Ragged Mountain Reservoir

Sunday morning I got up bright and early and went fishing at the Ragged Mountain Reservoir. It's only about 6 or 8 miles from my house.

It's amazing how on the south side of Charlottesville when you leave town you're immediately in BFE. Like the instant you clear the city limits - bam! - Outer Mongolia. It's one of the many things I love about my hometown. Many, many of the perks of a big city with almost none of the drawbacks.

In any event, I got clear of the house by 6 AM and drove out to the reservoir. Just gorgeous. You drive a couple of miles back into a valley and up a ridgeline and then you come to a small parking lot near an old abandoned house. The place looks completely habitable... I think maybe it was once the house for the reservoir attendant. It's probably still maintained by the City and County governments (the reservoir being a joint venture between the two).

I only ran into one group of two guys the whole time I was up there. It was quiet and the lake had a mist rising off of it. Geese and frogs were about the only creatures that broke the near-silence.

The other fishermen were on a john boat with an electric motor, so even they were quiet. There are no combustion motors allowed on the lake. This is probably a good thing, since the Ragged Mountain Reservoir provides a large portion the drinking water in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area. I don't much like the taste of motor oil in my water. Meh, call me a snob, I guess.

It started raining about half an hour after I arrived, but it didn't matter much. The Natural Area around the reservoir is completely undeveloped, so the trees come right up to the shoreline. Side-casting, anyone? The rain came down, but very little fell on me under the trees. I found a really nice spot and settled in.

There was a relatively flat rock next to the shore that I sat on. I set my line with a bobber and some powerbait, cast in, and commenced to relax. After enjoying the sounds of nature for a good thirty minutes I put on my iPod. Pink Floyd's Meddle was on tap - the chillest of the chill. When I need to relax, that album is the Alpha and the Omega.

If anyone wants to hear this album, here's a link: Pink Floyd's Meddle. You'll need the Rhapsody Player - no big deal if you have high speed.

I was looking out over the lake, mist rising, a light rain falling, and geese calling in the pale early morning light and I just felt so calm. The Pink Floyd, playing softly in one ear, added an extra touch of peace. I could have dozed off right there.

As tempting an idea as that was, I decided to switch out to a lure so I'd have to be a bit more active. I think my second cast with the lure I hooked into something. It was a fighter, that was for sure. My cheap-ass Zebco 33 was bent way down and even when I cranked the reel, the line still went out when the fish wanted to run.

I thought I had something huge. I was pretty excited. It took about five minutes to reel him in. I'd pull and crank for a bit and then let him run. Pull and crank, let him run. When I pulled him in I was a bit disappointed with the seven inch or so bluegill all that work had yielded. Disappointed, but with a respect for this tough little bugger. I freed him from the hook and returned him to the water.

I didn't catch anything else, but that was hardly the point. I left the reservoir feeling relaxed and calm.

A Weekend with the Conway River, pt 2

Saturday, 04 April 2009

I woke that morning at around nine o'clock to a very chilly 40 degrees. I got up, got dressed, and got motivated in short order. First thing was first - the GigaStove kicked out some boiling water quickly and coffee was set to brewing in my french press.

Next up was my patented "camp slop" breakfast. Cook up some sausage links, remove them from the pan, add butter and some whipped eggs, salt, pepper, cheese. I then cut up the links into bite-sized pieces and tossed them back in with the eggs. Cook and scramble them all up together. Voila - camp slop. Breakfast of Champions.

Earl and I ate breakfast and set about getting ready for a day of hiking and trout fishing. Here are some pics:

Earl sets up some bait

Earl and the Conway

Me all ready to go

Back at camp before we left

We spent about six hours or so hiking up and down the Conway River and casting into the few calm pools we could find. It had been raining on and off all week, so the river was up quite a bit. After the trip I looked into the Virginia website for Inland Game and Fisheries and found that we needed to go further up the river to find the trout. As it was, we hiked downstream from our camp.

Oh, well. It was nice to be out in Nature doing some fishing. Very Zen, very calming. We lost a lure and a hook/bobber set to branches and rocks. That's kind of par for the course for a day of fishing, though.

As we hiked along the river, we ran across a campsite that looked abandoned. It had an awesome rock firepit and there was even some cut firewood piled up. We decided to see if the place was still abandoned on our way back and then come back with the car for the firewood. I could easily make kindling from this stuff with my hatchet.

On the way back there was a family setting up for what looked like a picnic. We decided to come back towards dusk and see if they were still there. They were. Oh, well. We returned to our camp and began gathering firewood from the wooded slope just up from our camp.
We found plenty of firewood and even rolled a six foot cedar log down the hill. It was actually pretty dry. We used more cattail to start the fire, but this time used a three phase ignition system - cattail to trioxane bar to camp fuel. Fwoosh! Fire!

Sometime after we got back from our hike-n-fish, I went to grab my camera to snap a photo of something. I looked in my breast pocket, which is where I remembered putting the durned thing last. No dice. I patted myself down and then looked in my rucksack and tackle box. Shit!

