Shared Fishing Hole

Harry kept a spiffy firewood-cutter’s camp. He was very proud of the neat cords of wood he carefully stacked before we loaded them into the old truck he rented to transport the firewood down to Chico to sell.

Harry also loved to fish and when he wasn’t taking care of his camp like a Boy Scout he was off fishing in the narrow but deep brooks meandering through the meadows.

I was getting stronger and more agile tossing two split pieces of firewood at a time into the big truck and rolling the big “rounds” of cut wood to the pickup truck and hoisting them in. I didn’t do much cutting because the chainsaws were expensive and I never bought one––but there was more than enough other hard physical work

Harry said we would take the Fourth of July off which was OK with me! Then he asked me if I knew of any good fishing holes nearby where he could indulge his passion so I told him about my secluded Hole in the Ground camp and offered to guide him there.

Early Fourth of July morning, Harry picked me up at my camp in Mill Creek and I showed him the dirt road that led down to my quiet fishing hole.

But when we arrived—Holy Mackerel!—there must have been two hundred fishermen with their wives and children all over the camp––wall to wall trucks and campers jammed between  the trees—tents and smoky campfires reeking of hotdogs––unbelievable!

Well, Harry tossed his line in with all the rest of the fishermen and took it all with good humor. I wasn’t faking my astonishment!

Just after the fourth of July Harry told me that the area of trees his license allowed him to cut was about finished so he was packing up his camp and heading back to Chico to his regular job as a bartender so I would have to find some other work.

I wanted to stay in the Mill Creek/Lassen area very much—I discovered that I really liked it!

And, of course, now that most of the snow had melted from Lassen Peak, I wanted to start work on my very own ley line. But there was nothing much for me to do to earn a living––even at the humble subsistence level I required. Then I learned that there was a big construction project planned for the Lassen Volcanic National Park in the late summer. 

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