The Trout Zone: Backpacking

Showing posts with label Backpacking. Show all posts

Monday, November 17, 2025

Into the Wild Beyond: Day Two

Waking up next to a tumbling mountain trout stream has to be the best way to enter a new day. The glow of dawn had me awake and shortly after, climbing out of my tent. The cool mountain air was invigorating with just a hint of the cold months lurking over the horizon. Not so cold you needed a jacket, but cool enough to make you briefly second guess your plans to wet wade.

Read Day One HERE

Pale jewelweed near a trout stream in the Great Smoky Mountains

I had a nice relaxing morning with some reading, a leisurely breakfast, and of course enjoying the scenery which never gets old. There were plenty of wildflowers around camp to enjoy, not to mention the stream itself. At some point, though, I made a subtle mental shift from enjoying the place I was in to getting excited about encountering more of the finned inhabitants of the waterways around camp. My rod was put back together (I no longer leave it assembled in camp, feel free to ask if you have questions on why) and I tied on a dry fly. Putting on the wet wading boots was the last task that I kept waiting until we were both ready to hit the water. That is probably one of my least favorite jobs on a fishing trip. Wet wading gear, damp from the previous day's fishing, is never fun to put on.

Once we were ready to fish, we decided to do a short trail walk to a section of stream that is always fun to fish, full of plunge pools and waterfalls. You have to be extremely careful as there are lots of places where a slip could have serious consequences. I've found myself moving slower and more deliberately through the water these days. Sadly, I'm not getting any younger. I think my buddy Elam had a hard time relating the few times I commented about getting old.

We jumped in at a favorite waterfall scene. This spot never gets old and we both caught several brookies before we even got to the base of the first falls. Surprisingly, the plunge pool at the base of the actual falls didn't fish as well as the pools and pockets further down. We didn't pause for too long other than for a few pictures and were soon climbing the exposed ledge around the side of the falls, hoping to not fall back down.

Native Great Smoky Mountain National Park brook trout

This stream is one of my favorites for brook trout because of both the numbers and size of its resident fish. On one trip, my buddy Greg and I caught ten brook trout nine inches or better. For the Smokies, that is phenomenal. On our trip, we never broke ten inches, but the numbers were absurd. I think we got Elam a new personal best in terms of fish caught in a day on a Smokies trip. My own personal best numbers day came from this same area. It just doesn't get fished enough to make the fish hard to catch. There are lots of places in the Smokies that fall into that category still, thankfully I might add. You just have to work to get to them.

We were working pretty hard just to fish this one. Numerous huge boulders, giant ledges, and yes, lots of waterfalls all made our way harder but also contributed to keeping fishing pressure to a minimum. The big shocker happened around midday. We were struggling through yet another steep section. At times it felt that even a mountain goat would struggle to negotiate the rough terrain. Then, I saw a small clue stream side. Some small branches that had been gnawed on. Upon closer inspection, I found more evidence that yes, beavers had somehow invaded even this incredibly rough drainage. I'm forever amazed at where these animals can and do go. Check out the fresh cuttings we found!

After wondering in awe at this little sideshow, we got back to fishing. The fish were coming with regularity. Put the fly in the right spot, catch a fish. Rinse and repeat. One of the treats on these trips is enjoying different color schemes on these jewels. Some fish are dark, some are light, some have been jaws while others are more delicate. Each fish is unique and some are truly stunning

In addition to catching plenty of trout, we were also enjoying the creekside flora. Numerous wildflowers were still blooming at this late date as evidenced by the profusion on our hike in. Streamside, there were a few goodies. One of the most prolific was the white snakeroot. One of the last wildflowers to bloom each year, it was a sure sign that the growing season was winding down. Next up? Spring wildflowers in a few months.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park white snakeroot

One of the reasons I enjoy brook trout fishing in the late summer or early fall is that at least some of the fish have colored up for the fall dance. While the spawn doesn't usually start until October, the fish are already looking good by sometime in August or September. One of the most beautiful fish we found on this trip came partway through this first full day of fishing. It had the fiery orange belly that makes those fall fish so special.

