Alaska is next!

August 31, 2024

Arrived yesterday morning at Brian and Lindsay's house.  Good thing because there were lots of details to take care of.

Superb weather yesterday in Conifer, CO.  B & L are great hosts and we went to a nice dinner last night in Evergreen where we watched people play golf (badly) to great amusement.

Brian and I are headed to Anchorage Alaska tomorrow morning for a Cast & Blast stay about 3 hours south of Anchorage.  September weather in that area is bound to be rainy and cold much of the time but we are doing our best to have the appropriate gear to deal with it.  Got out fingers crossed that we'll be able to fly out via bush plane for the ptarmigan hunting.

Sunny and 70

August 29, 2024

Today was my only chance to fish in Colorado on this trip. Time to revisit the Fraser River.

The forecast: sunny and 70.

Exactly as promised.  Ahhhh. Ducks dabbling, ospreys hunting, life is good.

Say, in my experience there's very often an afternoon thunder shower in this region.  No worries, it would have been in the forecast if that was likely - right?

So, there I am 2 miles from my car, enjoying the river when I noticed some puffy clouds starting to build.  In less than an hour the clouds completely took over and rain began to fall in the distance.

Doh! Feet, don't fail me now.  I beat it back up to the car with rumbling thunder in the distance and rain just starting to fall. Meh, life is still good.

On the way back up to my campsite I saw three more dusky grouse just hanging out by the road.  Gotta get Brian (aka The Dusky Slayer) out here when the season opens.

Off to Brian and Lindsay's house tomorrow to make preparations for Alaska!

Mouse Wars

August 25, 2024

Had a run of sunny pleasant weather for 3-4 days so we were due for some rain.  I hiked to up the Black Mountain fire tower yesterday and beat it back to my truck as the first rains fell. By late afternoon it had stopped raining so I did a little fishing.  Saw some huge trout but only caught 2 normal sized cutties.

A new storm moved in looking ominous so I headed back to my campsite as dark was approaching.  I've been very fortunate overall, not to have to set up the Habitat tent in the rain very often.  Ha!  The thunderstorm arrived dumping buckets of rain and hurling lightning bolts closeby.  I got the tent open easily enough but when I fastened the side window covers about a cup of cold rain water dumped right into the open part of my rain jacket zipper. Brrr and grrr.

Now it was time for the nightly battle with mice.  Every place I've camped so far this summer, them critters find their way into the Habitat the first night.  They've done several hundred dollars of damage chewing through clothing, groceries and more. I discovered they are dumb enough however, to climb into a 5 gallon bucket but then can't get out.   Caught 3-4 that way.  I've also put a bunch of rat poison bars for them to munch on.  But still, they come every night, scratching and scampering. Ugh!

Today it will be mid 40s and raining so I'll get my rain gear on and go for a walk as this is a lot like what we can expect in Alaska.

View from Black Mountain.

Strawberry Recreation Area

August 28, 2024

I'm planning to find a campsite in the Strawberry Recreation Area near Tabergnash, Colorado and fish the Fraser River tomorrow.

Ha!  I got the site I was hoping for and I saw 2 dusky grouse nearby.  Pity that the season is not open yet.

 Those are the Indian Peaks (I think) in the distance where Brian and Lindsay recently did a backpacking trip.  A bit further south is Rollins Pass where the Forest Service told me to evacuate after a wicked thunderstorm started a wildfire 3 years ago.

Fraser, Colorado Tomorrow

August 27, 2024

After cold and rainy yesterday, today it was sunny and 70.  Amazing difference.

Hike yesterday at 9500 ft with temps in the 50s.  As I got out of the car a herd of several hundred sheep came over the hill which made my jump right back in the car.  Sheep are scary?  No, sheep dogs who guard them are typically very aggressive.

I fished all day on the North Tongue River and caught a large cuttie.

I'm headed to Fraser Colorado tomorrow where I'll camp for a day and then head Brian and Lindsay's house.

lightning strike twice?

August 24, 2024

After yesterday's adventure with the rainbow trout, I was eager to return to this spot and explore it further.

Gorgeous day and beautiful water.  Unfortunately, a herd of cattle had the same idea except no fishing rods.  They brought their hooves and cow pies instead and tromped around in the river stirring up sediment for hundreds of yards downstream.  I met 5 other anglers who hadn't caught anything and complained about the cattle.  Maybe there will be another day when the river is free from their wastes 

My back continues to slowly improve so, I'll likely stay in Burgess Junction until August 28 or 29.

Here's my campsite and the view at sunset.

Progress

August 23, 2024

I met a local guy who invited me to go fishing with him at a spot Brian and tried near the campsite we had in Burgess Junction last summer.  You basically follow some cattle trails along steep dropoffs until you reach the North Tongue River. He took me upstream about a half mile and stated there were quality fish here.  

