Friday, September 27, 2024

D151 - 09/26/24 DAY ON THE RIVER





































































What a great way to spend our last full day in Colorado! 


Tim and I drove to a familiar location to check out the water levels at Bear Creek. We have fished here before! For those who know about the famous picture taken a few years ago of Tim’s fish he caught that I turned into a puzzle … well that was taken at this location. (I’ll include it in tonight’s photo gallery) With the water low we decided not to fish here yet but would drive on to unfamiliar territory and possibly stop on our way back. 


Today’s road trip took us upstream past Stoner, Colorado to the West Delores River. So beautiful up in this valley. We knew a number of years ago a well known company … maybe Orvis??? … did a photo shoot campaign up here. The leaves continue to intensify in their color change. Just spectacular foliage! Found a few small deep red trees in the distance. 


One location we found to fish was a very beautiful trail head on the river. It offered many opportunities for us to fish. We had our Alaskan slippers in the truck. They worked perfectly here! No need to break out full waders with the low water level. There were nice calm pools of water behind boulders and down trees. Also visible were large rocks in the deeper waters lending to nice undercut ledges for the trout to hide in. 


We spent way too much time fishing here. As the day got away from us. I had one nice bite then actually caught a possible record fish! I was laughing so hard and was surprised that Tim did not hear me upstream. I set the hook. Then wondered how a little leaf got on the fly. Hah! The tiny little rainbow trout was a record for me … as the smallest fish ever caught. LOL She was about the size of my index finger but let’s say she was actually the size of my pinky. I know how people can exaggerate the size of fish so I don’t want to be one of those people. After I landed her I was trying to keep her on the edge of the river as I grabbed my phone to get a picture. That’s when she got off! All the better as it would have been a catch/release anyway and this only means she will be bigger and here for me next year! 


Once done fishing at this location we scouted two nearby campgrounds that have great potential. The only downfall is that they both had free ranging cows in them! Jett would love that!! As we were loosing more time we headed back without stopping at Bear Creek to fish. We then continued back past basecamp and on into Rico to get a Mineshaft Burger at Enterprise. Delicious as always! 


Ended the day back at basecamp by taking Jett for a long walk,  placing our rocks in the rock garden and having a cozy campfire. Time flew today! 


Our last full day here in Colorado went so fast. Can’t believe we move on from here tomorrow. This is definitely one of my favorite places to be without forgetting about Alaska now. We have three days of travel ahead of us until our next big stop. We will be meeting up with a few friends and it will be a very fun event for us! 


Just an FYI … the next two weeks will be extremely busy for us. And I have to be honest in that at some point in the next few days I may not be able to make full posts. So with that being said I may just do bullet points for the day and definitely pictures. Yes!! Pictures. I will just need to see how each day plays out and how much time I have. Still thinking about the process. 


Thanks everyone for following. It does take time to publish and edit each of these posts. I am hen pecking these on my phone each night. Taking about an hour or more each evening. 


Dinner: Enterprise - The Mineshaft Burgers


Sunset: 7:02 pm

Sunrise: 7:05 am


Wildlife viewings:

Stellar’s Jay

Chipmunks 

Magpies 

Rainbow Trout 

Wild ‘Free Ranging’ Cows


No comments:

Post a Comment

D165 - 10/10/24 MILTON YOU WERE BAD!

Home! We have made it home!! Three long days of driving to arrive after the storm.  There is much for us to assess in the morning. We arrive...