Beaverkill Trip

John caught this nice brown trout on a miniscule fly in the Beaverkill River. Jason took the picture above and the one below with his cell phone.
John's enjoying pulling in a feisty trout.

John, Jason and I enjoyed a few days at Beaverkill State Park in the Catskills, New York. It was our favorite vacation destination for many years. We were first introduced to camping by Janet and Jim in 1977 at the Beaverkill. First it was the two couples in one tent; then it was the two couples in two tents on our own sites; then it was with many friends. Jim's first time there was when he was less than one year old. His second time was the following year when I was pregnant with Jason. Then, when Jason was two and we were ready to start camping again, we purchased the pop-up camper. We continued to enjoy the Beaverkill for many years until it became too crowded during the summer. A few years ago John and I returned in our truck camper and enjoyed it very much. Since then the river has flooded repeatedly and the sites along the river in half of the campground have been closed. The rest of the campground is still nice. The scenic Catskills will always hold treasured memories for us and now we are making more memories.
The closed sites are all overgrown and the river has changed course so much that it's hard to tell exactly where we camped all those years.



Jason's first fly fishing day was quite successful!

There must have been a million tadpoles (the size of a pea and smaller) all along the river's edge. When the boys were little and we were there in July they spent hours playing with the little frogs.

The fishing is good above and below the covered bridge.

Even though we came home a day early due to rainy weather we had plenty of time to enjoy fishing, walking, cookouts and campfires. It was also nice to have a break from media: no computer, no TV and no cell phone reception. Birdwatching is excellent along the river. It was especially good to see Baltimore orioles and warblers. We also saw a grey fox, a bald eagle and some deer. A bear was sighted the day before our arrival but we never saw it.