Campin' and fishin' with...DAY 2

Not surprisingly the best laid plans go awry. We had originally planned to
hike up stream a good distance and make camp, fish, return to camp to sleep,
awake and break camp and move to another campin' site. But NOOOOOOOO! Mr.
Miller decide that idea isn't feasible. He's afraid that we'll have
difficulty gettin' out with all our gear via the Falls. Thank goodness, Mr.
Miller called the shots!

We woke up Sat. morn to beautiful clear skies and fresh percolated coffee.
We geared up, packed some water and candy bars, and off we went. It was
decided, once again by Mr. Miller, that we should hike upstream, literally,
to the point he had stopped fishin' the day before. We call this location
"Miller's Pool," in honor of the fact that Mr. Miller said it was his pool.
Worked for me. I was given the honor of first cast. I had my trusty
traditional Adams on. Jeff said this pool held at least 5 trout. I missed
two of the first three to attack my fly. I don't recall precisely, but I
believe I caught another one or two and missed as many more. So we were up
to at least 7 or 8 fish in this pool and then Jeff took over. He proceeded
to catch fish one after another. We figured that we would nymph the pool on
our way back as things seemed to be really hot fishin' wise and we needed to
move on, if we were gonna get to the really big waters.

We hadn't gone far when we came upon what look all the world to be a prison
labor force, except everyone of the crew was wearin' a sidearm and totin'
rocks around? We stopped and talk with a few of the U.S. Forestry Service
Rivers and Streams Management Corp. Apparently, they were assigned to Upper
Cr_ek's Restoration and Rehabilitation Project. Essentially, they were
taking rocks and boulders from the boulder fields, created by the floods of
2004, and were replacing them into the stream in an orderly fashion. We
asked them why they hadn't started their project further down stream, where
the trail intersected the stream? They said that they had been given
"specific coordinates and other crews would be workin' to level the bottom
of the stream in other areas. Jeff and I left them--scatchin' our heads? I
most say though, that the wadin' was made much easier where they had been.

An estimation on my part: 3 hours later and a mile or so upstream.

We hadn't caught a single ****in' fish since "Miller's Pool." However, I
was able to entertain Jeff with a very special partial Reid. I was trying
to figure out away over a large boulder and up to the next pool. I stepped
on what I thought was rock, but it turned out to be a deep hole. I went
down backwards up against a big and very hard boulder. Pain and COLD
ensued! I had not fully submersed, but it was sufficient enough for me. We
carried on with a stiff upper lip for a while longer. Eventually, things
seemed hopeless, as not only had we not caught a fish in hours, we hadn't
had any strikes either. The fish had just turned off?

We made our way back to camp, which took less time than it would have,
thanks to Jeff's sharp eye for trails. I proceeded to clean my water logged
sidearm which was rendered inoperative in my attempt for maximum Reid
points, and then rendered even more inoperative, when I lost a very tiny
spring while attempting to repair the damages done by the fall. Jeff, after
watchin' me attempt to disassemble parts several times, rightly decided that
there were still fish to be caught.

The rest of the evening was uneventful, except that we ate and talked around
the campfire.

Sunday morn, I arose to someone cryin' for coffee. Coffee made, we broke
camp and made our way toward the dreaded death march ahead of us. We
figured that it took us about an hour and a half to hike out, even after the
numerous breaks I took that slowed Jeff's progress. I got home and decided
to weight my pack, just to get an idea of how much I could carry and how
much I needed to reduce it next outing. To my astonishment, the pack
weighed 75lbs.!

Op

Congrats on surviving a Jeff Miller Death March.
Do you think that the work being done on the stream impacted the
feeding of the fish?
By the way, I saw on Mythbusters that a weapon can and will fire
underwater. If it had been a true "full Reid with a sidearm," the fall
would have flipped the safety and the sticks on the bottom would have
pulled the trigger. The shot would have grazed your tuchus, holed your
waders, scared the hell out of you and killed North Cackalacky's only
5lb brook trout (and yes, you would have still lost that spring).
Frank Reid

"Frank Reid" wrote in message
oups.com...
Congrats on surviving a Jeff Miller Death March.

It's not so much the march, but I couldn't get him to shut-up! It was talk,
talk, talk. The only time I ever saw his mouth close was when he was
eating.

Do you think that the work being done on the stream impacted the
feeding of the fish?

No, the workers ever so gently moved each and every trout to the next pool
upstream, as they moved along.
Some of the noodlinist bastids I've ever seen.