Despite the often small size of this brook trout stream, it does have a few surprises. Like any good stream, the occasional "big" pool is always a treat to stumble across. I haven't gotten around to naming any of my favorite pools on this stream yet, but I've fished it enough now that I probably ought to. One in particular is always excellent. It has produced as many as ten fish on some trips and usually offers that many chances at minimum. We caught and missed quite a few out of it on this trip although probably not quite ten. Other pools that usually fish very well were surprisingly slow. One in particular stands out. I've seen nine inch and larger fish come from this pool and it is usually good for at least three or four fish and often several more. On this trip, however, we got maybe one or two and possibly missed one, but overall we just weren't seeing fish in this pool. Those are the types of ebbs and flows that make more sense if you are on the same piece of water frequently, but when you only come once a year if you're lucky, those types of pools always create reason to wonder what is going on.

As the day wore down, I started letting Elam fish most of the best water. It was getting late and I was starting to wind down for the day. I did manage a couple of late fish that also happened to be picture fish. One was special because of the distinct blue halos on its flanks. The other fish had the blue halos but also better amounts of orange. Best of all, that second fish ate a dry fly.

This section of creek always seems to end abruptly. One minute you're working through some skinny pocket water, and the next it is time to climb out and hit the trail. Most streams I fish are broken into sections based on how the stream flows in relation to a nearby trail or manway. This stream had some fairly obvious in and out spots. If you picked the wrong spot, the resident stinging nettle would protect the brook trout from any hasty invasion.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Stinging nettle

We carefully navigated our way out of the stream bed, avoiding the nettle. On our hike back, we began debating what to do the next day. One more full day of fishing loomed ahead. We were both excited and also torn. Normally, I would fish the next section of stream that we had been working up, getting in at the same spot we exited on this day. However, after catching a couple of big brook trout a little closer to camp, the chance to catch larger native brook trout had us at a serious crossroads. Which stream would we fish the next day?

Find information on guided fly fishing trips in the Smokies HERE.

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Into The Wild Beyond: Day One

Fishing accessible water is always great for a quick fix, but more and more I find myself striving for new to me water. That usually involves some hiking, at least locally. I've exhausted the vast majority of accessible roadside water in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As a Great Smoky Mountains fly fishing guide, that kind of water is my bread and butter, and some days I enjoy fishing it for myself. However, there is also something to be said for seeing more remote water, preferably that I haven't fished before. That's why my fly fishing adventures are revolving around backpacking more than ever these days.

Life has been busy, however. I actually hadn't been backpacking since my epic golden trout adventure in the Wind River range. If you missed all of those, here is a link to each article.

Planning A New Trip

Since that epic trip, my adventures have been great including a phenomenal trip to the White River in Arkansas, but my backpacking took a back seat to more important family concerns. This year, with both little ones and Mama doing well, I decided it was time to get back into the wild beyond of the Great Smoky Mountains again. I've had a couple of camping trips, but while they are a blast, car camping just isn't the same as backpacking.

It took me some time, but I finally ~~conned~~ convinced my buddy Elam, the fly fishing manager at Backberry Farm, to join me on the grueling trek deep into the backcountry. Most of my other friends looked at the elevation profile of my chosen trail and the distance from trailhead to the campsite, and decided no way. Elam hadn't been backpacking before, a point that shocked not only me but all of my friends who know him as well. This probably contributed to him agreeing to the hike. Regardless, the plans were made and campsite booked. Soon, the day of departure arrived and we were driving to the trailhead to begin our adventure.

The Hike In

My backpack felt heavier than I remembered on my Wyoming trip, probably because I had to carry wading gear instead of just fishing from the banks on high country lakes. Maybe it was because I'm getting soft in my old age. I had started some intentional exercise back up, and this made a tremendous difference for me on the hike. Still, there is no way to prepare yourself physically to lug 40 pounds up the side of a mountain other than just doing it.

