Black River Falls Camping

So for our third camping trip at Black River Falls, we did a reunion of Jim's high-school buds and their respective spouses and kidlets. We had the California Contingent, Chris and his wife Tammy and their daughter Ayana, and then John made a rare cameo appearance, bearing stogies of a dubious nature. We also had the Midwest Contingent, the Carpenters--Paul, Shelley, kids Don and Steve; and the Ludo-Gausens, Pete and Dorothy, kids Katie, Sarah, Kevin, and their newest addition, baby Charlie at 12 weeks. Dorothy had hooked herself up with a rocking folding camp chair and a kick-butt screen enclosure, to keep the be-be out of the skeets and the deet. I felt bad that she was sort of the Mama in a Bubble, but I'm in utter admiration of her in taking such a little one camping! Ooh, anc C-Vo made a cameo appearance on Saturday, came up and paddled and hiked with us, helped us nosh on tacos.

That brings me to a quick bit about what all we did. Not lots, but there was some canoeing on the Black River, which was much bony-er than it had been just a few weeks back when we took Robbie. Lots of sandbars and actually a couple of riffles toward the end, near Mason's landing where we put out. I was thrilled to be able to paddle stern with Chris on one day and with C-Vo on the next, and they lived to tell the tale! The Nova Craft Pal we borrowed from Rutabaga is a sweet little boat, small enough for me to solo if I had to, and responsive to a good solid pry. It was a real kick for me to get C-Vo, a die-hard kayaker, in a canoe for the first time in a long time, and to see her translating double-bladed skills to a single fat paddle.

On day two, Jim got to perform sort of a rescue for some nice yokels who thought it would somehow be easy to paddle two aluminum canoes down the Black with just three people. We came upon this poor teenage-ish kid who was seated in the stern, naturally with his bow poised way up in the air and catching every breeze (and it was windy that day). Jim got them all to the river bank and tried showing the soloist where to sit, how to paddle, but he was having none of it, probably too frustrated and annoyed to give it a good solid try. Jim had a length of rope with him in the event he'd need to tow Don in the little whitewater kayak (he did tow him for a while, eventually), had the one canoe tow the other by sitting on the rope attached to the straggler canoe. At one point they forgot they were sitting on the rope and the straggler came loose, but it was recovered. At the end they finally "washed out" at the same landing we did, and they returned the rope with tired smiles on their faces, vowing that the husband would be coming with them on the next trip. They seemed very grateful for our help and I hope they aren't too soured on the whole paddling experience.

Back at camp, Jim and I made Shepherd's Pie one night, using instant potatoes for the top. I'd made a test half-recipe at home that worked great. And this one did too, but I kind of woefully overestimated the amount of instant potatoes I'd need--like the Whole Box. And I also woefully overestimated what our utensils could handle, the top popped off the spatula and we tried to break the strongest plastic spoon we had in stirring up that delicious mush. I had big help from Jim and Sarah, and a lot of milk. However, the Shepherd's Pie was a big hit with just about everyone, and I was very surprised to see it all gone at the end! Leftover potatoes went in a ziploc and turned out to be a fine breakfast the next morning, mixed with an egg and maybe some bread crumbs.

We also did a hike up to the top of (I think it's called) Castle Rock and got a couple group shots of all of us. Steeper than I remembered, huff-puff. A good number of us also attended a cool nature presentation on owls up at the shelter building, and got to see a little screech owl named Ebenezer. Owls have cool eyes, and sclerotic rings that keep their eyeballs in their tiny heads. And they can't do a real 360 with their heads, more like 260. A very cool presentation from a knowledgeable and entertaining speaker.

There was of course roasting of s'mores, drinking of beer, swapping of stories, laughter, and reading chapters of The Hobbit by the fire. It was a great way to spend our Fourth of July weekend and I hope we can do it again soon.