Field Notes | Shenan-no no!

Okay remember my post about fall fishing and camping in Shenandoah and how excited I was? Well it turned into quite the adventure! First, it was Columbus Day and near impossible to find a camping spot. After getting recs from the great folks of Mossy Creek Fly Shop, my husband Dan and I ended up in George Washington National Forest about three and half hours from DC. We couldn’t believe our luck – this public land is just a stones throw from James Madison University is absolutely beautiful. We fished for a few hours and then headed to set up camp.

Our campsite appeared perfect… at first.  A creek nearby, lots of space and a flat spot near the fire pit perfect for our tent. Racing the sun as it set, we quickly set about to pitch our tent until…”AKKK Woodey!” I screamed at our nearly five year old lab. He had found and begun to eat what I only could surmise was pumpkin orange human throw up not so delicately splattered around the fire pit. It was almost dark so we knew finding another camp spot was near impossible and being from Montana my inner monologue was steadily telling me, “your tough, you’ve got this, it’s not that gross…” We covered what we could with rocks and kept on making camp.

And then there was a bigger pile… Also discovered by Woodley this covered the entirety of a nearby bush. At this point it was nearly dark so we decided despite the fact we’d be in a two person tent with this throw up filled lab we were sticking it out. I got out our Jet Boil and started to make dinner while Dan went to search for firewood.

Then there was blood curdling scream… “WOODLEY NO!” Here I was thinking how could there be more throw up? The people that camped at our site the night before must have been party animals or had quite the stomach bug but then I saw Dan’s face.  He was white and said we needed to pack up after dinner and leave. Woodley had eaten part of what we determined to be a huge pile of human diarrhea. And poop is where we draw the line.

Three and half hours later we  were cuddled up on our couch, feeding Woodley greenies to “freshen” his breath and watching The Empire Strikes Back with popcorn.  Whelp!  At least we got outside and learned reservation are a must for a holiday weekend!