Fall On The Arkansas Headwaters ~ All Brownies 29Sep23

I hopped over Fremont Pass into Lake Co and fished the headwaters of the Arkansas River south of Leadville today. It was another great day in the mountains and I chose to wet wade again. It was cold "early" @ 10:45am ~ I began at the first bridge crossing and fished up from there. I caught a couple small German browns but persisted with my rig of purple chubby (no action), tung head FBPT, and RS2. Yeah that's Mt Elbert & Mt Massive overseeing my efforts. Subsurface got some action but I didn't go too far, as a kid from Oregon (I learned back at the car) jumped right in front of me; I headed back to find another spot.

My next pull off was at Hayden Meadows where again I started alone. I hiked down 1/2 mile and fished back up to the car. The water was more comfortable and had more holding spots. The Rodfather Endless Wisdom tossed the same rig well ~45ft, even as the wind began to blow. Fortunately it was blowing upstream. I did better here with another half doz browns ~ mostly on the BHFBPT but some on a green copper john and more on the RS2. No surface action or bug sign at all today.

It takes me less than an hour to roll down to the Ark HW... not too bad. The fish are not very big here but it's fun; one has to chose a light rig to match the bounty. Evidence on this high up part of the Arkansas suggests the browns are still in good shape here, vs some other CO rivers or sections. Colors are popping in Lake Co too.

So Long A Cafe & Up To Buffalo Cabin 28Sep23

Kala & I headed to say "so long" to Arapaho Cafe this morning... Oct 15th will bring the closing of a classic in Summit County. This just after we said goodbye to Baker's. Grrr. Back at the Nest the continuing aspen blaze moved us to head out and hike.

We headed up the Royal Buffalo Spur through the burn zone into the Eagles Nest Wilderness on a 4.4 mile and 777 ft elevation jaunt to the Buffalo Mtn Cabin. Warm but gorgeous for late Sep; it was strangely still air.

With Endless Wisdom I Wet Waded Gore Ck 27Sep23

That's a rod, the Rodfather Endless Wisdom (RFEW) 8'6" 3wt. I wet waded the Gore at the West Vail frontage end and the dawg park today, toting the RFEW. I think it was my first field use of this purple weapon. It's lighter and slower than my main 3 wt so I needed to slow my casting ~ it was great once I dialed in. Gore Ck is very thin right now at the end of the season though there was plenty of tiny bug sign on arrival at ~10:30am. The pass in each section yielded mostly modest browns; they were fooled by a purple chubby, a rainbow warrior, and a black DCEZWD40 (with and without black nickel beadhead). The latter took most of the fish; I landed over a half doz on the day but just one rainbow... far from epic but I was alone.

The aspen colors in Vail, as they are in Summit, are at the peak right now. I even caught a strange shot over a nearby playground. However, there was a 30min neck down to one lane at Copper when returning to the Nest.

Matt's still playin' golf near sunsets and he caught this cool pic of Denver while finishing at Denver City Pk GC.

Repairing Long Neck Outdoor Hose Nib 26Sep23

At the Nest, about 18 months ago, the deck level outdoor spigot's long neck valve burst and delivered a "flood" to the inside ~ that story is HERE. Fortunately "closed" on the valve stopped the flow of water into the house and my flood detector alerted me quickly to the issue. But, it's taken a very long time to get a plumber to fix it. The repair was challenging given the valve was located in a side wall to the exterior and behind the washer. It seems the backflow system failed on the original spigot/valve and the pipe burst from freezing. The new spigot is better and has a more robust integrated backflow relief. We were pleased the repair was reasonably priced.

We are back online with a much easier way to top off the spa and clean the deck again. I covered the big hole in the drywall with a grate backed by an insect barrier, rather than repairing the drywall. This is for a couple of reasons: 1) it was simpler and 2) it'll keep that valve area a bit warmer and may protect from another freeze incident. There's fiberglass in the area so I'm not concerned for a warm air leak really.

Takin' A Break ~ The Alterntive 26Sep23

I'm takin' a break from alcohol. But hey, I really like hops-ladden brews. What's an alternative? A recent review in WireCutter led me to taste a keen new category of beverages ~ Hop Waters and Hop Teas. The taste leader in this emerging space appears to be HopLark, at least for those liking the taste of hops, like me. So, Whole Foods stocked their Hop Teas and I bought all three that they had. No calories and a fine hop cover in each. The Hop Teas (and Hop Waters) are brewed seltzer water with hops and teas but no sugar or fermentation. Wow. It doesn't hurt that they are an award-winning Boulder, CO company and have even collaborated with my fav brewer Outer Range on a libation. Among those I first bought, the Green Tea & Mosaic hops was my favorite. Highly recommended, but they aren't cheap at >$3 per 16 oz can for the "core" and more for limited editions like the ORB collab.

