My next post was going to be about the great fishing in Maggie Valley this summer, but because of school and soccer I kept putting it off, and then Hurricane Helene hit. When I finally got cell service a couple of days after the storm, I got some sad news. A landslide in eastern Buncombe County killed 11 members of the Craig family, including one of my favorite campfire buddies, Ronnie Craig. It seems like just yesterday that Ronnie and I were sitting around the campfire at Snowbird Creek, long after everyone else had gone to bed, talking about his struggles with cancer and how to solve the world's problems. Ronnie's son Jesse, grandsons Bailey and Ty, and nephew Bryan are also regulars on our annual camping trip. In addition to Ronnie and his wife, Bryan lost both of his parents.
A little over four years ago, while I was still working on 1,000 creeks, Ronnie and Bryan invited me to Craig Town to get some new creeks on their property. Flat Creek was one of the best and least known blue lines in Buncombe County, and the creek flowing through Ronnie's yard was an unnamed tributary that we decided to call Craig Branch. Here is the link to that post - https://www.troutbum.site/post/4-28-2020-four-new-creeks-in-buncombe
and here is a pic of what it looked like then:
Here are links to YouTube videos that tell the story:
You will see in the videos that it no longer looks like the picture above.
My heart breaks for my friends who lost family members, and I will truly miss Ronnie Craig.
Ronnie, when I join you in Heaven, we will sit around the campfire and talk fishing with the disciples.
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