Home Sweet Home

 September 26, 2025

Arrived back home in Ganby, CT tonight.  House is still standing.  Came from Columbus, Ohio - about a 10 hour drive.  Good weather.  Good roads.  Completely opposite of the construction hell I went through yesterday.

Great summer trip.  Some of the best trout fishing I've ever done.  Got to see Brian get his first antelope.  Nice long visit with my new grandson 💗 and  with my daughter in law.  Lesson learned: fishing the famous Montana trout rivers in late August is a bad idea.  

That said, those rivers remain on my bucket list.

The sudden contrast of vast open spaces of the West and leafy, lush yards of the East leaves me wondering whether the trip was all a dream.  I hope to have more dreams as good as that one.

tough drive

September 25, 2025 

I The plan for today was to drive from Topeka, Kansas to around Columbus, Ohio. Supposed to take 10 to 11 hours instead it took 14.  

Missouri was the worst on route 70 with hundreds of miles. Literally of areas that were under construction and interspersed with short areas that were not.  I don't think I actually saw any areas that were completed. Only ones that were dug up with piles of dirt everywhere and bulldozers but nowhere near ready for paving. 

Illinois highways were better but they still had plenty of single Lanes that everything had to condense down to bringing traffic to a stop for miles. I would say I had at least seven times where I had to stop and wait for Lanes of traffic to merge into one. 

Ohio started out like a dream. Beautifully smooth roads. Everyone going around the speed limit. It was great until it wasn't.  Soon enough there were many construction zones again with everything torn up but not ready for paving.  Then as it was getting dark it started to rain pretty hard with lightning and I'd been pretty fortunate that my entire trip so far both going out and coming back on the the big drives had no bad weather.

I plan to be back in Connecticut tomorrow. Home sweet home.

homeward bound

September 24th, 2025. 

I gave extra hugs and kisses to my new grandson. Hugs to Lindsay and to Brian and thanked them for putting me up in their home for over a week. I will them greatly!

Fired up my taco and headed out for home.  I'm in Topeka Kansas tonight and hope to make it to Columbus Ohio tomorrow.

Speed Goat Safari

September 22nd, 2025 

Brian and I headed up to Saratoga, Wyoming for a 3-day Antelope hunt.  On the drive up we started to see antelope now and then but mostly on private land. The weather was a bit grim for a desert environment: 45° and raining steadily with a forecast of more rain for the next day.  

Brian found a very cool hideout campsite and we also practiced shooting at various distances with his rifle since we had skipped the planned trip to a rifle range.

While we practiced the weather kept on getting worse and worse, there was lightning in the distance. Clouds and rain were closing in from the mountains to the west and suddenly there was a vicious crosswind of 35 to 40 mph that was driving the rain at us while we were trying to practice shooting.

Hole in the wall campsite Brian discovered.

It rained off and on through the night and in the morning it was 40° and drizzling.  We gritted our teeth over the conditions and went out looking for Brian's very first antelope.  As we turned onto the forest service road, there was a lone doe antelope at the rim of the hill staring right at us from 400 yards away. Maybe a good omen?

Desert roads rarely see nuch rain and it's still rarer for them to have a lot of rain like we were getting.  The dirt turns mushy and super slick but Brian's SUV was up to the task.

We drove around in the areas that I had scouted weighing our options as to where the goats might be.  We started to see groups of three, five and even 15 but always it seemed on private land or impossibly far away.  One Buck was on the rim of a hill near private land and was locked in on us from 800 yards away.  The desert sage bushes being a foot tall offered practically no cover for us to stalk.

We were getting pretty discouraged when we came around the corner of a pretty flat open area.  There were two different groups of antelope, one at 400 yards away and another at 600 yards away ...on public land.

Brian got out his rifle, loaded it and began to skulk down a gully to try and get closer to the goats while I looked on with binoculars. The group of four was watching him intently and looked like they were ready to skedaddle at any moment. 

Brian lay down for a prone shot, amazingly completely concealed beneath the sage.  After less than a minute, the goats went from extremely wary to complacent and they went back to feeding. Brian was preparing his shot. 

Bam.  Shot fired but only three goats raced away.  Neither of us was really sure whether he'd hit the fourth. 

YES!  He hit it solid.  The doe crumpled and fell to the ground without taking a single step.  318 yards - what a shot!

