A cool night, long day and sore to the bone....

It was "Bob the Builder" day at trout camp. I journeyed into camp the evening before just as the sunset and the evening temperatures began to chill. It was eerily quiet, save the hoots from a owl perched far off on a Northern mountain crest. I returned the calls with those of my own and naturally solicited a territorial response. Within 10 minutes the dominant male had made his way within several hundred feet of my own perched position upon the skeet deck. Completely blind because of the blanket of darkness that had settled and depending on only my hearing, I began to wonder..."He can probably see me clear as day and I bet he's wondering what I'm up to with my challenging calls!?" Before I could begin to worry that he may just swoop down and attempt to establish the heirarchy on the hill another call came off in the distance. So now there were three! Lucky for me the two real owls went at it and left me alone. I took the momentarily distraction as a call to scoot out without a scratch and set up camp for the night. I slept well even with the 29 degree temperatures. I was thankful of my decision to pack two sleeping bags and a set of fleece for the night. They kept me relatively warm regardless of how cramped it was laying across the bench seat of my Father's F250.

I awoke at 6:45 and decided to get down to work. The tractor tore through the few stumps that littered the winding road into the head of camp. I tried my best to fill and level the holes left in their removal, but I realize that this may be a job to fool with in future outings. Having 8-10 hours to accomplish a mountain of tasks had my priorites elsewhere.

In this period of time I was able to widened the parking area, rip out 30 tree stumps, back drag and flatten the deck area, the drive way, the parking area, the firepit area and remove several root ball mounds left from the 85 tornado. All in all, I would consider it a very productive day. The next trip may have Jim and I installing a 12 X 20' deck that will serve as a place for him to set up his tent, for us to enjoy good eats and an elevated area to retreat in the event things get wet and we need to get of the ground.

By the way, the stars and planets were so bright that it felt as if I could just reach out and grab them all. I've witnessed many bright starry skies, but this particular night lacked any overcast or clouds and as a consequence the stars were super white bright...a very nice treat to admire on my first overnighter on DaJtcha!

Kubota time...This weekend at Trout Camp

This Sunday, directly following my shift at work, I will be traveling out to Trout Camp with my buddy's Kubota tractor.  Equipped with a backhoe and bucket, I intend on taking a big leap forward on the "to do" list.Our land is nice, but has a couple annoying problems.  In 1985 a F5 tornado blew threw the area and level many of the old trees. See the story here:  1985 F5 Tornado Information   Mother Nature always finds a way to bounce back and this was no exception, however, 7 years later...a careless fire became out of control and climbed from the bottom of the mountain and up to the summit.   It erased a good portion of the regrowth and forced nature to restart once again.  Fast forward to today...the area needs a good scouring of small tree stumps and 4-6" tall tree trunks that have remained from these two incidents.  The goal on this trip is to remove as many of these tripping hazards as possible over the course of a full day of work. Four areas require extra attention:  The 20X12' deck zone, the camper placement area, the parking area and the fire ring.  All of them need to be graded since they are on enough of a decline to cause issues with camp setup and comfort.

While I have the heavy machinery out there, I will also attemtpt to flatten some of the high spots along the access driveway. And, the remaining downed trees will be chained and towed to a staging area for splitting for firewood.

I'd like to thank several individuals that have helped us greatly with their contributions and generosity:

My Father, for use of his F250
My cousin Dave, for use of his HD Trailer
My Buddy Greg, for use of his tractor

Dj

An expensive Wednesday...

Spent most of Wednesday at DaJtcha determined to have her prepped for my return on the 11th. In the process of clearing, pruning, marking, plotting and visualizing the work that I would attempt to blast out with the heavy machinery, I took out (one by one) all the little machines I had brought with me. One after another they fell victim to the land or my abuse. First up was the hand shovel, crow bars they ARE NOT! The wooden handled shorty had been a faithful work horse for me for many years, but the handle would not be able to take the prying I attempted to use it for. Crack! Second up to bat was my 30' tape measure and let's just say that I have a 25.5' tape measure that has retracted into the case like a turtle hiding in its shell. Then came the rake handle. "What's next?" I wondered! Ummm, maybe I shouldn't have wondered so much...the lawn mower was the next to die. This time, it was my fault. I had tried so hard to keep the blade from the multitude of stumps that litter the acreage and everything was going great, but in a mound of leaves...one 2" tree branch lay hidden and waiting to strike. This will be the third mower that has perished as a result of full throttle to full stop. OUCH!!! Thankfully, the rake, the tape measure, the shovel are all replaceable under the craftsman warranty. The lawn mower, unfortunately, is not. It appears that every three years, I make it an expensive habit of destroying the mower and purchasing a new one to replace it.
The good news is with the help of a fluorescent paint can I was able to plot out where I needed to move dirt, remove stumps and grade the property. I believe at the end of this next trip with the back hoe / bucket tractor...the resulting dramatic changes will be evident in photographs that I will post.

Another Sunday Afternoon Visit...

