November 2, 2006
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Camping, part deux
…This time, with pictures of people
After the hike, we went to our camp site. Chris insisted that we set up our tents first before we started fishing. I know that if I started fishing, I wouldn’t have stopped before nightfall and I would have had to sleep in the car. Fortunately, I had a pretty east set up. It was up within 5 minutes. Chris also went to work on his tent, lovingly assembling it like a model airplane. Two hours later, it was up!
Chris’s tent, which is wholly dependent on the location of his jeep.
For a tent that was made completely from scratch, I’d say he did rather well. Aside from being tied to the jeep, of course. But look! He even made his own tent pegs!
Dedication and hours of whittling with an axe pays off.
So after that was set up, we went to work on catching dinner.
The rock and pool,
is nice and cool,
so juicy sweet.
Our only wish,
to catch a fish,
so juicy sweet!
We ended up fishing for hours. I didn’t even keep track of time.
Shortly after dusk, we caught our first fish. Chris had given it a name, but I can’t remember it right now. It was a large mouth bass, and came in at a whopping 6″. I had actually caught a 13″ large mouth in Iowa, but their state laws prohibit keeping any bass under 18″ long. Riduckulous. Needless to say, I was uber-excited to finally catch a fish I could keep.
Alban: Man! This is so cool! I haven’t caught a fish I can keep since I was 8 years old. Can you keep an eye on him while I run back to camp? I have to get the bucket to keep him in.
Chris: What are you going to do with him in the mean time? You can’t just leave him out here.
Alban: It’s only a five minute walk. He’ll be ok out of the water for the time being.
Chris: Are you sure? I don’t want him to die. We want to eat the freshest fish possible.
Alban: I’m pretty sure. I’ve seen fish last out of water for quite a bit of time actually.
Chris: Well, you better keep him in the water, just to be safe. Just leave him on the hook and keep him near the edge of the pond.
Alban (hesitantly): Are you sure? He might get loose.
Chris: I think it’ll be alright. As long as you keep him on the hook.
Alban (really unsure): Ok…
lowers fish into the pond
Fish (leaping into the air): Splash! SPLASH! SPLASH!!
(silence)
…
(silence)
And then, the next words that came out of my mouth was the beginning of what became our mantra for the rest of this trip.
Alban (lifting up empty hook with no fish attached): We’ll know better next time.
And so we ventured onwards. Having lost the first fish I could actually keep in over 17 years, I went right back to work. Fortunately, it wasn’t too long before I caught another one. And another. And a third, even. Unfortunately, none of them were near 6″ (which, as you can imagine, is pretty small already), so we ended up with three little guys. You can see them here next to the Pepsi bottle, which, my engineering mind told me to include in the picture as a frame of reference.
Is it bigger than a breadbox? Um…. no.
Insert your own witty caption here
By the time we decided to call it quits, it was well after dark. We hadn’t started a fire yet and the cold was starting to descend upon us. Chris, in all of his manly glory, wanted to try to start a fire the old fashion way: Using flint, steel, and strips of shaved magnesium that will explode into flames with a simple spark.
It was not our most successful attempt. (I suggest turning on the sound)
Needless to say, we still had fun.
Another thing that we “learned” was that we should have a fire going before the sun goes down. Doing anything in the dark is just stinking hard. But on top of all that, we really did learn something new about wood.
Yellow heavy wood = wet wood.
Gray light wood = dry wood.
And just in case you need me to put two and two together for you, wet wood = hard to burn.
We’ll know better next time.
After a lot of hard work and a lot of huffing and puffing, we had a roaring fire going. It might have taken less than an hour, but I wouldn’t bet money on it.
Cajun chicken, Beef jerky and corn stew, fish
Chris, stoking the fire and taking care of the food.
Now, I’m pretty sure there was something else I wanted to add onto this entry, but I’m too darn tired to think of it. After dinner, we packed up, and went to bed.
I guess I’ll finish posting the pictures from the camping trip tomorrow… or sometime soon.
To be concluded!
Comments (9)
A pious man said to his followers: “It is evil to take lives, and noble to save them. Each day I pledge to save a hundred lives. I drop my net in the lake and scoop out a hundred fishes. I place the fishes on the bank, where they flop and twirl. “Don’t be scared”, I tell those fishes. “I am saving you from drowning”. Soon enough, the fishes grow calm and lie still. Yet, sad to say, I am always too late. The fishes expire. And because it is evil to waste anything, I take those dead fishes to market and I sell them for a good price. With the money I recieve, I buy more nets so I can save more fishes… – Anonymous
your post reminded me of this story that was in the preface to a book i recently read
you guys get two thumbs up in my book. while i do enjoy (from time to time) camping in the style you guys chose, these past few years i’ve been growing soft and caving to the portable propane stoves, real tents that make it hard for animals to come in and eat me (i admit, i get scared at night outside in the dark by myself!), and umm….coughcoughelectricitycoughcough :-O. although, i could have taught you both a thing or two about fishing and cooking 
but that is nothing in comparison to being able to start your own fires and invent your own tents (and pegs) !
ah! you know…if you wanted to keep up with your prank war, you could have stole the keys and drove away with the tent in the middle of the night! but that would be a little too mean if you ask me…
That looks like so much fun. I miss camping! I have to say that’s something I don’t get to do much of in Philadelphia. Binghamton sure has some great places to camp at!
In fact, we really were saving the fish in the lake. We were told that the lake was grossly overpopulated and that there wasn’t enough food for the fish to survive. By taking some of those little ones out, we were assisting the remaining ones by eliminating competition.
Oh nature, who beautiful and yet incredibly cruel thou art…
i thought you guys would only have the 3 tiny fishes for dinner hehe.. that dinner on the stove looked yummy~
wow lady auroa has been camping like this too? i have a feeling i would freeze sleeping outside…
fun!
and when i say dating i mean dating my husband. as in going on little dates every once ina while.
at least you get to tell that story about “the one that got away…” =)
at least you get to tell that story about “the one that got away…” =)
sweeeeeeet!
Aha! Highly amusing post. I know what you’re getting for Christmas, though I’ll see if I can’t send it now, as it’ll be no use whatsoever that late in the year (provided I can find one over here to send).