Trustworthy People

About 2 weeks ago Jeff and I had a day off together and the weather was quite nice. Jeff wasn't feeling too well...he'd been hit by a pretty nasty bug soon after boy's camp ended (no surprise there seeing as how he worked 12 hour days and stayed up late into the night stargazing outside every night), so we thought an afternoon of lounging by one of the many rivers in the area might be a good way to spend the day. So we packed a lunch, loaded Owen into the car and set out for the Wilson River. There was a spot that you can see from Hwy 6 where I'd seen people playing, so that's where we went.

When we got to the parking lot (it's a day-use park) there was no one else there so we were a little bit worried that maybe we'd gone to the wrong place. As we were getting Owen of the car a truck drove up and a guy got out and struck up a conversation with us. It turned out that he owned a stretch of land along the river about a mile up the road. He said he we looked like "conscientious, trustworthy people" and he wouldn't mind if we wanted to go hang out on his land. He didn't have a house there or anything, he mostly owned it so he could sell firewood along the highway for campers. He said the spot had one of the best swimming holes around and that we would be doing him a favor by going there because he doesn't want uninvited trespassers finding this spot, so he figures if he invites a few people to use it, others will see a car there, and see the "no trespassing" sign and it will scare them away.

So we got back in our car and followed him about a mile down the highway, and he showed us where the little trail was that led down to the river. When we got down there we realized we had just been blessed with really good luck! It is an absolutely beautiful stretch of the river, with a deep swimming hole, a small sandy area, great for setting out a towel, and a little waterfall coming out of the hill and running into the river. We played there all afternoon. Owen and I swam in the river and Jeff had a great time sitting in the sun and reading his book and sitting up on a cliff and watching big, beautiful trout swim by (the guy asked us not to fish there, which is ok by us).

So I guess it pays to look like trustworthy people. He said we're welcome to return whenever we want!