After practicing repetitive casting on a local NE Ohio river and having my efforts rewarded with (1) a lowly sucker for all my attempts, I suggested to the family that we take a stroll out to camp and spend the afternoon relaxing among the trees and wildlife. I was met with some reluctance from my two children, but my wife was all for it. In our household, if the wife and I are onboard...then we're ALL onboard! So, pushing it a bit, I was able to arrive at the forest opening to camp in 2 hours 10 minutes. I made most of my progress on the major freeway as driving the back roads into camp at anything moderately higher than the speed limit is not advisable considering the dangers. Concentrating on the road side reveals many deer that have met their fate via a speeding car. I didn't want the Xb to serve this purpose and certainly not while my love ones were coming along for the ride. Having made several trips back and forth has taught me that it takes longer getting there once exited from the interstate than while traveling on it and driving back home in the dark is both mentally taxing and alarming.
Camp hasn't changed all that much since the last visit. I chose to move an overturned 55 gallon barrel from the entrance to a place more near the fire ring (at least the location of where the fire ring will be placed). It wasn't too much trouble as I used the gradient and gravity to roll the drum into place. For now, it sits and waits patiently. Oh man! I just remembered, I set it upright and I'm not sure there were any holes near the bottom?! It may have no choice but to serve as a rain collection barrel until we get an opportunity to re-visit!
The last several stumps, the ones that were most in the way and were likely to put up the biggest fight when removing, have been extracted from Mother Earth.  I may have attempted the short drive to where the parking spaces will be placed, but with the low clearance of the subcompact it was not advisable.  Next time!

As a public service announcement:  I'd like to point out that the collapsible razor sharp pruning saws are indeed razor sharp and will cut through jeans and pierce skin without much effort.  The warning that chopping or sawing while tired is good advice and one to be followed!  Ouch!

Floatman's 1st blog on our piece of the Mountain

Waiting on the transfer of monies and official documentation seemed to take as long as old man's winter grip to release its hold on the weather. After what seemed like an eternity, all the moons aligned and Dj and I got to finally hit the road this past weekend to step onto our piece of Heaven as the proud new owners of our Moutain property. After many weeks of staring at topo and sattelite maps and thinking about the lay of the land we got to walk the property lines, revisit the boundary stakes and begin to discuss our ideas for access into and onto the camp area. During our walking of the entire area, we found several well used deer trails throughout the property. Looks like were going to be sharing the area with plenty of wildlife !

I took some time to stand where we agreed to put our camp area and pondered the wonder of it all......my mind raced with all the possibilities that we will face on this great new adventure. I'm sure neither of us can fully grasp the endless possibilities that we will enjoy.

Speaking for myself, at this moment, I'd like to share that I have been blessed with the opportunity to fish PA for nearly 30 years. For approximately 25 of those years, I have had the dream to own some terra firma in this awesome state, to have a base camp to drive into and spend some more time exploring the fishing opportunities that this beautiful state has to offer. I was not sure that my dream would ever happen, especially after having some previous deals fall thru over the past couple decades.

Well, as you are now reading this blog, you now know that Dj and I formed a strong friendship that helped to lead into making this a reality. I'm still kind of pinching myself, but realize that the time is here to live and share the dream.....WOW.....Amazing !

I look forward to sharing this experience with Dj and his family as well as my own.
Dj, on the first campout at Dajtcha........the first celebratory cocktail is on me !!!

More to come, yep, much more to come...................
- Floatman

I volunteered to spend my day off at Dajtcha while Floatman worked and as luck would have it...the wifey came along to spend the afternoon snoozing in the quiet calm of nature while I toiled at clearing the path that will become the road we'll use to get vehicles into camp.  We could have not asked for a better, more beautiful, day! The sun was shining bright, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the air temperature hovered in the mid 40's.  I packed a sleeping bag, heavy blanket and sleeping pad which must have been just the ticket for the misses to snooze in the sun.  I think she felt right at home!  We got off to a late start and arrival, but in a matter of two hours I was able to clear just enough small shrubs and a few 2-3 year old trees out the way to make the road just about usable.  Three more root balls and I'll be comfortable driving the SUV and camper down the path to our lot. The .gif I've created is a walk through of the cleared "driveway" accessing the southern edge.

Finally, It's ours!

Monday, March 1st marked the day that all the necessary paperwork was completed and mailed to the State of Pennsylvania for closing by the closing attorney and as a thank you from the county, we received our first tax bill!  I'm not sure that this is worth celebrating, but it does signify that Floatman and I are now the responsible parties. 

With warmer temperatures slowly making their way into the forecast over the next couple weeks, the weather is starting to look more promising.  A consequence of a somewhat remote mountain top retreat is the fact that weather affects the logistics of navigation in and out of it.  The current snow pack of nearly 2 feet, maybe more, has got to melt before even a 4X4 can safely make it in.  Needless to say, Mother Nature has some thawing to accomplish.  Until then, the drive up the country road and certainly through the woods onto the property is inadvisable and risky.  Floatman and I are keeping our fingers crossed in the hopes that the warmer temp.s combined with the possibilty of a few scattered showers are enough to melt it all away and allow us to visit again soon.  I'm hoping for a trip out next Wednesday with the camera, the actual surveryor's map and flag tape to mark things.

The suspense of waiting is eating us alive and doing busy work as a distraction is getting old!