Brantleys Rock Summit County 24Sep20-26Sep20

Our GR8 friends Scott Brantley & Peggy visited us for a couple days @ the Nest. Of course we rode bikes, drank wine & beer, partied @ ORB and hiked. Scott & I started with an audit of the new Nest Theater - Scott bought a couple CDs right there as he discovered Reina del Cid. We were enjoying the ORB Color Book & In The Steep hazy IPAs.

After some breakfast, recovery time, and coffee from a nice gifted French press and Seattle's Best in the AM, we rode to Keystone and back. The colors were awesome, the rise was gradual but with some unfilled crevices; we were pleased to log the 18 miles despite slightly smoky air.

We chilled in the afternoon, learning about the Gates' Foundation keen efforts in polio, waste treatment and energy. We then enjoyed an Oyster Ridge cab blend with Mexican food that night. We arose whenever we wanted and readied for a climb up Shrine Mtn south of Vail Pass. It was a good, mostly colorless, hike but one which revealed views of some of our key mountain ranges: the Gore Range (bg of cantilever image), 10 Mile Range (bg of DRC in front of Copper), and even Mt Of The Holy Cross (tallest pk in bg of team selfie - hence the name Shrine) near Aspen. We stopped at ORB for some fine beer and Bird Cafe nosh afterward and then took in the great movie of Hamilton on Disney and a spa ride. Great couple days with our world traveler friends who are now "in our family circle."

Browns On The Gore 23Sep20

With the Crusher cracked radiator replaced I let out to Vail Valley to fish the Gore in the PM. Great fall aspen colors along the way and a willing Gore Ck on arrival at the confluence with the Eagle River. I caught a half doz browns 13"-17"; just browns this day, but didn't get many pics as I flipper failed the Hero cam settings I guess. The water is thin and the fish are in holes and hit the #20 DCEZBHWD40 and the one w/o a bead. Fun time with the repaired 2 weight.

Welcome To Fall All - It's Short In The Rockies; Enjoy It 22Sep20

 Color pan from the Nest...

E1 Camper Repairs 16Sep20

I took the day for chores and to repair & update the camper. Stuff failed or broke during the Gunny outing - Yoho was tough on the digs and I wanted to do an electrical update. I've always wanted a defeat switch for the audio head unit as it draws down the battery unnecessarily and shines into the guest bed at night. Done; here are undefeated and defeated images - the battery charge indicator still works - yeah, I'm low. I was gonna call it the "Jim Switch" but he wears night shades so is unfettered with lighting.

Still on electrical we noted that one of the brake/turn lights was out and replaced the good bulb with another good bulb (got plenty now) on the road. At home I investigated and fixed wiring in the camper-to-puller plug and fixed the issue. The reminder is the smidge of red electrical tape showing.

On to plumbing - yech. The drain hose broke off the threaded seating at 25° - not a biggie I'd hoped. Yet, the fail resulted in my needing to replace the entire drain and trap assembly as it was all glued solid. Going to Lowe's for 1.5" ABS tinker toys to fashion a new one is brutal. The new system is shown on the bottom. Unfortunately too I lost the outside metal nut for the drain and had to trim-to-fit a styrene one (which I'll replace with some search time on Amazon for the right part) but it functions.

The equipment box in which I store levelers, gas, chocs, and water & gas lines was found full of water when arriving in Rosy Lane. The gas lines were full of water and needed to be blown out with a compressor. I disassembled all the parts, blew them out and dry and reassembled. Too, I fixed the leak in the box with JBWeld.

I also noted some needs for lubricant and went thorough with silicone spray on the many moving parts in a pop-up.

UPDATE 03Oct20 - I received the right nut to properly reassemble the sink drain on the exterior of the camper and so did. Amazingly this $6 part was hard to find and I had to acquire it online.

Nest Theater Part Fifteen - Tube Dampers 15Sep20

I had noticed the effects of some microphonic distortion when I muted the Nest Theater from a loud volume... basically a slight lingering of tube vibration was heard during the mute. So, I figured that the effect was present in the sound when being driven too (though I could not hear it then) and set out to fix it. I investigated a number of ways to dampen the tubes and settled on Herbie's dampers - these are titanium 3/4 rings in sizes appropriate for specific tubes - they are outfitted with silicon or rubber and plastic plugs which touch the tubes. I ordered the right stuff for both the pre-amp tubes and 300B power-amp tubes. They worked; the microphonics I heard have been eliminated.

