Mountain Man Rendezvous

Look at the past and there see the future.

c e hollis

Every year we journey out to Dripping Springs Lake to join the mountain men in their yearly rendezvous. The campers sleep in tents and cook over open fires. They spread blankets to show their wares. They sell blankets, tools, weapons, clothing, cookware, candles, handmade toys, and soaps. They sell buttons, powder boxes, knives, animal pelts and baskets.

They teach children about life in the trapper/trader days. What did the people eat? How did they procure the food and cook the food? How did they dress, camp and live? How did they keep warm and safe? Some of the participants show their skills at building fires without matches, cooking over a fire, survival tactics, hauling water, forging tools, repairing wagon wheels, pots and pans, and horseshoes. They present musical programs, demonstarte tracking, trapping and hunting skills, food preservation, traveling, and working.

Children love the camping, and running and playing free and wild in the wilderness. They dress up too and engage in chores like whittling walking sticks, gathering firewood, cooking food and waiting on customers. One lady teaches sewing and shows how the sewing machine improved life for the frontier people.

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This young lady, my daughter Brenna, goes to Rendezvous every year and takes her dogs. She dresses as an Indian girl and loves visiting with the campers and learning about the frontier days.

Here are a few more of the characters you can meet at the Mountain Man Redezvous. They come in their costumes and sit outside their tents in camp and tell stories, cook their meals, sell their wares, play instruments, teach their skills and share their jokes.

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This is the Parson (lower right). He is a favorite at Rendezvous. You need to make the trip next fall and meet these colorful people and listen to their stories.

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There is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 NASB