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Pastimes : NNBM - SI Branch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Crocodile who wrote (43778)	5/31/2005 2:22:37 PM
From: Clappy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 104159

Howdy everbuddy. It's amazing what four days in the mountains can do for a person. It was just a wonderful time for everyone. We did a nice hike up a waterfall. The scenery was spectacular. I love the woods. Makes me feel so alive. The weather was constantly changing. We set up camp under a large tarp (roughly the size of Rhode Island) on Friday about an hour before a big thunder storm. We sat in the car until the lightening passed by. The tarp did a great job of shedding the water. Our friends nick named our campsite the Taj Mahal due to the nice height. I was able to get my ropes way up around the tree branches and hoist it about 20 feet off the ground. Saturday everyone gathered under it during the steady rain to tell ghost stories and toast smores. Each day had periods of warm sun followed by bits of rain. On Sunday we weathered a hail storm. The pea-sized hail piled high in the two sections where the tarp drained. My son gathered a few cup-fulls to put into the cooler. Didn't have to buy ice that day... The black flies were biting more than the fish but that didn't stop us. Many of the cub scouts were catching newts by hand. Most of them put them back but a few kids kept one or two in cups and brought them back to camp. Unfortunately the racoons ate them for a late night snack after leaving them on the picnic tables. Speaking of racoons, two of them were wrestling outside our tent one night. I suppose they were battling over a misplaced marshmellow or something. The large shadow and loud growls had wifie convinced they were ferocious grizzly racoons... <g> There were some black bear footprints down at the lake. Otherwise we didn't see any other traces of them. I cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner over the open fire. Nothing tastes quite as good as that. My cowboy coffee was a bit strong but smelled wonderful as it perked away. The kids loved every minute of the day. It was neat to see all the inventive games they would come up with. Mummies vs Zombies, Bike Tag, King of the Rock, etc. They even filmed a movie with someone's father's video camera. Some sort of Star Wars inspired film or something. I'm looking forward to seeing it. The stars at night were big and bright... So many more were visible. There they fill in between the same constellations and planets I view at home. I suppose what was most amazing was this place was just as far away as my commute to work. I've been heading in the wrong direction all this time... I'll have to head out to the Catskill Mountains more often. -HappyCamper