After our friends left, Kala & I took time to prepare for the pending Wildernest slash pickup. We knew we needed to do a bit of wildfire mitigation and I was very tired of using the saws-all. So - we did some research a got an awesome DeWalt 12" 5AHr battery chainsaw ($230). It fell the trees quickly and clipped off those branches with ease for 2 hours or so. Recommended - very effective. The piles are ready... that dead tree should go too, but that's not on our property.
It was great to host our old friend Karen and her mate Jimmy at the Nest these days. They were capping a six week trans-US vacation after Karen retired! We started quickly with a nice meal at the Nest and then "training" on new bands, old bands, and good songs on the Nest Theater. Uh, we had beers too from ORB, La Cumbre and Resolute. After arising a smidge late in the AM we hit the Dillon farmer's mkt for some Palisade fruit, and then sailed Dillon Rez ~ Jimmy had never been! We had a nice outing and snuck in before the big winds and storms came. I even got in a quick repair on Mon Ami I'd been wanting to accomplish, while the others had Pug Ryan's new hazy at the Tiki Bar. Sense a theme? We hit Angry James for another beer then dined at Sauce.... Afterward we went fish spotting on the Blue ~ I didn't get the rod out but got a 20"er to hit a cottonwood fuzzy. We also hit Baker's for a beer before getting home to comedy shows, more beers and star gazing under deck blankets. It was a fine catch-up with our friends and now they're bound for 120° temps and fires in AZ. Good luck kids. I was pretty lax on the pictorial documentation but here are a few...
I wielded the Rodfather 10' 5wt All Blacks today on the Blue River in Green Mtn Canyon; it is still fishing well down again to 100cfs. While I've yet to see the green drakes, the BWO nymph and emerger imitations still take fish. I caught a number of nice cutbows, and browns with the biggest 19+"; unfortunately the biggest cutbow (prob ~23") disappointingly broke off. Best flies were the #18 MHFBPT and the #20 biot CDC loopwing (fished drowned). There were a couple cars in the lot on arrival @ 10am but I passed them on the way downstream for clear water. Minimal bug sign again today but for early AM midges (but I never tied one on). The nicer cutbow landed might even be a big one I fought last week with video on Brown's phone - only to loose it after 4 minutes. Her mouth was pretty beat up and I didn't do that on today's fight & landing.
Tom & Leslie and their friends Sue & Gary and Kala & I hiked out of Hoosier Pass north for some great views of Bross, Lincoln & Quandry. We weren't alone but had passed and even more crowded Quandry + McCoulough Gulch TH on the way. Wildflowers and views were awesome as was the company.
The plan continued, somewhat. I led Steve, Jim and me up the wrong ridgeline toward Mohawk Lks. today. Sure it was a new line, but why. We ultimately made it to lakes #5 & #6 on a great day; it was wrongly forecast to be bad. The hike, despite my route-unfinding, was excellent. Plus, this was the 1st Crusher Too ascent of Spruce Ck Rd, a notorious rock road ~ it was deftly climbed and quickly descended in my new steed. The trail to lake #6 is mostly clear but for 2 brief snow crossings, and the cutthroats are hungry. We had an epic day catching greenback and Colorado cuttys, who were also still spawning at this elevation - which was a keen sight. We caught many fish on dries and droppers but a shift in majority from greeenbacks to CO cuttys from trips up 2 years ago. I used the Rodfather El Cheapo to a great catch but could not entice the nicest 20"er to bite. What a blast with goats, Brown's lunch, an abundance of catch on dries, a closing interview on Crusher Too from an Afghany rebel, and a sweet July 1st closeout at ORB.
