Ascalon and on

On the second day the sun was out and full of pith and vinegar the J-set and I decided to bushwack our way up the hill to a little lake called Ascalon. The map indicated it had brookies and with no formal trail to the lake we thought it might yield up a meal early in the season. It did. Just not to us.

We hiked along the old rail bed and then followed a stream up through the birches to the lake. There weren’t any good spots for fishing from shore and the lake looks to be about three feet deep. By the time we had found some reasonably open spots for casting (on the far side of the lake of course) the day had warmed up considerably and was quite nice compared to the recent cold. The clouds of voracious black flies that feasted on us as seemed to like the warm temperatures too.

Eventually the rotten log I was standing on broke and I got my feet wet and we headed back to camp. "not a fish, not a bite".

Heavy-C, who had stayed in camp, greeted our return with a farcical story of landing a giant Bass some feet in length. The map and guide book mention only trout in these lakes. Obviously he had misidentified and released what should have been our supper.

The next day the forecast called for Showers. Well it was half right. There was only one shower. It did last for six hours though. So I lay in my wet tent and read my book between cup-o-soup forays. In the evening, after the six hour shower, I finally found the fish but due to my lack of skill I was unable to get any into the boat.

When Wednesday arrived it was time to pack up and head back to the grind. It was raining again but true to form it turned nice as we left the park. Physh Camp ‘09 was a rough trip, cold, wet, no fish, blackflies and man, the rental kayak was miserable to portage. Still good clean fun though. I hope the boys keep it up next year while I’m on the AT so I can come back in Physh Camp ’11.