Beautiful August day, blue skies comfy temps.  The water was much clearer than last year and it looked very good for so late in the summer.  I had 3 strikes on hoppers from 10+ inch trout but they slipped off the hook immediately.  Changed to a magic fly and drifted it into and undercut bank where I thought I saw the flash of a trout belly.  Pow!  a 16 inch rainbow grabbed it and screamed upstream at Mach 2.  Much thrashing and splashing in the current followed by some spectacular leaps.  He rested behind a small boulder then made several more blazing fast runs forciyme to start following him downstream.  He seemed to be tiring so I started trying to move him over to the shore but he took off once again. Even though I let line out to accommodate his run he broke the line.  Long fight with many good looks this terrific.  Worth returning to this site.

So my back is doing better but I'm still being super careful.  Countdown to Alaska has begun!

Smoke City

August 22, 2024

I'm back at Burgess Junction and found an excellent campsite.  I'd say it has a view but the smoke here is even worse than in Montana.  Word is there's a big fire near Cody, across the Bighorn Basin.

I'm taking it very easy with some walks and gentle stretching for my back.  Weather is cooperating so far.  I'll be here for several more days.

Back to Burgess Junction tomorrow

August 20, 2024

Had a back spasm this AM despite being super mega careful about stretching even when getting up in the middle of the night.

It's quite hot here and now wildfire smoke is moving in like crazy.  Fishing has not been productive but there are some pretty creeks.  I fished part of the Blackfoot River today.  Perfect size and water flow for me.  Found a nice clear pool and tried for a couple of hours to get one of the four trout I could clearly see to take my flies.  The best I got were several strikes but they instantly spit the fly out. Tried 4 different hoppers, some nymphs and a bunch of dry flies.  Still, it was great fun trying to outsmart them.

I tried the Blackfoot river the next day further downstream near Lincoln, MT.  What a difference - classic western trout river with deep pools, gravel bars, perfect trout habitat.  I caught a a couple of cutthroat trout but made a mental note to start at this place on my next Montana trip and head southwest to the Big Hole, Clark Fork rivers, and the tributaries that feed them.

Turned out, my campsite was right at the end of another Montana restoration project.  A mine had operated from the late 19th century up until the 1950s for lead and some other metals but they used a gulch as a gigantic tailing collection mechanism.  The creek flowing through it was heavily contaminated of course but MT has spent the last 10 years dredging out the tailings in the gulch, installing a huge water filtration plant and reestablishing the creek's original serpentine flow.  Riparian vegetation was planted and is now thriving.  I'm glad I didn't get any of my water from that creek as my filter wouldn't have been effective at removing heavy metals and such. It's heartening to see these restoration projects happening.

I'm heading back to Burgess Junction WY tomorrow to take advantage of cooler temps and the extra lung capacity I'll get for Alaska due the higher elevation.  Mostly, I want to nurse my back so that I'm good to go for Alaska with Brian.

Dearborn River

August 19, 2024

I'm dispersed camping about 10 miles NE of Lincoln, MT.  Lots of cloud-to-cloud lightning last night and probably more tonight.  The day was blue sunshine and mid nineties so I wet waded about a mile of the Dearborn River middle fork.  Gorgeous clear waters especially compared to the Sun River.

I crept up on a pool and spotted the shadow of a large trout but it was hard to actually see the fish itself as they blend in with the background so well.  I gently cast the same hopper I caught the big one at Sluice Boxes but the water was so clear it was startled by the mere shadow of my leader.  Only saw one other large one.  Got one "flying fish" (3 inches, yanked clean out of the water trying to set the hook.  Landed one 5 inch brookie.  2 other large trout swirled around my hopper in a pool but then rejected it.  Not much action for 4.5 hours of fishing.

Heartbreak yesterday on the East Fork of Dearborn which is much smaller.  At a bridge I looked down into a deep pool and saw a monster trout.  Parked and was just sliding into my waders when a pickup truck stopped in the middle of that bridge.  I gave him a curious look , making sure he could see my fishing gear.  Next thing I know, 3 adults, 4 kids and 2 dogs pile out and set up a picnic on the opposite shore from me.  I asked them nicely if they could give me just 15 minutes to have a go at the trout I'd spotted.  "We have fishing rods too you know" came the indignant reply.  With that they threw sticks right where the fish was for the dogs to fetch and one the adults went for a swim in the spot for good measure.  

 Likely, they are local folks who can come here all the time and resented any whiff of a tourist trying to tell them what to do.  It's doubtful I will ever pass that way again.  That was just stone cold mean of them.

I went upstream and caught a few small cutties and rainbows.  Beautiful water but man is it hot in the sun.  I will stay for another day and see if I can find some better fishing.

