Some guys keep their outdoor activities to themselves in an exclusive all-male fraternity, but I think they’re making a mistake. With declining hunting and fishing license sales and diminishing national participation in the outdoors, we need all the support we can get. Besides, women and girls can bring their own special brand of joy to the evening campfire and the morning hiking trail.
At Camp F-Troop, we uphold a longstanding tradition of inviting wives, girlfriends, mothers, daughters, nieces, and significant others to many of our annual events in the mountains. And that’s the key: we ask them, we invite them, and often they’re surprised and delighted to come along. In fact, my new book about the history of F-Troop — due out in three months — devotes an entire chapter and lots of stories and anecdotes to the adventures of women at camp.
My fiancée Donna Rai’ enjoys campfires, canoeing, hikes, and photography up in the Warren County highlands, and she has held a Pennsylvania fishing license for the past two years. We have ventured out together after trout a dozen times, and on each occasion, she has caught more fish than I have, which is a good thing for both of us. Such was the case again last weekend.
We started out bridge-hopping with fly rods and live minnows Sunday morning to break the ice. First we drove the Jeep a mile down from camp to a small bridge over a tiny creek that only a few of us “locals” know holds wild brookies. D-Rai’ rolled a fish on the first cast, then tossed right back in and hooked a fine small brook trout with brilliant red shading illuminating its belly and fins. I took a photo as she held the fish up and smiled in the sun, and I knew right then we were in for a good day.
Then we drove another mile south to a larger stream, Perry Magee Run, which features hatchery trout in its lower reaches and wild fish and holdovers upstream. We parked by the bridge and peeked over the side. There — in the deep pool below — swam four stocked trout in obvious feeding mode among the big rocks in the clear-water stream. Problem was that since we could easily see these fish in the lucid pool, they could see us, too, so it was a challenge to get them to bite. Still, D-Rai’ persevered, and on her 10th cast she hooked and landed an 11-inch stocked brown trout.
Now we were ready to launch into a long wild trout hike deep into the game lands forest. We drove three miles north, parked on the gravel road, donned our fishing vests, pulled on our knee-high boots and began walking upstream along Antler Run. It was a brilliant day, with cool breezes drifting upstream and warm, dappled sunshine beaming down through the hemlock canopy. We took photos of sparkling waterfalls and colorful wildflowers and spotted lots of deer tracks in the soft earth along the banks of the stream.
We skipped some pools and fished some others and caught and released nine wild native brook trout, six for her and three for me. The most memorable fish was a dark-hued brookie that D-Rai’ caught in a shallow pool where the stream ran along a rock-wall cliff, and deep green shadows colored the waters there. She tossed upstream into the flow, and the fish darted out from the shadows and slammed the bait and fought up-current until she brought it to hand, posed briefly for a picture, and then released it into a quiet eddy.
About 1 p.m. we sat down on a big windfall oak log and gazed up at the steep wooded hillsides and listened to the overhead birdsong and the soothing melody of the flowing waters. Then we hiked out and drove back to camp for lunch on the front porch overlooking the river. Life just doesn’t get much better than that.
Good luck out there. And have a great week outdoors.
Don Feigert is the outdoors writer for THE HERALD and the ALLIED NEWS. He can be contacted at 317-985-2870 or dfeigert@verizon.net. Visit his Website at www.donfeigert.com.
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To get women into the outdoors, just ask them
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WM baseball, Sharpsville and Wilmington softball playing for D-10 titles
Sharpsville and Wilmington softball teams and the West Middlesex baseball squad return to the diamond today to compete for District 10 championships.
SOFTBALL
Class A Championship
Coach Bob Zikovich's Sharpsville Blue Darlings (15-2) battle a tough Saegertown (18-2) squad at 2 p.m. today at Penn State-Behrend in Erie. -
PIAA Track Notebook: KC's Wareham made round trips to "The Ship"
The most impressive race during this weekend’s PIAA Track & Field Championships did not take place at Shippensburg University, nor will you read its results in any newspaper on or any web site.
