Do seasons really get any better than Fall? Bugs are gone, poison oak starts to hide for the winter, leaves change color, trails are no longer dusty, most people go back inside and leave the outdoors for those of us who love when the days get a little cooler. If we had more daylight it would be perfect…but then I guess it wouldn’t be Fall…
Archive for October, 2009
Fall, the best time of year
Friday, October 30th, 2009White Mountains exploring…
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009Soon the snow will fly in quantities that make travel in the high country (at least on wheels) impossible, so we’ve been venturing to the high elevations while we can to get in as much exploring as possible while Tom continues his job stint in Bishop.
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- 4×4 road top Silver Canyon
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- Silver Canyon looking toward Bishop
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- Old McKinley taking in the wind
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- A man and his dog
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- View towards Palisade glacier
On top of the world…
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009or at least it felt like it. Tom and I went exploring on our motos near Mammoth mountain Sunday (before this massive storm hit). After goofing around on trails and doubletrack for an hour, we thought we’d try riding over towards Red’s Meadow. Unfortunately although shuttle buses are no longer required, they were still charging a fee to drive over so we pulled out at the Minaret Vista Point at the top. We noticed a little dirt road exiting the parking lot and decided to check it out…after about 3 miles of climbing, we reached Deadman’s Pass…what a view!
Deadman's Pass View
Tom with Mammoth Mountain in background
Love having the street legal “dirt” bikes…makes everything accessible and you never know what cool places you might find…
Hot on the trail
Thursday, October 1st, 2009After a full day of trail work and work work, I wrapped up the night by taking the dogs for a quick hike. They’ve hiked this trail many times…Haypress Creek connector to the PCT. About 1/2 mile into the hike, the dogs were going nuts about a scent on the trail, once we got to a flat, dusty section of trail, I figured out why…
Bear paw prints
I found tracks from two bears, a mom and cub. It was officially time to turn around and head back to the truck…
A River Runs Through It
Thursday, October 1st, 2009Yes I know it’s a movie title…unfortunately I haven’t read the book it was based on. I’m not going to compare my evening to some life metaphor but Norman Maclean was on to something…
I’m supposed to be on vacation this week…the original intention was to accomplish some pre-winter projects on the cabin. The weather hasn’t cooperated and Tom is back in Bishop…what’s a girl to do? I’ve been doing some work (despite vacation) and some playing and just generally relaxing, sleeping in, etc. This evening I grabbed my fly rod and headed downstream on the North Yuba to try my luck in some of the many pools that must surely be full of fish. Aside from the occasional car driving on the road above, I had the whole place to myself. The last burst of summer heat from the weekend now seems long gone, instead of swimming in the river, I stand by it wearing fleece and a hat and still feel the chill in the air. Although I pulled my waders and boots out, not used since I lived in Montana, I opted to leave them behind, figuring I’d find a spot next to the river rather than having to stand in it. A few minutes of setting up the rod and picking a fly and I scrambled down to the rivers edge to pick a spot.
Nothing was rising yet but the evening hatch might be yet to come…it was about 5:30. There is something truly relaxing about fly fishing…yet a weird singular focus comes with it. Soon the sound of the rushing water drowns out everything around you as you focus on nothing but the fly (which gets harder as dusk approaches!) The lack of action let my warm my cast up to work on placement and distance, soon I saw fish rising here and there. The commotion caused by the rise may it obvious some of the fish were little. Then the barrage of hits started…for about 25 minutes, whenever my fly touched the water, someone hit it. Landing the fish is the toughest part of fly fishing…it’s all about timing…and you lose a feel for the timing if you’re not fishing regularly. I finally landed one of the many hits…it turned out the be the biggest fish I’d land (5 total)…or have landed in awhile. It was a beautiful 10-12″ Rainbow trout and it fought for awhile before tiring. Since I always seem to catch fish when Tom isn’t around and catch nothing when he is, I had to snap a few quick pictures before I released him back to the peace of the river…
I ended up landing 4 more much smaller Rainbows, each as a exciting as the first, bigger fish. After a few more casts, the light was fading, my hands were cold from releasing the fish and the fly was battered from so much action…time to head back to the cabin. I don’t have to be on vacation to enjoy these moments, I just have to enjoy them.