Brandywine Creek Gorge Hike Part 2

 

Brandywine Creek Gorge Hike

 

Health update on the Contact Dermatitis

After over two months I am finally all healed up. Now I had little spots pop up randomly and then go away it’s been strange to say the least and lots of lessons learned!

O the Yough Part 2

 

I headed to the upper Yough. Here I would find it more conducive to wading well where I waded. At 1200 cf/s and at a gauge height of 2.20 it was moving, but at least for me very wadable.

I began to work the waters downstream of a fellow bug rodder. He was I am guessing Czech nymphing.

The stream held inky green color in any water deeper than 30” and did not have as many leaves up here.

Those leaves when they drop in the middle and lower section will be of biblical proportions.

This section of the river had a much different river bottom composition. The river here was made of pea gravel, small cobbles, river stone, and had a few weeds here and there.

I do regret now not having my smaller trout streamer box. I will never know if it would have made a difference or not.

The one hungry brown that I hooked up with was enough to get me over the regret.

O The Yough Part 1

 

What I have always found most fun is the planning of a trip. It does not matter if it’s for hiking, fishing, or camping. I get more satisfaction doing all the research and putting the plan into action.

I found my self flip flopping between the Yough “Youghiogheny” River that runs through Ohiopyle State Park or fishing the Clarion River in Pennsylvania.

I kept watching the flow gauges and with information from a friend I had chosen the Yough.

Most of the tributaries that dump into the Great Lakes are very low and that’s not my vibe at all. The bluebird skies they were calling for on Saturday did not sit well with me. At least I had fog for a bit down in the gorge.

I also want to mention that the information that I am going to share in this blog entry is nothing new and has been available on the internet for decades.

The Yough is extremely rugged and unforgiving in the two out of the three sections of river that I saw. To the point that if one does get injured you will most likely have to self-rescue.  The Gorge walls are 600 feet high GPS, and a cell phone will not work well if at all!

In the middle section of the river is lettered with huge rocks and most of the pools I fished I could not even begin to guess how deep they were.

I am extremely comfortable with fishing in big water. This would be my first time here and would challenge me right off the bat.  I walked up the boulder strewn bank that changed to sand and river rock beaches.

I didn’t see other human footprints but did see other animal prints. I walked up to my first perch after passing other sexy stretches of water.

I knew bringing a bug rod down to the gorge would prove to be challenging. By this I mean the volume of water that this river had 1200 cfs and the shear depth of the holes, chutes, and not to mention the wicked river currents.

The switch rod I would use today would have an Airflo sinking leader at a rate of 2”/sec. I should have swapped that out for 5”/sec and even that I don’t think would have mad a difference when looking back. I used my 2 ½” bucktail streamer on a size #6 hook.

I also brought my eggbeater as well. The main line is 30# test power pro and with a 10-foot leader made of 8# test fluorocarbon.

I brought with me the West Virginia state bait aka power bait lol.  The Gulp Swimming Mullet in Dazzleberry Chrome 3” had been successful in other bodies of water.

I used to use the 3” Gulp power grub in shad color but they don’t make them anymore! What a shame because that bait hammered fish.

The heaviest jig I had this day was ¼ oz.

I began with the switch rod and after cast after cast and made every attempt to cover the water the best way I knew how nothing came to hand.  

I put down the switch rod and walked back to my pack and picked up the spinning rod.

After the third cast in the same general area, but this time it ended up in a slick. A slick to me is where two or more currents in a river or stream create a flat current atop of the river or creek. This has always held a fish for me throughout the years.

Then it happened halfway through the jig swinging through the current whammo!

The feisty rainbow did not like getting stuck in the roof of the mouth with the Aberdeen hook.

After a brief battle I brough her to the net. She was maybe 15” long and so clean.

This is another prime example of why, like on these outings, I bring both types of rods. I will not limit myself on how I fish to give me the best chance of hooking a fish.

I kept fishing the same water well, kind of that I did with the bug rod and with the same result minus the nice bow from earlier.

I loaded up with the micro tackle shop and rods and headed out of this section of the gorge.

The rocks and boulders in the boulder field are as smooth as glass and if they are wet well you will have to take extreme care in walking on them.

I got back to Bess “my Subaru Outback” and found the parking lot full to the brim!

