Last weekend we decided to go camping again. Newly outfitted with sleeping bags and a plan to put everything in the van overnight after our bear incident last time, we set back out for the same campground in Pisgah National Forest: Curtis Creek.
We arrived, the kids played in the creek and we set up the tent. After forgetting a lighter, I made a fireless dinner of sandwiches and fruit. I made the 20-minute trip down the mountain for said lighter while Mike stayed behind with the girls. Happily, by 9pm we were sitting in the twilight with the fire crackling and the kids easing into sleep. I had just gotten into the tent with Laurel and Olivia when.....
THE BEAR WALKS THROUGH OUR CAMPSITE!
WHAT?!?!?! Bears aren't supposed to do that while you're awake and about!
Mike saw it before he heard it - it was so quiet even though it was just 30 feet away from us. He let out some profanity and the bear broke into a run, straight for the coolers.
Mike threw Lela in the tent with me and the little girls. He picked up a large rock from the campfire ring and runs screaming at the bear. He hurled the rock at the bear, now standing beside the coolers.
We arrived, the kids played in the creek and we set up the tent. After forgetting a lighter, I made a fireless dinner of sandwiches and fruit. I made the 20-minute trip down the mountain for said lighter while Mike stayed behind with the girls. Happily, by 9pm we were sitting in the twilight with the fire crackling and the kids easing into sleep. I had just gotten into the tent with Laurel and Olivia when.....
THE BEAR WALKS THROUGH OUR CAMPSITE!
WHAT?!?!?! Bears aren't supposed to do that while you're awake and about!
Mike saw it before he heard it - it was so quiet even though it was just 30 feet away from us. He let out some profanity and the bear broke into a run, straight for the coolers.
Mike threw Lela in the tent with me and the little girls. He picked up a large rock from the campfire ring and runs screaming at the bear. He hurled the rock at the bear, now standing beside the coolers.
For a heart-stopping, blood-chilling, pants-soiling moment, it does not move.
Then he trotted into the woods.
We quickly (and loudly) put the kids into the car. I stayed with them, Lela nearly in tears from fright, while Mike broke down our entire campsite and put it into the car. It was 10:30pm before we left - making that after midnight when we got home. Thankfully the girls never woke and slept most of the night.
The next morning we discovered that in the darkness, our tackle bag had been left that campsite. With no phone there and the Ranger District office closed, we had no way of inquiring about it. Our contact information (via fishing licenses) is in the bag, but we do not expect to ever see our 2 favorite Orvis reels, extra spools, two flyboxes with many favorite dry and wet flies, fishing tools, leaders, tippet and years of memories again.
I think the flyboxes are the saddest loss.
- PMD spinners and emergers we bought in Yellowstone, WY. Never caught anything on those damn things, but no fly box is complete without them.
- Caddis droppers we caught enormous western rainbows on in Specimen Creek, Yellowstone, WY. Single best day of fishing ever for us.
- Scraggly yellow Rapidan Man flies - the Rapidan is one of our favorite VA creeks.
- A bead-headed stonefly nymph that landed me the biggest brook trout of my life in Ramseys Draft, VA - and the only trout I have ever caught on a wet fly.
- The little mayfly that I caught my first and only brown trout.
- Shad flies from Mike's adventures with Captain Ryan on the Nottoway in VA.
- Woolly buggers I tied myself the summer after my first year of teaching, when I spent the entire months of June, July and August by the lake catching every bream and crappie in Bear Creek Lake, at the state park where we lived.
- Steelhead flies from more of Mike's adventures with Ryan "snagging" king salmon outside of Buffalo, NY.
- A "whole mess of" parachute Adams. Their bright white tufts make them easy to see.
- A couple of "humpies" - flies that look like mating mayflies. How cool is that?
- colorful saltwater flies, flies that looked like crayfish, grasshoppers, beetles, ants, salmon eggs, shad eggs, yellow and black stonefly nymphs.
So, I suppose all those memories are there and the flies can all be replaced. But opening those boxes and stroking all the beautiful and intricately tied flies, remembering all the fish and special times with Mike - that is what I will miss the most.