Sun River Blues

August 18, 2024

I went to the Sun River tail waters which are fed from the Gibson Reservoir on a hot tip from a fellow angler I met at Sluice Boxes Canyon.  There was adequate dispersed camping but the area is something of a mini resort, having numerous private cabins for rent.  Just how that's legal inside a national forest is a mystery to me.

The river.  Much of it was rapids but also shallow with very high turbidity.  You could not see more than 6 inches into the cement-colored water.  Spurred on by the good things I was told about the fishing to I applied myself with vigor.  Tried the fast and slow sections, pools where I could find them.  Dry flies, hoppers, nymphs, and streamers were all ineffective.  Never saw a single rise nor sited any fish on the move.  Very few anglers were trying their luck so maybe August is just not the right time to try the Sun.

On the move today, beginning to make my way South and later, East.  I'll take a look at the middle fork of the Dearborn River as in comes out of the National Forest but might move on to the Blackfoot River near Lincoln if things don't look good.  Can't be certain of cell coverage of course but by the time I'm in Lincoln I'd expect to have it again.

Sluiceboxes State Park

August 15, 2024. What a huge change in surroundings.  From wide open cattle country and 85 degrees to dense forested canyon in the mid forties last night.  Judith River turned out to be tiny creek about 5 inches deep and silty.  Didn't look "fishy" at all. Yogo creek was the same.  On the way in I saw 4 Forest Service firetrucks headed out and this morning a truck hauling a bear trap behind it.  I don't whether he was picking one up or dropping one off but those combined activities made me nervous about whether this was a good place to be.

Today I'm headed for Sluiceboxes State Park at the northern tip of L&C Forest.  Dunno what to expect there but I read good things about it.  I didn't expect to find cell service today but right in the middle of a huge burn section of a
forest there's suddenly a signal.  

Forest service has been diligent about marking whether it's okay to have a campfire.  There's a sign at every campsite and a red flag in every fire ring.  No ambiguity.

Yesterday morning I fished Big Spring Creek for a final time.  Sunny with bugs hatching and fish rising.  The little ones rocket up from their hiding places, take a fly and rocket right back again.  The bigger ones chill out in shallow, clear waters with a gray bottom.  You can see them plain as day, just hanging out, in no hurry, lazily taking a fly now and then.  No monsters but plenty big.   

I tried hoppers. Nope. Caddis dries, nope.  Perdigons, soft hackle, pheasant tail bead heads, kitchen sink... Nope.  Time to leave so for my last try, I took a fly I designed and tied myself and trimmed the hackle and wings down to about the size of the ones the lazy boys were sipping.  I cast it out and let it drift down to one that hadn't sipped in a while.  He casually rose, staying almost horizontal, as bigger trout are want to do and he absent mindedly took my fly.  BAM! Fish on!  12 inch cuttie with flaming red marks under his jaw.  Sweet way to end the BSC adventure.

Little Belt mountains Tomorrow

August 13, 2024

Kind of a meh day today.  Fished Big Spring Creek but saw very few rises despite a number gorgeous pools.  The stream is generally about 30 ft wide in a fairly flat plane so when you aim 130 CFS at that it's like a fire hose and it scours out deep pockets in places.

I wound up with a nice cuttie and an average brown both taken on nymphs.  Seeing afternoon thunderstorms gathering (which weren't forecast) I beat it back to the campground to rescue my laundry, now on my 4th attempt to dry on the line.  Looked grim; curtains of rain to the south, East and north.  A new dark cloud was now moving in from the west.

I arrived at my site to find laundry was still dry and no squirrels had been playing on it.  I frantically gathered it all into a laundry bag and tossed it into the back of my truck just minutes before rain, wind, and lightning rushed in.

Tomorrow I'll head for the Little Belt mountains a bit NW of Judith Gap. Forest Service Road 487 looks promising for camping .  Unlikely there will be any cell service out there so I may not be able to update the blog for about 3 days or so.  I'll explore streams to the west of RT89 as part of the 3-4 days.

Campground??

August 12, 2024

Campground? Say it ain't so!  Afraid so.  After another day of fruitless hunting and consulting with both BLM and Fish &Game the answer is there's no dispersed camping within an hour of Lewistown where Big Spring Creek is.  

So, is the creek worth all this campsite hunting fuss?

I took a shot at it this AM to find out.  130 CFS gushes forth from an aquifer created in the Little Belt mountains.  Pure, gin-clear, cold water very much like Big Spring in Idaho.  I saw no fish or rises for about an hour when someone flipped a switch and there were suddenly rises aplenty, mostly little guys. 