Pay close attention to where you park because you could get blocked in by others. I nearly had a stroke when I realized that someone could have blocked me in. They park front to back “one in front of the other” when floating down the river.

They park in front of the other person when they know them since they float in pairs.

My next stop was to visit the Cumberland Falls area. This is where I would get my first taste of how busy it could be. I am also sure this was not as bad as it gets during other peak seasonal times.

The Cumberland Falls parking lot is small, I mean small!

This area does have a trail you can follow but the cleaning up from all the fallen trees does make this trail hard to follow. I bailed on the trail as soon as I got close to the water. I was carrying too much equipment to bushwack on purpose for who knows how long.

I arrived at the water’s edge and before I could I needed to walk on 100’s of lienal feet of wood debris. When I finally reached the near tail out of the pool, I realized this pool was exceptionally deep! I had decided to call this the “Canyon Hole”.

I was thinking about the rods and reels I had brought with me. I was wondering if I could have done this differently. Up top this point I had zero room for a back cast. This would extremely limit others from fishing this river from the bank.

The whitewater craft I would see here, and down river would also tell me why I had not seen any fishing guide boats.

I strapped on the fasting sinking leader. The Airflo leader I had chosen was 5”/second. I really needed a full sinking line here. I could not use with without being on a river craft.

I used the same streamer on the bug rod. I also did not change the lure on the eggbeater.

I was used to seeing boat traffic since I also fished the Cheat River in West Virginia.

This was in colder weather and remarked to myself “I could not imagine how busy it would be in the warmer months!”.

When fishing these big rivers and depending on your gear, you’re at the mercy of the currents of the river. I knew a flyrod with any time of floating line would be worthless at the water depths. Sure, I had a sinking leader on that was 10 feet long and with 3 feet of tippet. This would get me down 13 feet, but I guess that the depths I was fishing for would be 30 feet!

Heck the eggbeater would only produce a fish close to the BFR’s that adorned the riverbanks. I feel fortunate to have hooked that fish.

Part two coming up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will be headed to the Youghiogheny River on saturday

 The flows look like they will be easier to fly fish. I will be taking a single hander and a switch rod.

I will have plenty of content to wade through when I get back.

I have never been to the area before.

stay tuned and be well,

update Saturday morning

Well the CFS has been 1000 over the past few days now its 1230.  The river came up up below Ohio Pyle .20 feet. I am still going, but this maybe a short day ..lol...Also the ACE dam up at the lake increased the flow I hope it is just to flush debris and it does not go higher!

Great trip by my standards! I need to sleep but here is a highlight.

Swinging Flies in Ohio

 

As the National Park here buzzes with ppl I found the river to be void of people. With the fall colors around here being peak it is busting with peepers!

We are fortunate to have this in our backyards. I had chosen two sections of the hoga to swing flies today.

With the overnight lows being in the 30’s I saw zero reason to be there at the crack of dawn.

This marks the second year they have stocked the river and next year will be the first return of the adults!

I am looking for to seeing more fish in the river, but not more people if I am being honest.

The river was low but had more water in it than most.

I used a simple 2” long bucktail streamer pattern today.

Headed to the river for some water therapy!

Angry Lake Erie Slow-mo!

10.16.2026 Angry Erie!

 

Waving a stick in a river

To help my soul bounce back from the weather from the hurricane weather down on the mountain in West Virginia I choose to go wave a stick in a river on Tuesday.

I recall my youth and want to catch as many fish as I could. I can remember the excitement of the possibility of it.

I can recall the feeling of being so excited to see what adventure lay ahead of me for the day.

Today’s adventure would lead me to explore a few creek mouths that could have fish migrating from the Allegheny River.

I took my 5-weight switch rod and my 6-weight single hander too.

The winds where still an issue today. I watched trout jump out of the river to mock me. That was funny to see. They were in currents that I could not navigate with my fly rod.

After six hours of trying to redefine insanity, it was time to call it a day. No fish were hooked or brought to hand and that was ok for me.

Wild, Wonderful, Wet West Virginia Part Two

 

On day 3 (Saturday) in the morning the effects of the hurricane were felt. What I did not know at the time but these 20-25 mph sustained winds would turn into 35-45 mph winds with 60 mph gusts thrown in overnight with hard rain.