I actually got a bit "panicked," thinking of the last place I used it on the hike. I remembered fishing from a large rock and having to cut my line after getting hung up on some rocks in the river. As I redid my line I snapped a photo of the river and put the camera down on the rock. I was almost certain I had picked it back up and placed it in my breast pocket. Crap! Had it fallen out at some point, maybe when I bent over to pick something up?

I gave up looking and decided that, on the way out, we'd have to stop by a few of our fishing spots and try to find it. It was about dinner time.

More brews, more grub, and some campfire hypnosis. We played Texas Hold 'Em since the wind had died down, but it was kinda silly since we didn't have any money or chips to bet with. Earl bet heavy and I always saw his "bet." Why the hell not? We followed that up with some War.

CONTINUED...

Camping in the Rapidam WMA

A buddy of mine and I are going camping tomorrow afternoon and through most of the weekend in the Rapidan Wildlife Management Area. Click the thumbnail below to get a map. It basically takes up parts of Greene and Madison counties bordering the Shenandoah National Park.


I just got my state wide freshwater fishing license and trout fishing license. It wasn't too expensive... $36 all told. The brook trout fishing at the RWMA is supposed to be great. I hope to land a few trout. Maybe enough to bring a few home with me for dinner with the family Sunday.

Since I got my license, I figured fishing would be a good hobby to get into with my kids. I got my two oldest fishing rods from Sportsmansguide.com. I got a great deal on some beginner's gear. Click here to take a look, in case you're looking for some cheap entry-level rod-n-reel setups for your kids.

I'm also trying to rope my Dad into coming down from Maryland for a fishing/camping trip later this year. Maybe drag a brother or two along with us.

My fishing gear is really lacking, but for this trip a buddy of mine is lending us some of his tackle. I bought a basic rod-n-reel for myself... a Zebco 33. I got mine at Dick's for slightly less than what BassPro has it listed for. It's a decent enough rod that I could hand down to one of the kids if I decided to upgrade later on.

As it stands now the gear I'll be dragging in with me is way too much to fit on my back. Soon I hope to be getting into more hiking/camping trips where I have to pack in all my gear. I know there are certain items that could be jettisoned with no worries, such as:

• Cooler full of homebrew!
• Camp chair
• Drop large 6 person tent in favor of a 2 person tent (saving about 8 lbs)
• Trim down on first aid kit - the one I currently have could easily service a family of six for a week barring major medical emergencies (go figure - I have a family of six!)
• Wool blanket (I have a sleeping bag)
• Hatchet (if my commando saw works out) (UPDATE: The commando saw was an utter failure. Go figure - the site I bought mine from no longer carries it.)

Other than the list above, I generally pack:

• An isopropyl cooker which folds up to about the size a large egg. My Giga Stove Titanium is very lightweight and extremely effective - one of the best camping gear buys I've ever made. I got mine at a local store for about 40% less than it's listed on the SnowPeak website.
• I only ever carry one fuel cell, which is very lightweight and easily lasts a weekend.
• My cookset is a lightweight stainless steel set (3 pans with lids).
• 2 titanium mugs. Very lightweight, but I could leave one if I had to.
• My plate and utensils are both lightweight. The plate could go if I packed some form of freeze dried food in pouches or MREs. But really, the plate weighs nearly nothing and takes up a negligible amount of space.
• 1 person self-inflating sleeping pad (only if I had to drop it. I love that thing!!)
• small coffee press (again - only if I had to. It's lightweight and takes up very little room)
• A bar of soap in a waterproof container.
• A small can of bugspray. It could go...
• some waterproof matches. One or the other between this and the flint.
• a flint and steel set (small). It would be more manly to keep this over the matches...
• a small whetstone (which could probably go)
• Roll-up, self-inflating pillow. Again - very lightweight and compact. It's not a necessity, but it has very little impact on weight or space and it fucking rocks.
• Buck knife. A must have. That bad boy stays above almost anything else!
• A zip-up journal pad with a deck of cards and pen. It could go, I guess.
• My trusty Fuji digital camera. Small and lightweight. It fits in a breast pocket with room to spare. It would be a shame to not take pics of the beauitiful places I like to camp. I have yet to find a camera that has a better size to picture quality ratio. Probably a keeper even on "hardcore" expeditions.
• 25' nylon rope. Never know when you might need some rope... pretty lightweight, too.
• Sleeping bag. Duh, gotta have it.
• A small LED lantern and a large LED lantern. I could choose one or the other. I'd probably choose the small one.
• 2 bandannas. Keepers for sure.
• Small hand-crank charged LED flashlight. Very dependable. A keeper even if I had to drop both lanterns to keep it.
• 5 plastic stakes. Very rugged. These have come in handy so many times that I couldn't ponder leaving them.
• Emergency insulation space blanket. Lightweight (like nearly nothing)... a keeper. A great insulator/heat reflector for the fire.
• a small roll of TP (for my bunghole)
• 2 gallon water bladder. Gotta have water.
• 2-3 nalgene water bottles

Damn. I think that's it... that's a lot of stuff.

That's why it's best to hike-camp with a buddy. You could share a tent, cooking gear, lanterns, camera, matches, and other stuff and split that gear between the two of you. That means after the communal gear split all you have to carry is your own sleeping bag, food, water, and knife. It makes the weight distribution much easier to handle.

