I woke up early and got to the trailhead at 10:30 AM. My plan was to use up all my energy getting over the mountain and to the Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout waters, fish, and get back in one piece. I packed my gear and could not find my shoulder pack with all of my flies, leaders, tippet materials, and flotant. I emptied my van and storage box twice, maybe three times, to no avail. I then remembered, sort of. I returned to the trailhead last night to meet Pete and find out what the trail / fishing was like. I took out my portable tying kit and tied up 8 Elk Hair Caddis. I returned the fly tying kit to it’s place in the van and put the shoulder pack on top of my rear storage box to save room in the van. Life moved me to the front of the van and I forgot to put the shoulder pack away, so I drove off leaving the pack on the ground. Hopefully Pete found it and has some good materials to work with, and 150 flies to use.
I started slowly up the hill / mountain trail. My progress consisted of hiking with ten spikes of my walking staff into the dirt, followed by 10 seconds of recovery breaths leaning on my staff with my right hand and resting my left hand on my left knee. I had to sit and rest by and on the trail three times on my way up. After 40 minutes I was at the top and was able to slowly walk down into the meadow. I was tired, and aching, but I kept walking. Diamond Dallas Page, a former WWE wrestling champion and now a yoga master always states: “Whether you say you Can or you Can’t…….You are right!” I kept moving along the trail.
The meadow area was long and flat, and nice to walk even with my constant stops for rescue breaths. A large beaver pond greets one immediately, and many pictures of it are on the net. I was too tired and goal oriented to take a photo lol. I was getting exhausted following the trail until I found the sign!
A hundred or two yards farther up the trail is Rock Lake, with a nice “river” / creek, the Lake Fork of the Conejos River flowing into it. Just above the mouth of the river, I found a nice section of grass and river to collapse. A riffle leading into a pool, leading into a bigger pool. And I did not have to walk any further. I had found my place in this sanctuary.
I rigged up my rod to find out that my 6-piece 3-weight rod was not a five piece. I had lost the tip section of the rod along my hike. AARRGGHH 1. Anyone who has had this happen knows that casting in impossible as the line goes through your final guide only to have 6 inches of rod above the guide. Flipping leader into water is the best one can do. I put on a hopper, without flotant as it was in my shoulder bag, and started flopping the fly into the drift. A small fish rose to the fly. I changed to an Elk Hair Caddis, a smaller fly, and flipped it upstream to float down a couple of times. And Then….BAM 1. Not a big fish but a wild Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout made it into my net.
A few more casts and a much larger fish grabbed the fly, shook a lot of water into the sky, and then swam away. After many more casts I realized that this little riffle was dead for awhile, so I move 20 feet down stream to a beautiful shallow pool, with visible fish, large for the creek (approximately 8 to 10 inches), just sitting on the bottom of the stream.
I was like a kid in a candy store. Sitting on the bank, watching 3-5 fish in the deep area and baby fish rising in the tail of the pool, was magical. Yes, I put my fly out for inspection many times, and one “biggie” attacked my Elk Hair Caddis but didn’t get hooked. Eventually the fly sunk and floated down the pool. Excitement number two occurred when a large fish gracefully and slowly swam to the sunken fly, poked the fly with it’s nose, and then swam off. A true highlight of my day. I managed to land a second, tiny fish when my fly overshot the pool and landed in the tail riffle. After an hour just enjoying watching the fish live their life in the pool, I headed back. For the record, many, many fish were rising within casting range from the shore of Rock Lake. There are a lot of fish in this sanctuary.
Unfortunately, the hike out was a horrible experience. I was doing an 8-count walk, followed by a 15-20 count rest, and a total collapse to the trail after two or three repetitions. The only saving grace was the the incline through the meadow was gradual, with no switchbacks. However, my imprints on and in the trail will last a very long time.
On the backside of the mountain, I hit a spot on the trail that was very familiar to me. It was wider, and different than any other part of the trail. I remembered my stopping there on the way in and discovering that my leader had broken at this spot. Perhaps? Certainly Not! But YES! Sitting in the middle of the trail was the sixth section of my rod, the tip! Wow!!! My rod was complete again.
I got back to the head of the trail after a successful encounter with Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout. I drove an hour back out on the dirt road, then a half hour to the nearest town, Antonito. After texting my kids that I was alive, I decided to drive two hours to Santa Fe to cut time off my trip to southern New Mexico the next day.
For a great ending, I found a casino in Santa Fe that had a large Park-And-Ride on their property and they gave me permission to spend the night. I put $5 into a video poker machine that needed 5 coins to maximize the payouts. That is only four pulls, possibly, but what the heck. I started saving pairs and pulling full houses….many three of a kinds….excitement as I was dealt 4 cards to a $1000 royal flush (didn’t hit), and then, four lucky 7’s. I cashed out with a profit of $70, slept great in a security observed parking lot, and woke up the next day to drive to New Mexico. A good day indeed.
Tight Lines!