Friday, August 13, 2010

The Epic 2010 Native Road Trip Part 3 - The Central Sierras

Following an amazing trip into the Golden Trout Wilderness, it was down and out of Cottonwood Meadows. On the way out, I drove the hairy series of cliff-side switchbacks they call a road. I don’t think I took my eyes of the inside berm the entire length of the road.

Once we were back on flat ground, we stopped to take a few shots of Mt. Whitney and discuss when we would return to add it to “the list”. Then, it was back to the USFS to return that dreaded 5-pound sled they call a bear canister. From Lone Pine it was north to Bishop for lunch. I’m not sure of the pizza joints name but it was one of the better pizzas I have ever had – their motto was: “we toss’em, they’re awesome”.

While in Bishop we stopped in a fly shop where the older gentleman told us the story of how some hotshot jet pilot went into Golden Trout Wilderness with a helicopter and grabbed some goldens for his hunting camp in Utah. Once Utah found out they had goldens, they started spreading them to other states in the west. The older gentleman (I’m guessing about 75-years old) said he used to spend entire summers in the GTW before it was designated wilderness. He said back then that was the only place in the world to catch goldens! I laughed and told him Nathan had just told me that exact story the day before. Turns out, that “hotshot jet pilot” was also from West Virginia and his name is Chuck Yeager….small world!

Our final destination for the evening was Yosemite National Park. This park has also been on my bucket list for quite some time and I figured I would check it off while I was in the neighborhood. It would be the only day (other than driving) that I did not have fishing on the itinerary.


The drive across Tioga Pass Road was amazing enough, but I wanted to see Yosemite Valley and all it has to offer. The plan was to find a motel room some place near Yosemite Valley where we could shower (#2 for the road trip) and find a bed (first time on the road trip). I think this may have been the only leg on our trip where I should have planned better and didn’t, as it took nearly 40 miles of following the Merced River to find a hotel room in our price range. For $80/night we found a room in Muir Lodge with two beds and two TV channels – and they were the same channel. Most importantly, though, they had hot showers and beds!

The next morning we were again up and daylight and on the road early to beat the crowds in Yosemite Valley. Our first stop was El Capitan as the sun was just high enough to catch it with early rays.
The next stop was Vernal Falls.

I wish I had a dollar for every time we were asked on the way down if we had already been up and back to Half-Dome. I’ve seen pictures of the conga line going up Half-Dome, and from the crowds it looked like another busy day. However, from the condition of some of the folks we passed I don’t think half of them were capable of making it.

Following Vernal Falls, it was off to Yosemite Village and Upper & Lower Yosemite Falls.
In preparation, and in interest of his works, I have been reading a collection of John Muir works. His presence is everywhere in the valley and I couldn’t help but wonder what this valley must have looked like before it was developed.

The haze had moved into the valley early and the shots of Half-Dome did not turn out as well as I would have liked.

On the way out of the valley, it was one last stop at Bridal Veil Falls. I should have stopped on the way in! By the time we made it to the undersized parking lot it was a game of musical chairs for a parking spot. I finally found a spot along the road but by the time we made it to the base of the falls the sun was at the perfect declination that you couldn’t see the top of the falls for the glare. I made one more lap around the short loop and finally got a decent shot of Bridal Veil Falls and Cathedral Rocks.


From the valley it was back across Tioga Pass Road. Before we left, I got one last glimpse of the amazing Yosemite Valley (you can see Bridal Veil Falls in the bottom center).

Our first stop on Tioga Pass Road was the sequoia stand. I had never seen one and I could not believe how big they were.
Even the pine cones were big.
From the stand of sequoias there was only one more stop. Nathan had scoped out a small stream he wanted to fish before we left Yosemite National Park. I didn’t plan to fish; just soak my feet in the nice cold water. The first fish Nathan pulled out was a nice 10” brookie. Needless to say it didn’t take me long to string a rod up in an effort to add another state to my brook trout list.

It took me a while but I finally added state number twelve to my brook trout list. In the process I caught what I called the Yosemite Slam: a rainbow trout, a brown trout, and a brook trout.