Hike-n-Shoot on the Bearfence Scramble

My brother and a good buddy of mine from work and I went out and did some hiking this weekend. We hiked the Beafence Scramble along the Appalachian Trail along with a short bit of another portion of the trail. It was about 6 miles total and with the heat yesterday that was plenty (105 degrees with the heat index).

I'm by far the fat-ass of the group, so when we got to the portion of the hile that gives the trail the "scramble" portion of its name, I was taking it slow. I didn't think anyone would appreciate having to carry me down the mountain if I broke an ankle. The "scramble" bit in the name "Bearfence Scramble" is due to the fact that you have to scramble over some rocky portions on the trail.

On the top of the mountain there was a rocky outcropping with a stunning vista. Maybe those of you who are used to the Rockies or Swiss Alps may think that a view from the top of a mountain in Virginia can't be all that great. I respectfully disagree ("Strawman, strawman!"). I'll post some photos if my bro comes through and sends me some of the pics he took. I, as usual, forgot my digital camera.

After the hiking bit of the day was done, we drove back to Barboursville. Damn, was it muggy and hot. Just nasty. After getting out of the car and gathering my guns and ammo, we walked maybe thirty yards to the gully in which we'd be shooting. I was sweating like a pig, and not from any sort of exertion, either.

We shot Cletus, of course. We also shot Harry for the first time. I may end up trading Harry in for a model without a snubbed nose in the near future. Harry was very inaccurate. We shot 25 rounds of .38 and about 10-12 rounds of the .357 mag hollow points. The .357 was by far the loudest of all the rounds we shot that day (.38, .357, 12 gauge target, 12 gauge buck, 12 gauge slug).

And I forgot my earplugs. Great.

We must have shot 50 of the 12 gauge target shot, about 15 buckshot, and 15 slugs. I suspected that the buckshot and slugs would kick more than the target shot and oh, boy did they!

"Camping" Weekend

Saturday morning my brother and I set out on a camping trip. We drove to the Shenandoah National Forest and arrived at the gatehouse at about 9.15 AM. We filed a backcountry camping permit and were on our merry way.

What a perfect day for a hike and camp, too! I'd guess the temperature was in the upper 60's. There was a nice breeze. The trail was mostly empty. We ran into a couple of people but it was pretty easy to get a sense of isolation out there. The trail is a beaten dirt and rock path along various ridges, really. There's no paving or landscaping on this trail.

My brother and I went off the trail at a few points. At times we were going up 70 degree inclines which made it feel more like climbing than hiking . We hiked this way for at least four miles, maybe four and a half or five. Oh yeah - the whole time we were carrying packs that weighed in at 65 lbs.

By one PM we were looking for a campsite. We found a spot off the trail, dug a fire pit, lined it with rocks, gathered and chopped firewood, cleared the site, and then began setting up the tent when tragedy struck. As we were attempting to setup the tent we realized that the poles were way too short. We had the wrong tent poles!

The last time I went camping, my other brother (or maybe my sister) collapsed the tents and packed them away. I'm betting that's when the poles got mixed up. Of the three tents I had the largest two. My brother's tent was smallest by far. Since I brought the middle sized tent with me this weekend and the poles we had were too small, I'm betting my poles are with my brother's tent.

So we were left with three options, as we saw them:

1. Build our own shelter
2. Sleep on the ground
3. Hike back

Option one we dismissed. The method of shelter construction I am most familiar with requires thatching materials and we were on the side of a forested mountain. Gathering enough material to construct a shelter whilst on a slope was not very appealing.

Option two was out since we knew there was a chance for rain that night. Option three is what we chose. But we couldn't leave before we had achieved some sort of victory. We decided that victory would take the form of a fire we'd start and then immediately put out. I mean we had already built a stone-lined fire pit and everything. We got the fire going after two tries (not bad!) and then thoroughly doused it and got on our way.

I can tell you this: what started as a camping trip turned into a Bataan Death March of a hiking trip. I am so out of shape it isn't funny. The way I looked at it was like this: I was carrying a 65 lb pack and about 80 extra pounds of ass. That's me carrying 145 lbs all over the mountain.

At two o'clock we hit the trail again. We stuck to the trail on the way back (after climbing a steep slope for 150 feet to find it again!). Since we had used most of my water to douse the fire we were on the lookout for water on the way back. We found a great little spring full of cold, fresh water bubbling right out of the side of the mountain. Oh, yeah! I cannot think of a time in my life when water was so cold, pure, and refreshing.

After recharging our water stocks we ground on. My right heel was really starting to hurt by the time we tried to pitch camp, so it was less than pleasant to hike the entire way back on a sore foot. I tried not to be too much of a pansy about it.

When we got back I was not mocked by my wife. I have to give her credit on that one. Thanks, hon. She did make a good point, though which made me think a lot. She said, "Maybe the Universe was testing you. Maybe you were supposed to build a shelter and tough it out."

Next time we will not bring a tent at all. The entire point next time will be to camp with the idea that we must construct shelter if we want it. I'll have to see if my brother will be into that. I think he will be.