Rodman Dam (Oct 29 - Nov 2)

Thursday, October 29 - Left Country Oaks Campground at 10:04 @ 74 deg. and arrived at Rodman Dam Campground at 12:45 @ 87 deg after a stop at Walmart in Palatka. We set up camp and road bikes around the area checking things out. We fished from around the boat launch and John caught a couple of bream.

Friday, October 30 - It rained in the early morning. After breakfast we drove to the dam and fished. Late morning we drove to Walaka RV Park and visited our friends Chris and Sara who are our neighbors at Trackrock. We had lunch at a local dinery and afterwards put our kayaks in for them to try on the St. Johns River, while we fished from shore. John caught a bream. We sat on their dock and watched the sunset over the river. The view from there was wonderful.

Saturday, October 31 - We put the kayaks in to the lake and fished along shore from the campground to the dam and caught a small bass each. John put the new rod holders on the kayaks and we watched a football game in the evening. We fished around the mouth of the channel in the evening and Joan caught a very nice bream.

Sunday, November 1 - We took the bikes to the dam and fished by the dam, but caught nothing. In the afternoon, we got things ready to leave in the morning.

Monday, November 2 - We left Rodman at 8:03 am @ 63 deg., stopped in Bela Vista, FL for breakfast, and arrived home at 11:22 @ 75 deg. The house was in good shape, but needed cleaning.

We were gone for seven months and put on about 10,000 miles total. We will keep this blog updated with local trips this winter, so stay tuned.

View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/RodmanDam2009#

Country Oaks RV Park - Kingland, Ga (Oct 26 - 29)

Monday, October 26 - We got out of bed at 7AM and were on the road by 9:30. We stopped for gas once and again at Cracker Barrel for lunch. When we were about 30 miles from our final destination the left tire blew on the camper. This is the second tire to blow. The first was when the tire had less than 20 miles on it back in January. Thankfully, we were on a stretch of highway that was under construction and had cones set up on our right. John was able to cut in between the cones and had a nice big, flat area well away from traffic to change the tire. This time we had a floor jack and tire wrenches in the trailer storage area and were able to change the tire in about 20 minutes. We called Lonnie at Country Oaks and got a recommendation on where to take the camper to get new tires. He went to school with "Mike" who owns Kingsbay Tires. We took the camper there and got both tires replaced in less than an hour. We finally arrived at the campground about 5:30 after driving 267 miles, and got set up. They were having a pot luck for Halloween at the clubhouse and we were invited to partake. It was very good and we enjoyed talking with Lonnie and Steph, the campground owners, and her parents.

Tuesday, October 27 - Today we drove over to Ft. Clinch State Park in Florida where we will be camping in February. While we were there, we visited our friends, Jean and Gary, who are hosts there. They showed us around the park and we went into Fernandina Beach and had lunch at a nice restaurant that overlooked the beach. After we left them, we went to an area where we could fish from the rocks. The only fish we landed was a lizzard fish that Joan caught.

Wednesday, October 28 - We drove over to Crooked River State Park and checked out both the campground and the boat launch. There were some nice sites, but we didn't care for the area around the boat launch. It looked like there had been a recent oil spill, and not at all pretty. We then drove into St. Marys and checked out the Cumberland Island National Seashore Information Center and got information. Next, we stopped at a kayak outfitter and talked to Julie, the owner about opportunities in the area. We ended our outing with lunch at a restaurant that overlooked St. Marys River. When we got back to the campground, we fished in the local pond. Joan caught two very nice bream, but John lost everything he hooked. We are getting ready to leave in the morning for Rodman Dam campground.

Petersburg Corp of Engineers Campground (Oct 19 - 26, 2009)

Monday, October 19 - It took some time to get packed up this morning, but finally got underway at about 10:44 AM with a temp of 41 deg. We drove 202.5 miles and arrived at the campground at 3:45 pm and 60 deg. This campground is on the J. Strom Thurmond Lake near the S. Carolina border and near Appling, Ga. It is really beautiful here as you can see from the pictures. There is not much development and the sites are very spacious and spread out. Our closest neighbor is about 100 yards away.

Tuesday, October 20 - We took two long walks, the first one with our coffee, and checked out most of the campground and noted sites we would want to camp on in the future. However, this site (#44), which Joan picked out just from the map is one of about a dozen we would choose to camp in again. It was cool last night, about 45 deg., but warmer than it was at Trackrock the night before we left. It dropped into the upper 20s there. With the help of a small electric heater and our microfiber blankets, we were quite warm and comfortable both nights.