Dana Fork in Yosemite National Park.
After completing my Yosemite Slam, it was back down to Rt 395 then north where the plan was to set up camp at the trailhead for our trip into Silver King Creek. Again, along 395 we stopped at a little road-side restaurant for a meal. This one happened to be south of Coleville and the fair was barbeque. Maybe it was the fact we had been living on college food for over a week but this was also some of the best bbq I had ever had.

With our stomachs extremely full, it was on to the trailhead where the following morning we would meet up with Dave Balducci for the hike into the native range of the Paiute cutthroat.


The next morning we met up with Dave and completed the hike into the open water section of Silver King Creek. We fished the open end of one of the tributaries that were reported to have Paiutes, and we also fished a couple miles of Silver King proper. You won’t see any photos of Paiute cutthroat in this entry as there were none caught. We did catch MANY rainbows in the 8-10” class and they were impressive rainbows at that. I don’t know that I have ever caught so many high-flying trout. I had several of these small rainbows jump three feet out of the water before they were landed.

After going five for five on our previous native quests, we were now five for six. Nathan nicknamed the Paiutes the unicorn cutthroat…do they actually exist?

We put in about ten miles in search of the Paiute in the native watershed and came up empty-handed. What made this so easy to handle was the fact that I finally met one of the “founding fathers” of native salmonid fishing. We sat around the campfire that evening to past midnight (the latest night of the entire trip) talking about streams and fish in far away places. What a pleasure that was!

I thought we would spend the following day fishing with Dave but the fact that he had just taken his foot from a cast two weeks earlier would keep him from putting in trail time on back-to-back days. We parted ways that morning, he was headed for bigger water and we were headed for Lahontan cutthroat water.

The hike into Lahontan territory was a short one – only three miles on the Pacific Crest Trail. I couldn’t believe how much snow was still at the pass into the high meadow.

The meadow itself seemed to be only in late spring with all of the wildflowers and it was actually the first day of August.

It didn’t take long to land my first Lahontan in California as I pulled this little guy from the first bend pool.

We both caught several Lahontans with the largest being about 10”. The size didn’t matter, though, this was species number four for our California Heritage Trout Challenge – we were over half-way there.


The hike out seemed short, maybe because the three miles was the shortest of our hikes, maybe it was because it was our last hike of the trip, or maybe because it was the beauty of the high meadow trail.

From this trailhead it was west to Sacramento then north to the shadows of Mt. Shasta. I’m just glad we weren’t staying in Lake Tahoe that weekend. We were going west but the traffic going east was bumper-to-bumper for over thirty miles!

Next would be our final leg in California, the northern redbands.

Chris

Friday, August 6, 2010

The Epic 2010 Native Road Trip Part 2 - The Southern Sierras

After going 2 for 2 in New Mexico and Arizona, it was off to California with hopes of completing the California Heritage Trout Challenge.

We left the Apache stream at 11:00 AM and when we crossed into California later in the afternoon, the car thermometer read 115 degrees...but they say it's a "dry heat".

We pulled into the KOA at Lake Isabella just after dark. I didn't have a reservation because I wanted our schedule to be flexible. They were out of tent sites so they gave us an RV site, which meant no tent pad. I wasn't going to bend my tent spikes trying to drive them into "concrete" so I decided to sleep in the vehicle. Before I called it a night, there were more important items to take care of - like the first shower in over three days!

The next day we were up before the sun with the goal of collecting the first two species of our CHTC - the Kern River rainbow and the Little Kern Golden. We had to then make it back to Lone Pine to get our backcountry permit prior to the USFS office closing.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the back roads were paved, which made for making good time.

We made it to our first location in right at an hour of driving and within minute we both had our first species in the CHTC, the Kern River rainbow (Onchorhynchus mykiss gilberti).

Not the biggest specimens, but they count:

A short drive on up the road and we were on the stream of our next species, the Little Kern Golden trout. I took the first hole, a culvert hole just below the road and I had me next species, the Little Kern Golden (Onchorhynchus mykiss whitei):

My partner caught two very nice specimens in "pot holes" in the meadow section above the road. After briefly exploring above the meadow, we decided to head back downstream. We both picked up several more fish before calling it a day on the west side.

