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Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1381 Location: Denver, Colorado

Back from a long weekend at "home". Been out here for almost 40-years but oddly still refer to that world as "home". It was primarily a trip for death and it's aftermath (funeral for a 96-year old) and to check-up on some folks still dealing with the loss of their husband & father less than 2-years ago. There were some good moments but it was mostly somber.

Life moves on there (as it does everywhere), and things do finally change. Friends look older, lots of infirmities being relayed (along with the current information for my long-list of old friends). Working here at home today, taking stock of it all.

Fall has lingered there this year as well, and I got a chance to go out and look over a few old coverts on Sunday before flying home Monday morning (that are now fairly overgrown). Things change slowly there, but that's a comfort as well as a curse. Driving down those backroads was peaceful and...fun(!) and it was neat to see that world in late Fall again. The colors are different there than anywhere else (hardwoods and their understory). Not really hard to figure out why ruffed grouse there are mostly red, and the diversity of plants and types is always a riot of colors and textures, It seemed strange to not have a gun on hand but....it just wasn't practical.

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What used to be my "stairway to heaven" at a long-abandoned homesite, now badly overgrown.

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Kinzua country!

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Lots of memories here, mostly all good.

Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1381 Location: Denver, Colorado

A nice Veteran's Day tribute, but the hard part of my trip (other than my uncle's funeral):

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Joined: 30 Sep 2019 Posts: 145 Location: Colorado

Lloyd, it so happens that I’m walking a parallel path with you just now but in the Ozarks of my childhood. An insight from Canadian writer Molly Parker that I shared over on the double gun site keeps echoing through our days here as we drive familiar roads and care for my 97 year old aunt.

“The landscape you grow up in speaks to you in a way that nowhere else does.”

I’m grateful I had the first 22 years of my life in these ancient mountains and cherish the outdoor memories that are simultaneously painful and wonderful.

Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1381 Location: Denver, Colorado

For me it was the first 27 years and breaking away was painful in so-many ways. I've often wondered what the Ozarks were like (after reading the book "True Grit" was derived from) because it sounds like interesting country. Wouldn't change anything but... I'll always wonder what would have happened if I'd of stayed?

Lloyd3,
The saying you can't go home again is pretty much true, I have been extremely lucky having my Potter/Tioga log cabin to hunt and fish from for all these years. When I got out of the US Army, I had my choice of where I wanted to live out the rest of my life.
I chose to come back to Potter/Tioga, Pa, and I am sure glade I made that decision.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1381 Location: Denver, Colorado

Dave: your part of the world is rapidly becoming one of the "last, good places". If I hadn't left 'ole Pennsyltucky, I'm confident that my present circumstances would be much-less satisfying. Walking away from the world that I knew was very hard, but it put me way-outside of my comfort zone and forced me to adapt to the world, for better or for worse, that now "is". The irony here is that now when I consider going somewhere to hunt and fish, I have to travel significant distances. Fishing (at least flyfishing) here in Colorado has declined significantly as we've been overrun (by...mostly Californians, druggies and illegals), and hunting here has as well. IMHO, small game is now almost non-existent and big game has been significantly "monetized" to the point that any hope of success now requires a considerable investment in both time and money. There are only a few places worth travelling to fly-fish anymore and, thankfully, remote Pennsylvania is still one of them. It also sounds like there are still a few birds left there as well. Not a bad place to make a last-stand.

I'm packing my truck today with rifles and gear for a week-long trip up to the "high lonesome" to hunt elk and deer yet one more time. My 20-year old son will be joining me. Don't know how many more of these rather-strenuous hunts I'll get to participate in but I'll keep going as long as they make sense.

Lloyd3,
Yes I am very lucky to have my log cabin located in Potter/Tioga, Pa. We still have great Fly Fishing and Bird hunting, along with our big Deer, Bear and Turkey populations and even some Elk. Our mountain community has really not been effected by the leftist crazies very much. However we have been effective by the NY people who ride the welfare rolls, fortunately Potter County has slowed their enrollement here in Potter county, so they have to go some place else to get welfare, keeping our small population decent. Unfortunately in Colorado you have some serious problems with the California dregs setting up residence. We do have the same kind of problems in our big cities like Philly and Pittsburgh however. Most of those city type people do not like living in our mountain communities very much, so we have not been over run with them.

Hay you could always relocate to Montana they still have great hunting and fishing and their taxes are decent, not as good as our Potter County, Pa taxes however.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

We call Potter County Gods Country cause it is!

Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 1310 Location: Western WA

For those of you that reside today far away from your home grounds, consider this: Order a container of maple syrup from your old locale. You will be surprised and delighted how the miles and years melt away the moment you open the lid and that deeply familiar scent of your native autumn woods fills the room.

B.

Brewster11,

A very good idea, the only thing better is actually being home and having the home made Maple Syrup on a Waffle with a couple sunny side eggs on top, and the Syrup covering everything!

Is it breakfast time yet?

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Member Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 376 Location: North ID.

You can't go home in the sense that it will be the same a number of years after one left. People pass, new ones move in and the old country changes with time both faces and places! In my case, I moved from N ID in the early 80's to AK and moved back to N ID in the late 90's. A conscious decision on our part, to be closer to aging parents, relatives and friends. The sleepy logging town I grew up in hadn't changed much from a physical perspective, but the flavor of the place had changed, progressed, if you will from an almost wild west logging town atmosphere, where the loggers came into town from the logging camps with the associated drinking and fighting to where the old logging camps had been abandoned and those folks were more settled into the community, living the civilized life with wives, children, church, etc.

The surrounding country changes as well, with much USFS, State and Industry ground being logged and planted and repeated over again. A good friend took me to some of our old grouse, deer or elk hunting spots that if he hadn't told me where we were, I wouldn't have recognized it with the clearcuts and the regen of trees in an old clearcut. One thing that hasn't changed is the is the hunting opportunities it has to offer. Grouse, three species, elk and deer in abundance, bears, cougars, waterfowl and a blue ribbon cutthroat stream, with a number of others in close proximity. Bass, both large and smallmouth, pike, kokanee in the lakes and the list goes on. Yes, it's changed but the outdoor opportunities are endless and that's what drew me back, along with the aforementioned relatives. My dad has passed, my mom is in AL and is 98, all their friends have passed but many of my siblings, relatives and friends are still around and that makes it special to me!

IDcut,

Your description is much like ours is, of the town I was born in. Although our population has gone down again, they even closed the bank in town and then got away with blocking any other bank from opening a branch in our small town, because they own the only building in town that can house a modern banking facility. Most times things change for the good, unfortunately not in our little town at this time.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

my spot is the Bemidji area of northern Minn, been in southern Ind for 40 years and still does not feel like home like where I grew up.

Member Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 376 Location: North ID.

I had some friends, brothers who were from Bemidji that I met while in AK. One used to talk about the Bemidji area as "God's Country!"

Joined: 12 Sep 2010 Posts: 1973 Location: Maine

The "Old Country" I grew up in, where I learned for fish and hunt and camp, doesn't exist any more. Buried under suburban sprawl.

Perhaps that's more merciful because I'm spared trying to go back to a past that no longer exists.

Dave in Maine,

Sorry to hear that, you definitely can not return home now at all. You still have your memories however!

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man