No weekend plans....Lightening Bolt (Round 3, page 3)

[Transylwader]

Dunno how I missed this...
Superb! Kids are living it proper. Good job, Brett!

[Ruddy Duck]

Cliche as it may be, the mountains called. They always seem to be calling. Pitty I live on the edge of a pancake next to the sea.

And because they called, I put another dent in my bank account for the fifth time in a calendar year. In retrospect, not a penny was wasted.

My youngest would join me for a few days in RMNP the first week of October. Her teacher is spectacular and encouraged her to miss a couple days of school to explore and spend time with dad. Good teachers with a healthy perspective on life are a blessing.

We landed early, set up camp, and started walking the first afternoon. It quickly became obvious that this place is special.







That evening we cooked over the camp fire and did the usual camping things.



The weather was nice the first night. We slept well with the sounds of elk bugling in a nearby meadow throughout the night. We woke early in time to grab coffee and head to our reservation to ride horses.

Horses are perhaps my daughter's favorite things. Not her father's. But the first rule is that kids who spend time with dear old dad typically get their asses kissed.







She spent a large part of the next three days talking about that ride.

Around mid-day, the weather took a turn for the worse with heavy rain and wind.

We squeezed in a short hike during a break in the weather.



Progressively worse.



And the temps were dropping.



That night, storms would blow through every 30 minutes to an hour bringing winds that would have formal names in the south. Neither of us slept a wink as the tent shook through the night. We again woke early as we had an appointment with Mr. Huge (TM, copyright, pat. pending, et al) on the other side of the continental divide.

Before driving, I found a few bars of service and booked a room for the last two nights. Turned out to be a wise move given the amount of rain that would fall over the next two days.

The drive at elevation was a little stressful.



A few hours after our trip, the road was closed. Possibly for the winter.

My kids enjoy spending time with Ben for the simple fact that he is fun as shit. They point to the ski run they want to go down, and Ben is halfway down with them by the time their dad finishes overthinking the plan.

Sarah was completely content hanging out on our 4.5 hour float. As we floated, I threw streamers on a sink tip for the first time. I generally sucked at it as Ben continuously "suggested" I cast more downstream. A dozen hard strikes yielded no fish to the boat. I hooked and lost a brown that still jumps in my sleep.

We took a break on shore, and I finally hooked into a nice brown.



The next one took a hopper.



When the dust settled, we spent 7 hours driving for that 4.5 hours on the river. It was worth every mile. On the drive home she asked me if I was embarrassed that I couldn't catch a fish during the first half of the float. My response was "no", but her question clearly implied I should have been.

The last day we woke to heavy fog and a forecast of snow. We did our longest hikes this day to a beautiful lake at around 10,250 feet.





As we climbed in elevation, the scenery changed.



If I had to complain about one thing, it would be the crowds. The number of people using the park on a rainy/foggy/snowy day during the shoulder season was remarkable.

However, the views made everything ok.





Fished a little and caught a couple.



She tried...



Back at the trailhead, we took a short bus ride to the most popular lake in the park.



The next morning we found ourselves back at the airport and a little depressed.



If I learned one thing, it is that I can lack the ability to cast a sink tip down stream and still be "pro staff".



Huge fun.

[SLSS]

I spent two weeks in that park for a residency summer before last. I'm still waiting for it to settle in my head, as it's too overwhelming to just start knocking out paintings that I care about. Just amazing. Though as you said, amazingly crowded. Seeing it with snow had to be great.

[LTFI]

Hell yeah

Lots of familiar scenery in this tr. Hearing all those elk bugle so close to camp is something else as is driving trail ridge during a snow flurry. Agree with you on the crowds, especially on the east side where it seems more like a theme park than national park.

props to your daughter's teacher for encouraging these type of experiences.

[fatman]

[SOBF]

Great job getting the kid into the outdoors ! Looks like a good time was had.

[LA Fly Guy]

Well that's great - if you like that kind of thing.

That's awesome that your middle child had so much fun. Good onya dad for getting her to experience that.

How did 10,000 feet treat your humidity deprived lungs?

[Bigguy]

Awesome!

[Ruddy Duck]

How did 10,000 feet treat your humidity deprived lungs?

Didn't feel sick until I landed at MSY.

[Ruddy Duck]

Progress on the canoe build has been slow, but the end is beginning to come into view. I am therefore thinking ahead to the final touches, which include the lightning bolt graphics.

I scoured the internet [read: Drake forum] and located the foremost authority on lightning bolt graphics, hunting chickens, and shrimp flies. I decided to fly to Montana to pick his brain a bit. I botched with the stainless staples - I'm not screwing up the lightning bolt.

I decided to take last year's neglectarino to camp and fish in Yellowstone for a few days as well.

This is what you call "camping weather".



After a couple flights we were hungry, so we pulled over for tacos. When I turned the corner, my eyes lit up. I didn't have my broken Drake hat fuss about, so I politely ran in like a kid and asked to look around. They couldn't have been nicer. One of the workers in the lobby was from New Orleans, so we chatted about hurricanes and trout.



A couple hours later, camp was set up; and we eagerly put on our waders.



I love this place.

An hour on the river yielded a couple fish before a snow storm ran us back to camp.



It was cold that night. And it rained. And it snowed.

The next day, we fished with a guide that would help Lizzy and give dear old dad some fishing time.

We fished on Mars, or so it felt.







The fishings was a little slow, but we were both in heaven.



We had dinner and caught Old Faithful just before the sun set.

I love this place.



It was cold that night. It did not rain.

The next day was about Lizzy, so we warmed up with breakfast in town, hiked Mt Washburn, and hit the Norris Geyser Basin.













It was cold that night. It snowed.



I love this place.

As I packed up camp, I felt the usual sadness associated with leaving Yellowstone. But there was no time for tears - it was lightning bolt day.

I brought a pencil and paper to trace the famous lightning bolt only to discover the old Drifter was bare. I suspect the expert has not settled on a final design himself.



We had a pleasant day discussing lightning bolts, chickens, shrimp files, and fish. I pictured his chicken to have a bad ass name like "Lars" or "Thor".

Her name is "Katie".









Our hotels rooms always look the same on the night before flying home.



I cannot wait to do it all again.

[Bigguy]

Awesome, thanks for sharing! One of my favorite places.

[fatman]

good thing I wasn't invited...