Unita cool down on a hot birthday

It is the end of July and the temperature here in the valley has been in the upper 90's and lower 100's. Thank heavens for the mountains. Each year we make a trip into the Unita's to camp, fish, hike and geocache. This year was no exception. It is always nice when the 24th is close to a weekend because it makes for an extended time away and I try to take the 23rd off to spend it with my beautiful wife on her birthday. (We won't reveal her age but lets just say that she is now as old as I am for another 5 months.) She loves to camp and especially in the Unita's because it is so cool, pleasant and peaceful.

This year Thomas, David, and Shannon and their kids were with us as well as Steve, Lesa, Mark, Jessica and one of Jessie's friend.

The fishing was fantastic (for the first time in a long time, I out did David on the first morning. I had caught 4 fish before he got his first. He made up for it by the end of the trip.)

Coleman caught his first fish which he thought was great until the fish was on shore and then he was running and screaming and was done fishing.

Ella, on the other hand, was disappointed because the fish she caught, her dad threw back. Even Shannon got into the fishing, and of course Ginny was right there making sure that we keep some fish. I like to caught them and release them, she, on the other hand, is of the attitude that any fish (of sufficient size) caught should be eaten. (Yuk!!!)

Thomas even caught his first fish on the fly rod I built for him for high school graduation. It was a small six inch Brookie with really nice color.


The wildlife is always fantastic, and this year we happened to see several deer, a beaver and many squirrels and chipmunks while in the area. The best wildlife view was the cow moose and her calf just outside of our campsite. We watched them for about 20 minutes and even had the opportunity to see the calf nursing. It was apparent that our presents was no threat to them. They walked about 100 yards from our camp and laid down under a lone tree in the middle of the meadow.





With all the water this year, we also had to defend ourselves from the exploding mosquito population. Nothing that a good dose of DEET and a lot of slapping oneself couldn't handle, but along with the mosquitoes, the water also brought beautiful meadows of lush green covered with thousands of wildflowers.