Then I started seeing very large trout, mostly rising up to my flies only to turn away.  Finally a hefty rainbow to took a nymph and the head shaking began.. and ended after about 20 seconds when it wriggled free.  Got a 10 inch rainbow after that and resumed campsite hunting.  This creek is definitely worth another day hence campground.  East Fork Reservoir Campground.  Open field, sites right next to each other. Ewww!

 

The Montana version of "The Shire" is just over the hill from the creek.  Bucolic, rolling green hills.  Surely, this is what Tolkien was imagining.

Big Spring Creek

August 11, 2024.  Arrival at Lewis and Clark Forest near Judith Gap last night was stormy.  Heavy rain and strikes of lightning that though miles away, were still impressive.  The vast open spaces let you see far more at once than you can back East.  There were zero existing campsites so I had to make one.  Prime grizzly bear habitat for certain.

The next morning was sunny.  This pic looks back the hills where I stayed last night.

Off to Lewistown now to have a look at Big Spring Creek and to scout for a campsite.  

The creek's flow rate is quite high making much of it unwadeable but I'll give it a try tomorrow.  The hunt for a campsite took all day.  I kept following gnarly off-road trails on private land that looked like they connected with public land only to be met with a barbed wire fence.  I finally found a spot and it turns out to have cell service even though it's 25 miles from the nearest town.

Tomorrow will be fishing and hunting for a new campsite probably a little SW of Lewistown and close one of the National Forests.

Judith Gap

August 9, 2024. Update.  I'm headed to Judith Gap Montana to camp tonight so that I can fish near Lewiston, Mt tomorrow.

Montana Tomorrow

August 9, 2024

Weather was better today, clouds but no rain, mid fifties.  Did some meadow fishing but it was a tad dull as sunshine is needed to cause insect hatches for trout to feed on.  Caught 5 average fish but foul hooked a cuttie in the tail. 9 inches but it fought like a 16.

Headed to Lewiston, MT tomorrow to check out Big Spring Creek which boasts cold water environment similar to Paradise Valley.  Will camp about an hour southwest of Lewiston and spend a few days exploring.  I've no idea what cell coverage will be available but will update this blog when I can.

More Drizzle

August 8, 2024

Another day of drizzle and showers with temps in the mid forties.  Went for hike of about 3 miles.  I'm getting much more acclimated to the elevation (8k ft) but still have a way to go.

An adolescent female moose came into my campsite while I was having lunch.  She chowed down on some shrubs despite my making noise and yelling.

The soul of my left hiking shoe came apart in the first mile of my walk.  I was surprised because I used them a couple of times and waterproofed them just before the trip.  Hunting boots and sneakers will be my backup.

Washed my laundry a couple of days ago and hung it out to dry.  It rained later that day and hasn't been able to dry in the drizzle of course.  Two of my good fishing shirts had a series of tears on the back which turned out to be the work of a squirrel who seemed to be having the time of his life running around on my clothes line and hanging off the shirts that his sharp claws cut into with ease.  So, there I am, shotgun and shells in my truck and a squirrel racking up $$ ruining my clothes... Think, think, think.

Thermopobust?

August 7, 2024

Took a day trip to see the dinosaur fossil museum in Thermopolis, WY.  I thought about going there last year when I was in Dubois but it was in totally the wrong direction.  Saw a YouTube video this winter showing that many of their fossils have been discovered near the museum and they run tours to nearby dig sites.  

Turned out that only about a quarter of the collection was from local sites, the rest came from all over the world.  Lots of dinosaurs, some over 130 ft long.

This one was local.

Rained during the last 2 nights and today has been drizzling, so I picked a a good day to go down into the desert basin.  I plan on staying in Burgess Junction for a couple of more days but then it will be off to Montana.

Brian and Lindsay's house was spared from a wildfire and they returned home in time for their anniversary.  Yeah!

Aug 5, 2024 on the mend

Got a reasonable night's sleep last night.  Should have mentioned that the night I spent on the Pinnacles ridge in Badlands NP turned into a wild wind storm with gusts so hard I finally packed up at 2:30 AM for fear of the tent being blown off the truck.  Spent the rest of the night in a more sheltered area.

Visited Mt Rushmore the next day but it was swarmed with hundreds of motorcycles from the nearby massive rally at Steurgess.  Same was true at Devil's Tower -gobs of bikers.

Went fishing at tiny Fool's Creek.  Generally, it's only 10 - 15 wide in a meadowy canyon.  You'd think it unlikely to hold trout but after making a fool of my casting during gusty winds at a tiny target I finally happened upon a pool with 20+ fish.  I had to try a bunch of different flies but 4 fish on only to lose them seconds into the fight.  Adjusted the way I set the hook and brought in 5 cutties!

Staying in Burgess Junction for a few more days.  Brian says the fire is 35% contained but that's not very comforting knowing his house is still not safe yet.