The Barefoot Boy (excerpt)

from The Barefoot Boy by John Greenleaf Whittier

Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
With thy turned-up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes;
With thy red lip, redder still,
Kissed by strawberries on the hill;
With the sunshine on thy face,
Through thy torn brim's jaunty grace,
From my heart I give thee joy, —
I was once a barefoot boy.
Prince thou art, — the grown-up man
Only is republican,
Let the million-dollared ride!
Barefoot, trudging at his side,
Thou hast more than he can buy,
In the reach of ear and eye —
Outward sunshine, inward joy;
Blessings on thee, barefoot boy!

The excitement builds (and sons will be escorting more dads)...

From: Quinlisk, Michael

Date: Fri, May 7, 2010 at 8:49 AM
Subject: RE: LPRFT 2010 - Dark of the Moon
To: "Kristopher Pearson (krpearso)", Daniel Messick

Just for the record, I am 55, and pretty excited about the trip as well.

From: Kristopher Pearson
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 8:29 PM
To: Daniel Messick; Quinlisk, Michael

Subject: RE: LPRFT 2010 - Dark of the Moon

Hi Everyone,

My son Andrew (11) and I are arriving in camp June 24^th, leaving the 27^th. I warned him about rattlers and too much free time during the day. He’s pretty excited as well.

See you on the river.

KP

From: Daniel Messick
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 6:06 PM
To: Quinlisk, Michael
Subject: Re: LPRFT 2010 - Dark of the Moon

Hello Michael and all,

I am now able to provide some reliable information about my plans for the Los Pinos this year. Lucas (11) and I will be arriving on the river by Thursday, June 24 and will stay through Monday or Tuesday, June 28 or 29.

Our route will take us by air through Denver and into Albuquerque on Tuesday, June 22. That way we can drive up from Albuquerque through Santa Fe. We plan to spend some time in Santa Fe and in northern New Mexico before and after we set camp on the Los Pinos.

Lucas is pretty excited to finally make this trip. We are looking forward to seeing everyone in camp.

Adios,

Dan

On Feb 25, 2010, at 5:38 PM, Quinlisk, Michael wrote:

Russ,

My dates are semi-flexible, but I would expect to change them only if the Los Pinos flow was dropping rapidly in early June.

Looking back, this happened in 2006, when I was planning to be on the river the last week of June, and by the middle of the month the flow had dropped to something around 25 cfs - which is really low. So I pulled my trip forward about 5 or 6 days. This was a rare experience.

2007 was George Cole's memorial trip, and was a bit earlier, June 17-24; 2008 was June 25-29; 2009 was June 25-29.

In 2008, even those late dates in June, the river was high and the fishing was not good. I went back to the Los Pinos in August and found it almost perfect. Again, pretty unusual.

Mike Messick will tell you Norval was always on the river before Father's Day - the third Sunday in June. Dan and I found the river to be much more productive in late June. Norval wasn't wrong.....I believe the weather patterns have changed and the water doesn't drop and clear until late June in the current cycle. It could swing back the other direction, but for the past ten years, the river is more predictably good the last week of June compared to the middle part.

I will be watching the flow data, but with Rockies tickets for June 19....probably won't change my dates.

MQ

From: Russ
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 2:43 PM
To: Quinlisk, Michael
Subject: Re: LPRFT 2010 - Dark of the Moon?

Thanks, Quinlisk. If the 26 & 27 is the weekend where everyone will be there, I will try to shorten my trip to arrive noonish back in ABQ - Joseph and I would then be able to get there by 6 pm Friday nite just in time for Joseph to begin roasting marshmallows! Hopefully, a few others will still be around that Monday and Tuesday for which Joseph and I can stay. I hope that Mike, Dan or Theron respond. I too think the water is going to be high again this year - if it drops the beginning of June would you adjust your schedule, or are you fixed on the 23rd - 27th? Is there or has there ever been a 'fixed' 4th weekend in June timeframe for planning, or is it as I expect, everyone to his own set of considerations with the likelihood and consistent track record of most everyone being there over a weekend late in June?

On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 8:04 AM, Quinlisk, Michael wrote:

Russ, I can only speak for myself here, but I am planning to be on the river June 23-27.

My opinion is the 13th would be high water and poor fishing - but you never know. I believe you have a retired uncle who could, in theory, be in camp for a whole month - maybe you can overlap with his schedule.

From: Russ
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 3:41 PM
Subject: LPRFT 2010 - Dark of the Moon?

Hello Guys,

I am trying to plan dates for June. The 12th is the new moon that month, so what weekend should be for the gathering? The 13th thru the 20th? Will that be too early for low flow? This year is going to be another wet year http://www.sanmarcosrecord.com/local/x1765866096/Rainfall-boosts-aquifer-rivers

I have a conference to attend in Vermont; I will be there 6/22/10 (Tues) to 6/25/10 (Fri). What is your plans?

Mel, I do hope to see you this year along with everybody else!

Russ (& Joseph)

Michael Quinlisk on NM License Purchase

Men,

Here is the link to buy your 2010 New Mexico Fishing License on-line:

http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/recreation/fishing/index.htm

A 5 day, non-resident license is $24. You will also need the Habitat Stamp, $5, plus the Habitat Management and Access Validation, $4. And for the convenience, you will be charged the $4.95 vendor fee, for a grand total of $37.95. Click the black bear in the upper left corner, where it says Buy License, and click on “fishing”.

You can print your on-line receipt and carry it with you on the river as a substitute for the hard license that will be mailed to you.

Or, for the nostalgic fishermen in the crowd, you can wait to buy your license on your drive in to camp on the river. Sure, go ahead and stop at Lee’s in Antonito, where the 17 year old clerk will look at you like you are from Mars when you ask if you can buy a NM fishing license. And then you can make the thirty mile drive from Antonito to Tres Piedres, NM, hoping to buy a license at the gas station – but you will be sorely upset with yourself when they say you will have to drive to Taos. But it is a nice drive, and what’s another two and a half hours roundtrip? – at least you saved the 10 minutes and $4.95 it would have cost you to order on-line.

I love the internet……

Good luck,

MQ

Roiling and Rolling on the Los Pinos

On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 11:54 AM, Quinlisk, Michael wrote:

Gents,

The Los Pinos at Ortiz is running today at 827 cfs. This is down from an outrageous 1600 cfs ten days ago.....I bet that cleared the dead wood out of the holes! No wonder Eubaldo and Victor put in those oversize, built like a locomotive, bridges on their properties....just to handle this annual spike in May.

Can't say what June will look like, but I expect that last week stands a good chance of being low enough and clear enough to be good fishing. We are looking for anything below 100 CFS, ideally below 50.

By way of incentive for this year's trip, we will be christening the all new, custom built, Los Pinos River Equipment Permanent Mobile Storage and Utility Trailer! Messick has been hard at work, between beers, locating, architecting, and fabricating, the new conveyance. He says it will be ready to roll in June, so you won't want to miss the debut.

Most of the crew will be on the river sometime between June 21 and 28. See you there!

MQ

LPR Discharge Graph