I had hoped that the hurricane had enough energy to climb out of the Ohio River Valley and continue northerly.  As, it would work out it followed the Ohio River Valley instead because it lost a lot of energy.

I decided to travel to some other forest roads today to mix it up.  I hope you enjoy the artwork.

I returned and was thankful I took down the tarp awning. The tarp would have been torn by the nasty winds.

I wanted to eat a hot meal tonight. I dug out an old fire pit and that did not work. I piled up the dirt nearly 20” high and it still did not do the trick.

I then thought ok Bess “my Outback” lets put your hood into the wind and open the tailgate to cook! It worked like a charm!

I stayed up as long as I could before I hit the rack. I knew once I was in that tent I was not coming out.  I moved Bess so no tree would hit her overnight if one came down.

I need to digress here for a moment. I knew the risks in choosing to camp at this location. I take full responsibility for myself and acknowledge that the weather is one of a camper’s best friends and worst enemies.

While in my tent you could hear the wind howling. You could watch the sides of my tent get punched repeatedly as the light dances in the video! My tent is a 3 season MSR Hubba Bubba 2-person tent.

I finally fell asleep after I didn’t know after an hour of listening to the wind howling.

I then woke up on Sunday, and the winds were not as bad, but they still had a lot of punches left in them. I am going to assume they were 20-25 mph winds with some gusts well above that.

I woke up and it was finally Sunday. I outstretched my arm and let it lay on top of my Marmot 15-degree bag, and I lined it with a military grade poncho liner. When I did this my arm got cold and I thought “that’s strange”.

I realized it was cold because my sleeping bag was wet. I sat up and turned on the little flashlight that I hung from the canopy in the tent. I could see water everywhere.

It was not standing water, but rain had blown in between the rain fly and the ground. The winds were brutal up on that exposed face of the mountain.

I know if I did not break camp quickly, being cold and wet could be a real issue. The other issue could also be hypothermia! With wind speed of 25 and the air temperature being 48 that would make the wind chill temperature 40 degrees!!!

https://www.calculator.net/wind-chill-calculator.html?windspeed=25&windspeedunit=mph&airtemperature=48&airtemperatureunit=fahrenheit&x=Calculate

 I got up and put on my nano-puff that was in a dry bag. I then raced to put my boots on and then trying to stay calm I got all the camping gear accounted for.

I then puy all the stuff in dry bags so it would not soak the inside of Bess. I also purchased 3 mil contractor trash bags from Walmart. These bags would be stuff with other wet items.

This felt like it took an eternity to get all the gear back in the vehicle as organized as I could.

I chose the high ground for the tent site, and you could tell because all other areas had inches of standing water in them.

My nano puff was wet all the way through as I finally put the last bit of gear and trash into Bess.

I headed out to get changed somewhere and get out of these wet clothes!!

Headed to PA to swing some flies on Tuesday

 I will wrap up the write up soon friends

Wild, Wonderful, Wet West Virginia Part One

I loaded up Bess “the Outback” and headed down to West Virginia.

I want to start off by saying with all the hurricanes forecast models I knew the risks and went anyway. The way I thought about it was either is was going to have enough evergy and keep going north of the Ohio River Valley or it was going to run out of energy to climb out of the Ohio River Valley.  As, fate would have it the hurricane did not have enough energy to climb out of the Ohio River Valley. It followed the valley and brought its fury with it.

I will continue to talk about hurricane Isaias throughout the remainder of the blog entry.

This would be my first trip ever since I contracted contact dermatitis. I would be primitive camping in the Mower Basin.

As I arrived at the area, I noticed that a lot of people had the same idea. I had checked out all the campsites I knew of and found them to be all occupied.

I knew this was a possibility and I was happy to see others enjoying the resources.

I finally found home for the next 11 days well it was supposed to be for 11 days, but it was cut short by remnants of hurricane Isaias. I will get into details later of why I heeded the warning signs.

The campsite had great views of the valley and the other mountain ridges of the Allegheny’s and beyond.

I had chosen this time frame because of the new moon, and this is one of the darkest places on the eastern part of the United States here are the coordinates 38.572083, -79.924741.