Update 28Sep23... I found some HopLark 0.0 Really Really Hoppy DDH Hop Water. I didn't like it and prefer the HopLark offers brewed with tea. However, I made a new concoction, The Hoppy Palmer, which is excellent, and better for me than the Hop Teas from HL. It's 1/4 black tea, 1/4 lemonade, and 1/2 DDH Hop Water.

Playing Keystone River Course & Color Up To Beaver Lk With Browns 23Sep23-24Sep23

We headed to Summit for some leaf peeping and fun. On Sat MLC came up to play some golf and watch F1 with us ~ golf was super expensive, even though it's past season, so we just played the front nine at Keystone River @ twilight. We got around no problem, even letting a speedy 2some through. The course was fabulous in views, condition, and playing setup. It hits you fast with a 250 ft drop over a long carry on par 5 #1.

We dined @ Baker's and unfortunately learned of its imminent closure. Yep, Cory & Co are closing Baker's Brewery and hoping to sell the entire property, brewery gear and all. This was on the heels of learning an even more prominent fixture of our 'hood, Arapahoe Cafe, was also shutting down. Grrr. 

We watched the Japanese Grand Prix @ Sakusa till after midnight. Matt headed down mountain Sun AM while we assembled our gear and headed out to Eagle Co with Steve & Donna for a great hike up Beaver Ck to Beaver Lk. This was a fine 7.8mi and 1700ft elevation jaunt up the Beaver Ck drainage below Grouse Mtn & Larkspur to a cool lake holding some cutthroat. Steve & I took fishing gear just in case. My newish cheap Apple watch caught the route and even my heart rate. Along the hike we passed plenty of golden aspen from fall temperatures; the temps for us were fantastic and as often in fall, no PM storms were pending or observed. Colorful aspen in the sky and raspberries on the floor as the hike took us into the Holy Cross Wilderness ~ have I been there on this approach before when skiing, dunno. Topping out at the lake on a pass, some assembled fishing gear. I completed the task but Steve's gear was a mess needing more time than our hour stop there allowed. I did catch a ~7" Colorado cutthroat but had to move through many rejections and several rigs to entice the bite. Fish were finicky and few fishermen had any success ~ at least I got the Rodfather Power Pack rigged. :) While I fished Steve fed fat chipmunks and the ladies snacked; I didn't get the purple Columbia dress code. What a blast. We dined at the chophouse at the base afterword on good food.

Thanks for driving Steve ~ he's off to Yosemite for backpacking with nephew in law and Donna is eastbound to continue earning Kala's soc sec checks. Woohoo ~ next up is opening day.

September Music Appreciation ~ Radio Studio Focus: WFUV 21Sep23

Fordham University's NPR-affiliated WFUV in New York City is one of my favorite radio studios posting well produced live music to YouTube.

There are other great radio studios of course; I profiled them before because during the pandemic, these stations' productions were some of the only live music we were allowed. They continue to be a great source of new music for me. WFUV is advantaged with their location of course and I'll just roll through a number of good recent drops on their channel as examples. Know that in each case below there are other songs in the bands' sets from their sessions.

Pop Music Fever Dream "Control" 21Jun23 Good post-punk chaos from Brooklyn. EP is "Songs For Promoters." 

Grouplove "All" 02Aug23 Classic Grouplove ~ band is very solid and consistent. Latest LP is "I Want It All Right Now."  

Natalie Merchant "Carnival" Live @ Sheen Center 12Jul23 Yep, still fabulous at 60. Almost 10 yrs since there was new material like her latest LP "Keep Your Courage."

Bully "Lose You" 06Jun23 Strong alt sound; good voice & writing. Latest LP, of 4, is "Lucky for You."

Heavy Heavy "Go Down River" Live @ Rockwood 01May23 Recent team from Brighton, UK bringing it old school. New expanded LP "Life And Life Only" drops soon.

The New Pornographers "Really Really Light" 08Mar23 Light travel team crushes it ~ big concerts feature Nico and others too. Latest LP is "Continue As A Guest" ~ I have the vinyl so the pic is too but if you get digital you can score 24bit/96KHz flac.

So yeah... just from the samples here this summer you see WFUV, the Fordham University Voice, gets great acts, mixes the sound well, and is always on my plate to see what's been posted.