Golf With Aces & Weekend With Wilkes 29Jul22-30Jul22

Wilks and I were fortunate to get an outing with Yoho at his club, the Flying Horse. We were joined by AndyH for a great non-rain PM day. Ok, these were my 1st swings at bat in the golf season, so there were many... my usual random walk of 9s and 3s. The course was gorgeous. It was a blast playing among all  these boys, with Andy & Jim clearly showing why they pay club dues and we tagged along. Thanks Jim, and Andy for coming out!

Leslie came down to COS with Tom and after a shower by @ Blodgett we all headed out for a stellar meal at Ephemera. Impressive experimental fine dining and fun. We got back to the shed for a bloodthirsty game of Jokers, boys v girls. The match is currently on hiatus and tied 1-1; we did not want bloodshed.

Folks rested decently and KM&DC made keen AM nosh before we set out for the day's hike: The Crags. Some mods to the plans were on the fly and we decided to show the Wilkes a cool hiking spot near COS. I parked in a drainage ditch after arriving at the TH ~10:30am. We hiked the 5.7 mi round trip and ~900ft to The Crags and enjoyed the view. On the way back, TAW wanted to get rid of us pretty quickly so requested fine dining at Subway. Ok,  we toured Manitou Springs in traffic to raise angst then found a "nice" Subway and enjoyed "lunch." Seriously, such a great vibe when we take the time to grab each other and do stuff. Thanks for staying the night.

I was especially pleased with LW's performance and the gnarly tree.

Mtn Stream Fishing: Six Spots In Three Days: Gore, Ark, 10 Mile, Blue, & Middle Fk SPlatte 26Jul22-28Jul22

July 26 @ Gore Creek @ Confluence ~ I jumped Vail Pass this morning and hit the Gore Ck in my usual spots. I started at the mouth but the construction of a replacement sewer pipe over the Eagle and Gore has put a lot of construction traffic and vehicles right on the Gore at it's confluence with the Eagle. This used to be a solid fishery but today I caught just one brown at the upper end and I didn't even see or spook any others. The construction has taken it's toll for now IMO and I won't return till they are completed. Flows @ 40cfs and color & temps were great - It's just the construction.

July 26 @ Gore Creek @ West Vail ~ I cut my pass of the confluence/construction section short by a smidge and headed to VBC, but they didn't open till 11:30am and I wasn't gonna wait the 30 min. I drove to the West Vail section (go west on frontage till the end). Fishing was much better here between the townhomes. It's a sketch dance on the river, but the fishing was very good - I caught a dozen 12"-14" browns and one rainbow on caddis larva, Chubby, DCEZWD40, and rainbow warrior weight.. I chose the Rodfather Diamond Blaze 4wt as it was assembled but this creek really could use the Lightning Rod 3wt. Too bad about the lower section; I haven't tried Stephens Park (Dawg Park) yet.

July 27 @ Arkansas River Headwaters ~ With Williams Fork flows just bumped 3X I decided to try the Ark Headwaters and started by moving upstream from the bridge above Hayden Meadows. Ther were quite a few folks on the river but the flows and color were good. I turned over a number on the Chubby and caught several on it or the BHFBPT dropper. Small fish and far from epic catch pace. I moved down to Hayden Meadows and hiked in an fished back to the car. Similar smaller browns all looking like this 12"er. Fishing was not good enough so I left and grabbed tacos at the food truck in Leadville, they were excellent but the service time was long with a decent crowd. I wielded the Lightning Rod today - super lightweight but shoots a good distance accurately. I did have to trim down the leader some to get to line more quickly.

July 27 @ 10 Mile Creek @ Copper ~ I hopped over Freemont Pass and stopped near Copper to fish the 10 Mile Ck there. I caught a couple small browns but really saw many fewer fish than I have in past years... I made my normal pass in this section and scared up precious few fish. Something has happened at this fishery as flows and clarity were stellar.

July 28 @ Blue In Breck ~ I was headed home so went the back way and stopped at the 4 Mile bridge to fish the headwaters of the Blue just downstream of Breck. Meh. I caught some small ones (8" rainbow and 6" brown - no pics) on rainbow warrior and tan chubby but the flows were a smidge faster than I prefer for this section and I frankly feel the Breck construction edging further downstream has put pressure on this once prolific brown trout section. I just spent 90 minutes there and saw 5 other fishermen! Shot the Lightning Rod again.

July 28 @ Middle Fk SPlatte @ Tomahawk ~ Sprinkles and traffic followed me from Breck through Fairplay but I still jumped off Rt 9 to try the Tomahawk section. I waited out the sprinkles over lunch and then headed out on the Middle Fk. Total overcast day with good flows and visibility. Modest bug sign. I caught a number of small 'bows and browns on the tiny chubby and turned over others. Then, I did well for this section and got a couple of nicer browns. I landed the biggest brown I've ever caught here ~ a nice 19" Scottish brown! She took 7 min to land on the Rodfather Lightning Rod. Fooled her with black ice trailer. That made the day a wrap for me; I  hiked back to the car and drove to COS. It was a good end to the "6 Spots" effort, which ran very hot & cold.

Salmon-Willow Lakes Pack Trip '22 ~ Into The Gore 22Jul22-24Jul22

Our somewhat annual trip into the Eagle's Nest Wilderness, up to the Willow Lakes, was awesome this weekend. DaveS, GregL, SteveB and I climbed ~6 miles and 2200ft of vert on Friday afternoon to camp above Lower Willow Lk @ ~11.4Kft elevation. The trip was a bit longer for Dave and Greg as Dave dropped Steve & I at the upper TH and then had to park in overflow parking at the bottom of Willowbrook (no overnight parking allowed at the TH any more). Greg did similarly later in the day. The extra was 3/4 mile and several hundred feet. We appreciated that Dave!

