Cranberry Bogs and Bears

[Haggis]

...Clan Haggis Appendix: Day 4

Here's some auxillary pics...

Rebels without a clue......

Here's another shot of the Glade...................................................and one of the swim hole

The swim hole was sweet. Most of it was a flat rock bottom with scattered dornicks to clamber on. The upper part of it had a swift, shallow current flowing over several dropping shelves that pushed you down the tall sides of rock bank. It made for a fun float...

When we got back to camp that afternoon we had a new "neighbor" a couple of campsites down. The last couple of nights the gentleman who had been using that spot had bears as frequent visitors, even to the point they were climbing up on his truck bed. The new guy was travelling by moto, a BMW, all tricked out with the standard adventure gear. Being neighborly I went over to give him a heads up about the bears and got sort of a gruff brush off. He seemed pretty dismissive of the bears...but that evening we found this sight...

I know adventure riders like the newest gear, but it seems wasteful to me to throw away a perfectly good bike...:elkgrin:

 

[jim65wagon]

Day 5 Thursday July 29

Rain. The sound of it woke me up before daylight. It was absolutely pouring ( at least that was my perception as it rattled off the rainfly). I pulled my sleeping bag around me and fell back to sleep. By the time I woke up again, the rain had gone but the clouds remained in the grey sky.

Tut, tut, it looks like rain. What to do on a day that looks like it may rain at any minute? Go for a drive? Shopping? Lunch? How about all three?

After the morning cleanup we loaded up in the trucks and headed to Webster Springs for a few supplies. Propane, milk, ice. We usually don’t need a resupply, but we managed to drink all the milk, and our oven used more propane than we had planned. As for the ice, I was a bit miffed that we needed ice, but then I realized several things:
1) It’s our first longish trial for our new Yeti
2) It was our first trial using dry ice
3)The salesman at the welding supply where I bought the ice did say I’d lose 10 lbs of ice a day.
4) I only brought 3- 10lb blocks…..last Friday the 23rd; that’s 6 days in the cooler, so the dry ice lasted twice as long as it was supposed to
5) The cooler hadn’t been supplemented with ice, just a couple sheets of Techni-Ice that we used last year.
I guess for the way we used it the Yeti did just fine.

Webster Springs is your typical small town, a stoplight or two, some neat downtown architecture, a local gas station and a grocery store. At the IGA we found our ice, milk and some cool Star Trek waffles. We had to search a bit for the propane, but found it at an archery/sportsmans shop. After a gas stop (the sign on the pump said it was slow, but that was really an overestimation of it’s capabilities), we stopped at Vickies Diner for some excellent homemade meatloaf and gravy and some really good cheesesticks. Anyplace you find where the food is good, homemade and affordable gets a thumbs up in my book. In Webster Springs? Eat at Vickies!

We checked the map and decided that based on our current location we could run the backside of 219-1 (after hitting the Custard Stand for ice cream) through Jerryville and into the National Forest. Once on the forest roads we found we had to pass through Plum Creek property. The gates were open and a sign was displayed allowing through traffic to stay on the road. Our only excitement in this area was the sudden appearance of a tractor-trailer on a narrow section of the gravel road. All three of us (Me, Mark, and the Driver) got enough tire off the gravel to avoid a disaster and continued on our way.

The Plum Creek area is interesting, lost of roads traversing the property, a low water bridge and a few signs expressing the need for a permit for hunting and camping the property. (May need to check that out!) Once through Plums territory and into the National Forest proper we were able to start checking out the muddy gravel roads intersecting our main road.

Most didn’t go anywhere at all, some lead far enough to think you’re getting somewhere. One was a narrow two track, leading up over a short rock shelf and into the woods. I told Mark to sit tight over the CB, and climbed on into the forest. Mark couldn’t hear me, but we could hear him…..the longer it took us the more nervous his voice got, but we had to see where it led. Up and over, it took us along a narrow path that ended above a couple of old pits, no way down to them and a very small area to turn around. I’m really glad Mark didn’t follow, two trucks would have been nigh on impossible to turn. So, another bust, but a bonus point for a 27 point turnaround!

