Last Hurrah

I convinced the family to go on one last comping trip before the Minnesota weather turns terrible and none of us ever want to leave the house again... During this time of the Coronavirus, Minnesotans and all Upper Midwesterners seem to be heading to campgrounds in droves, so it was a little tough to find a spot that wasn't already spoken for, but eventually I was able to find a fun site, not too far from our house. It is my newfound policy to never give out the location of our travels, so let's just say it was somewhere in the northern half of the Continental United States. If you expect more info you clearly don't know me very well.

Our home away from home.

The entire weekend was pretty much perfect, except for the annoyingly loud family that was playing catch right outside our camper well after quiet hours on the first night. Thankfully they quieted down as soon as the hero of our story went and looked at them menacingly. Oh, he also asked nicely, so maybe that is why they quieted down. Being menacingly polite usually works wonders, if you ask our hero...

On a hike/death march.

In our party were 2 pre-teen girls. Apparently they were too cool to hang with us, so in this pic from our hike they are up near the end of this gravel road. 

The weather was perfect, the terrain was beautiful, the hikes/death marches were not too grueling, and the food was amazing. What more could you ask for?!?! Oh, yes, and the fishing was superb, too! I got up early both mornings and got a little bit of fishing in. To be honest, I got up too early the first morning, meaning I had to sit around in the front seat of the Family Truckster, waiting for it to get light enough for me to see my hands in front of my face. Who knew that the sun comes up so late in the middle of October? Not this night owl, that's for sure...

Waiting for the sun...

I told The Missus that I would be back in time for breakfast, so once the sun finally came up I had about an hour to fish before I had to blast. I know the fish in this particular stream love Wooly Buggers, so I tied on one of my Mushroom & Swiss Buggers, and it proved to be the correct choice. At the end of the hour I had landed about 15 trout and one nice chub, and I missed many others. It was epic.

A wonderful spot.

I had a little bit more time on the second morning, so I decided to park in the same spot, but head downstream to see if the fish got bigger the farther they were from civilization. The action wasn't as fast and furious, but I did manage to land about 8 trout in an hour and a half or so. Plus the 2nd day's chub was quite larger than the first day's chub. So there's that. And I would say the average size of the trout was bigger than the first day. Epic yet again!

This big boy wouldn't stay in the net, so I snapped a quick pic before I got him back in the water. Not the best photo quality, but oh well.

The rest of the weekend was spent with the family, hiking, exploring, eating s'mores, and just generally having fun. A wonderful way to end the camping season. Can't wait for next year!

Last trout of the trip, and probably of the calendar year for me. A great way to finish things up!