Saturday, October 24 - We got rain in the night, but right now at about 1PM, it is beautiful, with a fairly strong breeze. We have given up on the lake fishing, but may try the small pond again, where Joan caught three bream. The campground is quite busy, but because the sites are so spread out, it is very peaceful here. We have had the bikes out and yesterday traveled out on nearly every loop. This place is huge, and even with 93 sites, they are mostly very private. We are sitting on our site looking out over the water and enjoying watching a flock of Canada Geese swim around our little bay. The Bartram Trail passes through here, and they allow bikes, but we will have to get orange blaze vests to wear before we can ride it. It is hunting season and anyone using the trail must wear vests.

Sunday, October 25- We went into Evans this morning to the Wesley UMC for their contemporary service which was very nice. It is a huge church with 4 services on Sunday mornings. After the service we went to breakfast then had to make a stop at Wal-Mart to get us blaze orange so we could do the Bartram Trail this afternoon. We were hoping to ride to the Spring Lake area which is about 5 1/2 miles but Joan pooped out after 3 so we did 6 miles total. The trail is pretty demanding so it is not like riding on pavement. Came back to camp and started preparing for departure in the morning. Shhh-------John is watching the BEARS get their butts beaten, not a happy camper!!

View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/PetersburgCOEOct1926#

Trackrock Campground (October 2009)

Tuesday, October 13 - It rained most of the day yesterday and is overcast today. Tomorrow we are forecast to get heavier rains. We are trying to get packed up and prepare the fifth wheel to leave next Monday. It has been cool and wet for about a week, since we returned from Tallulah Gorge. The leaves are beginning to turn, but many have already fallen to the ground. It doesn't seem as pretty as last year, but perhaps some sunshine would help. We are feeling sad to leave here, but also are looking forward to seeing our Florida friends and enjoying fishing saltwater and the lakes there. We have several camping trips planned for the winter and have reservations for six weeks so far. We'll be glad to e-mail a schedule to anyone who would like to join us.

Wednesday, October 14 -

We got a break from the rain yesterday and the sun actually came out. It's back to rain today and quite windy. The fall colors are just beginning, but many leaves are already on the ground. It looks like the weekend will be clear and cool for our final steps getting ready to leave here

Tallulah Gorge State Park - September 28-October 5

Monday, September 28 - We got all packed up, hitched up the pop-up and headed for Highlands, NC to Van Hook Glade Campground. One problem. It was closed for renovation until next spring. We had reservations at Tallulah Gorge State Park south of Clayton, Ga, so we decided to come early and take our chances getting a spot. We had no problem, and were set up by about 2:00 PM, including lunch. We took a nice hike on the North Rim Trail and to the interpretive center to confirm our reservations for the Saturday moonlight kayaking and Sunday moonlight hike. It is very beautiful here and reminds us of Cloudland Canyon, but has better waterfalls and river views. The weather is awesome, quite windy, but nice.

Tuesday, September 29 - We slept late, then took our coffee down to the lake and enjoyed the view while sipping. John fished for a while, but there was absolutely no action. We never even saw anything. Later, we did some exploring along the river and fished there too. John managed a couple small fish, but there doesn't seem to be any trout there. It is still quite cool and windy, but at least the sun is shining. We enjoyed pork chops and veggies on the grill for supper.

Wednesday, September 30 - We took our coffee back to our spot, but it was a little cool sitting there so we decided to hike the South Rim Trail. The views were spectacular, especially this time of the morning. This is a fairly easy hike. We were reminded of Cloudland Canyon, but we agreed that this was even more impressive, because of the river in the gorge and the very large waterfalls. In the afternoon, we drove along the Tallulah River and passed by Lake Rabun, Seed Lake, and Lake Burton, over to Moccasin Creek State Park. We fished from shore there and caught several bream. We also fished the special trout stream there, but came up empty. We ran into our friends we met there last year, John and Susan and their daughter Gretchen, who just happened to be there for the day.

Thursday, October 1 - Wow, October already. We enjoyed ourselves over at Moccasin Creek yesterday, we decided to go there again today. We fished awhile around the docks and piers and caught several bream. One was quite large, that John caught on a black gnat fly. We also drove a few miles from there and checked out Wildcat Creek. We tried fishing it, but it was difficult to fly cast, and the few pools that gave us a little room did not give us any fish. We stopped on the way home for pizza and a Wal-Mart stop in Clayton. Before calling it quits for the night, we stopped at the beach/picnic area and threw in for a while. John was surprised by a nice sized pickerel. He got it to shore, but it chewed the 3X tippet while trying to lift it on the bank. This explains why there are no bream around. These guys are voracious eaters and would not give smaller fish a chance.