Steve & I were dropped above Willowbrook and immediately started out on Three Peaks trail, which would intersect the trail to Willow Lakes following the North Willow Creek. Dave drove down the hill, parked and walked 3/4 mile up to the Willowbrook TH, grabbed his pack, and headed out, about 50 minutes behind us. We were almost certain that goat-boy Dave would ultimately overtake us ~ but he didn't! Steve & I kept a decent pace over the climb and made it in 3 hrs moving time and just under 4 hrs gross. The wildflowers became abundant over the last mile and a half and we got no rain on the hike.

Dave arrived shortly after and Greg arrived about 7pm after pulling up late to the parking lot (you know - working guy). We all set up camp in a glorious spot overlooking Lower Willow Lk and Blue River valley far below. It was a completely awesome site but for many pesky mosquitos ~ we slathered ourselves with deet.

I headed over to Middle Willow Lk to fish before dinner and caught a number of beautiful brookies and a fine low sun pan of the crest and lake reflected on the lake, and some wildflowers. I packed the new Rodfather Power Pack 6pc 5wt which tossed the chubbies distant with ease but landed the 8"-10" brookies too easily.

At camp we pumped water, prepared dinner and spoke of camp things... the working stiffs, both software dev mgrs reviewed issues with their systems and pending releases. Steve and I enjoyed ramen with veggies, jalepenos and chix. We retired pretty early to avoid being eaten but morning didn't even come too quickly. Coffee and oatmeal with parts was nearly the universal fare for the team. Steve's Jetboil system was almost instantaneous, but it would not simmer. Already we encountered moose & deer, as well as humans, along the treelines of meadows.

We fished all day Saturday, except for a 90 min nap in the tents during an early PM rainfall. It was a great day with literally 100s of brookies caught. I personally caught 68 on Saturday alone! We stayed on the Willow Lks this entire outing and started with a hike to Upper Willow Lake in the morning. Six "kids" we'd encountered on the hike on the day prior chose the very cool site abutting the upper lake - but that came with a dozen aggressive goats! They'd stolen boots and even a fly rod (all recovered) but were very present and curious and the "kids" were always chasing them out of their camp ~ to which they often bleated furiously. Fishing-wise, everybody caught many fish usually using a double dry system of a #14 Chubby Chernobyl trailed by a 2nd smaller dry, where an ant was popular. At times I even went dubl-chubby. We crushed it up there. Stealthy Greg took a high vantage to target shoot. Too, the upper lake has it's own spectacular crest and cirque. Half way through the session on the top lake I did trade rods with my Bro Brown - he was using my 6 foot RF Headwaters and a guy should not be made to fish with a rod substantially shorter than he is. I liked both rods for this area but the RFHW was tougher to cast far.

The Willow Lakes are inter-connected via streams. Upper Willow's effluent runs into a Side Willow spot and Middle Willow flows into Lower Willow. To make my way back to camp I followed the outflow of Upper Willow for some creek brookies. It cascades pretty steeply but there are nice holding spots ~ I used the same rig and caught many more on this descent, including landing a double catch where fish nabbed each of the two flies on the same cast and I was able to land both. The creek brookies had bigger darker heads and brighter coloring often and were stronger. It was a blast.

After back at camp for lunch and a nap during the rain, we set out for Middle Willow Lk. I think Greg had three fish on his first 3 casts. We did well with the same sized fish as at Upper Willow, but perhaps catching was more on-and-off as to our "luck." Still, we had a blast. Again on departure I took the effluent stream down to Lower Willow and did very well... I found some columbine hiding and a cool waterfall spot yielded several nice brook trout.

We all met up at Lower Willow Lake 200 ft below our campsite for our final fishing onslaught of the day. Lower is known for bigger fish but lesser catching. The Daves were fortunate to be on the catching side of the equation to cap the day. I landed a much nicer ~15" brookie on my #20 Griffith's Gnat... more challenging to land than the 10"ers without a net... so cool for my final catch for number 68. Though Greg then chastised me to get back out there to get an even 69.

We headed back to camp as sunset was pending and enjoyed a regaling of the days encounters, some freeze-dried vittles and Milky Ways, B&B&B (bourbon, benedictine, & brandy) and Greg's 114 bourbon. Very satisfying fishing day on the Willow Lakes. We retired kindof early again mainly a retreat from feasting mosquitos. Arising came more quickly on Sunday as we had the hike-out and Dave & Greg needed to check the status of their sketchy software releases :). The departure pic was excellent as we said bye-bye to the Eagle's Nest wild for another year. I led the entire stretch down as I'm sure my fellow CoWWs were full of respect (and wanted to ensure if I biffed they could get me out). These guys are so solid ~ I am lucky.

We crossed talus fields and hopped streams and ultimately gained cell service so I could reach out to our buddy DD who couldn't roll with us on this outing. Part of the discussion too was the 100 years it will take to recover from beetle kill deadfall ~ but we saw evidence too of the 5ft starts in the process.

We made it down quickly with 20min miles and DaveS went to grab the shuttle car while we talked with the goat herders from upper camp. They had bad mosquitos too but goats as well - and yet were all excited for their next trip into the Gore. We even saw them again at ORB, where we met up with DD and his bride YD on a rare outside sighting; DaryleD had scored us position A at ORB/Bird Cafe and it was so nice to see Y in the flesh, have a great beer, eat fried chicken, and do those down mountain things we do. Fabulous weekend with great friends.