LynnF

Thanks Mr. B. Castor...I am opposed to random camping AS IT IS RIGHT NOW. The utter abuse and disregard for the land and others is deplorable. However, should the government implement a policy that would control random camping (i.e. enforce the 14 day maximum stay and charge user fees as they do down in parts of the U.S. and fine those who are destroying the land and leaving behind their crap - sometimes literally) then I would have no problem with it. But right now it's just a free for all. I've written my fair share of letters on this, and will continue to do so, so I'm not just blowing hot air. We random camped a few times many years ago and we quit because of all the yahoos and all the damage that was being caused. I wasn't willing to be a part of that, even if it was just driving our trailer over a rut in the land, making it worse. And as Mr. B. said, we park our trailer at Racehorse Creek in a designated permanent camping spot (as approved between an agreement with Rocky Mountain Camping and the government). And we pay a substantial fee to park there which, I hope, goes back into the resource which we use. Oh and Mr. B - here's one for ya. As Mike was standing in line for his permit, the guy in front of him said "I have 5 rigs to get out of there today and I don't have a clue how I'm gonna do it in one day". Kinda hard to feel sorry for him huh?

wow...I watched that and now my back is sore. Unreal.

Beautiful pics Max - and nice bully on the foamy there!

That's some kinda art Dave - very pretty. As someone who is married to a fly tier, I'll admit that I just don't get the whole thing. I could never, ever have the patience to sit there for hours on end only to tie something that might want up launched in a tree. It's clear you gotta have a passion for it. P.S. Dave - That fly goes well with my eyes. Can I have it?

Another something from the SRD guy - will be closed down there AT LEAST 2 weeks. Need 50 mm of rain before they will consider opening it back up. But the guy said it wouldn't remain closed the rest of the year. I dunno....we don't typically get a lot of precip in August until towards the end do we?

Well colour me wrong about why they closed it - I thought it had everything to do with the population and #'s of people and off-roaders. Wrong. Mike talked to an SRD officer on his way out and the guy just came down from a fire in Peace River. He said that when they evaluate the fire risk they use a criteria called BIU - Burn Intensity Units. He said that the BIU in the Peace River fire was 70 and it was burning at 20,000 hectares a day. He then said that the BIU in the area they just shut down is 135 and that, without wind, it would burn at 40,000 hectares a day. It's all about safety - imagine all the people up there trapped in something like that. Sometimes it really helps to know this kinda stuff to put it in perspective.

Small venue - tie between Blue Rodeo at the Jube and Robert Palmer at Ontario Place Large venue - Peter Gabriel in Maple Leaf Gardens (although that was my first and last experience with pot so my impressions of that concert may be skewed) Medium venue - Collective Soul at the Stampede Roundup. They're my overall favourite concert I think.

Has the very same undertones of the speech I gave the ex when I kicked his ass to the curb. Very funny.

Looks like the Crow might get some precip next Friday. Weather is not anywhere close to even being a predictable science in this province. We'll all just play the waiting game. I'll bet things look different after the long weekend...... And Rick - that stretch of the Bow may be closed to jokers like you, but for people like me with a "special" boat - we're allowed

The Bow isn't closed....TL is just shitting us. That may be the only saving grace for us for the first week of vacay if the south country doesn't open up. In another episode of "somebody always has a worse story than yours"....imagine this. Couple fly from Ontario to Calgary for 3 week vacation. Rent a motor home, drive to Blairmore to pick up rented quads, go to head up to the FTR and find that they aren't getting their vacation after all. As told by the SRD officer to Mike this morning. Maybe 9 days of floating the Bow won't be that bad.....

Me thinks the next opening day will be September. Trailer is coming out today....seriously bummed about this whole thing.

Was told this morning by someone of authority that it will take 3 solid days of rain before it will re-open.

