grandgirl: Adventures on the Water 2014

APRIL

Dry Run Creek

Arkansas

We spent a fun weekend on Dry Run Creek with some friends with the St. Louis Trout Unlimited Chapter. Dry Run Creek is a kid's only fishing creek at Norfork National Fish Hatchery. Ava (FINALLY!) caught her first fish on a fly rod. She also wore waders for the first time.

MAY

Sunburst Ranch on the North Fork of the

White River

-Kelly Ford to Sunburst Ranch

Spending Mother's Day weekend floating is becoming a tradition that I love. This was the girls' first trip to this river. They had a great time. When they weren't playing volleyball, they were trying to get as close as possible to the sheep that roamed the campground.

This was Audrey's first time in a pontoon. She loved it! It allowed her some independence and freedom on the river. She did terrific. I really like this picture of her walking her boat through the water. This girl was born determined.

This girl is game for anything. She's a listener. She will always be my baby. I love her.

Sisterly Love!

Squeals of laughter! The water was really cold on this day and they dared each other to take the cold water challenge.

Crawdad. So much life in the water!

JUNE

The Eleven Point River

-Greer Spring to Turner Mill

Gus Gus aka Chalupa Batman, was super mellow on his first river outing. He slept a lot and avoided the water. This poor puppy was adopted by the wrong family! Hopefully, he will grow to enjoy the water.

Miss Josephine sure is leading the life! I think it's safe to say that she really likes the Commander. I do love the solitude a small vessel offers on the water. From time to time, I also enjoy a chatty passenger, who, when she isn't talking my ear off, is using her walky talky to do it to others.

Ava snapped this pic of Audrey and her first rainbow of the day. This girl sure can whip a fly line. She's a natural! I was in the pontoon ahead of everyone so I missed this!

Hammerfly- I got him to the Ozarks for the first time; he got me fly fishing. I think we're even.

Spoiled puppy! He is carefully carried to the dry river bank to do his puppy business.

JULY

The Current River

-Cedar Grove to Akers Ferry

also:

Welch Spring, Welch Hospital, Devils Well, and Round Spring

This summer, I secretly created a mission for my family. I wanted to get on the water once a month and to take the girls (and us) to new places. We often float the same stretches of river which is nice, but I decided that we needed to explore this year. This was our first time on this particular section of the Current River. We got on the river just after 8 a.m. on a gorgeous Saturday and had a great time.

Gus still isn't much of a water dog. Although, before we got on the river, he surprised us all when he found a special rock in the river. He willingly stepped into the water and stuck his muzzle beneath the surface to dig and retrieve it. Ave brought the rock home. It is Gussy's special souvenir.

I knew Welch Spring was on this section of the river, but didn't know about Welch Hospital. It was built by Dr. Diehl in 1913 to treat patients suffering from consumption. He believed in the healing properties of the spring water and the cool, pollen free air from the cave.

Ava boat hopped all day. She started in the canoe, then got in the Commander with Audrey, and finally, the pontoon with me. We bring walkie talkies on our float trips so that we can communicate while we are in different Buoyancy Operated Aquatic Transports.

SO....Eric surprised the heck out of me when I saw him packing a spinning rod for the trip. I didn't know he even had one. He explained that it had been a while since he was in a canoe and didn't want to risk damaging one of his fly rods. It was so strange watching him fish with this rod. He kept getting bird's nests in his line. After two in a row, he finally gave up. As he was stripping in the line, he unexpectedly caught this fish. He was happy to land the fish this way because he didn't have to say he caught it with a spinning rod.

This girl...relentless in her pursuits, very smart, and funny.

Gus boat hopped, too!

Devils Well

While on the river, I noticed Eric had a map. I had read that the stairwell to the well had been rebuilt the summer before and I've wanted to go ever since. I guess I never mentioned any of this to Eric. He was taken by surprise. I'm so glad we went!

The stairway to this hidden gem.

The water trickling through the mossy hillside was unlike anything I've ever seen. Following it down as we descended the stairway really set the stage for Devils Well.