---

This isn't the first trip that my wife and I have made to Rifle River. In fact, this isn't even the first time I have written about the Rifle River Recreation Area in my blog. We stayed there last fall and have been there several other times prior to this.

There are a couple of things that made this trip particularly special:

The most important would be the fact that although it is late June, this was our first camping trip of the season. Due to the Covid-19 virus, most of the campgrounds at the state parks have been closed and for a while it looked like we might not have any camping season this Summer.

The first two trips we had booked were cancelled by the state and it was just a week or so ago that they finally opened up camp grounds.

The second reason this trip was memorable is because it was the first time we took both or nephews and our niece camping. The two boys have been with us in the past, but never their sister. Usually it is just my wife and I along with our dog Jovi on our trips, so this was definitely a new experience for us!

Finally, this trip was better than some of the others because I actually had the opportunity to explore more of the park than I had in the past. I will get to that a little later though.

---

The Rifle River park is actually a pretty huge piece of property. It has a single "modern" campground which we usually stay at. It is right on Grousehaven lake and it has modern bath facilities and electrical hookups at each of the sites.

Additionally, there are several other rustic or group camp areas within the property lines. There are also ten different lakes you can visit on site along with the Rifle River (of course!) and several other small creeks.

The children spent most of their time at the beach with @mrsbozz, but there was one day that I was able to tear them away and take them fishing. My older nephew had expressed and interest in fishign with me in the past, so I thought it might be fun.

I looked at the satellite and park map and found what I would be a good location to fish. I loaded all of the kids into the truck and took off.

---

Unfortunately, the site I had picked to fish at was one of the larger lakes on the property and it was packed with people! There wasn't a free spot on the shore that we could have fished from.

Luckily, I stumbled upon a park ranger and he told me there was a dedicated fishing pier on one of the smaller lakes. We turned the truck around and headed out to find this alleged fishing platform.

As I mentioned, the park is huge and it has a large number of narrow dirt roads that are one-way only. The road we needed was at the other end of the park so it took us a good thirty minutes to find the right place. Thankfully, the kids were in good spirits and didn't complain at all.

---

I am not sure what I was smoking thinking I could handle three kids fishing all by myself. As soon as I got one hook baited, I was having to bait the next one, that is how fast the fish were getting the worms.

Eventually, I threw an empty hook into the water without my youngest nephew realizing there was no worm and I told him to watch the bobber. That kept him busy for a good fifteen minutes while I focused on my older nephew. I really should have brought @mrsbozz with me...

---

The oldest nephew was the only one who caught anything and it started off with this little Blue Gill. I quickly kicked it off the dock back into the water after I took the picture.

Meanwhile, the younger one realized he didn't have a worm on his hook so I was getting one ready to put on there. My older nephew started yelling that he had a big fish. I looked over and sure enough he did! I pulled up his line and he had at least a 20 inch Pike on the end of his hook. I was trying to bring it in to get a picture when it started flopping and threw the hook tumbling back into the water. It was a pretty awesome experience for him!

By now the younger kids were starting to get a little bored, so we piled back in the truck and headed back to the campsite.

---

@mrsbozz took the kids back to the beach and I spent some time in my reclining folding chair looking at one of my favorite camping views. I am not the type to take naps unless I am really tired. When I am camping, all bets are off. I can sit under the awning in my zero gravity chair and drift in and out of sleep all afternoon. It is so refreshing!

---

That evening I sat around the fire and enjoyed some tasty Tincup Whiskey. It was the first time I had ever tried it and I can say it wasn't too bad. On top of that it comes with a really cool metal shot glass! (Shout out to my trusty cast iron pan in the background there).

That was my weekend. I hope yours was equally as awesome!

---

Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports

---

Earn free crypto income with Mannabase

---

@eos.detroit BOID Team Leader
Join our Discord here