

Only half of the Rivertarian party was able to make it down this week - just Ted and I (Mark).  The rest of the usual group was traveling or otherwise MIA.  We had decent weather; temp was right at 30 degrees, clear skies, very little wind.  Most of the snow from the last few weeks had melted off.  The river level was about normal for this time of year, but you could see where it had been up a time or two over the last week.  There was a lot of firewood close at hand for burning, and I brought some stuff to dispose of from some old pre-fab furniture.  We discovered a VERY large chunk of wood hung up in the trees at the bottom of Duwan's lot that's going to take a lot of sawing (and a big saw).  Maybe we can get it (most of it anyway) before the river comes up again and takes it away.  I'm pretty sure none of the locals will fool with it.

(Heave-ho)

Freddy dropped by with his catch of the week.  One of them may have been a small chihuahua, but I wasn't getting close enough to find out for sure.  Didn't really smell like a dog, but...

Just can't bring myself to take a photo of that.  Freddy re-bagged them and sacrificed the remains to the river gods.  Some catfish is going to get full in a hurry.

Not much going on, and no activity anywhere except right around our fire.

Hope everyone got back safely from their travels.

River Day 02/03/2014

The river was made up of ice floes and hot cocoa this week.  Okay, maybe not entirely, but the river was muddy, and because of the rising water, ice from last week's freeze came floating by like small icebergs, with the occasional tree thrown in.  Tim took some video of a large "patch" of ice floating by that I think he's going to try to post.  Pretty awesome to watch.

Jay, Tim, Ted and I all made it down to enjoy our Monday bag-out.  It wasn't nearly as cold as last week, but wasn't too warm either - temp was in the low 30's, with overcast skies, and a good bit of fog on the mountain tops.  I was running later that everyone else, so by the time I got there, the fire was already toasty (there are some benefits to being late).

Jay brought a nice stack of pallets down to ramp up the fire a bit, and I think we burned about half of them. Needless to say, we weren't hurting for heat.  Since there wasn't much wind, staying out of the smoke wasn't too bad this go round.

You don't see much local activity this time of year, but we can always count on Freddy to stop by for a short visit.  I'm sure he enjoys the break from his battles with the area vermin.  Not sure who's winning that one.

Nice to see the daylight hours lengthening.

River Day 01/27/2014

If the tint in the photos this week looks blue, that's because it was - blue cold.  After some earlier discussion to the contrary, Tim and I finally made the call that we would go to the river after all.  Jay wasn't feeling well, and Ted had to work, so we weren't sure at first if we'd make it down.  Thankfully, good sense prevailed.  Pat also made it down after making the trip from Oceana.

The entire last week was cold, and there was probably 4-5 inches of snow on the ground when we got there.  There was even a good amount of ice on the river in the shallow areas and eddy pools.  Temps for the evening were in the upper teens, with the expected low to be below zero as the night went on.

We got our weekly visit from Freddy.  No critters this week, but we did get to hear about some of his conquests, along with the one about the "one that got away".  Happy hunting.

We were anxious to get a good fire going, and it didn't take us long with all the wood laying around.  We also had some good pieces on the pile that we've been accumulating, so we didn't have to do much foraging.

Despite the cold weather, it was a good evening on the river.  Glad we decided to go ahead.  2014 is starting out good; so far we've been able to celebrate River Day every Monday since the first of the year.  Hope we get to keep it up.