Twins 1st Fall Camping Trip - Penns Creek

We've been wanting to take the twins camping as babies and finally decided to take them on a whim to one of my favorite places on the planet - Penns Creek. 

It was a lot to throw together late Friday night for a one night camping trip, but I'm really glad we pulled it off once before they turned 1 (in less than a week!)

I could write a whole page on the page on how special Penns Creek is to us, so needless to say, it was extremely important to bring Jack and Clara and get them right in the water!

We got there Saturday afternoon, set camp up and a little hike in their new baby backpacks - a major upgrade to those Bjorn chest things.  The twins did just great and love everything about camping including romping around in the tent with Mama and chilling outside and trying to eat leaves and play with pine needles that fell into their pack and play.

 

 

 

Baby friendly camp site

 

Saturday night was not exactly how I drew up in my head.  Part of the reason we decided on going was the 0% chance of rain and stellar October weather we had.  I should know that in this valley anything goes...so as I was getting the campfire going, a major thunderstorm rolled in.  Picture Spencer in the tent with two hysterical babies while I ran around organizing camp in the pitch dark with a head lamp, grilling steaks and potatoes in the downpour while getting soaked to the bone. It was a pretty stressful hour, but the thunderstorm rolled out and the babies finally fell asleep.  Mom made her S'Mores and I drank an IPA - we had survived.

Sunday was an amazingly beautiful fall day.  At one point on the stream I found myself completely lost in just watching the leaves fall and was filled with so much joy.  I've been going to Penns for years now, but this was my first time in the fall and first time with the twins. 

 

Tressel bridge just wide enough for a double stroller

 

 

 





Fly fishing with Jack on my back

Passed out after a long hike and fishing trip




Me and my little girl

 

5/18 - 5/20 Penns Creek / Spruce Creek trip

Chris and I headed up to Poe Paddy for the 7th annual pilgrimage to fish the green drake hatch.   Friday night we went straight to the Weikert area, where according to certain reports was the only place they were hatching yet.  We saw some male coffin flies and only a few duns.  So unfortuantely, there was no spinner fall and no dun feast.  This was Chris's first time to Penns for the famed drake hatch and of course I overhyped it on the way up.  The water was still up pretty good, and we actually didn't even see one rising fish.  It became even more annoying when my buddy told me duns were hatching like crazy at Poe Paddy where we were camping 50 minutes away.  I should have stayed put in Poe Paddy. 

Male green drake dun chilling

Wild Spruce Creek brown

Saturday made up for it though, as Chris went over to see his friends on Spruce Creek who let us fish for the day.  It was an absolutely beautiful property with about 150 yards of stream access - which on Spruce is all you need. 

Downstream of the bridge

Upstream of the bridge

President Carter actually fished this exact section years ago and stood right where we were we were casting dry flies and drinking beer. Spruce is arguably the most exclusive stream in the country and we really had no business being on it. BUT, the owners were awesome people and were more than happy to let us have at it for the day. Most of the mid-day fish were caught on nymphs / streamers, but the occasional riser usually fell victim to a well presented tan CDC caddis or X-Caddis. This stretch of stream had a really deep pool under the bridge where the big boys lay and some nice riffles and runs at the top of the property where the smaller wild fish resided. The day was beautiful and we had the whole stretch to ourselves. By the evening, there were just the right amount of sulphurs, caddis, and even a few Green Drakes made their appearance. There was nothing yet like the numbers on Penns creek, but that was actually a good thing. Most of the GD duns were getting sucked down and a drake dry fly that was skittered and dapped over the water was producing some explosive takes. 

Chris with the fish of the day

Bright bow that fell for a Vladi Worm

Healthy brookie

Sunday, I got up early and gave Penns one last shot.  I fished pretty hard for a few hours in the morning, but found the nymphing conditions pretty tough.  The water was still up and off-colored and the only fished I hooked into were bank feeders in the soft water.  Around lunch time, green drake duns started coming off, but where completely ignored by the fish.  It was probably a good thing though, cause if they started eating them, I might never have made it out of there all day.

March Brown spinner

Back at Poe Paddy, Tom informed us he found some Chicken of the Woods mushrooms a few minutes away and wanted to see if we could positively confirm it.  Chris has picked it before so he knew right away it was legit.  I have only heard of it before, but had no idea what it looked like.  I will admit, without Chris being there I probably would have ate the bark on that tree before I ate that orange mushroom.  I know I've seen this stuff before too, but had no clue it was edible.

Tom and Chris harvesting some fresh chicken of the woods

We only took about 1/4 of the whole mushroom

Chicken of the Woods - delicious!

Here is the recipe that I found online.  It was absolutely delicious!  I thought this mushroom had a lemony, meaty taste very similar to chicken - hence its namesake.  I've read that some people think it tastes like its chicken and others describe the flavor as being more like crab or lobster. Whatever your opinion, the chicken fungus makes a great substitute for meat in almost any dish and was excellent in an Italian tomato sauce.

I will definitely be on the lookout for this orange polypore in the future!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups chicken of the woods mushrooms, cleaned
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups of tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Clean the mushrooms with a damp cloth, and then either tear or chop them into small pieces.
2. Warm the olive oil over medium heat and add the garlic. Let it cook for one minute.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally as they turn a vibrant orange.
4. Pour in the white wine and cook for another 5 minutes.
5. Add the tomato sauce and let the whole thing simmer for another 10-15 minutes.