Yellowstone | Armstrong | Missouri | Prickly Pear Report
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For the second year in a row, I was lucky enough to have my friend Parker and his family invite me up to Wolf Creek, MT for a visit to fly-fishing paradise in August. My buddy Stu and I decided to pad the front end of the trip with a stop in YNP. It was my first time to see the massiveness of that place. There ended up being quite a few firsts on the trip, including having my feet in a one river or another for 8 days straight. Not sure when that will happen again.
We flew into Jackson Hole, WY, and made our way up to the South entrance of the park. On the way up we got a nice view of the Grand Tetons in the park:
After a terrible night of car camping, we trekked to the Northeast corner. Our goal was 3 nights in the Lamar Valley backcountry.
I’ll be honest, I like to fish, but packing in gear into Grizzly country for 4 days was a first. We loaded up our gear, a double shot of bear spray, and a flask of Yellowstone whiskey for the 6 mile hike back to 3L3 along the Lamar.
We arrived at the site expecting one thing (safety), but finding something quite different. Aside from the fresh bear shit, there was still-moist bear fur rubbed 7 ft. high on every tree around our camp. To top it off, the Grizzly Maze we stayed in didn’t have a place to camp far enough away from our where we were supposed to hang our packs. We took a shot of courage and placed our camp 10 yards from our hanging Bear treats (the Rangers tell you 100 yds upwind is safe, or, at least safer)
After a rough night of hearing everything, we set out on the Lamar. For some reason, after all my research, I expected the Lamar to be smallish stream. I was wrong, but in the best possible way. It was huge, faster flowing, and challenging at first to figure out where the cutties were holding. After an initial round of trial and error, we got dialed-in with hoppers in faster water
The joy of your first native cutthroat is hard to hide
After two nights in the Maze, we moved upstream to 3L4, which was more than I imagined a campsite could ever be. A stream-side open meadow 150 yards long surrounded by nothing at all.
The fish continued to cooperate as well. Terrestrials all the way, except for this one on a stonefly
Made a couple of friends on the way out:
The rare mid-dump bison:
We congratulated ourselves on emulating survivorman and headed north to Wolf Creek, MT. A couple of days later, we made good on our reservation at Armstrong Spring Creek. I wish I had more photos (I took mostly video there), but all I can say is if you get a chance – go. Looking down into that cold, gin clear water at trout the size of tarpon is a thing of beauty. It was technical as it gets, but we had our share of success.
After getting stranded and waiting out a mountain storm in a barn with 40 cows (semi-friendly), we returned to Wolf Creek around 2 a.m. The next day was a float trip on the Missou; reports were it was fishing great and it didn’t disappoint. Stu and Parker landed some monster browns that I will try to post when I find the pics. For now:
Lost in between all of this was the joy of waking up at daybreak each day to fish the creek that runs through the property – The Little Prickly Pear. I’ve fished quite a few places, but having that stretch of water 50 ft outside your door for an entire week is hard to beat. Finding a way to make that a permanent situation in my life is now high on my to-do list.
I returned to DFW on Sunday with raw feet, over-sunburned ears, and a serious case of fly-fishing elbow. I also suffered through the worst post-vacation hangover imaginable, prompting me to immediately book a trip to the Keys (see my other report for details). After all was said and done, I can’t help but question why the hell I continue to live in Texas.
For a more detailed view of YNP and the Lamar River, here’s a short I created: http://www.vimeo.com/6273564
Cheers,
Wes
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