Brrr... Check The Flows! 31Mar17

I braved the freezing rain on the PT thinking the cloud cover would be good. Still, it was like Seattle, 36° and 100% humidity and precipitating. Plus, I checked the flows last night (380) but not this morning (740) so that sucked. I lost a couple nicer pinkish fish on a red midge I believe and landed this one on a black mojo midge emerger. Weak day on jacked flows on the PT - left at noon or so.

North Facing Pow' 29Mar17

DD and I skied again! We were fortunate to grab an early start after 8" of new snow at Keystone. We hit the north facing stuff in overcast conditions which really held the snow soft for us for several hours. We had very good conditions and had a blast for 13K ft vert before the sun came out and began to melt it all (and we began to encounter "skied off" conditions in spots - we're such Colorado guys). Here we are at the bottom, both preparing to head back to COS.

Tenacious Tape Repair Fan 28Mar17

My black Arcteryx ski pants (they look grey here for some reason) are goretex shells and around my knee brace they'd become ripped up quite a bit where my knees bang together. Too, when out with DD recently I scraped a tree and even tore them on the outside of the brace. I repaired them today using Gear Aid's Tenacious Tape. The store only had black but it comes in clear too. This stuff works great and is only ~$5 for a 3x20" roll. I ordered more for my backcountry kit - a lot like an adhesive bike tube patch. Highly recommended for technical gear repairs. Oh yeah, I also got over to Keystone on a pretty good spring day - though overcast it snowed the entire outing and the snow while heavy was sufficient to push around well with the Origins.

It's On - Springtime On Williams Fk 27Mar17

Back from the BVI/USVI and it's Rocky Mtn spring fishing time. DD and I hit the Blue recently and I ventured to Grand Co this AM onto Williams Fk. I was in search of migrating rainbows from the CO River for spawn and caught one really nice one. The rest of a dozen or so fish were stream residents and 3/4 brown trout. I used a black ice weight followed by squirmy or egg for color attractor then an RS2 or a Jimi's Axe. I saw both mayflies and midges coming off though I caught fish on all four flies throughout the day from 11am-3pm. The river was not too crowded but there were 5 carloads in the lot on arrival and I did advance around folks several times. I'm still tryin' the DRC NetCam though it's hard and doesn't do some of the fish justice. I was excited on the day, following a decent day with DD - spring has sprung in the Rockies and I'm fishin'. Here's the Vimeo video link: https://vimeo.com/210363047.

Gear Shit 26Mar17

I couldn't find Millet but still "needed" pack-in-a-pack for skiing and otherwise - I got the Osprey Kode 18 for $40, it's 1# with same features as well as sleeve for hydration bladder. I also "needed" a replacement for my 20 year old therm-a-rest foam pad classic... I got the Sea-To-Summit Comfort Plus Light Insulated in size L, it's 1.5#. To match I also got the Sea-To-Summit pillow (they're pretty small), since my hoodies aren't all that comfortable. Finally, I "needed" an off-the-ground backpacking chair... I got the 1# Helios Zero. So the extra stuff is now +2# and the pad is net -.5#.... I can handle it for the comfort. Can you tell it is REI 20% Off season? Can you tell my color is acid green? - damn the Helios team for electric blue & grey.

Salida Trip; A Weekend With Mrs CP 18Mar17-19Mar17

Last week I tied up a couple Pat's Rubber Legs Olive/Brown color...
I hit the Arkansas at the Chafee Co Line about 2:30pm after looking at some houses and a trip to the Moonlight brewery. I tasted the IPA, Pale Ale, Amber and Black IPA. All were delicious, although the IPA was a bit too Malty for me. Pizza smelled great, but I was full from eating lunch. Great vibe and open patio.


I caught 3 fish in my first 4 casts. Gotta be a record. All on a small purple BWO nymph. Similar to the Jimi/Purple Haze, except not as flashy. Not sure where I got it, probably from Dave. After about 8-9 fish on only that fly in about 20 minutes the fishing completely changed. I was running a standard Ark Nymph Rig (Stone/Caddis/BWO). The next 8-10 fish in about 40 minutes were all on the Stonefly which was an olive/brown Pats Rubberlegs I had just tied up last week also. After the legs were ripped off that thing and it became a Pat’s cat poop, I decided it was a good day as the Mrs was waiting in the car and a hike and Elevation Brewery were calling. The 7437 IPA was a hit even with the Mrs.