Friday, October 2 - After an oatmeal breakfast, we went exploring, trying to find Lake Tugalo. We ended up finding the next lake in the chain, Yonah. It was a semi-passable gravel road down to the lake, so it took a long time. The lake was quite nice, and we were the only ones on it. We put in the kayaks and each caught bream, but even though there were some great looking spots, no bass. This lake is not as clear as others we have been on.

Saturday, October 3 - We enjoyed a great night's sleep on our new 2 1/2 inch memory foam mattress topper we got at Walmart. Today was a kick back and not do too much day, due to Joan not feeling very well. John cleaned the awning, but otherwise we just visited with new friends and stayed close to camp. We did do the moonlight kayak outing with a fairly large group of folks on the Tallulah Lake. It was very nice and we enjoyed it very much. We would do it again.

View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/TallulahGorgeStatePark#

Trackrock Campground (September 2009)

Tuesday, September 1 - Today we drove over Blood Mountain to the Chestatee Wildlife Management Area and fished near where we worked on Saturday. This is such a beautiful area with large rocks and cascading pools. John caught the only larger trout, but we both had numerous follows and misses. There are other areas here to fish, but they will have to wait for another time.

Thursday, September 3 - We put the kayaks up on the truck the night before and headed over to Clay County Park in North Carolina which is only 13.5 miles from Trackrock. We launched and fished structure around the shoreline. Joan started things off with a nice bream. The action was good with several good sized bream each to the boat and a few small bass as well. Most fish were caught on a small elk hare fly with a foam indicator on its back. John also got some nice action on a larger foam beetle.

View Pictures:http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/LakeChatuge#

Thursday, September 17 - It seems like it has been raining for weeks now. We decided to go on an explore into some outstanding areas in the Nantahala National Forest between Murphy and Franklin, North Carolina. One spot we have wanted to check out is Standing Indian Recreation Area. There is a campground there by the same name, and it has the headwaters of the Nantahala River passing through it. This river is on the Trout Unlimited top 100 rivers in the country. We talked to the couple who were hosting at the campground and running the little store there. They answered our questions about the area and easily convinced us that we need to put this on the top of our list for places to camp next year when we take out the pop-up. We checked out the river, but had gotten too hungry to take the time to fish it. Besides, we had not put our wading boots in the truck. We went on to Franklin for pizza before heading back to Trackrock.

Friday, September 25 - Our kayak outing this time was on the Lake Hiwassee in North Carolina. We put in at the boat launch and put on about six miles. This lake is the most beautiful one we have been on yet. There is virtually no development and the shoreline is mostly very rocky. We will be back soon to try fishing it. We have no pictures since John forgot the camera.

Saturday, September 26 - After breakfast in Blairsville, we drove to Blue Ridge to the Chamber of Commerce and met other members of TU Blairsville, plus TU Blue Ridge to help several scouts do the necessary activities to earn their Fly Fishing Merit Badge. John helped with fly tying and Joan helped them learn about other equipment.

View Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40393262@N04/sets/72157622460680384/

Trackrock Campground (August 2009)

Wednesday, August 5 - We got up fairly early this morning and with kayaks on top of the truck, headed to Jackrabbit National Recreation Area about 17 miles away for some fishing from the kayaks. We put in at the boat launch there and fished all morning. We caught a few bluegill, a couple fairly nice size, but not enough for a meal. The action was quite slow, but the water was calm and the area beautiful. The photographer forgot the camera, however.

Thursday, August 6 - We drove with some friends past Vogel State Park to Desoto Falls in the Chattahoochee National Forest. There are two falls (lower and upper), so we started out hiking the 3/4 miles to the upper falls. The trail there is beautiful as was the falls. We returned, had lunch, then headed to the lower falls, which oddly was more uphill, although it was only 1/4 miles. There was not a great amount of water, but beautiful anyway. We had a great outing.

View pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/DesotoFallsAugust6#

Friday, August 7 - There is an archaeological area not far from the campground that has petroglyphs of unknown origin. We rode with our friend Ron and hiked the short distance to the site. After viewing it, we went over to the other side of the road and hiked the Arkaquah Trail that ends up at Brasstown Bald. We lasted about 15 minutes when it got too hot. We are going to do this trail from the top down. It is 5.5 miles down.

For more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_Rock

View pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/TrackRockGapArchaeologicalAreaAugust7#

Monday, August 10 - We headed out with Fred & Judy to explore a few areas not too far from here. We turned on Mulky Gap Road towards the Cooper's Creek National Recreation Area in the Chattahoochee National Forest, and traveled mostly on gravel Forest Service fire roads that were in fairly good shape. We checked out Mulky Creek, which is too shallow to do much fishing now, and Cooper's Creek, which is much deeper. We ended up at Deep Hole Recreation Area, and stopped for a snack and we wade-fished it while Fred and Judy hiked around in the area. John caught one Rock Bass. This is a beautiful area with a nice rustic camp ground. We were going to visit the hatchery which is close by, but ran out of time. It will have to wait until next time.

