Category: Camp News

Friday:
Toucher and Leaddog battles high winds and flooding waters as they make ingress to the happy hunting grounds. The lake below is flooded and the road washed out to the point where trucks are the only method to get into camp. The dam is at capacity, with it’s owner placing fill to create a berm to handle further flooding. Leaddog finds the Toucher doing driveway duty, and soon joins him in alleviating erosion at work. Ruts and washouts are present, only 4×4’s can make it up the hill. After a few hours of playing roadcrew, both attempt to at least hunt somewhat, and investigate what’s present in the area, only to discover that cable two has been compromised – no ladders to access the crossing as they’ve been wiped out by the waters from the warmy-changy event. A substitute is found, and both make their way to roam the area. Nothing is observed, except for washouts and much stream reconfiguration by nature. Overall 7″ of rain has fallen directly over the local area resulting in a watery mayhem. The remainder of the gang shows up, some stay in the flatland to tend to generators since power was out region wide – and of course at camp. The new camp generator proves invaluable, as it powers everything required to continue the gangs pursuit of happiness.

Saturday:
The gang decides to make a hunt, and clean up and repair the driveway on Sunday. All hunt rather close to camp, but not one mule is seen. Perhaps we need to get vessels and float Piseco Lake and look for swimming mules, and our ladders! All returns back early, and the road repair continues for a few hours. It is decided that Sunday will be devoted to the road, since it’ll be snowing in the very near future. Denmama goes home and retrieves his backhoe and 16′ dump trailer to assist in the repairs, thank God! A mule stake and fish chowder feast is consumed, with copious amounts of adult beverages as usual.

Sunday:
Roadmonkeys* to work! All rise to a nice day, which would have normally been devoted to chasing mules where they’re usually are not present. All spends the remainder of the weekend moving and placing material on the washed out road. Many, many loads of sand/gravel/rocks/boulders are delivered and spread upon the road, making it even better than before. Photos will tell the story from beginning to end……..

*Roadmonkeys – those who back in the logging days of yesteryear were hired to keep the logging roads open and safe to remove logs to the river drive. This was in the days of horse drawn logging, when men were men, and the sheep were scared…. 😉

Kubota-Toyota

Mr. November

Friday:
All assembles on opening day eve, to discuss who, what and where the crew will disperse to, to chase down the mules that survived the winter.
A most wonderful beast loaf was constructed, with onions, soysauce and other unknown additives to make it somewhat palatable.

Saturday:
Off the gang goes, most up the hill, others almost to the barrel, one not even close! 😉 The gang marches up the hill to drive 50,000 square miles of woods to two watchers, awaiting at the bottom. Super secret frequencies were used to convey tactical information from the low crew to the high crew, much useful information was shared! Now all excited, the drive begins…almost.

BUSHWHACKED FROM BEHIND!
As the high crew wraps up the final plan, from the ridge behind them out of the blue and the back country voices are heard! Who could this be? In thirty years of chasing mules, not once was anyone ever encountered here, not even certain members of the gang. Upon interrogation, it was learned that these three inappropriately dressed hikers (no red, orange or even packs) were looking for a specific “summit”. This summit was actually a watch where the Leaddog took a 350lb plus bear a while back, and no view is near it…not even close. Two of the three appeared to be from the land north of the contiguous United States, and with them they brought the attitude and associated stench as well. It looked as if they swam across swamps, bogs, up cliffs and down them…how dare we, who’ve been here for over thirty years get in their way of bagging the 3000′ foot “peak”. Pierre and Antoinette, led by “BoB” who clearly was not from the land o’ the north, informed the gun laden crew that this was their objective. Cold, Dark, Blank stares between the crew wasn’t even noticed as Pierre voiced that “he must go to the peak”….peak at my ass you intervening smelly douche. (Note the vitriole) With that, the three says it’ll take just fifteen minutes to bag the “peak”, and scooch to yet another destination, led by Pierre who conveyed to the crew, and was told that was probably not the best way to go – up a cliff, down another, through two swamps that they didn’t know about and up the cliff to another 3000′ ft “peak”, but salutations were given and off they went, directly in the direction where the drive were to start. Chuckles were heard amongst the crew….I hope their stuck in the swamps.

