All,
In order to preserve the photos and reports of our PBX trips, I am going to try and display them by date from the day I first joined the group. A few of them are not on the site anymore and many of the photos no longer even display. I will try and fix the links on those that I have the photos for.
2/21/2004 Trip # 15
High Plains Drifting .... Guy's first PBX hike as well as Steve Behren's.
Trip Report for “High Plains Drifting”, 2/21/04 (Bob)
This was, first of all, a reunion for those of us who have not seen each other in awhile, and a welcome to 3 new members; Mickey, Guy, and Steve. All great guys who fit in really well. On this trip: Bob Bruneau Paul Follman Bob Moyer Joe Wszolek Mickey Coen Guy Thompson Steve Behrens
We started out over a cup of coffee at Lucille’s on a gray Saturday morning. Lucille herself (larger than life) had us roaring with laughter over her opinions on men. She said; “today’s a great day to curl up and read a book on how to handle men, and to then go get a man and do what the book says to do”. She also took it upon herself to try guessing all the men’s ages in the restaurant that morning. She must have been a real wild one in her day.
We dropped one vehicle off at the FAA tower and then drove down to the starting point, that gravel pit at the high spot on the Bombing Range road. Surprise, surprise, A-12 Warthogs were flying overhead, practice bombing. We shrugged our shoulders, consulted the GPS, and headed West by Northwest straight through the pygmy pines on a track for a 150 foot high spot. For those of us excited by this sort of thing, walking through this area of burned out Pygmy Pines was pretty neat.
At one point we were in an area of pines only waist high. We got to the top of that hill, and the view back towards 539 was pretty impressive for the pines. It seems at one point we could see for about 5 miles to a hill in the distance towards route 72. It was interesting to note some artifacts in this area from the 50’s (?). There was a rusted tricycle way the hell out in the middle of nowhere as if it fell from an airliner. Guy and Steve then set their GPS’s to a distant crossroad and we popped out there about a half hour later. We were surprised to find a barrier meant to keep vehicles from entering the bombing range. We continued on East and then ducked into the woods and followed a stream down to the next road. The trees became larger, more like normal pitch pines. At one point we reached a small savannah of grass that was really nice, and probably not seen by many people.
We then headed to that pond very close to Sim Place. It was quite beautiful, fairly large with Cedar trees running along the far edge. We followed a canal dug to water the bogs, then bushwhacked to a cleared area for lunch. During the bushwhack we came upon an outrageously large deer baiting area. There was easily a thousand ears of corn husks used for bait. Some hunting, huh? Paul found an old bottle that was intriguing. Hope to hear if he found out what it was.
When we stood up for lunch 4 or 5 Warthogs screamed overhead, giving us a thrill show. They were back from lunch. We walked Northeast till we popped out on an old trail right next to another vehicle barrier. Thinking it was getting too late to risk getting behind, we followed the trail to Sim Place Road, where Guy and Steve struck a course slated to bring us over the Oswego River and on to the FAA tower. Wow, what a tough slog that was. Poor Bob lost his GPS in about 3 feet of freezing water.
Due to the rains, we could not make it to the river, it was just too deep to try traveling in the cold water. We followed the river back upstream to a spot where we could see the road again. We walked out to Lucille’s where Guys car was stashed for just such an emergency. Guy picked it up and we drove back to pick up the other vehicle at the tower. We gave this trip a 7.5. We were obviously bummed we did not cross the river, and we promised to do the river again some time. I already have a plan in my head for doing just that. It was great to see you all, we always have a good time chewing the fat while we hike. Hope to see a lot of you soon……don't forget Bob is leading a hike to the swamp monster next weekend.………….bob PS: thank you Steve and Guy for the GPS guidance.
This shows our route from downtown Warren Grove and across the plains to 539.
Bob tempting fate.
Steve
Various
This fascinated me. In the middle of a cedar swamp we found this. I made it a point to search for answers.
