BlindJustice
Member
To set the stage...
In 1962 I was 11 years old, and we went on a grand adventure. The Lutheran church had been given the main camp of a mining camp in the high
Cascade Mtns It is now Camp Holden 10 miles south of the top of Lake
CHelan - a deep lake that runs NW to SE and drains into the Columbia river. My dad found out about this and along with a lutheran pastor and his sons my chilhood play buddies before they moved an hour away Well
we went to the Army Navy store and bought packs of dehydrated food and backpacks and all that stuff. We took to Lady of the Lake tourist boat
up Lake CHaelan in the spring - we enjoyed a tour of camp and a great meal in the chow hall the miners must have ate in - the Lutheran chruch had this given to them but they had to turn the old areas of the quonsett huts back to trees but kept the great log cabin style houses for the management and big structures
SO, our plan was to hike in, there was a lake to the west and up along a
trail that was along the north side of a east running creek from the lake.
so it was my Dad and I and a Lutheran Pastor with a .38 special his two sons
about my age and a family friend Herman Benjamin Franklin Rux, who was 17 and carried a big pack. We had a lot of fishing gear because we were the
first ones into Heart Lake - came over a rise and saw the lake and knew why they called it that - the shape.
We got up to the lake, made camp - we cut down approx. 4"-5" by
12 foot young trees and made two tripods with a main spar between
them, then broke out large plastic tarps and made a lean two sort of everybbody but my Dad slep under them in sleeping bags. He made a
bit of a spot over to the side with an extra plastic tarp.
It was great - the helocoptor seeded trout were hungry as heck and where a nearby stream fed into the lake from snow runoff you could see foot long or more trout waitjing for food so it was easy to cast and catch fresh trout for breakfast lunch and dionner with dehyde pancakes and a slab of bacon ....
Ok finally here's the dangerous game part - the second night after we had been there for a day and cooking food - we did hang our food from a tree - Dad said the second night something poked him in the back - and
he knew it wasn't us - when he realized it was a black bear - and Dad was
Late 30s and a farmer, 6'6" and 240 lbs plus ex-college center at U of Idaho and at Utah State after WWII. he said he kicked the Bear in it's nose and got up chaswed him off grabbing a big piece of firewood and then stayed up
for a while - we all slept through it cept for Ralph the Lutheran Pastor
who had his gun out and they sat up and talked for while.
Thanks y'all for reminding me of a priceless memory and adventure some 45 or so years ago...
th
In 1962 I was 11 years old, and we went on a grand adventure. The Lutheran church had been given the main camp of a mining camp in the high
Cascade Mtns It is now Camp Holden 10 miles south of the top of Lake
CHelan - a deep lake that runs NW to SE and drains into the Columbia river. My dad found out about this and along with a lutheran pastor and his sons my chilhood play buddies before they moved an hour away Well
we went to the Army Navy store and bought packs of dehydrated food and backpacks and all that stuff. We took to Lady of the Lake tourist boat
up Lake CHaelan in the spring - we enjoyed a tour of camp and a great meal in the chow hall the miners must have ate in - the Lutheran chruch had this given to them but they had to turn the old areas of the quonsett huts back to trees but kept the great log cabin style houses for the management and big structures
SO, our plan was to hike in, there was a lake to the west and up along a
trail that was along the north side of a east running creek from the lake.
so it was my Dad and I and a Lutheran Pastor with a .38 special his two sons
about my age and a family friend Herman Benjamin Franklin Rux, who was 17 and carried a big pack. We had a lot of fishing gear because we were the
first ones into Heart Lake - came over a rise and saw the lake and knew why they called it that - the shape.
We got up to the lake, made camp - we cut down approx. 4"-5" by
12 foot young trees and made two tripods with a main spar between
them, then broke out large plastic tarps and made a lean two sort of everybbody but my Dad slep under them in sleeping bags. He made a
bit of a spot over to the side with an extra plastic tarp.
It was great - the helocoptor seeded trout were hungry as heck and where a nearby stream fed into the lake from snow runoff you could see foot long or more trout waitjing for food so it was easy to cast and catch fresh trout for breakfast lunch and dionner with dehyde pancakes and a slab of bacon ....
Ok finally here's the dangerous game part - the second night after we had been there for a day and cooking food - we did hang our food from a tree - Dad said the second night something poked him in the back - and
he knew it wasn't us - when he realized it was a black bear - and Dad was
Late 30s and a farmer, 6'6" and 240 lbs plus ex-college center at U of Idaho and at Utah State after WWII. he said he kicked the Bear in it's nose and got up chaswed him off grabbing a big piece of firewood and then stayed up
for a while - we all slept through it cept for Ralph the Lutheran Pastor
who had his gun out and they sat up and talked for while.
Thanks y'all for reminding me of a priceless memory and adventure some 45 or so years ago...
th