You and us both MMAX. Problem is that going down there IS our vacation - we don't have a Plan B - our plan revolves around camping and fishing this time of the year. Sure....we could camp somewhere else, but it's not where we want to be and we can't find a place that we like within 3 hours of Calgary. It's such a disappointment when you look forward to 2 weeks a year in the summer and find it potentially going in the toilet. That being said, I wholeheartedly agree that shutting the place down until some significant rainfall is the right thing. I told Mike tonight that if this was 9 years ago and the conditions were the same, there's no way they'd shut it down. They are reacting to the sheer numbers of people and ATV's and what-not in that area and when you weigh that into the factor, it tips the scales. Sure we've had the hottest summer in 40 years, but tell me that this summer is no drier than last or the year before and I think I'd disagree. Last year, other than the odd shower in July, there was no significant precip in that area - and the snowpack was much less too if I recall. Years and years of dry weather and now all the people have forced them to do this and I'm fine with that. Disappointed but fine. The only thing I took issue with was the fact that I got no notification when I told we'd get advance warning in cases like this, but I'll take that up with the person in charge of that. I'm just glad we'll be able to get down there and get our trailer out, but I honestly hope that this closure is short lived and we can all have our vacations in the coming weeks. If not, then we just gotta build a bridge and get over it.

I have to call SRD tomorrow re our permits to get in there, but if anyone hears in the meantime what the criteria is for re-opening (i.e. 4 hours of rain etc.), post it here. Knowing our luck, we'd pull it out of there and they'd re-open after a day of rain. And if anyone has any ideas for a Plan D for our vacation, I'm open to suggestions too.

I just called SRD Calgary - they are issuing permits starting tomorrow to go and get your stuff out of the closed zone. Thank God. Just remembered all our gear was left down there too - couldn't even fish the Bow if we wanted. The Bow and the north will now be a gong show.

Ya......we left a 28 foot trailer up there. Man I'm pissed...no warning at all, despite the fact folks have our # for cases such as this. And vacation is just a week away too.....guess we better make new plans.

Darn, I thought he was gonna be the Centrefold.

Oh My God. I thought only my husband listened to that music. Blech. I'm with SJFries....a little Eminem, some Pussycat Dolls, old school "funk" (now called hip hop I guess). And, of course, a TON of Collective Soul.

If I ever hired a guide again (which I wouldn't considering I'm my own rower and guide these days ), I'd hire Todd. Never met the guy before in my life and he says to me at McKinnon's one day (in a real loud voice) "Hey blondie, how'd the fish like the estrogen today". That's the type of fun guy you'd like to teach you how to fish.

I uttered those exact same words with the addition of "I don't do bugs well", some 9 years ago. And here I am today. And here I am today - walking with the bears and cougars fighting off the bugs and hooking myself left right and centre. Keep at 'er....taking her on the Bow will definitely help if you set her expectations before going out.

Mike personally knows one of the guys that is used to trap/tree cougars. The guys does it for free, anytime, anywhere. He has been working at his day job, got a call and gone out and trapped/tree'd a cougar - all for nothing but the love of the animals, people and the job. There are people that do this humanely and care...so it's worthwhile to call in.

Interesting about the "long rods"....it is exactly the opposite of what I thought it would be. And, as for noise in the water...it reminds me of a time I was floating the Red Deer with Dave Jensen. We came upon a rising brown in about 18 inches of water. Rowed downstream of him and parked. Watched him rise and rise and rise. I told Dave to go get him. Then all of a sudden a tractor roared across some land creating vibrations on the side of the river and the trout was gone. Tractor went away, trout came back. Just goes to show you that you don't even need to make noise in the water to spook them. I'm constantly yelling at the kid to quit talking so loud when we approach a pool. Running water is a little more forgiving to noise, but fish in pools go down quickly. Good thing you only have to wait it out for 10 or 15 in most cases.

Ahh yes...the maiden voyage. Good for you for trying stillwaters first. I tried mine for the very first time on the Bow just shy of runoff finishing. The words "gong show" are very appropriate to describe what went on. That day I hooked into the biggest rainbow I've seen on the end of my line to this day and the swirling frenzy that was my pontoon boat caused a whirlpool so strong that I lost the fish to the vortex. Get yourself some good force fins and definitely an anchor (a pyramid one) and you're good to go. Nice fish BTW!

hahahahaha Dave....I was wondering where my line dancing teacher got to

I own one pair of Manolo Blahniks and I call those FAKE!!! But I'll tell ya...if I didn't have a pontoon boat already, I'd be going to buy one just to wear a pair of those. Magnificent!