By the way, I saw on Mythbusters that a weapon can and will fire
underwater. If it had been a true "full Reid with a sidearm," the fall
would have flipped the safety and the sticks on the bottom would have
pulled the trigger. The shot would have grazed your tuchus, holed your
waders, scared the hell out of you and killed North Cackalacky's only
5lb brook trout (and yes, you would have still lost that spring).

I guess it just lucky that it was fully holstered when it fell to the stream
bed, and that there aren't any brookies in that section of the stream. As
for my "tuchus," it could use a good grazin'!

Op

Frank Reid

"Jonathan Cook" wrote in message
...
75 pounds!?! For a 2-day trip?

Holy smokes. I don't think I even own 75lbs of camping
gear in total.

Tom, help Op out here!

Jon.
OTOH, I'm never messin' with Op...I couldn't even lift
his pack off the ground, much less carry it a mile...

I don't get it either? Here's a list, as best I can recall:

backpack--Eureka "Sovereign III" 7400? or 7500? cubic inches don't know
weight
tent--light-weight Mountain Hardware "Trinity" maybe 5lbs
sleepin' bag--Slumberjack double bagger, but I only carried in the one of
the bags 2lbs?
bed roll--ThermaRest 25"x76" (I think)
stove--Primus Himilayan and two small fuel canisters
water filter--PurHiker
lamp--Coleman small head that scews directly to bottle
lamp fuel--Coleman large bottle
small camera--digital (no longer functioning properly)
2 pans--light-weigh metal
2 plates lrg.--" "
2 pair of pants
2 pair of socks
2 pair of briefs
1 snake bite kit
1 9mm hand gun w/ spare 15 round clip
1 5-gal. collapsable plastic water container
2 fly rods
2 reels w/ extra spools
small amount of cornmeal, sugar, salt pepper
Kitchen sink
Percolator Large
2 metal coffe cups
2 sets of plastic fork, spoon, and knife Coleman
1lb. of Folgers Columbian coffee
16 AA bateries
huntin' knife
belly pack full of flyz and accoutrements
3 packs large of tuna in foil container
2 single boxes of saltines
2 freeze dried meals
3 metal grills small
platypus drinkin' thingy
Nalgene water bottle
assortment of bandages
eight pound bowlin' ball
magnesium strike thingy
pocket knife
4 packs of Marlboro
5 Black and Tan cigars w/tips
6 Hersheys with almonds
3 Butterfingers
very light-weight rain jacket
more flyz
tooth brush and paste
bar of soap
couple or three rags
extra baseball cap
light-weight hip waders Orvis nylon stocking foot style
wading boots--Simms (heavy)
2 16.9 oz. bottles of water
a few other misc. items?

Op

"Mr. Opus McDopus" wrote in message
news
I don't get it either? Here's a list, as best I can recall:

backpack--Eureka "Sovereign III" 7400? or 7500? cubic inches don't know
weight

O.k., there's your problem. Backpacks abhor a vacuum.

Somewhere around here I've still got an old Kelty Serac (circa 1975). If
memory serves, it's got something like 4400 C.I. capacity. This was more
than enough room to carry WAY more **** than I ever needed for a week to ten
days in the field.

tent--light-weight Mountain Hardware "Trinity" maybe 5lbs
sleepin' bag--Slumberjack double bagger, but I only carried in the one of
the bags 2lbs?
bed roll--ThermaRest 25"x76" (I think)
stove--Primus Himilayan and two small fuel canisters
water filter--PurHiker
lamp--Coleman small head that scews directly to bottle
lamp fuel--Coleman large bottle
small camera--digital (no longer functioning properly)
2 pans--light-weigh metal
2 plates lrg.--" "
2 pair of pants
2 pair of socks
2 pair of briefs
1 snake bite kit
1 9mm hand gun w/ spare 15 round clip
1 5-gal. collapsable plastic water container
2 fly rods
2 reels w/ extra spools
small amount of cornmeal, sugar, salt pepper
Kitchen sink
Percolator Large
2 metal coffe cups
2 sets of plastic fork, spoon, and knife Coleman
1lb. of Folgers Columbian coffee
16 AA bateries
huntin' knife
belly pack full of flyz and accoutrements
3 packs large of tuna in foil container
2 single boxes of saltines
2 freeze dried meals
3 metal grills small
platypus drinkin' thingy
Nalgene water bottle
assortment of bandages
eight pound bowlin' ball
magnesium strike thingy
pocket knife
4 packs of Marlboro
5 Black and Tan cigars w/tips
6 Hersheys with almonds
3 Butterfingers
very light-weight rain jacket
more flyz
tooth brush and paste
bar of soap
couple or three rags
extra baseball cap
light-weight hip waders Orvis nylon stocking foot style
wading boots--Simms (heavy)
2 16.9 oz. bottles of water
a few other misc. items?