I think it was only about 9:30 AM when we finished our first two species of the challenge - and 4 for 4 total on the trip.

This is where I actually realized the great size of California. We were just going from above the Johnsondale Bridge to Lone Pine, not that far on the map, but a 3-hour drive.

We made it to the USFS visitor's station in plenty of time, then the big question: did they have any of the 16/day walk-in permits for Cottonwood Pass remaining? They did, and they also informed us we had to have a bear canister - we didn't but, luckily, they also rented them.

Permit in hand; we stopped at a pizza joint in Lone Pine to carbo load in preparation for our hike into Big Whitney Meadows. I also had to mentally prepare myself for the drive into Cottonwood Meadow. What an insane road that turned out to be and no guard rails!

I survived the white-knuckle ride into Cottonwood Meadow campground - just don't look down. Once at the campground, we quickly set up camp and headed for Cottonwood Creek for the first "true" California golden trout of my life.

This little guy did not count toward the CHTC, as Cottonwood Creek is not in the California golden's native range. He didn't count but he sure was pretty!

Being a few yards from the campground, these guys obviously see some pressure, as they were very skittish. I did manage to pick up five or six of these little guys, though.

Nathan caught a couple too and he met his first marmet, who called the Cottonwood Meadow home.

We didn't fish long, we had work ahead of us tomorrow and we were in our tents for the night by 6:30 PM.

We were up and packing our gear by 5:00 AM. A cup of coffee, a granola bar and we were on the trail shortly after 6:00 AM.

This trip has been one of my life bucket list items for quite some time; I couldn't believe I was actually going to check this one off!

The hike to Cottonwood Pass (11,000 feet) was tough, but not as bad the hike into gila trout water. Once you reach the pass, you still have over four miles of downhill and flat hiking remaining.

After 3.5 hours of hiking, we set up camp just inside a grove of trees on the north end of Big Whitney Meadow, with a great view overlooking Golden Trout Creek.
Once camp was set up, it was time to hit the creek in search of species number three of the CHTC. It didn't take long to add the California Golden trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita) as the third species in the challenge - first pool.

I could have taken photos of every fish I caught (nearly every cast), as these fish are the most beautiful trout I have ever seen!
The photos do not do these fish justice, the golden hues were nothing compared to the neon orange bellies!
Another amazing feature of Golden Trout Creek is the number of fish in this stream. Watch this video of four or five drifts, with strikes on every drift.

I also had to take a photo with my Vandalia bamboo. This rod has landed several native salmonids!

After catching goldens on nearly every cast, it was time for lunch and a nap. On the way back to the creek, after our break, we started checking out the small trickles that feed Golden Trout Creek - there are goldens in there too!

This guy came from a trickle not much wider than my hand.

Another example of how many fish were in this valley: check out the video of Nathan catching a golden from one of these trickles on the first drift.

As we fished through the afternoon we noticed heavy smoke filling the valley and a heavy smell of smoke. By mid-afternoon we could not see the peaks at either end of the valley. Had my legs not been "rubber" from the hike in we would have packed up and made this a day trip.

We were signed it at the ranger station, we figured if the fire was close we would have been asked to head out by any of the rangers that had vehicles parked at the trailhead. We talked about moving camp to the base of the vertical, in case we had to make a fast exit, but we stayed put. It was a late evening for us this day; we turned in about 7:30 PM.

The next morning we woke to the sound of coyotes yipping at each other across the meadow. We also woke to crystal clear skies - the smoke had moved out.

As much as I hated to leave this location, it was time to pack up and head out. We were on the trail before 7:00 AM again and the climb to Cottonwood Pass was again tough. I was still recovering from the hike in. I motored along pretty good on the flat sections of the trail but struggled a bit on the uphill, particularly once we reached the 11,000 pass.

I did survive though!

From here it was all downhill back to Cottonwood Meadows.

The hike out was just a bit longer (time) than the hike in, which I was pleased with. After relaxing for a few minutes, it was back down the white-knuckle road to Lone Pine.

