Saturday, August 27,
2016
I know how to make my humans let me out. I climb on the door. They yell some words like roodyno or
something, but in a minute, they let me
out. They don't yell at me when I do
that to come in. I wonder why that is.
Woke up to a herd of deer on the shoal behind us. Wait a second, those aren't deer, they are
elk! Look at the racks on those two
guys. Wow!
After the morning walk (Spouse did a bike ride), we packed a
lunch and headed up 'the' road past our morning beauty and beyond. All sorts of rivers and creeks run through
the area. There are miles upon miles of
dirt roads weaving through the back country.
Our road is paved, although as you go along, it is not as nicely
paved. There are no lines but there is
just enough room for 2 cars to pass if needed.
We pass through the town of Shoup.
Actually, I am not sure it is a town, although it is on the map. It is a couple of buildings that are shut
down and for sale. Last year, the little
store had some homemade cookies. This
year, nada. I don't know if somebody
actually expects to make a living off of something out here in the boondocks.
We pull over to a nice rock to eat. Wow, look at those tiny fish! Are they the salmon or trout of the
future? They are about an inch long and
there are a gazillion of them. Oooh, and
look beyond them... those are bigger fish!
We grabbed our poles. Spouse is
wormifying my line, but I don't want to push my luck.
I cannot pick up a pole without the line getting tangled at
some point. I have this incredible
ability to mess things up, almost like a caricature of a cartoon
character! But, I do manage to catch
fish. We both do and we let them go to
live on and go for someone else's bait!
The one thing about fishing in shorts:
bugs really like legs. I am
holding the pole and flinching like I am one of Jerry's kids, if you know what
I mean.
We drive on, when Spouse yells that he sees a mountain
lion... Really? Kind of like those 'cows' that were really
bears? Sure enough, it was a herd of
mountain sheep. Female bighorns based on
their racks. It is amazing how they can
climb the side of a hill. They were leery
of us but not too bothered. We let them
have their space, even though I wanted to kiss them! Not exactly mountain lions though...
We turned left at Panther Creek. It quickly turns into a dirt road barely wide
enough for two cars. Once again, we are
flanked by rugged mountains and a beautiful creek. We were told there is a good fishing hole a
few miles up, so we went until we saw a few good pools then pulled out our
gear. We are standing on huge boulders
of stunning beauty that could easily become kitchen counters for all of
southern California. It is so hard for
me to stay focused. Look at that piece
of driftwood... into the truck it goes.
And that rock... it will make it
to the lapidary shop for sure. Oh yeah,
the fishing... Easy as pie; drop in a line, catch a fish. I am liking this! Until my friggin line tangles. Spouse tried to fix it, big mistake. He pulled, tightening it... So after a while of total frustration, he cut
the line and retied it. Thanks
Spouse! After a bit, he went into the
truck to read, while I casted a few more times.
Dammit! The friggin line is
tangled. It is so difficult to see this
thin line with rushing water in the background.
The worm is resting on my leg.
Gotta thread him through here, now there. How the heck can it get so tangled when all I
did was reel it in? I am done fishing,
but I can't leave till I get this untangled... move the hook around this way,
then through here... There got it! Now just stand up. Dammit!
The pole flinched and it is all tangled again! How can that be? And so it goes... I am the great tangler, but
I am also a good untangler...
Retreating our steps through the scenic valley, we notice
signs posted that the hiking trails are closed due to fire activity. We can see a bit of smoke, but it isn't too
bad. We also see some kayakers and
rafters. It is the weekend after all, so
it is nice to see some people actually using the wilderness.
We arrived at Hannah for the cocktail hour, and a fish
dinner.
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