The Tar Heel Outdoorsman

When you're doing outdoors stuff, you get dirty.  Maybe you're camping and have a few days of grime on you.  Or you've been out hiking and sweating in the sticky summertime.  Or you've been swimming at the beach, you're covered in sand.  You don't want to stink up the truck, all muddy and sandy, grit everywhere... all in the seats and stuck on the steering wheel.  Or maybe you're out deer hunting and need some pressurized water to wash off your fresh venison.  Or maybe your four legged friend decided to take a mud bath.   There's a simple DIY solution, a camp shower---a few pieces of PVC, some fittings, some basic tools, and a bike pump or air compressor are all you need.  Spray paint it black if you want some solar heat on a cool fall day in the field.  Of course, there are companies that build these things, for a few more dollars, but where's the fun in that? This REI write up was helpful, as was this, and other YouTube videos . ...

We drove from Cashiers, turning right onto NC-281 off of US-64. Shortly, we pulled into Gorges State Park.  The parking lot to Rainbow Falls was packed... two park rangers were working parking duty... We kept driving, though, on the Chestnut Mountain Road.  And unlike the packed paved parking lot, the dirt mountain road was almost totally empty.  Besides one other car, we had the place to ourselves to explore.   The drive isn't a fast one.  It's a sit back and enjoy it one.  It's about 6 miles, one way, from where the pavement ends to the Horsepasture River.  It's a soak in the mountains and the rocks and the trees and the leaves rustling in the wind and the small streams gurgling past.   You'll need a vehicle with a little ground clearance, though you don't need anything too crazy.  You may want four wheel drive, though I don't think it's necessary, due to some loose rock and gravel.   You'll...

 It's truly a land held in by water, these inner islands and peninsulas and lowlands of Northeastern North Carolina. Through Creswell and across the Albemarle.  Past Hertford and over the Perquimans.  Around Elizabeth City and over the Pasquotank.  Into Virginia, and then across the Northwest River, followed by the North Landing River.  Down the narrow peninsula with Back Bay and Virginia's outer banks to the East.  Back down, across the border again, rolling down NC 615, through Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge, and onto Knotts Island, jutting out into the Currituck Sound.  We are there.  Well, we got there, but a day early.   ...

The week truly began a day early.  Not Sunday the 18th, but Saturday the 17th. Opening day of the final split of duck season.

The attention that I've paid to this thing has been nonexistent since May. May was when I drove out to Wyoming to work as a fishing guide at A Bar A Ranch in southern Wyoming.  May was the last time I wrote something on here, and honestly, I haven't really got a good excuse.   But it sure is damn hard to spend time typing when you could be out on the water.   ...

These guys have got it right.  Traveling the globe.  Fly-fishing.  Exploring.  Traveling.  Living the ultimate angling adventure.  If you haven't already, watch some of their episodes . Here's the most recent, from Brazil:

This past summer I was a guide at a Colorado guest ranch.   Smith Fork Ranch.   Great experience.  Whole lotta work. Great fishing.  Great friends. Since I'm backtracking again, I'll let the photos do most of the work...

We're starting by backtracking. Not quite a year ago, a group of eight friends and I went on what would be an abnormal spring break for a many college kids.  One that didn't consist of crushing beers and getting sunburned on a warm beach. What we did was a 33 mile float down the Rio Grande, through the Boquillas Canyon in Big Bend National Park.  Flew into El Paso and rented cars.  Drove five hours to Terlingua, got to Far Flung Outdoor Center. It was dark when we got there, so we set up our tents in the parking lot.  In the chill of the next morning, we rented four canoes and hit the road.