A
Anonymous
Guest
Schoolmaster Bear Sir! Here is my trip report you required to bring my grade up from the D- you gave me last time. I done tried real hard so I can get my average up to a straight "D", I even laid an apple on your desk with a quart of the finest shine I done found up in them there mountains. A little butt kiss'n never hurt with the "teach".
When I hear of these 23 old female teachers running with these 16 year old boys gett'n in trouble, well shoot, I remember 16 and that was a dream come true! Notice I said F-E-M-A-L-E Schoolmaster Bear!
Anyway, the Shenandoah. Well, late June is beautiful, clear sunny sky's and high temps around 76 degrees for a high and dipping into the 50's for the low's. Sounds like a vacation spot for Rebs this time of year when the A/C goes in a failed condition. The river is pretty calm, I only came across maybe one or two class II rapids, I had some newbies with me so that was plenty. It's a pretty clean and just a pretty river. Not much in the way of man kind on either side but I see evidence of chance along some bank's but there are some really nice stretches of nothing but trees and wildlife. Fishing was great, caught some really nice Smallmouth Bass along with some Bluegill, Rockbass and some other assorted pan fish. I learned something too, down there, they call all the pan fish Perch! Here in Pa., a Perch is a Perch and some pretty fine eat'n I gotta tell ya! We spent a couple great day's on the river and the only scary time was the last 2 miles before our shuttle picked us up. We had a nasty thunderstorm chasing us downriver, we had visions of taking it real easy the last part of trip but mother nature had other ideas. We paddled like hell to the shuttle pick up spot and turned the boat upside down against some forest structure and hid underneath from the lightning until our shuttle ride came, he even came early because he knew it was a nasty storm.
We shared that structure with a hornets nest and kept real quiet, they left us alone 'cause they knew a nasty blow was com'n. All in all a great trip.
We also visited the Front Royal area and Skyline drive, Shenandoah National Park, WOW! First, to start with, Front Royal is a small town caught in the 50's. No Mall, main street has the same stores you would have seen in the 50's, thriving movie house, diners, two barber shops, center of town with a Gazebo in it, people talking to each other on the street asking how Aunt May is doing and let's go fishing this weekend. I expected Barney Fife to be patroling the streets! Floyd was in the barber shop but too busy to give me a haircut, he was telling a fish story.
Front Royal has the Warren Rifles Confederate Museum, it's run by the Daughters of the Confederacy. It was a very nice museum and attended to by a great Southern Lady who wouldn't let us go telling us of the War Between the States and when Jefferson Davis was President. It had artifacts from uniforms and letters of local boys who wore the Grey to other items from Jeff Davis and Stonewall. I seen a pair of butternut trousers with the letters JD on them, Hmmmmmmm!
Also, a pair of combat boots with the letters, CL on them, a double Hmmm!
We also visited the house of Belle Boyd, the famous Belle Boyd, the female Rebel spy who invited Yank Officers to her home and passed anything she heard to Stonewall. Front Royal changed hands three times during the war. She wasn't a bad looker for the time but went thru three husbands. Too much woman for Old Yak!
We took a day and went for a visit to Skyline Drive, THE VIEWS ARE FANTASTIC!!! We also took a hike on the ridge. Great trout fishing as well. Some of the mountains approach 4,000'!!!. It's also cooler on top, almost needed a light jacket. The park is 105 miles long and would take at least 3 hours to drive thru non-stop, but really, it takes alot longer to take it all in. The great thing would be to camp for a night or two or maybe even stay in a lodge for a night.
Back to the Shenandoah River, you can take a short trip of a few miles up to almost 40 miles, your choice. There are outfitters to handle your shuttle. You can camp along shore by getting a permit from the state park service. The fishing licence is only 6.50$ for a 5 day license.
Get out of the hot steamy South and come North to cool off!
A pretty laid back trip and staring into the campfire flames every night with a handful of liabation in my hand. Great trip. Now about them there UFO'sssssss..........................
Grocery shopping in Front Royal, Martins Grocery, hands down!
Diner, LD's on Main
Shuttle service, www.frontroyalcanoe.com; www.downriver.com; www.shenandoahcc.com
A yahoo search will bring up all you need to visit Front Royal and the Shenandoah area.