We found the doe and Brian said words of thanks for it passing on it's life giving bounty.  We processed the doe using the "gutless" quartering method even though neither of us had actually done it before.  We packed up our campers and headed back to Brian's house - a day earlier than planned.  An amazing adventure that I was lucky and proud to witness.  Brian is one happy hunter. 😎

Antelope Time

September 22, 2025

Brian and I headed to Saratoga, Wyoming for an antelope hunt.  We will likely go northeast of the town to BLM areas but camp in the Medicine Bow range near Ryan Park.

Wealthy is s supposed to be a bit rainy today and a little less so tomorrow.  We saw dozens of antelope on the drive up near Walden, Colorado.

Range Time

September 21, 2025

Brian and I  are headed out to do some grouse hunting and then go to the rifle range.

Change of plan.  We went straight to the dusky grouse hunting and skipped the range.  Fall colors were spectacular.

Brian had a spot picked out where he's had good luck before.  Even though the terrain was steep we followed an old logging road which was easy.

Eagle eyes Brian spotted a Dusky and hit with his new shotgun!

Nice shooting!

On the way home Brian spotted a herd of mountain goats up around 13k ft.  Through binoculars we counted nearly 30.  Such sightings are quite rare.

In the e town of Evergreen we saw two small herds of elk.  Harem would be more accurate as they were all does and fawns being closely guarded by a lone bull with huge antlers.  Just why elk persist in crossing busy roads to graze on lawns with houses mystifies me.

Baby Leif!

September 14, 2025

I arrived at Lindsay and Brian's house in Conifer, Colorado yesterday afternoon and met my new grandson Leif for the first time!

Sleeping peacefully in these pictures but he's awake and very interested in the world.  Brian is off shortly for a 3 day business trip so I will fill in his shift for nighttime baby care.  At just 4 months old Leif's sleep schedule is still a bit unpredictable so one has to roll with whatever happens on a given day.

It always strikes me as an astonishing feat of magic that two people can create a new, living, breathing human who has never existed before and never will again.

I'm happy to come off the camping trail for a while as the nights were getting colder and colder.  Hot shower, warm bed, and happy times 

Snowy Range

September 12, 2025

Bright Blue sky this morning but with warnings of afternoon thunder showers.  I headed up to the Snowy Range, tourist draw for the dramatic peaks of quartzite which looks a lot like limestone that has a number of alpine lakes just below. 

Near the base of the peaks you can see some patches of snow left over from last winter.

The lakes, which range in size from a few acres to several hundred, have a reputation for ravenous trout that have a pretty short amount of time to eat summer bugs.  So, I hiked a mile or so up to South Gap Lake which didn't have 7 - 8 anglers at all times.

Even though my campsite sits around 8,000 ft and I haven't been below 5k ft for the entire trip I was in still sucking wind on a pretty easy trail.  The lake is at 10.5k ft and that difference really mattered.

I arrived around 1:00 keeping in mind mountains that high typically have daily afternoon thunder showers plus it wayin the forecast.  It was sunny and comfortable but there were dark clouds in the distance.

I promised myself that I'd quit by 1:30, sooner if clouds moved in.  

After a few casts I started getting strikes on my fly.  The one grabbed on and I set the hard.  Too hard.  The line broke where the tippet is tied to the leader.  Doh!  I didn't bring an the spare tippet so I tied a fly directly onto the leader.  

Dark clouds were building to the North, behind the mountains.  Despite some quiet rumbling they were drifting further north, away the from me.

Thunder was now getting louder but somehow, the dark clouds were getting closer despite their northerly drift.  I checked my watch: 1:30 grrr.  Time to go.  While packing up I started to think about how it was comfy in the sunshine but temps would feel drastically cooler if cloud cover came in.  Figure the air temperature was in the high forties but throw some rain and wind in and hypothermia was a real possibility. Had a windbreaker, hat, umbrella in my pack so that would help.

Tied my rod to my pack in set out at a brisk pace.  Encountered 2 couples on the trail who asked me if what the chances the weather might turn bad was.  I replied that mountains often have afternoon showers.  Pointing to the dark rumbling clouds now over the mountains in front of us I told them that's why I'm getting out here right now.

Deer in the headlights reaction from them.  They were dressed in light shirts and shorts.  No rain gear, no day packs, no nothing.

