But this trip was different. Fly fishing was not the prime directive; hiking was instead. My wife, former president of the Louisiana Hiking Club, had organized a group camping trip to the Tetons. We joined 22 other LHC members over the span of 12 days, for various hikes and other activities.
I was feeling okay about this trip until I went to see the movie "A Walk in the Woods". What a terrific film! Robert Redford and Nick Nolte had me laughing throughout. Leave it to Redford to make movies that inspire us to do outdoor-type things. First fly fishing, now hiking. I was ready to backpack the AT, but first came Tetons. We'd see how that went.
As for fishing... since I had agreed to serve as a hike leader, I knew my time on the water would be rare. Still, as the schedule came to fruition, it appeared that I'd have at least 3 days at the tail end of our trip to be on the water, with a half-day squeezed in on the first half.
My half-day turned out pretty decent, with a few 8-10 inch cuts taken on hoppers and stimulators.
As luck would have it, great weather the first week turned into nasty cold the second week. A big cold front also dumped 6 inches of rain on us, turning all the local streams to milk. It also affected our hikes... we ended up doing a couple days of sightseeing instead (not bad, actually, because I never get tired of visiting all the attractions in Yellowstone).
The cold weather also gave our club chefs a chance to cook up a chicken and andouille gumbo, and talk about good! For several days after, we had a big black bear coming around the group campsite trying to find our where that delicious smell came from! When folks ask if I lost any weight from hiking 30+ miles this trip, my response is "not much". Let's just say we ate very well this trip thanks to John Garrett, our Camp Commander in charge of cooking. Plus my insatiable apetite for buffalo burgers - morning, noon, and night!
On the third to last day of our trip, I did some fishing on Flat Creek, a couple small channels off the Snake River, and on the Hoback. Overcast, cold and sleeting at times, I was very disappointed I'd missed out on the hopper run. Small parachute BWOs did bring a few fish up, and I lost one really nice cutt on Flat Creek because I let the cold get to my head and wasn't paying attention.
On the second to last day, I hooked up with John and his BFF, Scout. John had done so much on this trip and really wanted to get away and do some fly fishing. He admitted to me that he needed help with a bunch of things, including casting. Also, Scout had been tethered to her leash for the duration of her time in the Park, and John was hoping his canine companion could get some exercise.
We picked a spot on the Snake. I gave him a few lessons and instructed him on setup and rigging for dry fly fishing. For most of the morning, I'd be guiding John rather than fishing myself. By afternoon, he'd picked up enough where the confidence juices were flowing! Especially after John landed finespotted 7 cutts on dry fly, with more than twice that many coming up to smack it. I finally got my line wet for an hour, with a predictable spot turning up a bunch of rises with 8 brought to the bank.
We then had lunch in Alpine at Yankee Doodle Restaurant (another buffalo burger for me - lol). Afterwards we fished the Greys River, one of my favorite streams in Wyoming. It was a tough afternoon, but I think by now high pressure had settled in and that always makes things difficult. We each had several rises, and I did manage to land 3 small cutts (7-8 inches).
The final day ended with the big fish I'd been hoping for. A nice 17-inch Snake River Finespotted Cutthroat trout came from under a log and snapped my Royal Trude. What a way to end a great trip!
As with any trip to this part of the country, the animal sightings and encounters complete the trip. Here's the final tally by myself:
- 4 bears, including one grizzly (most bears I've seen on any trip!)
- 6 moose... or is that meese?
- dozens of buffalos
- a couple dozen elk (they seemed to be short numbers this trip)
- 4 red foxes
- 1 bald eagle
- loads of deer, ground squirrels, gray jays, chipmunks
- hundreds... and I mean hundreds, of antelope. They must be immigrant lopes.
I took over 500 photos, and still haven't checked them all yet. In the meantime, here's a few that will give readers a feeling for the Golden Ring.