Then he trotted into the woods.
We quickly (and loudly) put the kids into the car. I stayed with them, Lela nearly in tears from fright, while Mike broke down our entire campsite and put it into the car. It was 10:30pm before we left - making that after midnight when we got home. Thankfully the girls never woke and slept most of the night.
The next morning we discovered that in the darkness, our tackle bag had been left that campsite. With no phone there and the Ranger District office closed, we had no way of inquiring about it. Our contact information (via fishing licenses) is in the bag, but we do not expect to ever see our 2 favorite Orvis reels, extra spools, two flyboxes with many favorite dry and wet flies, fishing tools, leaders, tippet and years of memories again.
I think the flyboxes are the saddest loss.
- PMD spinners and emergers we bought in Yellowstone, WY. Never caught anything on those damn things, but no fly box is complete without them.
- Caddis droppers we caught enormous western rainbows on in Specimen Creek, Yellowstone, WY. Single best day of fishing ever for us.
- Scraggly yellow Rapidan Man flies - the Rapidan is one of our favorite VA creeks.
- A bead-headed stonefly nymph that landed me the biggest brook trout of my life in Ramseys Draft, VA - and the only trout I have ever caught on a wet fly.
- The little mayfly that I caught my first and only brown trout.
- Shad flies from Mike's adventures with Captain Ryan on the Nottoway in VA.
- Woolly buggers I tied myself the summer after my first year of teaching, when I spent the entire months of June, July and August by the lake catching every bream and crappie in Bear Creek Lake, at the state park where we lived.
- Steelhead flies from more of Mike's adventures with Ryan "snagging" king salmon outside of Buffalo, NY.
- A "whole mess of" parachute Adams. Their bright white tufts make them easy to see.
- A couple of "humpies" - flies that look like mating mayflies. How cool is that?
- colorful saltwater flies, flies that looked like crayfish, grasshoppers, beetles, ants, salmon eggs, shad eggs, yellow and black stonefly nymphs.
So, I suppose all those memories are there and the flies can all be replaced. But opening those boxes and stroking all the beautiful and intricately tied flies, remembering all the fish and special times with Mike - that is what I will miss the most.
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I digress, very far.....but we recovered and went to Lake Norman State Park on Saturday morning.
We quickly set up our campsite.
Then headed down to the beach for some swimming! Lela loved it!
Laurel in a rare moment not being held.
Liv looking adorable as usual in a bandanna.
One quick trip to the public beach was enough to make us seek out a quiet little cover behind our campsite for more swimming. We went down there 2 or 3 times.
We had some nice hop-toad hikes - there was a trail down to the lake just behind our campsite. We found and safely released this tiny little one on Sunday morning.
This picture of Laurel is just precious.
Liv too.
Finding an awesome branch for playing horsey horsey.
"Wheeeeeeeee!!!!" squeals Lela.
"Gotta get in on this action!" thinks Liv.
"No thanks!" says Laurel.
On Saturday night, Liv fell asleep by the fire, and Laurel and Lela fell asleep in the tent quickly as well. Mike and I were looking forward to the evening by the fire. Earlier I had meticulously gathered materials and arranged them for cooking our meal of venison, potatoes and zucchini. I love building fires from scratch! No white gas needed!
Now we sat holding hands, peaceful breathing in the night air. In the distance, lightning flashed, thunder rumbled. We sat there for about 20 minutes, before the bottom dropped out - probably got about 2 inches of rain in as many hours. I am happy to report that our tent stayed perfectly dry! However our fire was short-lived in the torrent. (Picture by Liv.)
Returning home on Sunday afternoon, we were decidedly in need of a vacation from the weekend! However, we were so happy to find out that dear friends welcome their first baby into this world on Sunday morning. It was a sweet cap to an otherwise fun, hectic and memorable weekend. (I had a birth candle burning for her all day. I lit it Saturday morning when she let me know her birthing time had begun. It rode, lit, with us to the park. It sat burning on the picnic table all day and evening. But sadly it was drowned out in the rain!)
Sweet sisters splashing their feet in the lake, watching the Sun go down. I sure do love those little girls!
