River Day 07/25/2016

Wow - it's been two months since the last "official" River Day post.  There have been some River Days since then, but as usual for this time of year, they get a little sporadic.  Work, vacations, and other obligations manage to keep at least a couple of us away every week. 

A couple of months ago we had decided to celebrate this week's holiday watching the local baseball team play, but the plans got a little fouled for some of us.  Tim and Pat ended up going to the game as originally planned.  Jay, Ted, Kevin and I ended up at the camp.  The weather was good on the river; sunny with temps in the 80s.  The river level was close to normal for this time of year, maybe a tad on the high side.

The camp during the summer months usually has a nice "lived in" feel: debris cleaned up, lawn mowed, flowers growing in pots and beds.  Things have definitely changed this year with no permanent residents there.  The lawn is in bad shape, only a few wild flowers growing, and nothing looks groomed at all.  A little bitter-sweet after seeing it a certain way for many years.

In spite of this, we did a little cleanup.  We burned limbs and washed up wood in the immediate area of the fire pit.  And we did a little structural work on the shed.  It's not much, but could still serve as a shelter from rain.  With nothing in it, there's more room to move around too.  Jay summed it up pretty well with this week's quote, "Let's make the river great again!".  I'm seeing T-shirt sales from that one.

I'm not sure about everyone else, but I'm going to do all I can to make sure that the National River Day tradition carries on for as many years as I'm able to get there (or at least in the company of fellow Rivertarians).

Happy River Day!

Flood at the River 06/25/2016

Because of the severe flooding across West Virginia this week, I decided to go check the damage at the camp.  Being a perfect opportunity for a bag-out, Pat rode with me.

We were fortunate that the water had receded since yesterday (Friday), so getting to the camp was no problem.  The road in didn't seem any worse than normal.  Almost immediately though, we could see signs of how high the water had been: piles of debris where you don't normally see any.

Below are a number of pictures from around the camp.  As you can see, the building has probably experienced it's last rebuild.  I don't think there's any coming back from this one.  Nor do I think there's anyone interested in rebuilding it.  You can also tell from the photos that the blue room has been flushed down the river.  No telling where it'll pop up.

River Day 05/23/2016

The river was still a little high this week, but the weather was decent; cloudy, mid 60s, no rain.  A bunch of us made it down again: Kevin, Pat, Tim, Jay, Ted, and I.  Freddy made his usual, and expected visit.

Fishing was good again this week, and we had plenty of helgies for bait.  The fish were biting artificial lures as well.  Gotta love this time of year when they're really active (the fish, not the bait). 

The grass is getting pretty high again at the camp, so I guess a little maintenance will be in order.  Not sure if anyone will be using the place over the holiday weekend or not, but it'd be nice to do a little trimming.

No projects this week, just the usual world-problem-solving conversations.  One of these days maybe someone will listen to us...NOT.  Oh well, all of our ideas make sense to us.  Not too much talk about politics this go-round, except for the general consensus that this election cycle really sucks.  We're all pretty sure that the winner won't be much of a winner. 

We didn't see any traffic on the river this week, but with Memorial Day right around the corner, I'm betting that will pick up over the next few days.

As usual River Day was a great time spent with good friends, and you just can't beat the environment.

 

River Day 05/16/2016

Another nice River Day celebration this week with: Jay, Ted, Kevin, Ben and myself.  Tim and Pat were both AWOL.  We had cloudy skies (no rain) and the temps were a bit cooler this time around, somewhere in the upper 60s.  The river was running a little high, but not bad for this time of year.

The fish seemed very eager to be caught this week; that, or they just felt sorry for us.  Everyone that fished caught several - smallies and red-eyes.  And we had plenty of natural, live bait to use, thanks to the helgies.

We did see a single raft go by the camp, but I'm sure river traffic will pick up over the next several weeks.  Probably about the time this non-stop rain goes away.

Not too much activity, just an enjoyable evening on the river.

River Day 05/09/2016

 

The river had returned to its normal spring level this week -mostly- and the aftermath of the high water from last week wasn't too bad.  There'll be a little cleanup required, but not like before.  The helgies finally seem to be out too, so some of us did a little fishing - and caught a few fish!  Nothing spectacular, but at least they're starting to bite.  And as you can see in the pic, the rafters are starting to come out too.

Despite the weather forecast, we didn't have any rain this week, and the temps were in the 70's.  Not sure what the water temperature was.  Those that made it down this time around were - Tim, Jay, Ted, Pat, Kevin and me.  And Freddy.  Kevin's little 4-legged sidekick was along also.  For some reason, that dog really likes Pat.  You can feel the chemistry.

Surprisingly, there wasn't much political talk this week, even though is was the eve of the West Virginia primaries.  Except for Freddy, and he's voting for some guy named Stump Grinding. 

The yard at the camp had been mowed sometime since our last visit.  About half of it anyway.  Guess it's too much trouble to get off and push or weed-eat around some of the rockier areas.  Oh well, the snakes need a place to hide too.

Not a huge fire this week, but we did have one. 

As always, Happy River Day!

Must be telling a fish story.

Reminds me of a Meatloaf song...

River Day 05/02/2016

 

Another well attended River Day this week  - Scott, Pat, Kevin, Tim (yes, Tim), Jay, Ted, and me.  And Freddy. And Pat's friend, the chi-weenie, whatever his name is.  The temperature was okay this week, but we had some precipitation for a while.  Heavy rain and small hail forced us all into the building for a while.  Kinda looked like a bunch of Mexicans in a Volkswagen (sorry for the ethnic reference).  The noise of the rain and hail hitting the building must be what it's like to be in a popcorn popper.  Oh well, a little weather never had too much of an impact on River Day.

We didn't have any on-going projects this week - retrieved a little firewood off the riverbank, and out of the river (never did get a picture of the anchor!).




  The water level was a good way up in the yard at camp, so I'm sure we'll be collecting debris again over the next couple of weeks.  There's always some nice sized pieces for burning in the mix, so nobody minds too much.

I tried a little fishing at one point, but the water was just too high to do any good.  We looked for some helgies but didn't find any.  Disappointing for this time of year.

We kept a pretty nice fire going this week, as expected.  Felt pretty nice since there wasn't any sunshine.

Good to see everyone at the river, and as always, I'm looking forward to the next one.

River Day 04/25/2016

 

Another River Day with beautiful weather, so another River Day with lots of Rivertarians.  This week the nice weather brought out Jay, Ted,  Pat, Kevin, Ben and myself.  Temps were around 80 degrees.

We had a couple of projects going on at the camp this week.  The first priority was getting the yard at the camp in order.  There was still some high water debris in various places, and the grass had not been cut at all yet.  I brought down my mower and weed-eater for the job.  Ted raked and picked up the debris, Jay ran the weed-eater, and I mowed.  Once we got started, it didn't take long to get it done, and it certainly looks better.

Freddy came down and brought me an old propane cylinder for another project.  Jay, Ted and I got the old valve out without too much trouble.  I think Freddy got a little nervous about this part, but we didn't have a fire going yet, so no danger, except for Ted's cigar.  Anyway, the 1st step of that project is done.  I'll be doing most of it at home, so I'll report the progress here later on.

Some of us did a little fishing and I finally got my first of the year - a red-eye, or rock bass.  Ben also caught one, but I don't remember if Jay got any or not.  I know that he did get the 1st (and only) helgie of the season, so that's a good sign.

We did have a small fire going, mostly to burn up the stuff that Ted raked up, but we made sure it was completely out before leaving.  Things are still pretty dry out.

Looking forward to a nice summer on the river!