Day Trippers meet Mr. Moose

We all thoroughly enjoyed the road trip to fish the smaller Selway Creek so much that we ventured out again (what's gasoline for anyway?) in search of more of the same. Rick and I went with Eric and Brady for an all day trip in search of fish and wildlife.

I personally think small streams can be more challenging because, well, because I'm spoiled by the river we like to fish. The fish in a remote stream are usually hungry for the flies we throw and it's a fun place for beginners and kids to fish. Sometimes it seems the small fish are jumping on the fly, trying to drown it. However, the small streams are often encased with willows and bushes making casting impossible. However, its fun to make your way into the brambles and the thickets not knowing what you will find on the other side. Usually a crystal clear babbling brook. Where we're staying it is easy to access for many miles of the river. And especially where we are staying it's very accessible. We can see the river from our motorhome and it only takes a couple minutes to walk to it. HOWEVER, it is running very high at more than 850 cfs and it is very difficult to wade and impossible for me to cross. I think the drive in search of other water is more for the adventure and fun of exploring new territory.

We drove about 15 miles on the highway and then it was all dirt for the rest of the day! Nice that Eric has a 4x4 truck! We passed on our usual fishing stream and continued on to discover new water. The wildflowers were like a garden! The flower colors were so vibrant that they looked like a photograph and someone had tweaked the hue and saturation. Just gorgeous blooms from the wet winter!

We stopped and had lunch at Skinner Lake. Lunch was simple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, made special by bread & butter pickles. Yummy! Dessert was fresh fruit and a plethora of flavored sunflower seeds. We were the only people around the lake, but little did we know that we were being watched.As we were leaving we spotted a young bull moose who had probably been wondering what we were doing in his backyard. Mr. Moose hid behind some trees until Rick went a little closer to try and get a close-up shot. Then he was off at a fast gallop.

We travelled dirt roads and saw remote areas and scenic vistas. There are modern, working ranches and old, abandoned, rustic homesteads that are falling down. There was snow still on the high mountain tops. I really didn't care if we fished or not - the drive was beautiful.

After lunch we stopped at most of the streams that looked accessible. There were many places where the stream met the road and we all jumped out. Well, actually Brady and I were the primary fishers, with Eric and Rick either taking photos or taking fish off hooks. You know the old saying "women and children first."Rick and Eric fished some and all together we kept a dozen small brook trout and had a delicious dinner BBQ. What a great day!