 

CoWWs In Gunny River Basin - Fun But Odd 06Sep20-11Sep20

The late summer C0WW outing to the Gunnison River basin was fun but strange:

• we traveled in style in Richard's Sprinter van often as the Crusher went lame the day before departure and in a thoughtful SaveTheFishingTrip move, Richard towed the camper
• we never found the salmon - the run had not begun as the August heat wave delayed their move into the rivers
• we braved a storm which delivered 10" of snow at our campsite
• we endured some pretty thin fishing days with fish not very spread out in the rivers - probably for the same weather reason delaying the salmon run
• we did not have many of our usual CoWW mates due to travel or schedules or conflicts but we did draft Steve & Richard into the ranks
  

Nonetheless we had a good time on many awesome rivers running through gorgeous canyons. 

Sunday 06Sep20 Colo Spgs Camper Pickup ~ Richard drove to COS from DEN to SaveTheFishingTrip and pickup my camper while Kala, Steve & I too drove down from Silverthorne. Of course I took the boys to Cerberus for dinner and brews - unfortunately it took hours to get beer and service - but it was good once we sat down and tasted.

Monday 07Sep20 Arkansas River @ Salida East ~ We started fishing on the Arkansas on the way out, we were able to wet-wade and while it was not epic, some caught fish. Andy Holley joined the team of Yoho, Brown, Hubbs and me for some days on the rivers. The smoke was really bad and the wind played hell with casting. Of course we stopped at Amica's on the way through Salida.

 

Tue 08Sep20 Gunnison @ Neversink ~ G2 indicated that the salmon run hadn't started in earnest but should in a couple days. So, we decided to defer those pursuits for other salmonids and hit the Gunny @ Neversink, at least until the storm started in earnest. Jim made an awesome poached egg tortilla soup breakfast and then Andy met us at Tributary to join for just the morning, given the veracity of the inbound summer snowfall. We caught some fish but not many or big ones. We lunched at Ol Miner on good steak sandwiches and then rolled back to the campsite to wait out the storm. Jim & I hunkered down with beers and many games of backgammon, Kismet and cards while Richard & Steve read before preparing pulled pork sammies and corn for dinner.

Wed 09Sep20 Storm Time Then Taylor @ C&R And "The Spot" ~ We got 10" of wet snow and 25° temperatures at Rosy Lane for ~24 hours. The heaters worked overtime and we had to clear heavy snow from the camper awning and popouts overnight but we were undeterred as to fishing, yet stayed nearby on the Taylor. We headed first to the C&R section to target the pigs there. I had some luck with the mole fly during a strong BWO & PMD hatch and caught two nice 22" & 19" rainbows, among some others. Jim caught one too on this challenging but epic tailwater. We observed an unusual tweety bird hatch while there - apparently the flash cold and storm killed a number of birds who were caught unaware and 10s of 'em floated by us as we fished in the AM. We then moved downstream to what now is affectionately known as "The Spot." Everybody scored some nice fish there as we caught another nice BWO hatch in the afternoon. The weather turned again and we went camper-bound for the evening and had my cowboy caviar due to inside prep.

 

Thu 10Sep20 Lake Fork @ Seay & Red Bridge ~ We piled into the Hubbs-mobile after a nice breakfast from Richard on his electric setup and headed southwest to the Lake Fork (of the Gunnison) River, where many a strong day fishing has been had. Unfortunately not everyone had success but we did catch fish - including a nice 16" rainbow caught right in front of Richard where he had stopped. I did ask if he'd fished the water and suggested he do so when he had not, but he was "out." Humorous as it could've been his, breaking his drought. No fish were in any shallower hiding/feeding spots this day - unexpectedly challenging fishing. We also stopped briefly just above the lake on the Gunnison, in search of running salmon. With colder rainy weather Richard drove the van all the way to the water and some fished but there was no sign of salmon. I broke out the skottle for an Asian noodle & roasted veggie dish with chix.

Fri 11Sep20 Gunnison @ Cooper Ranch West - In Search Of Salmon ~ We received word from an young sales clerk than there were pods of salmon discovered at Cooper Ranch West so we headed there after another nice breakfast of waffles and bacon (partially enjoyed by the stellar jays) and having packed up for the trip back to Summit Co. We stopped for BB weights at a fly shop as one needs to go deep for salmon, but Steve promptly dropped his box and we ultimately never found the salmon. Jim and I did catch some trout though it was again far from epic. We said our goodbyes to Jim who was headed to Hartman Rock to ride and we piled into the van and headed back up Taylor Canyon to grab the camper. We had a beautiful ride home over Cottonwood Pass at ~12Kft where the copious snow made it seem like winter; our thoughts turned often to the upcoming ski season and how C19 will impact our dates on the slopes. A great trip but weird without salmon and more classic Gunnison River basin "fall" fishing conditions.