Hm.......how many troops were you planning to support for how many days?


THREE grills? SIXTEEN AA batteries? Two 17 oz. water bottles, a nalgene
bottle, a 5 gallon jug, a Platypus, AND a water filter?

Wolfgang
what?......no ice? how did you keep jeff's beer cold?

On Mon, 1 May 2006 18:36:00 -0500, "Wolfgang" wrote:


"Mr. Opus McDopus" wrote in message
news
I don't get it either? Here's a list, as best I can recall:

backpack--Eureka "Sovereign III" 7400? or 7500? cubic inches don't know
weight

O.k., there's your problem. Backpacks abhor a vacuum.

Somewhere around here I've still got an old Kelty Serac (circa 1975). If
memory serves, it's got something like 4400 C.I. capacity. This was more
than enough room to carry WAY more **** than I ever needed for a week to ten
days in the field.

Well, yeah, but how big and heavy are a single change of Barbie clothes
and a Malibu Stacy Happy Lil' Cheesehead Fondue Set? Heck, surgically
remove your ego and give you an enema, and he could pack you yourownself
in a snack-sized zipper bag with room to spare...

wrote in message
...
On Mon, 1 May 2006 18:36:00 -0500, "Wolfgang" wrote:


"Mr. Opus McDopus" wrote in message
news
I don't get it either? Here's a list, as best I can recall:

backpack--Eureka "Sovereign III" 7400? or 7500? cubic inches don't
know
weight

O.k., there's your problem. Backpacks abhor a vacuum.

Somewhere around here I've still got an old Kelty Serac (circa 1975). If
memory serves, it's got something like 4400 C.I. capacity. This was more
than enough room to carry WAY more **** than I ever needed for a week to
ten
days in the field.

Well, yeah, but how big and heavy are a single change of Barbie clothes
and a Malibu Stacy Happy Lil' Cheesehead Fondue Set? Heck, surgically
remove your ego and give you an enema, and he could pack you yourownself
in a snack-sized zipper bag with room to spare...

Well, I never had to lead men into the breach.

Wolfgang

"Jonathan Cook" wrote in message
...
75 pounds!?! For a 2-day trip?

Holy smokes. I don't think I even own 75lbs of camping
gear in total.

Tom, help Op out here!

Jon.
OTOH, I'm never messin' with Op...I couldn't even lift
his pack off the ground, much less carry it a mile...


OUCH, 65 lbs overweight.
http://home.comcast.net/~tomnak/Backpack_005.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~tomnak/Backpack_Scale_002.jpg

Actually I got my pack under 10 lbs. when I decided not to bring the stove
and fuel.
That's for 2.5 days. Sometimes it's fun to rough it.
-tom

Tom Nakashima wrote:
"Jonathan Cook" wrote in message
...

75 pounds!?! For a 2-day trip?

Holy smokes. I don't think I even own 75lbs of camping
gear in total.

Tom, help Op out here!

Jon.
OTOH, I'm never messin' with Op...I couldn't even lift
his pack off the ground, much less carry it a mile...



OUCH, 65 lbs overweight.
http://home.comcast.net/~tomnak/Backpack_005.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~tomnak/Backpack_Scale_002.jpg

Actually I got my pack under 10 lbs. when I decided not to bring the stove
and fuel.
That's for 2.5 days. Sometimes it's fun to rough it.
-tom


2.5 days with only one mountain house pack? i'd be thinkin donner party
dining about 1 day in. otherwise, i'm fascinated by the puzzle of
optimum lightweight camping. hope to try it some more. however, i can't
sleep in those mummy sacks...i need a lightweight rectangular sleeping
bag. any suggestions?

On Mon, 1 May 2006 18:35:06 -0400, "Mr. Opus McDopus"
wrote:



Kitchen sink

Thought we wouldn't notice that, right?

Percolator Large

Why large?

1lb. of Folgers Columbian coffee

For only 3 days? Geeze. Maybe little ziplocks with lesser amounts of
coffle in them?

huntin' knife

eight pound bowlin' ball

Thought we wouldn't notice this, either, eh?

pocket knife

If you've got a pocket knife, what would you need the hunting knife
for? Skinning out the grizzley you shot before you drained it in the
sink and had it for dinner?

--

r.bc: vixen
Speaker to squirrels, willow watcher, etc..
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.
Really. But don't ask me what time it is lest I'm of
a mood to tell you how to make a clock.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli