sprewett
Senior Member
Yesterday my son and I were gonna take the boat out after men's breakfast to try out the new mud motor. We woke to gloomy grey skies that gave us a bit of apprehension about using the Jon boat. It soon began to rain so we abandon the boat idea and took off on foot. I had walked a good ways down the area we decided on before but I wanted to go check out an area that I had never been. Early in the trip we would come to an area that usually had deer bedded down so we snuck up but they were not there and to my dismay hogs had moved in and tore it up completely. We went on hiking in the mtns (albeit small ones @Doug B. Haha) And came to a rock sheer face we climbed higher to go above and around to a small game trail which was so steep it wouldn't even support us. Couple times we almost slid down and over the cliff. We dug our knees in holding saplings when we could get to em and made our way to thick rhododendron. We found a spot that I thought was manageable on the rock face so I slid straight down the hill and aimed for a tree with my foot. Sigh of relieve made it! I coached my son down without a problem. The next step would be much trickier I had to hit a small sapling on the edge of a 10' drop while sliding. Reluctantly, I started my slide hit the tree fast turned me sideways and like one of the cables that stops jets on the carriers a pile of saw briars grabbed me squarely in the crotch stopping me from a fall that would have certainly hurt me. I have never been so happy to get racked in my life! Handed off the rifle to my son and shimmied my way down the face. I stood on a rock wrapped up in another tree and coached him down once again after he handed me the rifle. We both made it down a bit bloody but we made it nonetheless. Then in the slippery rock face I had to crawl over a downed tree. I grabbed a limb from a tree to cross and soon as I got over it broke the rifle and I went down. I was sliding quickly down the rocks grasping for anything I could to stop my fall and by the grace of God I did. We finally made it around all the treacherous terrain and both decided as fun and exhilarating as it was we would climb straight up the mtn and walk the ridge around this entire section on the return trip. Overall, we had an exceptional time full of adventure, laughs, and team work. We didn't see one single animal apart from birds. The ole "sure shot" Winchester now has some battle wounds on the walnut stock my pistol took some scars to the handle that will sure to be a great story to pass down at a later time. We covered 7.22 miles and my son found out Ariats make poor hiking boots.