I beat feet out of there, arriving at my truck just as powerful wind gusts be began whipping the parking lot.  Moments later horizontal sheets of raked my windshield while gusts of wind rocked the truck side to side.  I hoped those people took my advice and headed for safety.  Storm only lasted about 40 minutes but that could still be mighty risky if you are as unprepared as they were 

Day 3 Scouting Report

September 11, 2025

I hit the road again this morning to check out various BLM parcels and a very large Wildlife Management Area (WMA) both south of Saratoga where I'd been looking previously but further north.

The WMA looked very good for antelope but was too high in elevation much like the one I looked at yesterday.  Didn't see any "speed goats" as the locals call them.  There are two NFS campgrounds however, about 15 miles in right on the banks of the North Platte River that are in a very pretty setting:

unfortunately, even with the river at such a low level both campgrounds were still half full on a Thursday in September.  The sites are very small and packed close together.  Probably created to satisfy high demand from anglers.  

Navigating all of the Public vs. Private land regulations borders (yeah that's a pun) on the absurd.  Signage reminds anglers that on privately owned lands the river flows through their feet may not touch the bottom...  Say what?  It's a tortuous way of saying you can't wade, you can only be in a boat.  Oh brother.

Check out this helpful streamside map:

There are also signs along the banks that have red squares for Private land and Blue for Public.  Ugh!

  Anyway, I didn't see many antelope today but I think I've been to about 80% of the possible sites.  So, tomorrow I'm going to check out some of the alpine lakes in the Snowy Range.  Then on Saturday I'm off to Colorado to L,L&B!

Day 2 scouting report

September 10, 2025

I continued searching for likely hunting spots for Brian's upcoming antelope hunt.  

It's been encouraging to occasionally spot some in the huge desert habitat they fabor.

Mostly,  I've been looking east and north of Saratoga but tomorrow I'll try south.

Ryan Park campsite

September 8, 2025.

Just arrived in Ryan Park and snagged the dispersed campsite I was hoping for.  It's just a few hundred yards from where I saw the covey of dusky grouse when I camped nearby back in August.

Drive took about 6 hours which surprised me a bit as I thought the Big Horns were closer to the Medicine Bow range.

It's supposed rain lightly tomorrow which will be a good time to do some puttering in the Tacoma scouting for antelope.  BTW,  Brian got 2 duskies down in Colorado yesterday.  Dusky Slayer is on the board!

Here's a picture for Lew:

Cuttie Time

September 7, 2025

 Fished the North Tongue River on "the flats" and West of Burgess Junction in the riparian meadows.  Believe it or not there are at least 20 trout in this picture.  None of them wanted anything to do with the various flies I tried 

Water was of course,  very low in the flats nonetheless, I caught 3 skinny browns, one "flying fish" and lastly, an 11 inch rainbow at the base of a little waterfall created by a fallen tree.  Spectacular red stripe and red gill plate.

 The browns were fun because they'd chase a hopper fly in only a few inches of clear water, following it downstream inspecting it.  Required a lot of patience to wait for it to finally take the fly before setting the hook.  Beautiful sunny and comfortable day to be on the river.

Later in the afternoon I tried the meadows.  Where I'd only been able to get small fish and snags the evening before, today was my day.  Used a hopper and size 18 Adams behind it.  Cast up alongside an undercut bank and bam! 20+ inch cuttie!  Major fight that made my arm ache so much In had to use both arms for the fight.  Wasn't carrying a net and trying to beach a fish that big.  Much as I wanted to get a picture he broke my line just as I tried to get him ashore.

 A few minutes later I had another cuttie on about half the size of the first one which still made it pretty decent.

Ten minutes after that yet another about 2/3 the size of the first was on.  This time I managed to land him:

sun was setting and I was ready for supper after an awesome day of fishing.

Tomorrow I'm headed for Ryan Park in the Medicine Bow mountains so I can start scouting for Brian's antelope hunt.

Splurge

September 5, 2025

Arrived in Burgess Junction, Wyoming last night after getting gas and groceries in Sheridan.  The drive up from the valley was a a shocker. Most of the eastern slopes were burnt down in huge wildfire caused by lightning.  It is as though someone shaved it bald compared to the thick green coat of conifers it used to have.  The plateau where I fish was untouched thankfully.

The other shocker was the overnight temperature: 25 degrees!  I have had it get down near freezing on my previous visits but most of the nighttime temps out in Montana were in the mid forties.  

Frost on gear left out last night. At least no more grizzly worries.

I brought an extra blanket and winter underwear but it was just barely enough.  Wore sweatpants and fleece jacket to bed.  Today I bought another blanket and a warmer jacket.  I also splurged on a hotel as I'm pretty beat from trying to find the right combo of gear to make it through the night.  First time I have paid for a hotel on any of my Western trips.

