After not hearing a thing between 8 and 10, I got up to stalk. It felt good to move my limbs and I was able to admire the dramatic landscape. I made my way along some game trails along the N of a spur jutting out to CR22 from the location of my blind. I went no farther than a large boulder perched fairly close to but well above the road. In hindsight I marvel at how this puppy may come crashing down one day, rolling onto CR22. I'd rather not be below at that time.
Then I climbed back up keeping to the S of the spur. Interesting to see the difference between the N and the south slopes, the N having been logged many years ago, as evidenced by many moss-covered tree stumps and woodpiles. The logging seemed to have been quite inefficient and wasteful, some of the logs were at least a 50 cm across.
I did notice that most of the area was infested with poison ivy (Toxidendron radicans), just beginning to peep through the leaf litter, just like some fist-sized morel mushrooms (Morchella esculenta). Unfortunately, the latter were a bit past their prime, otherwise I would have gladly bagged them in lieu of a turkey.
We came out of the woods around noon, again heading for the Redwood Cafe for lunch. Merrill joined us. After lunch we chose Bee Creek which flows south into Iowa as our fishing spot for today. The water was crystal clear and there were a lot of rises. After a few tries I ended up with a size 14 royal coachman parachute fly. It brought a lot of hits, but the trout were spitting out the flies as soon as they took them, I ended up with a single smallish trout. Jim had a similar experience with the nymphs he used but he caught a few more. However, we greatly enjoyed the scenic, almost park-like riverbank on the Bee.