Nice Brown with the Rubber Legs hanging out and the lone Bow I caught on the purple BWO. He did a nice job getting my rig all in a mess with the Pats against his face. I didn't catch him by the eye, just looks that way in the photo.

Sunday I was out about noon at Rincon and had two pigs on(well pigs for the Ark ~18 inchers) and failed to land both of them as I was being cheered on by a guide and his clients. Net failure on both! I was fishing just above the new boat ramp below the riffle where the boat ramp used to be. They have done some nice work at Rincon. New covered picnic area, a new camping spot at the end and some stream work to add some boulders. I didn’t do anywhere as well on Sunday. Things were picking up just as I was leaving again about 2pm, but had to get back to town and Trish was in the car.
-CP

Into The Depths; A Weekend With DD 24Mar17-25Mar17

I was fortunate to shred a couple days with my working friend DD. We packed it in decently with skiing fresh snow on Fri @ Keystone (snow was meh but we pushed the mashed potatoes around), hitting two fav Summit breweries as 1sts for DD (Outer Range - IPAs like In The Steep & Broken Compass), debating the sources of reality in the jacuzzi, fishing Jurassic Pk on a nice early spring day and popping DD's cherry on the same water with his fine cutbow (I crossed kinda sketchy stuff and was "cliffed out" on the way back). I caught a couple nice browns to boot - one on weighted squirmy and one on RS2 - we actually saw a decent number of bugs, especially mayflies, but the water was pretty cold - still mostly ice on the rez. Very enjoyable start to spring break. Thx DD.

Hiking The USVI 14Mar17-20Mar17

After sailing the turquoise seas of the BVI we headed to St Thomas and St Johns to hike and do some beach time. We rented a perfect house (Blue Skies @ Meagan's Bay) on the Peterborg spit of STT - really 3 king guest suites with a main living/dining area and great pool with stellar views. We were even able to park our two cars behind the gated access. We saw gigantic (18"-24") iguanas and parrots around the abode. After visiting the VINP building (and the governor's house) and noting the tsunami evacuation route, we hiked into the Natl Pk on Caneel Bay trail (up 800 ft in 80% humidity) our first day and captured a great view of Cruz Bay, though the down I picked didn't lead to the beaches as hoped and we hitched a ride to Hawksnest instead and then taxied back. We celebrated Peg's birthday with the whole VI team at The Old Stone Farmhouse - excellent dinner and wine. Wilks and I hiked multiple times on STT while the ladies beached it... We hiked to Megan's Beach and were conspicuous in our attire - we accessed the beach through Nature Conservancy land through mangrove forests on a mostly undocumented trail we'd learned of from young guides; we skated paying for beach access - such rogues; I did find a beach bar for a beer with Scott and when we returned I continued to perfect Dave's Pain Killers, served by the pool. We hiked to Sandy Beach (which it was not) and saw where we were really headed (behind our selfie) and then on to Maiden's Chair where two opposing seas built a small isthmus of beach we could cross - here we went through an exclusive and expensive "preserve" where most was still undeveloped but a $6M steal was being readied for Yohanans. Beaches in the USVI are public and providing access is mandatory - that's why Botany Bay let nefarious types like us even through the gate. We hiked to the end of the island on Peterborg spit where sketchy rock-hopping met rock-crashing seas. Tom and I were lost on STT on a number of occasions, on really dicey roads - chasing Tom's rainbows or visions of national parks anyway. We visited the University of the Virgin Islands, UVI, where sociology is the only study I think but they had an awesome outdoor theater venue... after more dead ends on trails we hiked Lindbergh Bay Beach below the UVI to Persistence Bay (aptly named). We did hit STJ with the cars and it was a nicer area as to shops, housing, beaches and overall feel. Much of the island is NP and we enjoyed Trunk Bay Beach for snorkeling (I'll spare folks the hilarious movie of some of the team entering the water) and the remote Salt Pond Beach (Tom & I hiked again there while the team beached it). We'd had good burgers and pizza in Red Hook but closed out the USVI with a run to Hull's Hideaway @ Hull Bay for hang with the locals on taco night.