I plan to do some fishing tomorrow and then push on to be Medicine Bow mountains to do some scouting for Brian's antelope hunt.

Tomorrow night is supposed to be a little milder so I I'll be camping again.  Hopefully 

Boulder Rocks!

September 4, 2025

Camped along side the Boulder  River about 30 miles south of Big Timber.  Similar to the Wise River and Rock Creek:  river carves a path between steep mountains.  Thick conifers in a national forest.

Where the Wise and Rock Creek are extremely narrow, the Boulder canyon is much wider.  Like the other two at least half of the fishable waters are privately owned.  Just how that works in national forest is a mystery to me.  The private lands are crammed with ramshackle cabins alongside McMansions.

Water was mostly clear but free of the huge algae strands seen in the Wise and lacking the super fine layer of silt in Rock Creek that made wading very slippery.

Looks pretty low but there were plenty of pockets to try.  Wading when the water levels are higher might be challenging.

This one was a little side braid but had a nice dark pocket guarded by pine bows above, bushes upstream and downstream without any room for a back cast.  I managed to coax a hopper fly in there nonetheless and got an 11 inch rainbow.  One of my better technical achievements.

Further downstream in that same side channel there was a narrow but deep spot where a 17 inch rainbow devoured a nymph.  The fight was so much bigger than the smaller rainbows I'd been catching.

Later in the afternoon I hit a series of 6 rainbows ranging from 16-19 inches.  Amazing!

Next day I found a streamside dispersed campsite and moved in.  

Drove the road further south to look for other fishing spots and found this gem:

Loaded with cutthroats that would race up from the depths after my fry flies but sometimes would turn away at the last second.  Caught 6 including this beauty:

 About 11 inches but with bright throat markings.  I don't usually carry a net but did this time so I could get a picture.  The river radically changes character from here upstream, steeper gradient with giant boulders everywhere.

All in all, the Boulder River gave me one of my best trout fishing outings ever.  That's the end of the Montana portion of this trip 

I'm now off to Burgess Junction, Wyoming - an old favorite for a few days and then to meet my grandson for the very first time!

Boulder River next

September 1, 2025

Camped near Georgetown Lake last night.  Campgrounds were jammed with holiday revelers so I found another one a bit further away.  Dispersed campsites have been hard to come by in Montana.  Colorado has many more choices.

Headed to Boulder River South of McLeod.  Like the Wise and Rock Creek it's another gorge with that has several NFS campgrounds in it so I'm hoping that means it is heavily forested and my still have some fishing.  Rock Creek looked like autumn was already underway with bushes turning colors etc.

I will try to give an update on where I'm staying if there's cell service.

UPDATE:  Help an elderly couple with a flat tire way out in ranch country, 30 miles from anywhere.  No cell service and nobody stopped to help them.  I turned around and someone did stop.  Another guy from CT!  Very nice man from Salisbury.  He improvised a way to get Ill fitting lug nuts off with help from my toolkit.  The couple then limped back to Big Timber, Montana with me following.

On my way again about 40 miles south of Big Timber to fish the Boulder River in the NFS gorge.

Told Ya

August 31, 2025

Dispersed camped in a NF near Gold Creek last night.  Turned out to be a pretty good setup.

Map said there were two campgrounds out there but there was only one which was full long of lost hippies out for a Labor Day beer blast.

I headed out for the opposite side of the Clark Fork River valley this morning to check out fishing in the small creeks.  I wasn't expecting there to be much water and sure enough, there wasn't.  Told ya!

The overall plan for this trip was to fish the big name Rivers in SW Montana and maybe some Creek fishing too.  Then I will meet up with Brian in mid-September for a rifle hunt for antelope in Wyoming.  The fishing was a big gamble based on the time of year but Rock Creek and Jack Creek (WY) were superb.

At this point I've scouted a bunch of the little creeks feeding the Clark Fork but the mix of impossibly low water, hot temps and Labor Day crowds is enough.  I should also mention the super smokey air, probably from Idaho wildfires.  The mountains are like ghosts, shrouded, and barely visible from even a few miles away.

This picture should have been a majestic display of towering Rock Mountains.  It happens a lot this time of year but it's still a downer.

So, I'll begin wandering through the Sapphire Mountains toward Philipsburg and points further east until it is time to meet up with Brian at his home in Colorado.