Summer Vacation

We spent our annual week-long vacation at Pettecote Junction Campground in Cedar Run. It was a beautiful week weather-wise...especially for August. Temperatures were in the 70's during the day and 50's at night. We only used the a/c one night. One of the highlights of the week was hiking the Turkey Path from Colton Point down to Pine Creek and back up to the top again (see picture). Our kids were really troopers. I don't think many 3 and 5-year old kids have made that trip on foot. It is truly a beautiful trail. There are some beautiful falls near Four Mile Run. We're anxious to hike it again when the water is running higher. I spent a day at Camp mowing the lawn and picking up some fallen branches. The porcupines are still chewing up everything at all the cabins. I ran into Paula (Mountain Girl). She was replacing Charlotte's porch floor down in Cedar Run. Our daughter remembered her from two years ago. She said "she was the woman who showed me the snake." We got to see a few nice deer, and several bald eagles during the week. Of course, one of the favorite activities is doing a slow float down Pine Creek in an inner tube. It's always great to get to the mountains of Tioga County.

Spring Clean Up

Yesterday, we got a chance to go up to camp to do some mowing and clean up. It was a beautiful two days weather-wise. Last night was a beautiful full-moon which lit up the entire forest. We mowed the grass, and fixed up a few things around the camp. The grass was very high and everything looks very green in the mountains. However, the streams are extremely low. We never remembered the streams running this low 20-30 years ago. However as we were talking, we realized that there is a lot more vegetation in the woods than there was 30 years ago. That could be the reason for the lack of water in the streams. Last evening, we took a drive down to Cedar Run for some ice cream. We saw several deer on the way back to camp. A potent storm must have come through in the past week as we had another tree come down behind the cabin and noticed many others down while driving around. Any chance to get to visit the Tioga woods is welcome change to the daily grind. This trip was no exception. The time always goes too fast when were at Camp. We hope to get back soon!

Rainy Day at Camp

This past week, I had a rare day off work. I was going to travel up to camp for a day of Spring Gobbler hunting and trout fishing. However, the weatherman was calling for steady rain the entire time and his prediction proved to be true. When I got home from work, I decided to ask my 3 year-old son if he wanted to go up to the cabin with me. He was so excited, he was practically packing his stuff before the words were off my lips. We left home around 7 pm and drove straight up to camp. As the weatherman promised, it rained hard all night and all the next day. We spent most of the time inside the cabin playing games and telling stories, but it was a great day together. Our first father-son overnight trip to the mountains. There was one 20 minute long break in the rain which was long enough for me to cut up the downed trees (got a new spark plug for the chainsaw). However, the torrential rain prevented me from getting the grass cut. Oh well, that gives me another "excuse" to have to go back to camp again soon. This was one trip that I was glad that I left the gun and fishing rod at home. A lot of memories were made on this trip.

Spring Trip

We took our annual Spring camping trip to Petticote Junction Campground the last weekend in April. I had the opportunity to visit camp on April 24. Everything seemed to be fine after the exceptionally hard winter. The snow brought a few trees down. However, everything else seemed just fine. The porcupines are still chewing all of the wooden edges of our cabin and deck. They seem to be working on all the cabins in the area. I wish we had a solution for that problem. I took my chainsaw with me to cut up some of the downed trees, however, I couldn't get it started. My wife, kids, and I took a nice afternoon hike. As we were approaching a clearing in the woods, we walked right up on a nice mature gobbler that was strutting out in the opening. He saw us and didn't hang around long, but it was quite a treat to see. We saw a few other hen turkeys while driving in the truck. We saw a surprising amount of deer sign and bear and turkey sign were just about everywhere. After we enjoyed our picnic lunch, we headed back to the campground. That evening, we enjoyed a nice meal at the Cedar Run Inn to celebrate my wife's birthday. The food was delicious as always. On Sunday, we headed back home. It was great to get away to the mountains for a few days.

Last Week of Deer Camp

A beautiful blanket of snow covered the ground again this year for the last week of deer camp. One thing about snow, is that it allows us to see the tracks that deer leave behind. There's a lot of debate going on about the size of the deer herd in the Northern Tier. However, the amount of tracks we saw during the last week prove that there are still deer around. While the herd is not the size that it was back in the 1970's, something else has changed too. Snow on the ground also reveals the number of hunters who have walked through. It is very safe to say that there are far more deer in the woods these days than hunters. The four of us basically had the entire township to ourselves for the last few days of hunting season. While this provides for a real rustic hunting experience, it makes it even harder to find the deer. All in all, we did pretty well for a couple of guys. We did see a few deer, including one nice buck, a coyote, and some big gobblers who managed to escape us during turkey season. I took this picture of a gobbler from my tree stand on the last day of the season. The buck managed to give us the slip and will live on to be an even larger buck next year. Although we came home without any deer again this year, we enjoyed the time spent together in the woods. The memories we share will last much longer than the amount of venison we have in our freezers.

Deer Season 2009

We arrived at Camp Sunday to prepare for the opening of Deer Camp. Monday brought a driving rain. All in all, it was a good day for me as I saw several deer - including two bucks which did not meet the new antler restrictions. I saw another buck on Tuesday that was too small to harvest. It's the most deer that I've seen in recent years. However, I almost felt bad for seeing so many deer because no one else in the camp saw anything. There was very little shooting in our area and none of the camps had deer hanging up as we came home on Tuesday. We are going back up for the last few days of the season. Hopefully, we'll be able to find where the deer are hiding. There is no question that the deer herd is way down in Tioga County. Depending on who's side you are on, you either like this or dislike this change. One thing I noticed this year is the incredible amount of new tree growth on the forest floor in our area. Some places are so thick that you can hardly walk through. Since the deer herd has decreased, the amount of new growth has taken off. I guess this is a small price to pay in order for our children to enjoy the the forest for years to come. Although it's no fun hunting all day without seeing any deer, it would be a worse tragedy for the forest to disappear because of over-browsing. I'll post again next week to report on our second week of deer camp.

Beautiful Foliage

We traveled up to camp this weekend to enjoy a short vacation and enjoy the foliage. The weather was quite cold for October. Sunday morning, the temperature was 29-degrees. This morning, it was 28-degrees with snow flurries. Fortunately, the heater kept it nice and warm in the cabin. We got some work done around the cabin and did some hiking. This picture was taken off the top of Chimney Rocks Mountain looking towards Cedar Run. This has always been one of our favorite spots. The kids, ages 3 and 5 made it all the way to the top. It won't be long now until we'll be heading back up for deer season.