I survived this drive again - Nathan videotaped the entire ride down.

We dropped the bear canister off at the USFS office, then headed north on Rt 395 to Bishop. We had another great pizza in Bishop! We toss'em, they're awesome!

At this point we were 5 for 5 and from Bishop it was on north toward the central Sierras and the next couple of legs on our trip, including a day of rest in Yosemite National Park.

Chris

The Epic 2010 Native Road Trip Part 1 - The Southern Swing

I have to begin this series of entries by thanking a few people for making this trip of a lifetime possible. First, I have the best wife in the entire world! After all we've been through in the last year, with the transfer and all of the headaches that go with it, she told me I needed this vacation!

Second I would like to thank a few of my native angler brethren: Dave Balducci of The Native Trout Angler, Gary Marsten of Native Trout Fly Fishing, and Ned Morris whom I met on the Native Trout website: The Angler's Life List. All three provided detailed information on where to obtain 15 different species/sub-species in New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, and Nevada. Dave even made the trip from the San Francisco bay area to help us search for paiute cutthroat.

Now to the road trip of a lifetime...After 28 hours of driving, we left West Virginia at 8:30 PM on July 22, we found ourselves at the trailhead for the first adventure: New Mexico's Gila trout (Oncorhynchus gilae gilae). New Mexico has done an outstanding job restoring these fish from the Endangered Species List and in 2007 they opened a few streams to angling.

This particular stream is 7 1/2 miles from the trailhead, across some of the most rugged terrain I have hiked across.

From the trailhead sign, there is a high peak immediately to the right. We passed through the saddle to the right of the peak and two more ridges beyond.

The photo above was taken from the top of the first ridge. There are four ridges in this photo; our stream would be beyond the second ridge and straight down from there.

We finally made it to the final ridge, where the downhill would begin. It is also the location where the West Fork canyon drops in - the West Fork is also the lower end of the open, fishable water.

Once we hit water, it didn't take long to land my first Gila trout.

They are a beautiful little fish in a very rugged landscape. However, they are thriving in this rugged area! My partner and I probably caught 50 fish each in the three hours we fished, including a Gila double.

It's hard to explain the appearance of the gila: maybe a cross between a brown, a rainbow, and a Snake River cutt.

The lower end of the open water was a series of waterfalls and crystal clear plunge pools.

It was hard not to tie on a woolybugger and dredge it through the pools. This method produced my largest gila of the day.

As I said, the gila trout are doing quite well in this stream!

With the long hike out still ahead of us, we fished only for three hours. The hike up and out was brutal, and I ran out of water about a mile from the trailhead in the afternoon New Mexico sun. Between the cobble-filled trails and the heat, it was one of the toughest hikes I have ever completed. Six hours of hiking and three hours of fishing, and I'd do it all again in a second.

After re-hydrating and briefly recovering at the trailhead, it was off to Arizona's Apache Sitgreaves National Forest - about 100 miles to the northwest.

This National Forest was unusually crowded. I had never been in the area before and I didn't expect this type of crowding in the Arizona backcountry. We finally found an empty campsite and set up camp in a light rain. After a long first day, it was a quick dinner of a bowl "college" noodles and an early turn in.

We awoke to the sound of a pack of coyotes yipping as the raced across the nearby fields. Dave had recommended we fish the Apache stream early to avoid the thunderstorms. With that in mind, we were on the stream before 8:00 AM. We prospected up the meadow until we reached the first feeder stream, where I picked up my first Apache trout (Oncorhynchus gilae apache) - just as Dave had predicted.

I didn't pick up any Apache trout of size but I did catch this little guy that appeared to have eaten something his own size - his stomach was quite large.

Unlike me, my partner for the trip, Nathan landed a decent Apache at the entrance to the tree line.


We had only fished for a couple of hours when the rumble of thunder ran us off the stream. I would liked to have had more time to try to land something a little bigger than six inches, but this storm was serious.

From this stream it was north to I-40, then west into California and the southern Sierras, where we would attempt to complete the California Heritage Trout Challenge.

Chris