Boy Fishing Logic

(Saturday Stories about traveling part three)

We got to our campsite at Buffalo River National Park around 12:30. The official time to claim it is 1 PM but no one was there so we backed in and started setting up. This is our first foray in this rig. It’s small so you have to be organized. I think we did okay for our first time out in it. We got set up, Monica fixed us some sandwiches with her new bread.

She got a grain mill just before we left so that she could make her own bread flour with fresh grain. It is supposed to be amazing for your overall health. It sure tastes good.

After lunch, we took the bikes out for a short ride. We weren’t sure about where the hiking trails were and we thought we ride up to the Ranger Station. We never made it because when I say “ride up” I mean ride up. It was a long steep climb. Monica had to walk quite a bit. So, when we got to another campground and it had a sign that said, “Forest Trail,” I suggested we stop in there and hike that trail.

There was no one in that campground except a doe who was making herself at home and didn’t appreciate our intrusion on her serenity. It is a tent only camp and it is a bit further away from the river, so I assume people mostly use it when everything else is full. We parked our bikes against one of the picnic tables and headed down the trail.

Lewis and Clark we are not. After hiking almost a mile we came to a spot where I could see a campground. I said, “Look, another campground!” Then it dawned on me that we were pretty close to our campground. Real close. We are in loop C and this was loop B. So, we rode our bikes about 2 miles up a steep hill, and hiked another mile on a forest trail that was criss-crossed with multiple spider webs that ended up on my face and arms, to finally end up a few hundred yards from where we were parked.

It might have made sense to just walk back to our campsite, but our bikes were back up atop the hill. That required a return trip, but at least the bike ride was downhill all the way back.

We walked down to the river. The Buffalo is the longest undamed river in the US. Where we ended up was right along the tall sandstone bluffs that line parts of the river. It was a rocky beach. It seemed like a perfect place for me to try out this new photography app I bought for $3 just before we left home.

The Buffalo River National Park is considered one of the nations dark sky areas, which means there isn’t any man made lights and the sky is dark and you can see the stars well on a clear night. This app is supposed to help you take long exposure photos and get good night sky and star photos.

This seemed like a great spot for that.

There was a family with a couple of young boys fishing.

“What bait are you using?” I asked one of the boys.

“What?”

“What kind of lure is that?”

“Huh? Do you mean the hook?”

“Yes. What’s the hook?”

He held the end of his pole up, the lure dangled from the end. He gazed at in inquisitively as if he had never considered that question before. “Well,” he finally said, “I just got the shiniest one I could find.”

“That makes sense,” I said.

But I thought, “Satan will have a time with that boy.”

Once we got back to our campsite and were better oriented, we decided to hike up the Overlook Trail. It was a fairly easy hike, even though it was uphill. Overlooks are generally situated that way. The overlook, as you might expect, gives you a great birds eye view of the Buffalo River.

It would have been nice to go further because it connects to the Indian Rock House Trail which is said to be a great hiking trail. But due to all of our detours and delays, it was getting too late to attempt that today. On the way down, I collected up a handful of black walnuts that were littering the trail in hopes that they would make a tasty snack. I cracked them open with my Goodwill find hatchet to discover they were all rancid.

By the time we got back down and back to our campsite it was time to prep for dinner. M made some delicious fajitas. I’m not sure what it is about camp food, but it always tastes good.

After dinner, as it was staring to get dark, I gathered up my tripod and a lantern and we walked down the road to the last campground in the park, the one closest to the rock beach on the river, the one we took a two mile bike ride and a one mile hike to find, and the one that was within walking distance to our campground. This is where I thought would be an ideal site to get some starry pictures.

We took our camp chairs along with us and set up on the gravel bed next to the river facing the towering sandstone bluffs. I found Polaris in the sky to give me a centering point and got the camera ready. The sun set, but the stars just weren’t shining.

After a bit, I gave up, realizing that it wasn’t going to get dark enough until the wee hours of the morning. I told myself I would just have to get out of bed and go back outside and get the photography opportunity I was seeking.

We both showered and were surprised that there was hot water in the showers. We turned in. I knew I would need to get up and go to the bathroom later, so no need to set an alarm to go out to take pictures. I let you know how that turned out.