View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/CoopersCreek#

Tuesday, August 11 - Today, the group took off to Fires Creek National Recreation Area, near Hayesville, NC. There is a beautiful picnic/family area here that has areas to fish, hike, and swim/tube. It can get fairly crouded, and did while we were there, but the fish don't seem to mind the tubers or swimmers very much and Joan managed to catch five trout. One was about 9" and another 6" and the others smaller. John caught a couple of the smaller variety and lost several larger ones. We found black ant flies that John had tied worked best.

View pictures at:

Thursday, August 13 - We went into Blairsville and attended the Trout Unlimited meeting. They tied flies from 5-7 that John especially enjoyed watching and getting tips and the regular meeting followed.

Friday, August 14 - We drove about 35 miles to Horseshoe Bend County Park on the Toccoa River and wade fished. John caught two nice Rainbow Trout on a foam caddis fly. One really smacked the fly on the surface.

Saturday, August 15 - We went on an outing with 8 other members of the Trout Unlimited group to a private stretch of water on the Hiwassee River near Hayesville, NC. One of the men caught two nice size trout and two small ones. Joan and John caught the only other fish, but all (Joan's 5 and John's 2) were very small, native rainbows. This just shows that when they aren't biting, they aren't biting.

Tuesday, August 18 - We wanted to check out the dam on Lake Chatuge, so we took off after we got our haircuts and explored the northern portion of the lake. We found a couple of beautiful picnic/launching/fishing areas near the dam that are run by the TVA. We each caught some nice sized bream and enjoyed the scenery.

Thursday, August 20 - Today's outing was a trip around Notely Lake looking for places to launch the kayaks and fish. We found a few nice ones and caught some bream (mostly small ones) in the process. This is also a very beautiful lake that is not far from Trackrock.

Friday, August 21 - We kayaked with a group of nine on the Hiwassee River in North Carolina. This is a nice stretch of the river and enjoyed the company of these folks. The couple who organized this (Gene and Lynda) live in a house on the hill here at Trackrock. We plan on more outings in the future.

View Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/KayakingAugust212009#

Saturday, August 22 - Here is an article from the Trout Unlimited Forum about this activity we participated in today:

"

Hogsed

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Hogsed was a success. Our guys and gals have made all of you that couldn't make it PROUD. It was a beautiful day, a bit warm but thru it all the 1000 kids that came by and cast and watched the flytying really gave our members a work out. Marcas Tuschel and Pat Bradley carried the ball it getting this set up, doing a great job. Clay Durrett, Bill Waters, Larry Bundy, Lowell Neighbors, John and Joan Willis, Joe Duket, Frank Glowaski, Micki Wanchick, Vince Guerico, Glen Harker, Dave Hutchenson, Ed Kelly, Burle Conley,Vern Craft, Joe Bilitswich, and John Humphrey were your outstanding representatives, who made it through the hot day. We even got to eat this year. They served some wild game, which included some fresh road kill, Armadila, and Turkey buzzard. Just kidding. There were some really good frogs legs, vencion, and quail, along with the beans and slaw. I want to thank you all for your great work on this worthwhile project."

This event gives kids (about 1000) the chance to be introduced to hunting/fishing experiences for free. Many companies support this day.

View pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/HogsedEducationDay#

Wednesday, August 26 - Grocery shopping in the morning and helping our friends Fred & Judy with their 5th wheel that developed a short that fried the breakaway brake switch and locked up their wheels before they left. We drove them to the rv store to get a replacement, had lunch on the way back, and replaced the switch. After they left, we explored the Notley River not too far from here and wet-waded (just water boots and shorts with no waders) about a half mile stretch of the river. We both caught creek chubs (small) and a few bream, but no trout. The water was quite warm, which is not the best trout water. The highlight was a buck deer that crashed through some brush and ended up about 30 feet away from us. Not sure who was the most surprised to see the other. By the time John got the camera out of its case and got it ready to shoot, the deer crashed back up the bank and disappeared.

Saturday, August 29 - Today we helped with a work day on Waters Creek in the Chestatee Wildlife Management Area doing creek bank maintenance. We went with N. Georgia Trout Unlimited Blairsville 692 Chapter. The purpose is to redirect water more to the center of the stream in areas that get a lot of bank erosion. We dug trenches to put large trees diagonally in the stream and moved a lot of river stones. Thankfully, there were about 30 people there to help. We had to drive about 2 miles back to this area down a remote road. After the work was done, we had a nice hamburger/hot dog lunch.

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoanW/WatersCreekMaintenance#