Beaverhead National Forest: Poking Around

Heavy duty guide schedule of the past couple weeks so tired the ol' boy all desire to rant was put on temporary hold...lucky you, eh? But of course we did muster up enough gumption to take advantage of a couple days off, do a little poking about in Canyon Creek--a place we haven't visited in several years. Carved by the lively, gin clear crick, towering limestone (and other rock we have yet to ID) cliffs, soaring golden eagles and the very real opportunity to glimpse all sorts of wildlife, including the resident goat herd (alas no goats this time) the awesome canyon itself is reason enough to go but...

Canyon Creek Charcoal Kilns

 

...the presence of these 23 (several restored) charcoal kilns makes it unique--one of a kind so far as I know.  The kilns turned wood into charcoal to fire the smelter at Glendale five miles east of here. Between 1894 and 1900 the smelter produced more than $20,000,000 from silver and lead ore mined in the surrounding Hecla Mining District—among the most productive in the state.

 A few miles further upstream the public road ends at this gate offering up a pretty nifty view of the still (mid-July) snow-splashed peaks of the East Pioneer Range. The ranch, by the way, is part of the Merewether Ranch which is currently in foreclosure so I assume CCGR is also? At any rate this day the place was abandoned. The nearby USFS campground is also closed at the moment to remove mountain pine beatle killed trees.

Gale could not resist (who could blame her?) tempting the crick's colorful brookies to sample her favorite Orange Stimi--obviously a ploy worked to perfection.

Fly Fishing: Record Runoff Over At Last

Bert Gildart Photo (click to enlarge)

At least it would seem that way as the Big Hole has dropped about 2000 cfs in the past 5 days and barring unforeseen downpours should continue to do so, although maybe not quite so dramatically. Still the flow is roughly 3 times the historic average for this late in July. While for me the lower flows are indeed welcome, i.e. the big water is just too damn hard on this ol' boy, I can't say it has done much for the fishing as recently more days than not have been on the slow side, afternoons especially. That said, I would say overall there have been more big fish in the net so far this season than any I can recall, especially common on the upper river have been browns over 18 inches and fat brookies in the 14-15 inch range. Curiously with all that water it would seem the "moskeeters" would be really thick but except for brief periods that has not been the case. Not so, however, the deer flies...yesterday my boat was litterally covered (like zillons enough to nearly obliterate the green paint)...somewhat mystifying Doug's gray boat hardly had a bug...deer flies find green attractive? Who knows...Anyway most experts predict above average flows should continue maybe even into the fall...that so expect the fishing to ramp back up as well.

Fly Fishing: The Lunatic Fringe

You are no doubt wondering  just what the hell a hen pheasant has to do with the following rant...



...and the answer is absolutely nothing...just a tired old fly fishing guide trying to rid his mind of the lunacy (childishness would be another way of putting it) of the past several days. In the guide/sport world strained relationships are of course not uncommon, hardly earth shattering news actually part of the price of doing business. And yes I do know the illwill flies both ways, tis what makes the world round.

But this time around it was them got under my normally thick hide. Them as in four 30-something school teachers, supposed adults holding down responsible jobs, acting it seemed to me way more child-like than most kids do half their age. It got to the point yesterday after three long days of constant "YAHOOS!" "How many did you catch?" "I got 6 and you only GOT one!" "Hey dude look at this ONE (even a whitefish in the net brought ear-shattering YAHOOS, raised the yell-level several notches). Such foolishness I found myself yesterday afternoon seriously contemplating putting the two current yahoos in my boat out on the bank and rowing merrily down the river...like peace and quiet AT last... OK, as I say maybe tis just me but you really had to be there to fully grasp the lunacy...Really...Sorry just had to get this one off my chest...

Despite all I did manage to tune out at times, add to the season highlight reel...two bullwinkles, several eagles, a nice whitetail buck, one the heaviest sally hatches of the season, a curious badger, a big elk herd, fields of colorful wildflowers, a guide way older than your reporter...Imagine! Singing bullock's orioles...Hell now that I think about it maybe twasn't all that bad after all...over and out...