Forked Mountain Camping Trip

Fall has been settling in and life has been kinda crazy lately so me and a couple friends headed out to the woods for a relaxing weekend. We tried to track down an old campsite we had used in high school near Forked Mountain in the Ouachita National Forest. Relaxing and enjoyable, a perfect way to enjoy Fall. Chris did claim to hear a Sasquatch during the night. Enjoy the pics...

Into the Flatside Wilderness

Forked Mountain

The desolation of a clearcut

The exposed face of Forked Mtn.

I just always liked the starkness of a dead tree

Is that rare boot lichen growing on the rock? Way to frame a shot!

Possibly the old high school camp site

Just a shot I liked

Steam coming off the creek in the morning

Our campsite, notice the nice rock face in the background

This stove cooked me meals when I was just a kid. Mmmmm bacon!

The last of the Earl Campbell Hot Links. Whose idea were those! I think this one cooked for about an hour!

I'm eating what?!

Country brides at their finest!

Another shot of the face behind camp

Like the Sears catalog pose? Or, "Welcome to Fantasy Island", or "The Sasquatch was right here!"

Nothing to post!

Sorry for any lack of updates. We haven't really had many leisure activities this month. School is in full swing, we were busy buying Melissa a new car, and my mom had some emergency surgery. It's all kept us kinda busy. We'll try and do something interesting soon!

By the way, mom's surgery came out well and we were very relived. She's resting and healing in the hospital and Melissa LOVES her new car!

More White Rock Mtn pics

The sunset was worth the trouble!

More sunset

Even more sunset

Like a cowbell, I gotta have more sunset!

Misty mountain morning

Photos from White Rock Mtn.

Hobbit Hole!

Great bluffs!

Just some cool looking moss

More moss

More rain clouds! Grrrr!

I know I shouldn't but......

Now I know better than to go backpacking in Arkansas in the middle of August. However, I needed an outdoor fix so I thought I would do a short solo trip (my wife certainly knows better). My pick was the Shores Lake/White Rock Mountain trail in the Ozarks. My plan was just to hike the west loop (six miles in and six miles out). Upon arrival the temperature was a balmy 90 degrees and the humidity was way up so I was drenched with sweat when the rain began. I put on some rain gear but the humidity was so high that it felt like it was raining inside my clothes! The rain finally stopped right around the time I made it to the falls which was approximately the half-way point. I was soaked and it was so gloomy in the valley that it was terribly oppressive. I decided to stop for a bite to eat and rest up anyway. I actually thought about setting camp and trying to dry out but I figured I would stand a better chance of getting some sun and a nice breeze on top of the mountain. So I soldiered on through the muck with soaked boots that were grinding my feet to mush. It felt like the night jungle scene in the movie Platoon. As I marched on the sun came out and started to lift my spirits even as the trail and the insects attacked them. The trail was terribly overgrown and my socks were now covered in cockleburrs and if I need to climb over another fallen tree in the next week I'm going to get sick! The worst part of it all were my companion horse flies. They just kept circling me and were even able to bite me through my clothes! The last mile and a half was a monster elevation gain right at the time I was most worn out but let me tell you it was all worth it when I reached the top! The clouds had cleared out and there was a nice breeze. I got my tent set quick and got into some dry clothes, Ahhhhhh! At the top is an old CCC camp so there were great shelters to enjoy the sunset from. I'll post some shots soon that will in no way do the view justice. I didn't get any shots of the falls on the trail because everything was so wet. On the way back my feet were so torn up from wet boots (which were still wet by the way) that I decided to take the easy way out and detoured down the fireroads.

My goofy video of our room

More Vegas, Yeah Baby!

If I'm in Paris then why are the Stars and Stripes flying?

New York!

Hoover Dam and the Mighty Colorado

Panorama from our balcony

My dam wife, I mean my wife and the dam!

Lucky toes

Vegas Pics

View from our balcony

On the balcony again

Melissa turns 40!
Look at all that meat, Mmmmmm!
Take all the dam pictures you want!

Vegas Baby!

Whew! Just got back from Las Vegas! I took Melissa out there for her 40th birthday. Neither of us had been out there so it was a big treat for the both of us. We stayed at the Palms new tower, Palms Place. I chose this location because of the very modern rooms (Melissa is big into contemporary). The stay was fantastic and everything about Palms Place was really top notch. To be honest I felt a bit out of place with all the high-falutin' folks around. For a few days I got to pretend I was a high roller! We did manage to win a nice chunk at the casino, a good portion of which we handed right back trying to win more (that's how its supposed to work right!). We did not however come back millionaires, which would have been nice. With so much to do and so little time we will certainly have to go back again. If I could have added one thing to the trip it would have been a couple of days to spend time in the surrounding country and lake Mead. We did have a clear flight in so I was able to see the Grand Canyon and Lake Mead from the air and even at 30 thousand feet I can say they are nothing less than breathtaking. Upon our return home we were met with some very mild temperatures so I might try getting in some backpacking this weekend to get my outdoor fix. I'll post some pictures soon.

Pics from lake trip

Finally got the pictures posted:

Taking the kids for pizza

Melissa discovers that the water is cold at the dam!

All the kids

Old man and the sea, HA!

Hot dog!

They wish they had brought a brush

End of Summer lake trip for the kids

Haley asked us if she could take a "few" friends out to the lake before school started and that sounded like a good idea. A few day later a few friends turned into eight teenagers! We sucked it up and agreed. Since accommodations were sparse we had to host the girls on the screened in porch and the boys in a tent in the yard. Lucky for them it turned out to be the hottest weekend of the year! Ha! Highs were over 100 and the evening weren't much better in the mid 80's. The kids were real troopers though and everyone managed to have a great time. Since the water off the pier was a steamy 91 degrees we took the party barge down to the dam for a refreshing break from the heat. The water there was about 55. You'll see from the photos that it came as quite a shock!

Having some trouble getting photos to upload so I'll have to post those later. Sorry!

The Family

Heres a place to start. How about the family:

Me:

My wife Melissa:

Daughter Haley:

The dog:

And finally the bird:

I'll update as things happen. Hopefully we'll have some interesting things to post.

First Post

I just started the blog. I was inspired to do so by an old friend's blog. Seems like a great way to not only let people know what is going on, but also a great record of life's adventures.