The hike over the mountains was brutal. Per the usual, I did better than I expected and also worse than I expected. The steep uphill grade was tough, but a profusion of wildflowers made the trek more manageable. In addition to the normal water breaks, we also stopped from time to time to enjoy the wildflowers. Late season asters, gentians, goldenrod, lobelia, and other goodies made the time move slightly faster than what felt like a glacial pace anytime I focused on the heavy pack on my back.

Late season pollinator enjoying the blue lobelia

After several miles, we finally hit the crest and started down the other side. The plants and wildflowers changed dramatically as the far side of the ridge didn't have the same light angle and levels. There were still plenty of interesting things, but it wasn't until we got down close to camp that we started finding good numbers of wildflowers again.

Target Stream Acquired

One of the big moments on any backpacking trip is the first clue that you're getting close to your home for the next few days. On this trip, that first hint was the sound of our target stream cascading through the bottom of the gorge below the trail. The first whisper of sound actually came to us shortly after cresting the ridge. That sound got more and more obvious as we approached the campsite.

Upon arriving at the campsite, located close to the stream, we started setting up camp. The forecast indicated that rain was possible just about any time during our trip, and while overall chances weren't crazy high, we didn't want to set up in a downpour. That task accomplished, we both started eying the stream. I had snacked on my lunch on the hike in, so I was ready to wet a line before thinking about supper.

With multiple good fishing options close to camp, the first evening was dedicated to the obvious water closest to camp. That is how I often go about my backpacking trips, and this was not going to be an exception. We had apparently set up camp just in the nick of time. A light shower started up at the same time we began casting our dry/dropper rigs. Before long, we were enjoying our first trout and char of the trip.

Interestingly, the char took the front seat and this from a section of stream that had historically contained a lot of rainbow trout. More on that in a future post covering a day later in the trip, but needless to say we were both excited to see such good numbers of brook trout early in the trip.

We continued working upstream, catching fish in more places than not. The light shower and evening light even produced some magic over the water. I looked downstream over my shoulder and immediately had to turn around and just enjoy the show that nature was putting on.

Not much further, we had to climb around a boulder and ran into some local wildlife in the course of doing so. I was hoping that this wasn't a harbinger of things to come.

Big Brook Trout

Two highlights occurred that first evening and both involved larger brook trout. The first was one of my first fish. I had cast a dry/dropper rig with a green weenie up into a faster riffle with a small pocket. When the dry fly dropped, I didn't expect much of a fish, but immediately realized it was a pretty nice trout. You can imagine my surprise when I got its head up and saw a colored up brook trout instead of the chunky rainbow trout I expected. My buddy Elam ran over with the net, and I was soon enjoying my first 9"+ brookie of the trip. After a couple of pictures, I watched it slide back into the current to be caught another day.

A ways further up the stream, I climbed over a huge boulder, and then up onto another one. I could see a giant pot on the other side if I just barely peaked over the top. I dropped my flies in and a big ol' brook trout smoked the dry fly. This was another exciting fight, except I knew a lot sooner that I was dealing with a brookie. I think Elam could tell I was excited because he had the net there very fast.

After those two fish, I started really slowing down and trying to let Elam enjoy the best spots. My evening and even trip was already made, and I was starting to think about getting back to camp to dry off and eat supper. Even with that, we both caught a few more before calling it a day. We hadn't been seriously counting numbers, but for such a short session, we had caught a lot of fish.

Evening In Camp

After heading back to camp, we got ready for supper. Light was fading fast by the time we wrapped up eating and headed for our tents. I was happy to crawl in and enjoy my warm sleeping bag. After a long hot summer, night time at relatively high elevation in the Smokies was fairly cool. My poor aching muscles were also glad for the rest. I needed to get my energy up for a long two days of fishing ahead before I had to think about carrying that heavy pack back over the mountains. The next day would see me back on my favorite brook trout stream...

