The Wild Trout Mountain Stream

We hit our favorite little wild trout stream in Virginia for a family hike and to cast some dry flies. This stream is so unique with all the waterfalls surrounded by boardwalks and steel structuring that was decades old. The kids were rocking their recently Bo Nickal-signed Penn State shirts - probably not the most stealthy attire, but it worked. The kids all got to reel in some little wild rainbows and they LOVED watching the ‘eats’! It wont be long until they are casting themselves and then I can sit back and just bring the camera.

Morels 2019

Its been a super busy start to the spring, but we managed to get out for a good family morel hunt. We’ve been going to this spot for years now because it is so close, but its always a challenge to find them because they change locations every year and there never is a huge flush of them anywhere. The big change I notice every season now is how much faster the kids have gotten and how good they are at finding them. They can go off on there own and find them themselves. Its really neat! And the best part is that they like to fry them up with me and eat them - which is certainly a main reason to do it (among others!)

Our little guy Declan was still backpacking it and loving life. Ewwing and owwing in my ear the whole time. He loves the outdoors just like the rest of them and will be following in their footsteps in no time soon.

Sunday Funday Hike

Sunday Funday! Family Hike day in Ohiopyle area while Spencer’s sister Meg was in town from Brooklyn. We ended up taking along route than planned and the kids were absolute troopers to be pushed outside their hiking comfort zone. But, because of the Dad detour, we ended up finding a pretty awesome Bear’s Tooth mushroom, which is a close cousin to the Lion’s Mane.

Speaking of bears, we also came to a bridge that went across a mountain stream that had some recent bear tracks on the rock algae in 3-4 inches of water. It looked like a couple smaller cubs made the tracks and you could see where their pads where sliding on the slippy rocks (yes, slippy).

It was a fun and rewarding hike and pretty warm by the time we left. Awesome day to be in the mountains.

Mother's Day Hike

Spencer's only Mother's Day request was a hike with the family and somehow of my famous homemade pizza.  So, we went to a local spot to try and find any last remaining morels, ramps, and nettles.  We tried Declan out in the hiking backpack and he LOVED his new viewpoint on the world. 

We found a few old morels that weren't worth picking, but still fun to find and revisit for next year.  The ramps were sparse and older too, but would be great for pizza night (on my half :). And the other added bonus was this backpack was big enough to fill with enough nettles as I wanted.   We found a really cool box turtle on our trip just chilling in wet patch of the woods.  And we got a few gobblers to play along to some louder than normal aggressive cutting.  There are some benefits to no hunting on Sundays in PA.  We had a great hike, but no bear tracks this year!

I baked the nettles in some coconut oil later that evening and baked up a killer pizza for the evening dinner.  Great day to celebrate our #1 team MVP.

10 Great Smoky Years

For our ten-year anniversary, we were fortunate enough to have the time and backup team (thanks Grandparents!) to take a week long trip sans kids.  This was our first trip longer than 1-2 nights since the twins were born 4.5 years ago.   For everything we considered, we landed on Asheville, NC as the perfect location under the following criteria.

-          Neither of us had ever been to Asheville / the Smoky mountains.

-          The craft beer scene is amazing.

-          The wild trout fishing is world renown.

Our first part of the trip was spent in Asheville, NC.  We’d heard great things, but overall the (small/quaint) city way exceeded expectations (that were already somewhat high).  We hit a few restaurants and the food was amazing.  The music was awesome and the beer was as advertised.  Disc golf was totally rad, but the highlight was our Penguins won the Stanley Cup Sunday night.  Back-to-Back baby!  The celebration was so much fun and the shots of Jameson with random strangers were flowing.  The trip started well.

We moved to Franklin, NC for an amazing 5 days and got into some real peace and serenity.  These were the mountains of the true Cherokee Indian tribe, which I have lineage to (and explains a lot).  They were powerful, stoic, and you could really feel the ancient energy of these mountains.  The mountains were deep and on most nights, the fog would roll in to completely consume them in a cloud of mist.  It was so cool to watch and felt so mystical.  And each morning, we’d sit on a rocking chair with a cup of coffee and watch the fog lift back off the range and return to the nothingness that they came from.    We hiked, did some gemstone mining (hit it big with some Rubies and Sapphires!), read, relaxed and ate some good food. 

19 weeks...

and still zipping around!

The trout fishing was our thing though.  It always has been since even before we were married.  Just getting back up to the mountains and disappearing on some small trout stream taking turns casting and working the small pools was so much fun.  It’s been years since we could do this.  I did the research and we explored a decent amount of the under the radar mountain trout waters.  Overall, I found the fishing to be a bit tougher than I expected.  With wild mountain trout, I thought every fish in the stream would be fighting to be the first to eat my Royal PMX or terrestrial pattern, while elk bugled in the background.  But, what I quickly learned was that by mid-June these fish can get highly educated and become pretty selective.  Nonetheless, I was wet wading and in a dry fly state of mind for the week, so opted to net less fish for simplicity.  Spence did her usual thing, which is fish a fraction of the time I do, but still manage to land the biggest fish of the week.  It’s beyond a coincidence at this point….she just always catches the biggest fish on our trips.  I love it. 

She also took her camera and was able to get back into photography, which hasn’t been pursued in the last 5 years either.  We were at the perfect rhythm and it was fun enjoying the time to ourselves.  But, with Spence pregnant with our 19 week baby, it was a constant reminder that much has changed in the past 10 years for us.  And though the vacation was so nice and much needed, by the end of the week we missed all our kiddos and looked forward to getting home to see them.

Hiking in the Laurel Highlands

Today, we took a family hike in Somerset county, PA and enjoyed the wonderful fall weather we've been getting lately   The kids absolutely love hiking and I am certain its the best way for them to learn and appreciate the wild and wonderful outdoor world.  

Recently, as they have gotten older and more curious, this has become more and more fun and adventurous.  It also helps that we don't have to carry anyone anymore either.  But a hike is not just a random walk from Point A to Point B.  A hike on this day was smelling the autumn leaves, picking up acorns, finding little salamanders, exploring underneath rocks, climbing trees, making hiking sticks, picking small mushrooms, and having lunch on some rocks near a small stream and skipping stones.

And recently I would trade any day fishing or hunting by myself to take them exploring in the wild.  There is no need to be quiet, play the wind, sit in a tree stand or match the hatch.  Don't get me wrong, that is where my heart lies and one day I will be able to share those lessons with the kids.  But, I am finding so much joy in just spending time with the family and watching their little minds expand and grow every time they are out.

Its amazing to me that at 4 years old, the twins know the difference between an Oak and Maple tree leaf and that acorns come from oak trees and can explain all the animals the depend on eating acorns.  The information they soak up  and joy that fills them from just a simple hike is amazing.