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.

Homebrew, Homies, and Life

I'm going camping the evening of the 26th of January on my folks place in Barboursville. You can't beat having 55 acres of beautiful land in central Virginia at your disposal. My family's land has a source spring feeding a nice, but small, pond. It has forests, hills, fields, two creeks, and even a swampy little area.

There is an abundance of wild life that lives on the property or visits it. Deer are commonplace as are squirrels, rabbits, foxes, and a wide variety of other mammals (there's even a beaver dam just behind our northern property line). Black bears and bobcats have been spotted a handful of times on this land and mountain lions have been seen in the vicinity not too far from our farm.

Geese, on their migratory route, routinely grace our pond. Hawks have had nests in our trees at times and can still be seen on a regular basis hunting on the farm. They probably have a nest hidden somewhere in our forest.

Many people when asked to envision paradise think of some tropical beach somewhere, mixed drink complete with umbrella in hand. Unfortunately they also picture a luxury resort hotel staffed by third world workers as a part of that "paradise." In actuality most tropical locales are festering hell holes of malaria, insects, and a million and one varieties of poisonous or toxic spiders, snakes, etc. Most of these people would never dare visit this place without their precious air conditioned room and hotel staff to wait on their every whim.

I envision my parents' farm when someone asks me to picture paradise. I imagine central Virginia with its pastoral rolling hills, forests, mountains, and fields. The red clay of the soil says "home" to me, and I kind of pity those who have to fantasize about far-flung places to envision a peaceful and rejuvenating environment.

What more could you want than what is all around you? Almost any environment can provide for humans and most provide for our needs quite well. I watch some of the survival-themed shows like Survivor Man or Man vs Wild. Contrary to what you may think, these guys actually seem to have some of their easiest episodes when they choose the desert as the environment to challenge themselves. Some deserts are truly desolate, but most will provide you with water and plenty of food if you know where to look.

Now look at an environment like central Virginia and the abundance of life and sources of food is astonishing. I sometimes imagine what it must have been like to be a settler here back in the early days of colonialism. Sure there were dangers, but how amazing this land must have seemed to people coming out of crowded Europe. What opportunity!

I almost long for this decrepit, shallow society of ours to fail. I dream of the opportunity it would afford me to completely redefine my life. Sometimes I hate the grind I am in... I go to work, I come home, have too much to do and too little time to do it. I barely get to see my kids many nights. I go to sleep too late because I am constantly catching up with "things" and then I wake up tired the next day to face the same series of events all over again. Flip another page on the ole calendar.

"Shorter of breath and one day closer to death," to quote Pink Floyd.

Wow - quite a sidetrack I got on there. Sorry 'bout that.

Homebrews, homies, and the camping trip. My first batch of homebrew will be ready for this trip, so we'll be enjoying some fine IPA as well as whatever my brother is bringing from his homebrewing enterprise. A buddy of mine will be coming along, too. He was featured in some photos from past entries (here and here). The eyes are redacted to protect anonymity, of course.

We'll hang out, bag a rabbit for dinner (my bro is the top chef in town), and then drink many, many fine and fresh beers. An excellent evening, in all likelihood. I love camping in the winter. I sleep so soundly, wrapped up in my sleeping bag with the sound of the wind all about.

I can't wait, really.

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!

I Wouldn't Wish it on my Worst Enemy

Whoever our next President is could spend their entire term doing any one of the following:

• getting the economy on track again (not that they can do more than facilitate with sane policies)
• getting us out of Iraq
• repairing our massively damaged professional government bureaucracy
• balancing the budget
• repairing our crumbling infrastructure
• addressing global warming
• repairing our health care system
• improving our limping education system
• capturing bin Laden and taking down alQaeda
• repairing our standing with our allies

...and the list goes on. In truth, many of these items are interdependent and would have to be tackled in parallel. I do not envy whoever takes the Oval Office next because, Republican or Democrat, you have to admit that Bush has massively screwed the pooch, so to speak...

I am actually an independent voter. In my day I have voted for some Republicans and some Democrats and to be honest neither party impresses me much these days. But the fact of the matter is that the Bush Years have been awful for this country in every measurable way.

To quote Patton Oswalt, "If the standard for impeachment is covering up a burglary or getting a blowjob shouldn't this guy have been dragged out onto the White House lawn and shot by now?"

I couldn't agree more and to that end the Republicans must be taught that this cannot stand. If the Dems won't grow a sack and impeach him and then try him then we as voters must reject the Republican policies roundly at the ballot box.

I don't care who you are - you have a reason to be mad at Bush whether or not you realize it. If you disagree with me I suggest you comment here and challenge any point I've made. I can back everything up and will do so gladly if it means lifting the veil from a fellow citizen's eyes.

Another brief list of reasons to be pissed at the Bush Administration and pity the next because they'll have to fix it:

• The suspension of habeus corpus via the Military Comissions Act of 2006
• The NSA tapping our phone lines without a warrant
• Our intelligence aparatus (they warned him "bin Laden determined to attack within US" before 9/11)

About the intelligence community in the US... it needs to be fixed, yes, but only to undo what the current Administration has done. The responsibility for failing to prevent 9/11 doesn't lie with the agencies themselves but with the political arm of the Administration. They were warned and when it bit them in the backside they shifted blame to the agencies and followed that up with a major restructuring to make it appear to the public that they had fixed the problem.

We have lost 8 years on every front imaginable. Worse than that we've not only lost time, but ground. We've actually gone backwards in every arena since 2000. Had we jumped on environmental issues in 2000, I wouldn't be nearly as pessimistic as I am now.