Friday, August 09, 2024

The Wyoming Saga: Golden Trout Found and Plans Adjusted

A Perfect Day For Finding Golden Trout

Fishing high elevation lakes is a gamble at best. Weather can change very suddenly, fish seemingly appear and vanish at random, or never appear at all. On some days you'll catch fish, while on others, you might think there are no fish to be found. I've been on a streak of having excellent luck while fishing high lakes, so I was likely due for a clunker.

We got up early to try and beat the wind. That is often the biggest challenge of fishing these lakes. The wind almost always comes up every single day. If it gets bad enough, you simply cannot fish. We were hoping to get there ahead of the diurnal breezes.

Getting up early has some benefits. There is a special magic to being outdoors first thing in the morning. Someone who is better with words than I can probably articulate the mystery, but I'll have to let my pictures do the talking. This is the lake we were camping on before the sun got over the horizon. Glassy smooth water teased the possibility of a perfect day for finding golden trout.

Dawn at a lake in the Wind River mountains

Hiking To Our Golden Trout Lake

After a quick breakfast, we hustled on up the hill. I was feeling good with no ill effects lingering from the episode the evening before. We were already long past having an "official" trail (many of the better golden trout lakes are off trail), so we just struck out in the right directly from camp, angling uphill to try and intersect the social path that had to be there. While there are not official maintained trails, there are still trails or paths going most places you want to go. In this fragile high elevation ecosystem, it is probably best to stick to those paths when possible to limit impacts to the landscape.

Looking back downhill towards camp and sunrise

Hiking to find golden trout in the Wind River Mountains

Gaining elevation rapidly, we crested an obvious bench and soon found the "trail." Making better time on the flatter tread that meandered across the small bench, we continued on. In places, dramatic views opened up where the ridge we were climbing broke away abruptly on one side or the other. One of those big views showed us another small lake that had me intrigued. I didn't feel like dropping down to check it out, however, when our main goal was just over the next hill above us, or at least that's what we hoped.

Sure enough, we crested a few false rises, and then, as I've come to expect with most alpine lakes, we saw our goal ahead and a little below. Wonder of wonders, it was mostly calm. A few ripples out in the middle hinted at what could be, however.

Alpine golden trout lake in the Wind River mountains

Fly Fishing for Golden Trout On An Alpine Lake in the Wind River Mountains

Reaching the water's edge, we got our equipment put together and started fishing. It didn't take too long before we saw fish cruising the edges. Having targets to sight fish for made a big difference. A dry/dropper seemed appropriate. I wanted to catch fish on dry flies, but many of the fish were down just a little in the water column, probably eating nymphs for the hatch we hoped would materialize.

I missed a fish or two. The first fish jitters had me going strong, especially when my long dreamed of golden trout were cruising so close by. John got things dialed in a little faster and got the skunk off for us as a team. That helped a lot. His prior experience catching golden trout made a difference getting started that morning, but I would eventually hit my stride as well.

Golden trout in the Wind River Mountains

After getting the appropriate documentation of that fish, it was my turn. It took a few minutes longer than it should have when I missed a couple of fish, but finally I hooked one that decided to stay on the line for me. My own first golden trout. It barely happened in time. The wind was starting to kick a little harder. Soon, those fish cruising the edge would disappear. Did they go elsewhere? Or were they there but I couldn't see them in the chop?

We walked that edge back and forth a little longer before starting the usual progression of wondering about the other side. You know, the grass is greener syndrome. Still, with the wind starting to blow and fish becoming scarce, it made sense to start searching them out. Thus, we started our circuit of the alpine lake. I had some other things I wanted to do as well.

Touring the Golden Trout Lake

I have more pictures than anyone reasonably would want to look at from this day. So if you aren't here for pictures, feel free to keep scrolling. This next part will just highlight my trip around the lake. We slowly fished our way around 2/3 of the lake before mostly just making time on the last third. At some point, I climbed way above the lake for some shots from above. I also took time looking for wildflowers and wild critters. You know me, I can't stay away from those things for very long, even when there are fish to be caught.