In order to preserve the photos and reports of our PBX trips, I am going to try and display them by date from the day I first joined the group. A few of them are not on the site anymore and many of the photos no longer even display. I will try and fix the links on those that I have the photos for.
2/21/2004 Trip # 15
High Plains Drifting .... Guy's first PBX hike as well as Steve Behren's.
Trip Report for “High Plains Drifting”, 2/21/04 (Bob)
This was, first of all, a reunion for those of us who have not seen each other in awhile, and a welcome to 3 new members; Mickey, Guy, and Steve. All great guys who fit in really well. On this trip: Bob Bruneau Paul Follman Bob Moyer Joe Wszolek Mickey Coen Guy Thompson Steve Behrens
We started out over a cup of coffee at Lucille’s on a gray Saturday morning. Lucille herself (larger than life) had us roaring with laughter over her opinions on men. She said; “today’s a great day to curl up and read a book on how to handle men, and to then go get a man and do what the book says to do”. She also took it upon herself to try guessing all the men’s ages in the restaurant that morning. She must have been a real wild one in her day.
We dropped one vehicle off at the FAA tower and then drove down to the starting point, that gravel pit at the high spot on the Bombing Range road. Surprise, surprise, A-12 Warthogs were flying overhead, practice bombing. We shrugged our shoulders, consulted the GPS, and headed West by Northwest straight through the pygmy pines on a track for a 150 foot high spot. For those of us excited by this sort of thing, walking through this area of burned out Pygmy Pines was pretty neat.
At one point we were in an area of pines only waist high. We got to the top of that hill, and the view back towards 539 was pretty impressive for the pines. It seems at one point we could see for about 5 miles to a hill in the distance towards route 72. It was interesting to note some artifacts in this area from the 50’s (?). There was a rusted tricycle way the hell out in the middle of nowhere as if it fell from an airliner. Guy and Steve then set their GPS’s to a distant crossroad and we popped out there about a half hour later. We were surprised to find a barrier meant to keep vehicles from entering the bombing range. We continued on East and then ducked into the woods and followed a stream down to the next road. The trees became larger, more like normal pitch pines. At one point we reached a small savannah of grass that was really nice, and probably not seen by many people.
We then headed to that pond very close to Sim Place. It was quite beautiful, fairly large with Cedar trees running along the far edge. We followed a canal dug to water the bogs, then bushwhacked to a cleared area for lunch. During the bushwhack we came upon an outrageously large deer baiting area. There was easily a thousand ears of corn husks used for bait. Some hunting, huh? Paul found an old bottle that was intriguing. Hope to hear if he found out what it was.
When we stood up for lunch 4 or 5 Warthogs screamed overhead, giving us a thrill show. They were back from lunch. We walked Northeast till we popped out on an old trail right next to another vehicle barrier. Thinking it was getting too late to risk getting behind, we followed the trail to Sim Place Road, where Guy and Steve struck a course slated to bring us over the Oswego River and on to the FAA tower. Wow, what a tough slog that was. Poor Bob lost his GPS in about 3 feet of freezing water.
Due to the rains, we could not make it to the river, it was just too deep to try traveling in the cold water. We followed the river back upstream to a spot where we could see the road again. We walked out to Lucille’s where Guys car was stashed for just such an emergency. Guy picked it up and we drove back to pick up the other vehicle at the tower. We gave this trip a 7.5. We were obviously bummed we did not cross the river, and we promised to do the river again some time. I already have a plan in my head for doing just that. It was great to see you all, we always have a good time chewing the fat while we hike. Hope to see a lot of you soon……don't forget Bob is leading a hike to the swamp monster next weekend.………….bob PS: thank you Steve and Guy for the GPS guidance.
This shows our route from downtown Warren Grove and across the plains to 539.
Bob tempting fate.
Steve
Various
This fascinated me. In the middle of a cedar swamp we found this. I made it a point to search for answers.
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