For more information on light pollution go here https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/

Day 1 (Thursday) I arrived at the camp site, I was overjoyed, no one was there. I set up camp and in choosing this spot at 4166 feet in elevation I knew I would be extremely exposed to the elements. The winds aloft where a playful 10-15 mph and nothing to major. The tent canopy was holding her own from the way I installed it.

I set up my tent awning which was just a tarp and then my MSR Hubba Bubba 3 season two-man tent.

The guy lines for the tent awning were staked with 8” x 0.375” spikes and were driven in with a 5-pound maul. This would prove to be so important with the 20-30 mph gusting winds. I would end up taking it down because it was too much load on the tent poles.

After the campsite was all set up, it was time to drive into town and get some firewood.

The leaves on the trees looked amazing but only maybe 50 percent of the leaves had color on them.

It was still beautiful with all the driving I did from the asphalt roads and the forest roads.

I got back to the campsite and unloaded the wood. I prepped the fire pit and dug it out to get down to a fresh dry bottom. I rearranged some rocks so that I could heat up my bath water.

I never prepare food or eat near my shelter. I also never use the facilities near the shelter either.  I always hang my trash in a tree away from the shelter, but not in the same areas as the other activities.

Weather wise Thursday night was the best night. I could not see the northern horizon only in the southerly direction. This would hamper the sunrises, but not the sunsets.

On day 2 (Friday) I would choose a very small hike at the top of Spruce Knob. This would be the first legit hike since the injury.

The winds on Spruce Knob (SK) were noticeably stronger and was a precursor to that evening.

Spruce Knob was an extremely short hike and with some tiny amount of rock scrambling made is a real treat for me.  As I got out on a small flat down from the Knob and was graced with one of mother nature’s wonders.

The sun had a 22° halo, Sun Dogs, Parhelic Circle, and 120° Parahelia! It has been over 30 years since I have seen one of these. It was a real treat, and I will never forget it. I hope you enjoy the artwork.

I arrived back at the tent, and the awning was really being pushed to its limits. To hold the awning in place I needed to pull down so hard on it with the guy-lines the tent posts were getting shorter by just the tension I had them in.

I choose to remove the canopy until this weather gets better.

I had some dinner and heated up some bath water. I took care of my details, and the hot field shower was amazing!

I buttoned up everything and hit the rack.

Health update

 I have had new areas pop up on my body. While for now they are manageable I'm afraid if I hike long distances it will not go so well for me.  

I will loose another month of hiking because of this health issue.

At least I will be able to camp and drive to locations to take photos and videos.  This will unfortunately limit me in what I really wanted to accomplish on this trip.

I have made another doctors appointment for when I return.  

It's better to be safe than sorry,

Me 

I will see y'all when I get back

 I leave for the Monongahela National Forest.  I will be primitive camping for 12 days.  I just hope like hell my body is ready. 

I know I will be a little out of shape but I gotta try. 

Great Camping Weather Forecast

 

28 Days of healing

 Well, it's been 28 days since my whole ordeal with contact dermititis.  

I have two tiny areas that itch.  This has been going on for a week.  

It's not spreading and I am not itching it.  I wrapped up my Prednisone on Sunday.  

I still plan on going camping in hiking in West Virginia in nine days.  

One of two things is going to happen on this trip.  I'm either going to have an amazingly good time or not 😂 

9 Days Until this is my vibe!

 

Day 22 of my healing adventure

 

Day 19 of healing

 the fourth day of the new script of roids has really allowed me to feel so much better and look less like a small pox victum.  I will most likely have scars but I was never an OF leg model so I am good! 

Day 16 and went back to the Doc

 He gave me a Z pak of roids and said this will clear you up before you trip!

Update

I took my first pills at 1230 and then came home four hours later. I looked in the mirror and my battle wounds are already fading! 

As a matter of a fact I soaked in the tub and took a shoer in cool water. I normally would have atleast one itch fit by now.

I have not a had a one and only feel the slightest discomfort right now. 

I have turned a major page in the healing journey.

Contact Dermititis Day 14

 I know it looks bad still but this it feels night and day better than 14 days ago.  I dont know if this is going to be gone before I leave for West Virginia but we will see. If its not gone before then I will cancel my vacation plans.

Contact Dermititis Day 12

 I have started to really turn a corner on the healing side of things. I still look a mess but soaking in a tub of luke warm water for 20 minutes a day has really helped. I also have been putting on fragerance free skin cream. This hydrates the skin and I have changed to Dove for sensative skin until this mess is all healed up.

