High Country Fishing Day

   I awoke yesterday to hear the coffee maker start up at 4:45am.. I quickly got up and turned off my alarm (set at 5:00am) and got dressed for a long day. Pre-dawn light was already prominent in the eastern sky. The day before, I got all my fishing gear ready including my waders along with food, water, bug spray, extra cloths, and rain gear. I put a cooler with ice in the truck, optimistic about the fish I would be bringing home later in the day.
   After breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee I left around 6:00am for the high country just north of Medicine Bow Peak. I started out on Hwy. 230 driving south for 7 or 8 miles before turning east onto Hwy. 130 for 12 miles. I turned north and drove another 20 miles onto forest road #100, a gravel road that winds north and then east up to about the 10,000' level. I then turned onto forest road #103 for another 2 miles, a narrow one lane gravel road, arriving at the trail head at 7:00am.
   After a tough 4 mile hike, gaining another 400' in elevation I arrived after a 2 hour hike at the most beautiful high mountain meadow I've ever seen. I checked the time. I arrived  at 10:00 am, not bad time for the distance and altitude. In that moment I was convinced that the earth truly does proclaim God's Glory. This is one of the most remote places I've been. This is nature untouched with wildlife ranging from bear, mountain lion, elk, and moose. I didn't see another person from the time I left on foot from the trail head.

 

As soon as I got here I noticed brook trout rising without stop the whole time I was there. This high up the fish need to eat all day in the short summer in order to survive the winter. After a hard 4 mile hike this lake sure was a welcome site.

 

 

As soon as I arrived, I noticed this little fellow coming down the hill right at me. Porcupines don't have the best vision so I didn't think it knew I was there until I yelled at it as it got about 10' feet away.

 

 

On the trail. Actually this is a forest road, just wide enough for a vehicle. This section is one of the only level, smooth sections.

 

 





  This part of the trail crosses a large meadow that I named Vail Meadow in honor of a friend that went to heaven a few years ago, Bill Vail. It was Bill that first brought me up to this place in 2005. I've since been back almost every year.

 

 

Around 1:00pm I heard a clap of thunder. It was time to leave. The one place you do not want to be is in the mountains, out in the open during a thunderstorm. You kind of make a nice lightening rod standing out in the open. I quickly packed up and started back to the truck.

 

 

For the 3 hours fished I caught a lot of fish. These were the ones I kept. These little brookies were great eating.