North Woods Guides Blog

Archive for August, 2009

Yellowstone

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

   I’ve been getting ready for a trip to Yellowstone in a few weeks, I’m really excited about going since I have never been there.  Not to thrilled with the plane ride since it’s 4 different boardings to get there and it takes up a whole day but the flight was cheap and I’m on a shoestring budget.  I’ll be staying in Cooke City so if anyone out there has ever been please send me along some tips or interesting places to see. I’m loaded up with memory cards, picked up a new day pack, raincoat and a great new collapsable fishing pole with a low profile reel for my pack. I’m hoping to get a lot of track shots and some tree pics for a new project.  Kind of thought that after school started that there wouldn’t be a ton of people there but judging on the no vacancies at all the hotels I was wrong on that. I still hope to get some alone time though and I printed off quite a few day hikes to take. I think I need to get in a little better shape before I leave so I did a short up hill run last night. It wasn’t supposed to be short but my legs said otherwise.  Amazing how fast your body goes as you get older. I rememeber I used to run four stories with a guy on my back when I was wrestling in high school a short 30 years ago.  Wow!!! 30 years, time does fly. I fear I’d have a heart attack trying to go one flight with someone on my back today.  I wonder if I could make 14 steps? Seriously though……… if you have any tips or great places to see let me know, I’m looking forward to seeing Tower Falls.  Happy Hiking!!

Raquette Lake

Monday, August 10th, 2009

   Went up to Raquette Lake last Friday and canoed the south inlet.  It was a nice paddle but a little windy.  Someone told me it was about 2 miles back into the waterfall. I pretty much took my time, just about three hours to get to the end of the still water. I did quite a bit of exploring on the way and just a tad bit of fishing. There wasn’t much in the way of wildlife to my surprise. I did see a Kingfisher, on the way in and for the first time I can remember I heard a bear  growling/roaring, a little of both. He was in the back water about half way in, in a large setback off to the left. I paddled in to see if I could get a glimpse of him but nothing ever materialized.

  I was also pretty surprised by the lack of frogs there, although I did see only one Blue Heron they must be putting a huge dent in the frog population as this place was ideal for big bull frogs and I never saw even one.  The water lillies were beautiful and I did manage to get some pictures of them as well as a few Orchids. Back into the falls I did a little trout fishing and caught to nice ones about 9 to 10 inches each. As I’m sitting here writing this their still swimming in the pools I caught them in. Kinda neat to think about!!  Someday I’ll keep a few for a nice trout dinner. There’s nothing like a fresh brook trout with butter and lemon juice on the barbecue.  I’ll be heading out to Yellowstone in a few weeks to do some photography. I’m getting pretty excited to be heading there, it’s one of the places I always wanted to see. That just leaves Alaska on the list to do before I die.  Hey if your ever in Raqutte lake make sure you canoe the inlet, it’s a nice easy paddle for a day trip.    Enjoy!!!


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