Contact Dermititis Day 10

 I'm still healing and now I need to keep my skin moist. It is a constant fight. I was using Dial soap because of its antibacterial properties.  It's leaving my skin way to dry.  I need to switch to Dove with Aloe and a fragrance free skin lotion.  

Contracting Contact Dermatitis on the trail "8th day of healing with drugs"

 

Contracting Contact Dermatitis on the trail

 

I am in the middle of healing from my 300-tick encounter plus my contracting Contact Dermatitis.

Let me digress and explain what has got me here talking about this.

I have always been a person who as a last resort will put on bug juice to protect me against ticks and insects.

I made several misjudgments that would land me where I am currently. The first one being not using the Natrapel I brought. This repellent does not react with gortext or any other synthetic clothing that I have noticed over the years.

I made a route in the Garmin Basecamp program. I then proceeded to hike it down in the Shawnee State Forest.

I walk all the time through weeds that are over my boots. The concentration of the right type and amounts of flora that could irritate a person’s skin had to be off the charts. I was wearing shorts and mid-calf socks. You can see my sock line in the photos, and you can tell the flora still penetrated my Darn Tough socks that I was wearing.

This was on Saturday for reference.  If I am correct, it was the last 2.5 miles on the Western Day Hike Loop. This is the only area where for an extended amount of time and miles the weed and grass growth was higher than my boots.  This patch in many places is very obscure.

This was also my closing leg of the 18.2-mile hike.

I was sweating a lot to the point I had no dry skin on my body and compounded by how I smelled I had been keeping up a 2.0 mph pace.

I also think this was part of the perfect storm for this case of Contact Dermatitis and with tick issue it made it worse.

On my way back to camp, I noticed all these seeds looking around the tops of my socks. If I would have really looked at them, I would have seen they where a bevy of small ticks.  I must have walked through one or several egg masses.

Because I dismissed them as being small wildflower seeds or something similar, I had unknowingly sealed my fate.

I went by to take a shower for a few hours. I made dinner and putzed around the camp and then finally took a shower.

I took a hot shower and since I thought they were seeds I just showered normally and thus redistributed the ticks all over me!

O it gets better I slept atop of my sleeping bag in shorts I would itch my legs all through the night and it would not dawn on me to ask, “why I’m I itching?”.

I woke up and of course my legs looked worse but had not started blistering yet.  It had not dawned on me, yet what my situation was.

I unpacked the car after driving countless hours. I took a shower and after I did, I inspected myself closer.  This would be Sunday and roughly 18 after the exposure.

I looked closely at the bumps on my skin, and I could see on most of them they had a tiny brown thing on them.

I yelled out no it can’t be? I put my headlamp on into a dark room and pulled one off with a pair of tweezers and put it on a baby wipe.

I then took a macro photo of it when my phone.  I then zoomed into it and my nightmare started to unfold.  I knew these would need to be taken off and that could only happen mechanically.

I went to a local med center and the amazing nurse practitioner using the point of a needle dislodged 300 ticks!! I still am and then also was so disappointed in myself. I took no steps in precautions to stop this from happening to me.

Out of 300 ticks he found only one female, and he sent me in a script for the Lyme disease.

Then I was discharged and went home.  By now the puss blisters had been popping and my legs where swollen from my knees to my toes.

These signs were telling me I needed help and that I was in trouble.

 I took sick time Monday and Tuesday not knowing I would need to take sick time all week.

I arrived at the doctor’s office, and she immediately told me it was Contact Dermatitis.

This first round of photos is from Monday.

This second round of photos is from Tuesday.

I found a product called Bugout by Ecopest  and it’s all natural. It’s a laundry additive and you can decon (decontamination) your equipment with it also.

I have bleached all surfaces of my house, bleach mopped the house, and I have swept the house thoroughly. I have emptied the trash a lot and emptied the sweeper and the contents have been taken out to the shed for trash day.

Cross contamination is one of the hardest things to stop from happening. For the ones who have had any HAZWOPER training and or NBC “Nuclear, Biological, Chemical” warfare training you know this is hard not to do.

I just wanted to share my story and always stay safe and vigilant folks.