The 33rd Pig Snout Rendezvous has been completed, with the expected highlights to be reported in this holiday greeting. The earliest participants arrived on Thursday, September 12, for a 3:00 pm check-in at our Shangri-La, the Cedar River Camp. Fortunately, at Pig Snout 2023 we had approved the move to the second weekend after Labor Day. The previous weekend that would have been our weekend had horrendous weather with rain and cold for the entire weekend! We had 8 courageous campers ready to face the challenges that a wilderness adventure could present.
Matt had sole residency of his tent as Gus was not able to join us this year. Grant also had a solo occupancy tent. Mike occupied his still-in-the-build-process Sprinter Van Camper. Again, I was awarded the honeymoon suite as the senior member of the group. I don’t have the sleeping arrangements for the remaining group. Obviously nothing special.
In what has become a Pig Snout standard, Patrick provided another outstanding Friday night dinner highlighted by sumptuous, juicy, huge pork chops. Grant stepped up for Saturday dinner with an outstanding smoked brisket that he spent all of Saturday preparing. Is there something about an apple and a tree at work here? As happens every year, all of our other meals and snacks were excellent as well.
Our endurance activities this year included paddling the length of Cedar River Flow, then continuing upstream, including a ford across a huge beaver dam, to enjoy lunch along the shore of the Cedar River, deep in the wilderness. A slight miscalculation on the return route by yours truly resulted in a capsized canoe at the aforementioned beaver dam. A lack of bites by the intended prey hampered fishing for the weekend. One almost in the boat was as good as it got!
The highlight of Pig Snout – the tastings were amazing, not a surprise with the sophistication of the participants. The NA beer category, as determined by last year’s winner John, was won handily by Matt’s entry – Athletic Brewing’s Upside Down. The cheese-from-France competition, established by last year’s winner Gus, was very heated, with 4 different Brie-style cheeses entered in the group of 8, and John squeaking out a victory with his Delice de Bourgogne Lincet. 2025 Tastings have recently been announced, with Mocktails as the beverage and dips as the appetizer. Details regarding the tasting have been emailed to the complete Pig Snout mailing list. Given this fascinating tasting lineup, we will limit the number of participants in 2025 to 18. There is one change to the dip competition. Each participant will enter one item, with the competition split between 2 meals (for example, 4 at each meal from 8 entries) before Saturday dinner to establish the best 2 to face off at Saturday dinner.
Pig Snout 2025 will be held from Thursday, September 11 through Sunday, September 14, returning to the Cedar River Camp, our home away from home since 2017.
John and I visited Uncle Ray in November for a pleasant time and shared many memories of Pig Snouts past, which he thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately, he won’t be returning to Pig Snout due to the distance from his home.
Well, I’ve done it again – filled a page rambling on about another Pig Snout adventure, so let me close by wishing all of you and your families a Joyous Holiday Season and a Stupendous New Year !!!!
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