2008 Grayson Lake

http://picasaweb.google.com/catillac (click on “Grayson 2008”).

Friday

Most everyone pulled in on Friday, set up camps, and a bunch headed for Mellini’s for a great Italian dinner, while others tried out the Mexican place, and some held down the fort. Campfire brought some new friends, great conversation and lots of beverages to share. It didn’t take long for the little masked bandits to come out and remind us to be sure everything that smelled remotely edible was put tightly away!         

Saturday

We loaded up and headed for the lake almost on time, with 24 paddlers. Perfect weather prevailed all weekend, and made for delightful paddling, gorgeous scenery, and perfect swimming & sleeping temperatures. Clifty Creek was the Saturday destination, with its crystal clear swimming point (where Cap showed us how to paddle standing up before diving in to join the swimmers) and long narrow stretches of forested, rocky banks. Some spotted a clutch of suspected adolescent eaglets (as Dan put it, “Eagle Cousins” - i.e. turkey vultures!) nestled in a cliff wall. After exploring the length of the creek, we worked our way “Behind the Gem” – a waterfall landing pool reachable by hand-paddling through a tight cave overhang. No water falling, but the place is still beautiful and worth the trouble to access. The only casualties were the SOFA/Clary boat trailer tongue, and Lisa’s cell phone. Dave and Alison skipped the flatwater paddling to hit the trails, reporting gorgeous scenery.

As always, Saturday dinner was excellent, thanks to lots of great chefs in the bunch. Meatballs seemed to be the central theme, complemented by salads of all kinds and roasted corn on the cob from Dan’s garden. Mike's wife joined us for dinner, sharing how pool water is so much better for her than lake water, and a group of gals went on a post-dinner hike to recover from the feast! 

Throughout the day, a number of us were reflecting on how pretty the Carter Caves and Grayson Lake area would be in the fall, and started thinking about the fact that the scheduled Deer Creek trip hasn’t happened for the last few years due to low water… hmmm….  More on that idea at the end of the Report!

Sunday

After a typically spectacular SOFA breakfast, complemented by Tim’s Biscuit Dance, most of the crew headed for the Caney Creek arm of Grayson Lake. A handful of folks headed for home, and a Iris & Ian joined in, giving us a total of 13 paddlers this day. Finding the ramp to Caney is a bit tricky, so we pulled in to a main Grayson parking lot to ask for local info… and encountered an EMS squad with an extremely helpful nature. As they followed us out of the lot after giving us great directions, they must have been concerned for the health of the three “old guys” in Dan’s front seat! When we least expected it, the squad zoomed around both our vehicles to lead us all the way to the ramp. Talk about service! (Not to mention rather handsome, too!) So, finally at the water… Caney is flanked by high canyon walls, deep notches in the rocks through which cold air pours down to the water, and a huge overhanging cave which made a great swimming destination. Christy gave some of us the opportunity to refresh our rescue skills, and decided maybe she’ll try to quit smoking. The day started a bit overcast, but brightened to a glorious blue sky by mid-afternoon. Alison even joined us, and let anti-flatwater Dave hang back at camp, still working on chapter one, page one. ;-)

Most everyone headed home, except Christy, Dan, Jodi, Lisa, Michael M, and Terri. We invited our new camper neighbors to help us make use of all the leftovers, and made some new friends in the process. John was on a weekend sabbatical, and young Dominic & Jacinthe were on the last leg of their 42-day exploration of the US before heading back to college in Montreal.

 Monday

Dominic and Jacinthe joined us for breakfast (eventually, so did John), then headed for the stables while we packed up camp. Michael M commandeered the stove, and impressed everyone with his ‘chefly’ skills. (Gotta love a Cajun in the kitchen!) After rounding up a big care package for the young travelers, Christy, Dan, Jodi and Lisa went to the pool while Mike packed up his camper. Finally, we all headed out by early afternoon, pleasantly tired from a wonderful weekend.

 Halloween Gathering!

Remember the mention of Deer Creek not having had enough water for the past few years? Well, we’re banking on that being the case again this year. We’ve reserved three even nicer campsites back in the woods for the last weekend in October (Friday, October 24 – Sunday, October 26). It’s a busy and popular weekend at Carter Caves, so we were lucky to snatch space when we could. There will be haunted ghost stories in the caves, kids’ trick or treat and costume party in the campground, and lots of gorgeous hiking (and paddling, of course) in the fall colors. Expect to see an early arrival of Santa, a big Tigger, a stunning beehive hairdo, and lots more from the late-stayers from the SOFA group! Terri had an excellent suggestion of having Saturday’s dinner theme be a crab boil, and Lisa’s planning a cauldron of clam chowder, so be sure to keep that weekend open for a lot of fun both on and off the water! Costumes optional, of course. J   This would be a great time to bring the kids, grandkids, nieces & nephews… or just be a kid again yourself!

The lake will be stunning that time of year, cloaked in fiery fall colors. If we’re really lucky Tygarts Creek might even be runnable. Regardless, Grayson has proved its worth, and promises breathtaking scenery and crisp waters. I’ll bet at least some of us will bring our ‘skins and have the last (intentional) swim of the season!

Looking-at-cave-opening

Dave,-rocking-the-boat

Danny-in-cave

beautiful-cave

Cave

Dan-J-Ron-Ed

Dan-Lisa-David

Put-in

Vic

Vic-&-Tim