John casting into the wind for golden trout

Fishing for golden trout in the Wind River range

panorama of Wind River mountains alpine lake

More wildflowers while looking for golden trout

Back to Catching Golden Trout in the Wind River Mountains

As I started angling down the hill from my perch, I started noticing something interesting. As a good fly angler, I couldn't keep my eyes off of the water for long. Sure enough, dark shadows were cruising here at the upper end of the lake. John was still off down the lake somewhere, but when I yelled that I had found a bunch of fish, he started working his way over as well.

Best of all, these fish were cruising for a sparse hatch that was coming off. Some type of small dark mayfly was hatching and the fish were feasting. Cutting off the dropper, I went with a single parachute Adams and that proved to be the ticket.

The fish were cautious, but would eat if you got the fly where they could see it. If you caught a fish or missed a fish, that little area was spooked for a few minutes. You could either wait them out or move a few yards down the bank.

We started bouncing up and down the bank, casting to eager risers and catching just enough golden trout to keep us focused a bit longer. Still, all good things must come to an end. As the rise started to ease off, we realized we were both tired from sun exposure, exercising at high elevation, and our early morning start. Some food back in camp was sounding better and better.

Hiking Back To Camp After Fishing For Golden Trout

By this time, the wind was kicking pretty good. We had found those fish rising in the back corner of the lake on the one shoreline with a little "calm." There, the bugs stayed on the water long enough for the fish to find them instead of being blown off. Once we moved on around the lake back to our starting point, the full force of the high elevation wind was in effect and we were anxious to drop back down into the trees and hopefully find a little calm.

Sure enough, things got moderately better as we made our way back to camp. At that point, we wanted just enough calm to boil some water for our backpacker dinners. The hike back down went much faster than the hike up, mostly because we weren't working as hard physically going downhill. Coming straight up to 11,000+ feet in elevation from Tennessee was challenging, but we were doing better than I think either of us had expected.

Our hike would periodically be interrupted by red squirrels scolding us or birds chattering away, but we never saw any larger mammals this day. The biggest surprise was when a grouse spooked almost underfoot. I grabbed my camera and took a few quick photos before it disappeared. Not my best shot ever, but I did get documentation.

Decisions To Make

With a highly successful first day starting to wind down, it was time to consider our options for the next several days. The original trip plan involved hiking cross country the next day and dropping into another drainage to explore some more golden trout lakes. These were lakes that supposedly produced larger fish, so that was exciting.

What wasn't exciting was the forecast from John's Garmin inReach Explorer+. We already knew that our backpacking portion of the trip was potentially in jeopardy after the first couple of days. A weather system was supposed to move through and produce very high winds over the Wind River Range. With spot forecasts for our campsite showing winds potentially near hurricane force, we debated back and forth but ultimately decided that it would be smart to bail the next morning. Going to bed that night, we didn't know how significant this decision was for the rest of our trip, but time would eventually show us that...

Random Musings

A word on our destination lake. If you happen to have read my blog for many years, you've probably noticed a trend away from naming streams and waterbodies to giving rather vague info on where my adventures happen. That is all on purpose.

Just the other day, I saw someone lamenting online about how a favorite trailhead in the Smokies was not "secret" anymore and was always super crowded. They of course then proceeded to share pictures of said trailhead (easy to identify) and describe in great detail their day of fishing. All of this while posting to a fly fishing specific Facebook group. I could basically go retrace their steps and I'm sure there are some people who will do that. That's a formula for NOT protecting and preserving wild places. If people are willing to put in the time and effort to figure these things out for themselves, they are probably harmless. The people looking for quick and easy answers, not so much.

I have long ago made the decision that I'm not going to directly be the guy outing all these spots. Shoot, there are some places you can't pay me enough to take you. So, if you do just a little basic research, this lake is already "known," but I'm not going to continue that trend myself. To do so would go against everything I believe about backcountry fishing. That said, there is more than enough info on this post to figure it out fairly easily. If you have questions, feel free to reach out. I would be glad to discuss further via email, call, or text, but not on the inter webs for the whole world to read...

Thursday, August 01, 2024

The Wyoming Saga: In Search of Golden Trout Day One

Planning For Adventure

For many years, I've kept a rather loose bucket list. Unlike most people who have a bucket list, I'm not particularly organized. I've met more than a few people who are carefully working through a list, checking off adventure after adventure. That's not me. Rather, I have a vague mental collection of places I would like to someday visit. Since I'm well beyond the young footloose stage of life, these adventures are almost always intentional, but generally rare. Adult responsibilities are always getting in the way, so most of my adventures these days are a little more tame than in my younger years. That is clearly a problem I need to rectify, and I've been working at it little by little.

A backpacking trip in the Wind River range of Wyoming has been high on my mental bucket list since, well, probably just about since it occurred to me that I even had a bucket list. For many years, I thought the whole notion was kind of goofy. Then, one day, I realized that I really wanted to do a trip in the Wind Rivers. Next, it occurred to me that I also really wanted to visit New Zealand, mostly to fly fish, but also to hike and soak in the scenery. Even if my bucket list is only two destinations long, I now have one.

If I think long enough, I can come up with quite a few other places I want to visit and revisit. Some of my dreams are vague and unlikely, like spending every summer in West Yellowstone. Others are specific and easily attainable, I just need to make them happen. These are things such as finally visiting Hazel and Eagle creeks in the Smokies. Those are the only two major Great Smoky Mountains National Park drainages I haven't fished.

My buddy John had been to the Winds. After his first trip, I started contemplating attempting a trip. Not long after, I found a rather dangerous interactive map online. With all the knowledge I would ever need to plan a golden trout trip in the Wind Rivers at my disposal, I started the process that would ultimately lead to the kind of adventure that I'm always craving.

Golden Trout in Wyoming

The main problem with planning a golden trout trip (and one I'll perpetuate) is that no one who knows anything is saying much. There is some information out there on the inter webs, but most of it requires some sleuthing to figure things out. While golden trout are scattered around a few different western states, Wyoming is THE place to fish for them unless you want to chase them in their native California in the Sierra Nevada range. There are at least a handful of other western states where they can be found, but the Wind River range in Wyoming is the most similar to their native Sierra Nevada.

At one point, golden trout eggs were brought to Wyoming and the rest is history. Apparently, the golden trout did so well in Wyoming that the Wyoming Game and Fish started their own hatchery program. Wyoming is the best place to obtain some golden trout if you are a state or other entity in the market. They have the only genetically pure brood stock hatchery program with golden trout.

While they can be found in streams, these fish are best in the high alpine lakes that they prefer. Anyone who has ever fished a high alpine lake knows that they can be finicky at best. When a high country lake is fishing well, it will make you feel like the best angler in the world. If it is fishing poorly, you might conclude that it simply doesn't contain any trout.

Once, when I was fishing a high country lake in Arizona probably 20 years ago, I started to arrive at a similar conclusion. Having worked my way nearly the entire way around the lake, it seemed obvious that the fish just weren't there. Mother Nature had the last laugh when a huge bald eagle swooped down and grabbed a trout that looked like it had to be at least two feet long.

After consulting with my buddy John who already had a rough itinerary in mind and then clicking through endless alpine lakes on the Wyoming interactive online map, I felt confident that we had a good plan. Still, we wouldn't know until we were there and fishing if our choice was a good one.

Anticipation Builds

On the drive out to Wyoming, I was almost in shock. It had been so long since I had embarked on a fishing trip out west that I had forgotten how exciting it all was. The drive is always fun in a way, because I much prefer seeing the countryside go by from up close. You never know what interesting things you might see. On this trip, however, there really wasn't anything particularly unusual about the drive. Wanting to be fresh for the backpacking trip, we timed our travel to spend a night in Laramie. That would let us get up, drive to Lander, and be on the trail in time to get into camp before dark.

We made it to Lander in record time. The higher speed limits out west are a real treat, especially for someone with a heavy foot. We took the time to stop at the Wind River Outdoor Company as I needed some new bear spray. Next, we went to the Middle Fork for an early lunch to fuel up for the trail. If you are in Lander, do yourself a favor and stop there for breakfast or lunch. The food was excellent! I had the quinoa power bowl with scrambled eggs and it was delicious!

After lunch, we headed up the mountain towards one of several trailheads. On the way, I had to stop at Rise of the Popo Agie to view all the monster trout.

Places like this make you try to figure out how to sneak in and fish! The pictures naturally don't do justice to the scene, so I'll just say the fish were huge and plentiful. The scenery was dramatic as well, ample reward for the months of anticipation.

Hiking Into the Popo Agie Wilderness

Both of us had only minor preparations to make to hit the trail, our packs already being packed. We started out at a surprisingly good pace considering that we both were coming from the flat lands of Tennessee. Thankfully, the elevation didn't bother me on this trip, although it might be hard to convince my buddy John of this. More on that shortly.

While we were on the far southern extend of grizzly country, we both had our bear spray strapped on and easy to hand. I also had a DSLR clipped on my shoulder strip using a Peak Design Capture system. While it does have some limitations, the benefits mostly outweigh any negatives. I foresaw the primary potential problem of having too much weight pulling on one shoulder strap over the other. My solution was simply to buy two of the Capture clips, one for each shoulder strap. I was able to switch the camera back and forth, balancing out the load so to speak. While I didn't get any crazy special shots, I did get a few that I wouldn't have been able to get if the camera was buried in my pack as usual.

My favorite, while not a great shot, was a moose. I also managed to get a picture of a deer before it ran, and made the time to snap some other shots that would have been skipped if I had to dig my camera out of the pack. Here are a few of my favorites from the hike in.

Fishing in the Popo Agie Wilderness

I had prepared for both dedicated fishing days and also quick pit stops. I had a Tenkara USA Rhodo in my pack for quick sessions along the way and an actual fly rod for the more dedicated all day fishing excursions. One of the lakes we were passing was supposed to have tiger trout. Having never caught one, I figured this might be one of my best opportunities.

When we dropped our packs for a quick break, it didn't take long to start spotting trout. They were everywhere. It also didn't take long for us both to hook up. I caught a few brook trout which were a treat even if they are invasive species out west. Since they are my native trout (er, char) here in Tennessee, I always have a soft spot for them. They were beautifully colored up as well.

The brookies were fun, but I really wanted a cutthroat or tiger. Then, finally, it happened! I caught my first tiger trout, and in fact, I caught a couple. The cutthroat were a little spookier, but I figured I would have more opportunities. Besides, I've caught lots of cutthroat over the years including most of the easily accessible subspecies, so I wasn't too worried about catching them.

Setting Up Base Camp

While the fishing was excellent, we still had a ways to go. Strapping our packs back on, we quickly headed out. The trail continued up hill (why do trails always go uphill?) and we trekked onward towards our chosen camping spot. When we arrived, both of us were tired enough that we almost stopped too soon. However, a quick exploratory trip yielded a much better camping spot. Soon, we were setting everything up as the light grew dimmer. A good place to hang our food packs wasn't too terribly far away.

As I started getting supper together, a migraine that had been lurking for a bit started to hit me hard. I hurried my food along as sometimes getting some food in me can help. Unfortunately I didn't get everything together quick enough. I got sick which was unusual but not out of the realm of possibility for me, but to all spectators, it looked an awful lot like elevation sickness. My buddy John was at least a little concerned. I could tell he was nervous and since I've had both elevation related sickness and routine migraines, I could tell that this was just a migraine. Assuring him that all I needed was a little water and a good night's rest, I headed off to bed. The next day would hopefully be a fishing day. If it turned out I was impacted worse by the elevation than I thought, it might be the day to hike out...

...to be continued...