Pretty sure I’ll be taking a week long trip across The Michigan Upper Peninsula and Northern Wisconsin starting this coming Sunday. Tentative plan is to spend a couple of days camped a little north of The Mackinaw Bridge, cross Mackinaw Bridge, and go to Mackinac Island. After a couple of days I’ll go west to hopefully see a very old friend in Cornucopia Wisconsin and a friend in Superior Wisconsin.
Friday, July 12, 2019
Just got home. Another beautiful day but my time was up.
Thursday, July 11, 2019
As strange as it sounds, the weather is too perfect for trout fishing. Middle of July, sun beating straight down, no clouds isn’t good for fishing. I know where the fish are but can’t get at them. One of the things done to improve a stream is to create undercut banks. That’s where the fish are on a sunny cloudless day.
I was standing in this spot tying a fly on, getting ready to fish the shady area when a branch about 10 feet long fell out of the tree on the right, exactly where I was going to fish. That’s a no-shitter.
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Caught two brown trout this morning while fishing Timber- Coulee. Maybe one 12″ and one 14″.
Then it got very windy.
You have to be able to fly fish in the wind but when it’s so windy the trees are bending it’s difficult. That’s one of the best things about retirement. I can fish tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Haven’t done any fishing so far on this trip. Yesterday when I setup my trailer I discovered a water leak. My site is a full hook up site. When I connected to “city water” is when water started dripping out of the bottom of my trailer. Unfortunately water lines are under my bed. There was a pinhole leak in a water tube. Took half the day but got it repaired.
I checked with a Vernon County Park employee. He said you can leave a trailer at a full hookup site from May through October for $1500.
Something to think about.
Sunday, July 7th, 2019
Heading back to the Driftless Area tomorrow for a four-day fishing/relaxing trip. Weather forecast is perfect, 80 during the day, 65 at night with not much chance of rain. Intend to spend two full days fishing Timber-Coulee creek and then explore some other streams. Had to look up Coulee. A coulee is a drainage area, a valley, I think. Below is a link to a YouTube video on the Timber-Coulee.
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Today was a day for looking around, scouting for Wolf River access points, looking at other Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest campgrounds, and sightseeing. There is a spot just north of my campground called the Cathedral of Pines. All of northern Wisconsin was thoroughly logged in the 1800s. The Cathedral of Pines was never logged. Have to admit it was pretty but not impressive.
The maps say Cathedral of Pines. This sign says something else.
There are four other National Forest Campgrounds nearby. I checked three of them out. The fourth one is popular with ATVers which I want nothing to do with.
Bear Lake Campground was the most appealing because more sunlight gets through than the other NP campgrounds in the area.
I found several good access points to the Wolf River but probably won’t fish the Wolf this trip. The Wolf is considered a little dangerous and it looks high and fast. It doesn’t have anywhere near to a smooth bottom. There are rocks and boulders of different sizes and there are holes. Not worth it.
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Camping at Bagley Rapids Campground near Mountain, Wisconsin. It’s one of several campgrounds in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. There aren’t any hookups but it’s $7.50 a night and very pretty. The forest is thick and campsites are far enough apart so that I can’t hear or see anyone. The trailer’s battery needs a little charge so I’m running the generator for a little while. But there are these nasty bastards called mosquitos and there are a lot of them. Had to put some bug juice on. Can’t remember the last time I used it.
Sunday, June 16, 2019
Wednesday at noon I’ll be heading “up north” for some camping and trout fishing. I’ll be up there for a week and a half. Wednesday, June 19 through Sunday, June 23, I’ll be camped at a campground in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Sunday, June 23 through Friday, June 28, I’ll be camped at Council Grounds State Park. These parks aren’t very far from each other. Both parks are close to the following rivers; Wolf, Prairie, Embarrass, Plover, and Peshtigo.
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Heading home. Poured like hell this morning. Streams will be muddy for a day or two.
Where I was camped is pretty much four hours straight west of my home. Where I store my trailer is 30 minutes straight north of my home. I am blindly following google directions to my storage facility. It just took me through the small town of Lodi Wisconsin where I went to high school for 2 weeks after which I went to high school in Madison Wisconsin for about 6 months, and then on to another high school. Several years later I lived in Lodi on my own for the summer of 1976. I enlisted in the Navy at the end of that summer and got the hell out of here.
This is the Del Monte canning plant where I was working when I enlisted in the Navy. It’s in Arlington WI just east of Lodi. A bittersweet ride home today.
My job was to sit on a forklift outside of the door behind the red truck, wait for palettes of canned vegetables, and load them on trucks. That’s all I was to do. I sat on that forklift and read Shogun in a few days.