Another road (FR24), and we found an old strip mine on top of a mountain with awesome views and a large open area that some ATVs used to run on. It was fun to look around and get some pictures, but the rain clouds blew in and the wind picked up, a little thunder and we decided it was time to leave the mountaintop.

FR24 continued almost to a real road on the gazeteer and we decided to see where it actually went. A few miles in and the wide gravel road turned into a little used two track gravel road, which got even a little smaller and wetter as the rain continued. It finally turned into the trees and became a little muddy two track.

Mark waited again as I ventured a little further, finally needing 4WD to continue, until Mark mentioned it was getting late and we decided to call it quits and turn back. Turn back we did, Beth and I saying we would come back and find the end of the road someday.

 

[Haggis]

...Clan Haggis Appendix: Day 5

Neener, Neener, Neener...My gas pump was way faster. Not fast, but faster than Jim's. But then James spent the whole time gassing up BSing away with a friendly local. Beth kept busy by cracking jokes over the CB while the uber-slow gas up was going on. Slow pump, or southern boys yakking away? You be the judge. :elkgrin:

Vickie's was good. Let's see, a large portion of home made meatloaf and gravy over mashed potatoes for $4.95. A whole better than Mickey Dees. The pies in the cabinet looked awesome, but we passed on them. I'm not sure why...temporary insanity?

Following the bouncing black Tundra...

And yeah, it was getting late, kids were restless and supper was calling..another day, another adventure.

 

[jim65wagon]

Day 6 Friday July 30

Another good nights sleep. Cots make sleeping so much better than trying to sleep on the ground! Deciding not to go anywhere today we gave the camp gear a good cleaning, and spent the morning just puttering around. Beth wanted to try out the Pochade painting box she built, so she and I packed our lunch, crossed the creek and settled into the woods. While Beth painted a nice forest scene, I read, napped, and snapped some photographs. I wanted to try out our waterproof case for the G9 camera. A few decent photographs later, lunch and back to camp. Nothing much going on there, the kids were playing, so I got out the Gazeteer and marked the roads we traveled.

Day 7 Saturday July 31

Last day, all we could do was pack up the trucks and go our separate ways. Always sad to leave a site, an area and end a vacation. Goodbye everyone! It was fun, we’ll have to get together again sometime! Until then…..

 

[mtnbike28]

Fun stuff!

So sad seeing the end pictures! But I loved the split screen underwater pic.

Glad you got in your bog hike ; )

ps know anything about brains in a can?

 

[Haggis]

...Clan Haggis Appendix: Day 6 & 7

With the kids just enjoying each others company, Beth and Jim off getting artsy in the boonies and my beloved wife enjoying a good book, I was getting antzy. Add to that the uninterrupted whine of the nieghboring campsite's generator I had to go do something. Something other than smashing our friendly neighbor's generator. So I started hiking up Tea Creek to see what I could see.

This area is awash in greens, browns and grays....

The flowering plants have pretty much given up their blooms by this time of year. Even the water runs brown from all the tannins of the hemlock and oak forests. So it's nice to stumble across a little splash of color from time to time...

I covered a couple of miles upstream, passing scattered critters and seeing no peeople. It was quiet (well as quiet as a woods with a babbling stream can be) and nice to be on my own for a little while. I crossed a set of bobcat tracks on the creek bank but had missed him by about a day. While we have bobcats in the woods behind the house I've yet to glimpse one in the woods. The only live ones I've ever seen have been ghosts flitting across the road. As the rumble in my stomach became more pronounced I jump the creek and headed down the other bank. Soon I was back at camp in the happy chatter of the campsite.

Then we noticed a plethora of large RVers showing up, most with generators the size of VWs in the back of their pickups. It was time to head out. The feel of the campground was changing, and like the a changing season, the need to migrate was coming over us.

The crew of Queen Elizabeth's Revenge...

Saturday found us packed and ready to go. Though none of us was quite ready to actually head home. Though once pointed north with blacktop rolling under the tires with a pleasant hum, we all looked forward to getting home. We stayed on the backroads, stopping here and there we sought to prolong the trip. Eventually we found ourselves at Cabela's Wheeling, WV store where my wife unleashed me on a shopping trip for my birthday. She's a good wife! :elkgrin:

And so it ends until the road beckons again and the forest calls us forth...may it be sooner than later. :elkgrin: