# Our 2 week Up Adventure all over (Fish, bear encounters, and pics)



## Chinookhead (Mar 4, 2005)

This was definitely one of most fun and craziest trips that I&#8217;ve been on&#8230;lots of fun stories and adventures with two great people. No hot showers for 2 weeks, though we took baths in all sorts of funny places like streams, Lake Superior, and even in pumps. I don&#8217;t really exercise much, but for the 3 weeks before the trip I decided that it would be a good idea to run and get in decent shape for the backpacking and hiking. About a week before the trip I tripped and hurt my ankle and lower back. I thought that it was mainly my ankle, which 3 days later felt okay, so I ran. The next morning I woke up and was bedridden and could barely walk with pain shooting down from lower back to my ankles. This was my 1st time with any back pain, so I spent the day with legs elevated surfing the net for magical cures. Next day, same thing&#8230;did all of the exercises&#8230;still in pain on the 5th day so I went to the emergency room and was X-rayed (no MRI from the cheap skate which he said he would only do if the pain was still there after 3 weeks, which would show if there is a slipped disk or vertebrate issues). He thought that it is most likely sciatica or maybe a pinched nerve etc. I got pain killers and a recommendation for no strenuous activity for 3 weeks, so this is what I did 3 days later. 










I did not want to miss out on the whole pictured rocks part or to hold Anat and Jonathan back and they volunteered to be my donkeys if things got bad. 



1st day&#8212;Anat and Jonathan arrived from a 10 hour drive from NYC and we left at 6:30 AM for a 7 hour drive up to the Munising&#8230;..then 11 miles of backpacking to Mosquito campsite. The Mosquito Falls are great and the Pictured Rocks east of Mosquito are spectacular. 


















Thank God for the pain meds that I had&#8230;..they were needed. The mosquito campsite is really pretty and we had fun eating and swimming on the beach that evening while watching the sun go down.


2nd Day --was supposed to be a relaxing and chill day with all day to hike 7.8 miles to Cliff&#8217;s campsite. It was so tempting to go on every turn off for a great view or to climb and play on the cliffs&#8230;then we spent a couple hour at Miner&#8217;s beach taking a bath/swim in Lake superior, filtering water, and enjoying a yummy pasta lunch&#8230;.perfect!!! We left with plenty of time to make it to Cliffs campsite early so that we could wake up early, so that the next day&#8217;s canoe trip would not be too rushed and so that we&#8217;d have plenty of time to go to sleep early and wake up early to do the 5.4 mile hike to the car and leave early for the 3 hour drive to Watersmeet. On the way to the beach we saw a woman who looked a bit flustered and Jonathan asked how she was and she said&#8217; &#8220;I&#8217;m looking for my kids&#8221;, but she didn&#8217;t seem too concerned at that point&#8230;..then on our way away from the beach we saw here again and now she did not look good and we offered to help her&#8230;initially she sort of refused and then she said &#8220;actually I do need help&#8230;I&#8217;m very worried&#8221;. She said her 7 year old and a 9 year old friend were still nowhere to be found and they were just wearing wet bathing suits and flip flops&#8230;with evening quickly approaching and evening temps in the low 50&#8217;s we encouraged her to call the police right away which she did. Then the other mother arrived who had already run all over. As the &#8220;cripple&#8221; of the group and in no shape to run, (the pounding of running really hurt me&#8230;.also stairs hurt) I stayed by the bags while Jonathan and Anat ran with the other mother who must have been in her 40&#8217;s, but this woman could run and I heard that Jonathan and Anat could barely keep up with her (I&#8217;m sure driven by adrenaline and passion etc.). This took 3 hours and thankfully the search ended (police were involved also) when an old couple on the trail thought it was strange seeing two young boys alone on the trail (apparently they had almost gone back to Mosquito!) and they insisted upon taking them to their car&#8230;.they quickly called the police and the search was called off with two very relieved mothers. We ended up getting to Cliffs campsite late with some of the hiking in the dark. 





3rd day-- People did not want to wake up early so by the time we started the canoe trip it was almost 4pm. Two in a canoe and one in a kayak. We launched at uS2, but we obviously should have launched at Watersmeet, b/c in the canoe we had to constantly portage since the water was so low up until Watersmeet. The fishing was very good in the evening &#8230;lots of brookies in all sizes&#8230;little guys and about 6 12-15 inches&#8230;&#8230;Jonathan had what looked like an 18-20&#8221;, but somehow the drag was &#8220;locked down&#8221; and the fish broke off. I set him up with a worm and a red bead and I used a little silver husky Jerk&#8230;I caught twice as many fish, but he caught the biggest fish&#8230;..I imagine b/c I did not have to bait the hook. I probably caught about 2 dozen brookies. The action went from being slow to long sections downstream of Watersmeet with lots of rising fish in the evening&#8230;fish on basically every other cast&#8230;.see the action!









We knew it was late and Anat being the source of sanity kept on making us move on&#8230;.it was so hard especially for me to leave all of this action and just row. In the end we rowed for around 2 hours after dark. At times the bugs became so thick that u did not want to open your mouth b/c u would swallow a bug. Also, for about a mile there were some bats that seemed to enjoy dancing off the bow of the canoe. It really wasn&#8217;t that bad b/c it was a full moon, but was a bit eerie (I thought that it was a fun feeling). It became especially eerie when we approached the football fields of tall grass&#8230;..it really looked like we had rowed into a swamp and gone the wrong way&#8230;.it felt like paddling through a grass field&#8230;.and it was especially hard work in the canoe (basically cane poling with the oars). Someone started to get very scared in the swampy grass and wanted to just camp out on someone&#8217;s lawn for the night until morning (worried that we&#8217;re lost or that will pass the burned dam campsite and go through Mex-I-Mine Falls w/o seeing it. Two advised against this when we saw that there was no one home and the other property had big dogs. These two said that we should just move on&#8230;..this is the UP and not Mexico or the Middle East where u can just camp out on someone&#8217;s property and people don&#8217;t mind. Also, Anat and Jonathan were very cold since they were just in wet bathing suits and a T-Shirt. I was fine b/c I had on my waders, thermal underwear and a fast drying long leave nylon shirt. I always carry too much stuff and a warm change of clothes in Zip-Locs, so my extra clothes went on people..&#8230;people were calmed down and we moved on. Anat was in a wet kayak with just a wet T-shirt, no shoes, and wet pants and the temperature had gone down to 43!! Jonathan was in the canoe and he was getting his feet torn up from all of the night portages in flimsy flip flops. I was happy to have on my waders and comfortable wading boots on all of the night portages through the skinny water. In the end we made it to Burned Dam campsite relieved and exhausted&#8230;.barely spotting the sign. We had burgers and hot dogs on a big bonfire&#8230;it took hours for Anat to warm up her freezing feet!!


4rth day&#8212;Jonathan and Anat were exhausted and again we did not get going until way too late. Jonathan and I had quite a laugh when we woke up and found our hands and arms torn up without even knowing it from our many night portages and pushing and balancing on rocks. We bandaged ourselves up, put on the Neosporin and loaded up the kayaks. We used 3 kayaks b/c the water was too low for a canoe. We ran Mex-I-Mine Falls with the kayaks&#8230;&#8230;Anat as the most fearless and experienced kayaker of the group encouraged us to run the Falls in the kayaks and she went first (what weenies me and Yoni are!!!). Anat ran the falls smoothly like the superwoman that she is. 










Jonathan had never kayaked, so he thought that 20 seconds of rowing in a circle in the eddy above the falls was adequate experience to run the falls. He went through the rapids like a pinball bouncing off of almost every rock like a ball in a pinball machine and paddling like a crazed mad man. Initially, I thought that it was rather funny, but then I noticed that he did not take the gear off the kayak while he ran the falls as I asked. It was not fun seeing that not only was the kayak being bounced off the rocks, but also my 18 year old favorite rod (my 1st decent fishing pole, a Shakespeare IM-6 graphite Intrepid&#8230;..that&#8217;s been everywhere and caught everything from Alaskan grayling to 18.5 pound Big Manistee Steelhead and PM Kings back when I only needed one rid for everything). As u see in this picture he is getting flooded and is about to be pushed sideways and once he was sideways I screamed at him to get out, so that he does not hurt himself seriously and lose the gear and of course he did not and just paddled hopelessly harder and then was tossed upside down.









Here is me (I made it, but not as gracefully as Anat....I did some bouncing):









Thankfully he was okay and just wet. Once we got about a mile past burned dam&#8230;the smallie fishing was spectacular&#8230;twice I had two smallies on the same jerkbait. I suspect the fishing was so good b/c o the limited pressure they receive once u get past the campsite. Again, that little silver husky jerk caught the most fish and I caught a good number of fish on a X-rap XR8 silver/black (a nice 4 pounder on the x-rap). The best spots were big pools below rapids and log jams blocking heavy current areas were sure bets for smallies. Once the current slowed down a bit finding the smallies was not as easy, but they were still present and just required more &#8220;trial&#8221; casting. The spots were not quite so obvious. It was a mistake to paddle past interior Bridge since there were about 7 areas with downed trees that required portaging and there is little current + we had to be at the Marion lake campsite by sundown. At the end of the paddle near where the river dumps into Bond Falls reservoir there is a significant series of rapids which most portage, but we were exhausted and our fearless paddle leader, Anat, said: &#8220;it&#8217;s too late to turn around&#8221; (it really wasn&#8217;t, but she wanted to run it). Again, she ran it like a pro and I was almost tossed when my kayak started to go sideways as I started to be pinned against a boulder, but I managed to push off&#8230;also my kayak at this point was less stable with a limit of smallies in the cooler on the back of the kayak. Jonathan went sideways again as he was pinned against a rock, was tossed upside down, and lost my favorite rod (the 2nd rod that he lost on this trip&#8230;with one lost the previous day). I was again pretty frustrated because he was pinned hopelessly sideways against a rock and I told him to get out + I told him well before the rapids to unload the gear before the rapids.


5th day&#8212;A rest day at Marion Lake. A pretty and rather pleasant campsite, although there were a couple negatives. The possibility of swimmer&#8217;s itch and no showers did not make swimming seem appealing (a sign said swimmer&#8217;s itch may be present) and the mosquitoes were worse here than any other place. Sometimes the mosquitoes were so bad that they chases us into the tents in the day. Also, we were a bit too close to the magical dysfunctional family, the husband saying classic lines like: &#8220;Sheila I didn&#8217;t even say anything&#8230;I didn&#8217;t even do anything&#8221; and the wife saying &#8220;I swear, I&#8217;m going to get me a gun&#8221; etc. and the kids looking on and when things got really bad the kids would start beating up each other or destroying something like someone&#8217;s bike to distract their parents (classic). That did not look like a pleasant vacation.


6th day&#8212;We stopped on the way to the Porcupine Mountains at Bond Falls and Day Hiked government peak trail and the Big Carp River Trail.
It&#8217;s fun how nimble u can be w/o a 50 pound pack. Then swim/bath in Lake Superior and a hot meal and dropping off Anat in Ironwood for the bus to Milwaukee and then plane to NYC (24 hours of traveling!). 



7th day&#8212;The plan weeks earlier was to do a 2-3 day backpacking trip, but I did not think that it was smart w/ my back and Jonathan&#8217;s ankle&#8217;s were not in good shape. I think that carrying this ridiculously heavy unbalanced load with low top sneakers (running shoes) and not hiking boots or something with some ankle support was a recipe for stressed ankles. This guy obviously has a strong healthy back.









We elected to fish a certain River along the Little Carp River Trail, which we were expecting to be a rather relaxing day, but we waded it a couple miles and lost where the trail was. This river abused us&#8230;almost twisting our ankles several times dancing on the big slippery rocks. I stupidly chose to wear low top sneakers and wet wade with rolled up pants&#8230;&#8230;obviously a stupid move on this terrain and especially with the bush wacking trying to find where was the path. While trying to find the path I stepped on a log that I should not have stepped on&#8230;&#8230;immediately after stepping on this hollow rotted out log I hear lots of buzzing and one bee gets me right away on my exposed ankle and they chased me as I scraped up my ankles charging through heavy bush. I caught lots of little brookies&#8230;(probably around 20 with only one decent sized 11 incher). This is little clear water&#8230;..these fish were easily scared by fast movements. This is how my ankle looked that evening....the swelling was worse in the morning.










8th Day&#8212;Camping for the rest of the time in Sparrow rapids. On the 1st day here, I used this day as my exploratory day&#8230;..trying 3 different Rivers. The Middle branch by the falls and downstream of there was way too warm. It felt too warm and I caught the &#8220;wrong&#8221; fish









Another downstream spot on the middle branch was impossible to reach in the PT Cruiser rental as this road got too rough. Then I explored a certain river by first fishing a ½ mile of a trib of this larger river. On the map it looked to be about ½ a mile to the main river, but I waded and waded and I never seemed to reach it&#8230;something seemed wrong, but I managed to catch over a dozen brookies with 4 between 10-13 inches. Finally I turned around since I knew that it was going to be a hard wade upstream back to the car. My thighs became Jello and I was totally exhausted and in pain. My left ankle which was swollen b/c of the bee sting was being irritated by my wader boots, and on the way back I noticed something that was really bad. I saw where a trib goes into another stream, which I must have missed on the wade downstream. I must have been pre-occupied with the fish and I really did not know which branch was the trib and which was the mainstream as I did not notice this on the way downstream. Luckily I made the right choice/guess and made it back to the car. The next spot that I wanted to try was a certain &#8220;glorious hole&#8221; (hint hint as to which river this is)and I recognized the area as I had already waded past this area, so I had waded over 2 miles upstream and then back. I probably should not admit to all of you the extent of my stupidity. Next I fished a certain branch of the Ontonagon which was nice and cool and I had some decent fishing for rainbows and brookies on worms.


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## Chinookhead (Mar 4, 2005)

9th day&#8212;I waded that certain branch of the Ontonagon again, but this time waded upstream and under a bridge across a major road away from the park which no one seems to do and the fishing was spectacular for brookies and rainbows. I caught most of the fish on worms, but in a large small hole I caught a 14 inch rainbow on a husky jerk, which also hooked a couple big chubs in the same area. 









I waded upstream of this area and caught a couple small brookies&#8230;..Then I started hearing something large in the woods. I was not concerned about it. I was thinking that it was probably a deer or something, but it did not seem to spook and I continued moving upstream as I was for the last mile or 2, but the strange thing was that he seemed to be following me, so I quickened the pace a bit upstream thinking that If I leave his territory that he&#8217;ll leave me alone then I hear two snorts which got me pretty scared and my heart pumping, *then* *the bear growled and snorted at me rapidly as it charged at me.* I know that you are suppose to hold your ground and face it and talk to it, but I was caught off guard and frieked out and just jumped in the water filling up my waders and took off downstream. Initially I heard him following me along the bank and it snorted at me a couple more times, but it eventually stopped following me, so I had a rather cold wade home as my waders had filled almost to my knees. On this day I was keeping fish and I imagine that he may have been interested in my bag of fish (??????).


10th day---I returned to my private honey hole on this certain branch of the Ontonogan (was this stupid?) and everything went smoothly. I thought that the bear most likely had moved on and Jonathan encouraged me to go again. I had an absolutely perfect day. The action initially was great with dark skies and rain&#8230;.within 2 minutes I caught my biggest brookie of the trip&#8230;.. a 15 incher on a spinner and worm. 








This would prove to be my best lure. It was like a mini crawler harness that I tie for Erie walleyes. 1st a small hook, then 2 red beads, a spinner clevis with a #3 gold blade, and then a chartreuse blade. With this rig, unlike with a worm accurate tight to cover casts did not seem as necessary as fish moved out of cover to chase it. I also caught a 14 inch rainbow and 6 brookies 10-14 inches and over a dozen little brookies and some steelhead smolts. Thankfully, even though I waded past the area that I encountered the bear he did not bother me, so I thought that my honey hole was okay. My little slice of heaven.








At this spot I rested on a rock for about 20 minutes and enjoyed some cereal and a cliff bar.

11th day --A restful day just hanging out at the campsite&#8230;.bonfires, beer, and burgers etc. and swimming in the stream (no alcohol before swimming).



12th day&#8212;Back to my honey hole, but unfortunately about 200 yards downstream from where I had the 1st bear encounter I heard the bear (didn&#8217;t see him through the thick bush)snorting and following me again, so I turned around and went downstream. I&#8217;m thinking about reporting this. Who do I report this to b/c I think that this bear may be a bit dangerous or maybe something should be posted in the area?? Usually when I fished, Jonathan played the mandolin enjoyed the scenery at a nice hole, dunking a couple worms, and swimming.








13th day&#8212;Sad, Sad, Sad&#8230;..Bye bye UP and bye bye Yoopers. Kenton is a fun town. The town is a general store and two bars (hahahaha). We hung out at Hoppies for a bit one night&#8230;.nice people. We took a long scenic ride home along the southern part of the Peninsula instead of the northern part and even went into Wisconsin. We stopped at some great local craftman&#8217;s shops&#8230;seeing great workmanship (knives and beautiful wooden pieces). I bought a Northwoods fillet knife. Check out Jays Sporting Goods. It&#8217;s his house where he makes and sells his stuff. What a nice man with great stories and absolutely beautiful knives and furniture&#8230;true works of art! We then went to Tahquamenon Falls and enjoyed a couple beers at the microbrewery, went for a little hike, and then drove home. The LP is not nearly as fun driving through as the UP.


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## Chinookhead (Mar 4, 2005)

Another shot of me in another small rapids area on the ontonagon. Anat can take a picture!


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## crosscobra (Aug 5, 2007)

wow guys great pics


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## Fishcapades (Mar 18, 2003)

Looks like you had a blast!!!


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## Boardman Brookies (Dec 20, 2007)

Thanks for the story and pics. It looks like you all had a blast!!


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## Wolf_Dancer34 (Nov 14, 2006)

sounds like a really fun trip---the sort of trip i would enjoy minus the bears...lol


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## UPJerry (Dec 14, 2006)

Thanks a lot for that in-depth report and the pics. Very entertaining. I have fished many of the same stretches you are talking about. In fact, I was at the Sparrow Rapids campground a few nights ago and may have spent some time at the same site your were at. Any chance you were at #3 and may have left a little bit of fish juice/scales and maybe a couple ramen noodles on the table? Whoever it was, the wasps seemed to enjoy hanging around that stuff. :lol:

I did give chinookhead some tips via pm (primarily about the Ontonagon) in advance of this trip but he seems to have far outdone me. I guess when you take a big trip like this you feel an urge to really explore everything and try new things. I have mostly just skimmed the surface in those areas. For example, I don't think I ever made it upstream of the "grass fields" of the Middle Br. Ontonagon between Burned Dam and Watersmeet, but it seems that's where all the trout are. Thanks for discovering that for me!  I was starting to think that stretch was overhyped.

I, too, am sometimes discouraged from wading or hiking long distances as I have had some kind of groin pain/injury for over a year that doctors have not been able to diagnose. But if I know it's worth the effort I'm willing to go the distance. Hope your affliction clears up with some time.

Anyway, thanks again. Not sure if I will make it out that way again this season, but if not, that report will help hold me (and, I imagine, the rest of us) over till next year.

P.S. On the bears, I have never seen any out there, even though I have probably been to the exact spot where you encountered that one. I would probably report it to the USFS Kenton Ranger District and the local DNR office.


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## Chinookhead (Mar 4, 2005)

When the boys were left alone everything went downhill:








Jonathan ate this for breakfast at 7AM. He passed out early before the burgers were ready and said that he would eat in the morning for breakfast. Jonathan was not sure if there was enough cholesterol and fat in it, so he had to fry up a sunny side up for it.


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## soggybtmboys (Feb 24, 2007)

Great story and pics, thanx for sharing. Looks like you had a blast!


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## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

What a trip!

