Iron Bog Blog

Seth and I spent this past weekend with his family up at Iron Bog campground in Custer County, Idaho. We've had some pretty fun trips together so far, but I'm sure we'll remember this one for a long time.

On our way up to the Iron Bog campground, Seth and I stopped and fished Big Lost River coming out of Mackay Reservoir. It was a beautiful stream and was a really good place to practice our fly fishing skills. I got lucky and ended up hooking two small fish (not sure what they were as they jumped off my hook before I got a good look at them). Seth got skunked which made my already large head grow even bigger. Most days Seth can easily out-fish me, so when it's the other way around, I gotta make sure and rub it in!

Well we probably could have spent the whole day fishing there by Mackay but we knew the family was already up at the camp site, so we decided we better get up there before dinner time (plus we were really hungry). Everyone in the Hanson family was able to come except Scott and Amanda, who were both missed. It's quite the trip to Idaho from Houston, plus after making it through the aftermath of the hurricane a couple weeks before, we decided they were excused.

That evening Seth and I fished the little stream next to the campground and caught 14 small "Brookies." It was my first time catching them and it was a blast. I can see why the Hanson family loves them so much. When we got back from fishing, Tessa was very excited about the Brookies she'd caught with Grandpa and made sure to show them off to us. Marty and Arielle spent the evening hunting for elk, and checking out the deer for the October hunt. This was Arielle's first hunt and she was definitely ready. She was pretty tough and kept up with her dad the whole time. Marty Jr. was a big help keeping the fire going and I've never seen feet dirtier than Calysta's (although Abe was a close second). Rachel was the entertainment for the evening. We all enjoyed listening to her stories while admiring her impressive baby bump.

Mom and Dad Hanson were nice enough to bring the big white tent for Seth and I to sleep in. The wood burning stove was definitely a "warm" welcome at night and before getting out of bed in the morning. Seth was such a good husband and made sure the tent was warmed up before he'd let me get in bed, or out! I'm sure everyone would agree that nights up there got pretty chilly!

Grandma had so much fun!

On Saturday part of the family went on a hike up to Iron Bog lake. It was a steep 1.5 mile hike, but everyone made it... eventually. Just as we reached the lake we even saw a mountain goat way up on the side of the mountain. It was a beautiful lake and the weather was just great. We couldn't believe how big the fish were there.... a mix of cutthroats and cutthroat/rainbow hybrids. I caught the first fish of the day on a fly... the biggest fish I've caught yet. He was about a 2 lb. 18" cutthroat. Luckily Seth happened to be filming my sweet fly fishing skills at the time and caught it all on video. Needless to say I was pretty excited. Anyway, everyone ended up catching a lot of huge fish and we enjoyed eating them that night for dinner! As a bonus Grandpa, Seth and I all heard an elk bugle on the hike back down to the car. We sat and listened for at least a half hour to see if we could hear it again. Grandpa and Seth thought they heard it again about 15 minutes after the first one, but I was too distracted by a wasp flying around my head at the time to notice.

We finally made it back to camp, all worn out, and were greeted by Tessa who said, "Grandpa, can we go fishing?" Grandma, Calysta, and Soren were all pretty tired from their long day at camp and joined us in sitting around the campfire for the rest of the evening.



The next day Seth and I had to go home, so we didn't get to do much except pack up. We were definitely sad to leave so soon and wished we could have stayed a few more days. We really had a lot of fun. Oh and before I forget, the food was great too. The Hanson family has some mad cooking skills! In case any of you wanted that French Toast recipe, this is the link to it. http://www.recipezaar.com/90674. If you want access to all my secret recipes, this is my own page where I keep all the ones I like http://www.recipezaar.com/member/177753 (shameless plug, I know, I can't help it).

Isn't he beautiful? And the fish ain't bad either!

Arielle caught the biggest and last fish of the day!