Bluff Spring Journal

Archived Journals

October 2010

August and September have kept me busy beyond my wildest dreams (read nightmares). I had not planned on retirement being this busy. But, I can't blame anyone because I was the one that said yes to several jobs. I need someone to call me and pretend they don't know that it was I who said yes just so I can complain.

Currently I'm teaching three classes at MSU and supervising student teachers in Kansas City and St. Louis. I really love the classes and being able to help our future teachers. They're a great group. Needless to say my days are close to full. I do occasionally get a couple of hours to just relax.

October 23

Headed to Arkansas with the Venture Crew to spend a day in the woods and hopefully pass on some photography instruction to the Crew. But before I get to that let me put in a plug for the Venture Crew.

Venture Crew-What did you do this weekend?--The Snowy Range in Wyoming, Cirque of The Towers-Wind River Range in Wyoming, Maroon Bells-in Colorado, Smittle Cave--Missouri, Hercules Glade-Missouri are just a few of the places that the Crew has been.

The Crew is made up of youth out of the eighth grade and 21 years or younger. Both boys and girls make up the crew which is aided by Bass Pro and is an official Boy Scout Crew. I know Boy Scouts? Girls? Yes, we have several girl Crew members who rival anyone I've seen in their outdoor skills.

We have meetings each month where we plan monthly outings and one Super Event each year. No uniforms, no badges and a lot of the equipment is provided by the crew. You don't have to make a big investment to checkout the out doors.

If you're interested just email me at photo@bluffspring.com and we'll get you some information.

The Crew had a great time at Whitaker's point shooting all kinds of fall foliage. The point was a little crowded as it was the Color Fest Weekend at Ponca. We'll check next year about this event before we go. Several of our Venture Crew had never been to Whitaker Point so I agreed to tour guide and talk a little about photography. The colors were not at their peak and seemed a bit muted.
It was the small stuff that was great. We did a lot of close up photography that turned out to be very interesting.

Don't ever and I mean ever not check to see if it is the Color Fest Weekend at Ponca. Geez, there were 25 cars at the Craig. We saw a marriage proposal and a wedding (thankfully to different couples) and one of the hikers said she had counted over 100 people on the trail and at the craig. I've learned my lesson.

Mt. Sherman foliage is at about 70% turned. Good maples, dogwoods and sumac.

I love to be out in the woods but I must say that several times on the way home I was thinking what I really like the most is spending a lovely evening with my lovely wife. Not to mention, but I did several times, that she had cornbread and pinto beans with honey baked ham waiting for me.

Oct. 29

What a great day for floating. The sun was warm but the temperatures were just right. I needed a fleece to start the float but the sun soon warmed us up and all we needed was a long sleve shirt. We put in at Buffalo Point and floated to Rush a 7.5 mile trip. This time of year without rain makes this part of the river a good place to float. We did drag gravel about 5 times but never had to get out and drag the canoe.

We saw one fisherman at the put in and then around the first bend we saw three canoes and a campsite with no one around. Other than those two times we had the river completely to ourselves. You couldn't have asked for a better day. There was almost no wind so we skimmed through several glassy pools of water and watched the fish scamper out of our way. Several of the big Gar just laid in the deep water without moving too much. They really weren't concerned with our presence.

We saw four bald eagles soaring down the river and taking a perch in a large tree to look out for a good fishing opportunity. There were both male and female eagles on the river. It was awesome to see our national symbol soaring above the river.

At lunch we stopped on a large gravel bar and built a fire to cook hot dogs and the ever popular smores. It was nice to just hang out soaking up the sun with our good friends the Hankins. The day was full of fall leaves, friends and floating beneath the towering bluffs of the Buffalo.

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