Back to the hunt-

The gang does their best after being date raped, two mules are pushed off the top, Leaddog finds a new giant rubs, scrapes and Digger and Toucher at the bottom of the hill. All returns to camp for a soysauce limited dinner of mule steaks and trimmings.

Sunday:

RAIN WIND RAIN WIND……FA! See you all on Friday for the first FAMHC.

A beautiful weekend!

Driveway cleared, firewood split and stacked, woods cleansed, watches set. The gang gets it all done, and now awaits daylight on 10-26 to begin the yearly chase. Will the Toucher finally get his own mule this season? He’s been oh-so gracious in providing mules for others, 😉 that it may be time for something bigger then a ten for the Touch. We’ll see!

Digger celebrates his TWENTIETH (20) year with the gang – so those things that were 20 years old then…..

Hobbit make his debut, and hopefully will return again. Send in those pictures so the Digger can memorialize this years efforts, including tube steaks at the Hilton and F-troop’s fine bar-b-qued smoked ribs and chicken.

See you all in a few weeks!

The end of the month is coming fast boys, the leaves are changing, days getting shorter and colder! What wonderful woodsy related activities will our Den MaMa have in store for us this time? Will the Trailhugger make an appearance? The plan is to meet at the ‘Bow Friday night, throw our money around, let the Den MaMa do his social butterflying and then head to camp to place it in “Mule Mode”. Hopefully we won’t have the warmy-changy conditions encountered during last year’s season, so we’ll have to pray and send carbon taxes to Al Gore for relief instead of FYB winnings going to the camp!

Chicken and ribs is the main course for Saturday’s feast, let’s hope that the feathers are off the chicken….and the dirt is off the potatoes as well! We need to revive and implemet the newly tested and beloved redneck smoker from last year that worked so well….

Then there’s Probie…..

See you at the ‘Bow!!!

Post the photos – and I’ll write the post!

Pics Posted! – Write the recap!

Several F-Troopers aka: “Polecats Rangers” assembles once again to locate the remnants of where a local legendary guide-hermit-woodsman known as “Foxey Brown” once lived for over 25 years in the backwoods near the happy hunting grounds. Followers and lurkers of this site can rehash the waterlogged pictorial adventure of last year where a different route was chosen (not by choice) to take which resulted in a ten mile slog through swamps, wetlands, more swamps and even more wetlands, thoroughly missing the intended target. Told ya! 😉

The crew gets a good start, with sunny, buggy weather leading the way. A few miles of trail walking led to a predetermined spot where based on research, a GPS point was chosen due to it being the most likely spot for a hermitage. This spot once was the location of a long gone logging camp from the late 1800’s where Foxey hid in seclusion due to him thinking he was running from the law, which was not the case! On the stream is where he repurposed the foreman’s camp, built a multi level barn in the remains of a rock walled root-storage type cellar for his critters.

At this site are the remains of a dam which once held back a sizable pond, parts of woodstoves, farming equipment, and the actual plow that Foxey used to cultivate hay in the vly for his cows. Long gone is the cabin, only a small clearing is present with regrowth of the forest now taking command. No apparent road or path to this site was located, as the Troopers easily found their way through an open hardwood forest. Junior has great luck and gets the first ever “I caught a trout on a spring hike” badge! No fish were actually harmed in this expedition….

The gang performs their woodsy environmentally sound clean up of the site, getting rid of plastic and an old discarded tent that some #$%%#! left behind.

One could almost hear Foxey yell out – “Get out of here or I’ll send you lead for sinkers” as he once greeted interlopers as they trespassed on his homestead – but we imagined that he was smiling as we cleaned up the site, and found yet another “place” way far back in the woods! (Well…not THAT far!)