I'd tell ya how how Front Royal got the name, but that's your homework if you decide to go!
When I hear of these 23 old female teachers running with these 16 year old boys gett'n in trouble, well shoot, I remember 16 and that was a dream come true! Notice I said F-E-M-A-L-E Schoolmaster Bear!
Anyway, the Shenandoah. Well, late June is beautiful, clear sunny sky's and high temps around 76 degrees for a high and dipping into the 50's for the low's. Sounds like a vacation spot for Rebs this time of year when the A/C goes in a failed condition. The river is pretty calm, I only came across maybe one or two class II rapids, I had some newbies with me so that was plenty. It's a pretty clean and just a pretty river. Not much in the way of man kind on either side but I see evidence of chance along some bank's but there are some really nice stretches of nothing but trees and wildlife. Fishing was great, caught some really nice Smallmouth Bass along with some Bluegill, Rockbass and some other assorted pan fish. I learned something too, down there, they call all the pan fish Perch! Here in Pa., a Perch is a Perch and some pretty fine eat'n I gotta tell ya! We spent a couple great day's on the river and the only scary time was the last 2 miles before our shuttle picked us up. We had a nasty thunderstorm chasing us downriver, we had visions of taking it real easy the last part of trip but mother nature had other ideas. We paddled like hell to the shuttle pick up spot and turned the boat upside down against some forest structure and hid underneath from the lightning until our shuttle ride came, he even came early because he knew it was a nasty storm.
We shared that structure with a hornets nest and kept real quiet, they left us alone 'cause they knew a nasty blow was com'n. All in all a great trip.
We also visited the Front Royal area and Skyline drive, Shenandoah National Park, WOW! First, to start with, Front Royal is a small town caught in the 50's. No Mall, main street has the same stores you would have seen in the 50's, thriving movie house, diners, two barber shops, center of town with a Gazebo in it, people talking to each other on the street asking how Aunt May is doing and let's go fishing this weekend. I expected Barney Fife to be patroling the streets! Floyd was in the barber shop but too busy to give me a haircut, he was telling a fish story.
Front Royal has the Warren Rifles Confederate Museum, it's run by the Daughters of the Confederacy. It was a very nice museum and attended to by a great Southern Lady who wouldn't let us go telling us of the War Between the States and when Jefferson Davis was President. It had artifacts from uniforms and letters of local boys who wore the Grey to other items from Jeff Davis and Stonewall. I seen a pair of butternut trousers with the letters JD on them, Hmmmmmmm!
Also, a pair of combat boots with the letters, CL on them, a double Hmmm!
We also visited the house of Belle Boyd, the famous Belle Boyd, the female Rebel spy who invited Yank Officers to her home and passed anything she heard to Stonewall. Front Royal changed hands three times during the war. She wasn't a bad looker for the time but went thru three husbands. Too much woman for Old Yak!
We took a day and went for a visit to Skyline Drive, THE VIEWS ARE FANTASTIC!!! We also took a hike on the ridge. Great trout fishing as well. Some of the mountains approach 4,000'!!!. It's also cooler on top, almost needed a light jacket. The park is 105 miles long and would take at least 3 hours to drive thru non-stop, but really, it takes alot longer to take it all in. The great thing would be to camp for a night or two or maybe even stay in a lodge for a night.
Back to the Shenandoah River, you can take a short trip of a few miles up to almost 40 miles, your choice. There are outfitters to handle your shuttle. You can camp along shore by getting a permit from the state park service. The fishing licence is only 6.50$ for a 5 day license.
Get out of the hot steamy South and come North to cool off!
A pretty laid back trip and staring into the campfire flames every night with a handful of liabation in my hand. Great trip. Now about them there UFO'sssssss..........................
Grocery shopping in Front Royal, Martins Grocery, hands down!
Diner, LD's on Main
Shuttle service, www.frontroyalcanoe.com; www.downriver.com; www.shenandoahcc.com
A yahoo search will bring up all you need to visit Front Royal and the Shenandoah area.
I'd tell ya how how Front Royal got the name, but that's your homework if you decide to go!
