Click here for the pictures

Well this year we finally fought and won the battle to go to GRR instead of WBR. I actually think it turned out well and don’t think there would have been higher numbers had we gone to WBR. Anyway this is what I saw.

We began as usual meeting somewhere, this year it was 9am at the Waterbury park and ride lot just off rt100. Some folks met in Shelburne to car pool up. Stan and Shane met me and we ended up with two boats and two cars headed north. My van had two boats on top. We stopped and bought 2 carts of food at the store in Waterbury and then made our way to GRR. We found some rangers there who indicated the park was closed and camping was free. He suggested we go and enjoy it so we did. We unloaded and somehow got all our shit into two boats. It was snowing on and off and there was nobody there except one boater with a dog. Stan paddled one boat and Bob and Shame moved Big red the war canoe. We made site 21 in perhaps 15 minutes of paddling. The site was clean and there was even dry wood. We made camp and prepared for a rotten bit of weather that never really came. It snowed but then stopped and was just cool and windy. Stan’s chain saw made us big pile of wood pretty quickly. Joe, DP and Jon arrived about the time we were all set up with a fire burning. DP aimed his cross bow at me and threatened to shoot me for making him come all the way up to Morrisville. We were 6 at camp.

A bit later Roy Steve and Kenny showed up in kayaks. Steve and Kenny were towing a raft with gear tied to it. Pretty inventive for newbie’s. We were now 9 at camp for Friday night; We had lobsters, lots of steaks and lots of beer, more than a case of Heady toppers too. The night was a typical feast with much drinking and laughter. It was cold over night but not too bad. It snowed and rained a bit over night but not much. We set up two big tarps so we had cover for all our guitars, drums and lawn chairs

Saturday turned out to be a very nice sunny day. The mountain bike boys explored the area around Scofield pond. This is a few miles north of the camp site. You can see it on google maps if you care. We even found a cool old cabin on the pond which is also visible on google earth. We rode on mostly grass covered roads. The puddles were frozen over at first but it warmed up nicely in the afternoon. Stan went swimming bare-assed in front of like 8 kayakers. DP went hunting and so did Jon. Several boats went out fishing but nothing was caught. We again ate like pigs for dinner. Bob cooked Cornish game hens on the end of a stick. Horseshoes were played, Frisbee golf and hand gun shooting also happened. Shane and Bob paddled DP back at dusk on very flat calm water, he had to go to Boston the next morning. The paddle back around the Island was awesome. We had another big fire and enjoyed the heat.

Overnight it really rained a ton. By morning it stopped and we were able to break camp and get back to the put in without actually paddling in the rain. We cleaned up the site and made it look like we were not there. Jon and Joe headed out first towing a canoe with a dingy that had an electric motor and ors. I think we were loading the cars at 10am so it was an early departure. I was home and unpacked and put away before 2pm so it is getting pretty easy to do these trips. I don’t think I spent 2 hours packing before going.
The campers of the fall event award goes to Steve and Kenny. They came in packed Kayaks and slept in a one man tent. They gave us beer and shared their food. You would think they have been doing this all along.

Hightlights

GRR
Steve and Kenny newbies
Never really rained on us while we were up
Great food and we consumed all the beer I think
Nobody got shot with bullets or arrows

Downsides

No Timmy
No Mal

Click here for the pictures

Home | Links | Search Engines | Calendar | Forum | Guest Book