My back was hurting just reading it. Thanks for taking me along :lol:


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## Chinookhead (Mar 4, 2005)

Jerry, upstream of Watersmeet the water was extremely low...though the water seemed plenty cold, but we only caught small brookies and rainbows there. Downstream of Watersmeet the fishing was very good with the water still cold and more water and deeper holes. I'll PM u in regards to the "bear spot". Again Jerry, thanks for the help and ideas while at the same time not "feeding" me the exact spots...otherwise I would not have had such adventures or found new spots. It would have been great to have something with 4 wheel drive or at least a little more clearance as this restricted us somewhat. In regards to the back...what hurt the most was sitting still for long periods of time like the long rides in the car and carrying a 50 pound pack at the ended of the day I was in pain and just after waking up after carrying the big pack.....Hiking and wading with a small pack (as long as I did not fill it with heavy fish and water to keep them cold) was fine. From what I've been reading this is typical of sciatica. I am feeling fine now, so I think I just have to not do anything overly stressful for a bit of time and hopefully it'll heal completely on its own.



UPJerry said:


> Thanks a lot for that in-depth report and the pics. Very entertaining. I have fished many of the same stretches you are talking about. In fact, I was at the Sparrow Rapids campground a few nights ago and may have spent some time at the same site your were at. Any chance you were at #3 and may have left a little bit of fish juice/scales and maybe a couple ramen noodles on the table? Whoever it was, the wasps seemed to enjoy hanging around that stuff. :lol:
> 
> I did give chinookhead some tips via pm (primarily about the Ontonagon) in advance of this trip but he seems to have far outdone me. I guess when you take a big trip like this you feel an urge to really explore everything and try new things. I have mostly just skimmed the surface in those areas. For example, I don't think I ever made it upstream of the "grass fields" of the Middle Br. Ontonagon between Burned Dam and Watersmeet, but it seems that's where all the trout are. Thanks for discovering that for me!  I was starting to think that stretch was overhyped.
> 
> ...


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## TonyP (Jul 18, 2006)

A few years ago while kayaking the ontonogan I had a bear cross the river about 50 yards in front of my path. Thankfully, the bear quickened its pace one it realized I was heading its way! The bear encounters you experienced sound intense... I'm sure that got the adrenaline pumping! Thanks for the great report and pictures! Absolutely awesome.


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## cane crazed (Jul 22, 2008)

i take it from your post that you are from north carolina. if so where? i have fished the stretches you talked about on the ontanogon and have seen several bears. being from tennessee and hiking and fishing the southern appalachians i am quite use to black bears and every encounter is an experience as you can never predict how they will respond to your presence. how did you like the sparrow rapids area? the water down from watersmeet is lovely. if you are from north carolina have you ever fished around brevard? i love the gorge area although in the main summer months it can be very snakey. cane crazed


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## Chinookhead (Mar 4, 2005)

cane crazed said:


> i take it from your post that you are from north carolina. if so where? i have fished the stretches you talked about on the ontanogon and have seen several bears. being from tennessee and hiking and fishing the southern appalachians i am quite use to black bears and every encounter is an experience as you can never predict how they will respond to your presence. how did you like the sparrow rapids area? the water down from watersmeet is lovely. if you are from north carolina have you ever fished around brevard? i love the gorge area although in the main summer months it can be very snakey. cane crazed


I'm just curious what about my post seemed to indicate that I'm from N. Carolina? I am from a suburb of Detroit and I am currently in grad school in NYC......Anat and Jonathan are also temporarily in NYC and originally from other places. The sparrow Rapids area seemed to have mainly steelhead smolts and small brookies...though I did catch 2 decent sized rainbows there one evening 13" and 14". The campsite is pretty though not maintained (no water) and there are shot up signs. However, one evening I basically stepped on what must have been a 5 pound brookie on a sandbar...boy did I feel silly.

And yup bear encounters are always unique.....my only other bear experiences while fishingw ee in Alaska and those bears just left us alone.


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## WILDCATWICK (Mar 11, 2002)

I'm glad to hear that the trip went so well. It's always fun to do some exploring and finding some success. I know we all appreciate you taking the time to share this adventure with us.


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