To be sure, it was a race against time, but not in the sense of being defined by a coach’s hand-held device, nor Seth Grove Stadium’s scoreboard clock. -
Hickory girls grab PIAA Class AA Track team title
SHIPPENSBURG — This news bulletin just in: Mercer County athletes dominated during this weekend’s PIAA Track & Field Championships.
Nothing new there, you say? Well, perhaps you’re correct, considering how well the area aggregation annually accounts itself on Memorial Day Weekend at Shippensburg University. Therefore it was not surprising how much hardware was hauled home — once again. -
PIAA Track: Hickory's Bell, Lubarski, Regginello grab gold
SHIPPENSBURG — There’s a big difference between being seeded 1st and finishing 1st — Matt Bell can attest to that.
After settling for silver last year, the Hickory High senior put the shot 59 feet, 6 3/4 inches Friday afternoon to garner gold at the annual PIAA Track & Field Championships at Shippensburg University. -
WM to play for D-10 baseball title; GC, Sharon, Sharpsville lose
Four area baseball teams were in action on Friday in the District 10 semifinals as the squads battled to compete for District 10 championships on Monday.
West Middlesex rolled past error-prone Linesville, 8-0, in Class A action at Slippery Rock University’s Jack Critchfield Park.
In Class AA, both Sharon and Sharpsville suffered 2-1 losses. The Tigers fell to Saegertown at Ainsworth Field in Erie while the Blue Devils lost to Titusville at SRU.
In Class AAA, the Grove City Eagles were denied the chance to defend their D-10 crown after suffering a 6-3 loss to Warren at SRU. -
Farrell volleyball falls in D-10 semifinals
The Farrell High boys volleyball team suffered a 2-0 (25-15, 25-12) loss to Saegertown on Thursday night in the District 10 semifinals at Meadville Area High’s “House of Thrills.”
“This was the first year we made it out of the first day (pool play) of the playoffs,” said Steelers’ coach Dan Dragicevic. “I’d like to cite my seniors (Eric Demus, Anthony Perkins, Jaylen Chambers and Lawrence Hughes). -
Locals ready to go for gold at Shippensburg
Now that Mercer County is on the map, it’s incumbent upon the area aggregation to chart a course for the ultimate destination — Seth Grove Stadium’s medals stand — during this weekend’s PIAA Track & Field Championships.
Led by West Middlesex High sprinter Clay Allen, many Mercer Countians are seeded at or near the top of their respective events for the annual 2-day marathon at Shippensburg University, which commences 9 a.m. Friday. It will continue beginning 9 a.m. Saturday. -
D-10 Playoffs: Local teams go 6-for-6
ä Grove City 1, Harbor Creek 0 — At Slippery Rock University’s Jack Critchfield Park, what the Grove City Eagles couldn’t accomplish themselves, the Harbor Creek Huskies unwittingly did for them.
Unable to plate runs themselves, Torin Smith scored the Eagles’ only run when teammate Tyler Devine’s seeming inning-ending pop-up to left field was dropped by Harbor Creek’s Chris Merritt in the bottom of the 7th inning of Tuesday’s tourney opener. -
Great year for WM track; local qualifiers listed
It’s been a big year for the Big Reds.
Though there’s no official documentation, the 2011-12 academic year may be the most successful in West Middlesex High’s athletic annals. -
SPORTVIEW: Local names Kroko, Lutz, Kareklas in news elsewhere
IT’S ALWAYS GOOD to hear of former area people who have gone on to athletic success in other areas, or the family of former area residents. Following are a few of those stories:
ä Bob and Betty Kroko of Sharon are avid followers of professional baseball. No, not necessarily the Pittsburgh Pirates or Cleveland Indians like many local fans.
The Krokos keep a close eye on the Austria Major League! - More Sports Headlines
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