Trip Report: Rocky Mountain National Park (October 12-14, 2014)

Our family recently took our annual fall trip to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.  This is one of the most peaceful, relaxing trips we take as a family.  Mary and I have been visiting Rocky Mountain National Park since the mid-90s, even before we were married.  My favorite trip with her was in the winter of 1995, when we snowshoed up Longs Peak Trail to Jim’s Grove and beyond.  There Mary saw her first Colorado ptarmigan.

We've been coming here a long time together!  Mary and I, winter 1995.

These days, with three of our own children (and usually one of their friends) and our pup, Koda, we like to stay at the YMCA of the Rockies- Estes ParkCenter.  There are lots of family and faith-based activities for the kids, the cabins we rent are cozy and extremely well-kept, and you can just about bet you’ll have a nice 6X6 or better bull elk grazing right next to the front porch.

Our cozy family cabin at the YMCA Estes Park Center.

My long-suffering wife, Mary, always lets me sneak away for most of one day to explore Rocky Mountain National Park.  For me, that always means I’ll head out with a tenkara rod in my hand and a full day pack on my back.  This year was no exception.

On our visit last year I fished Glacier Creek just above Sprague Lake and went upstream a ways.  I also fished the Big Thompson River in Moraine Park, catching brown trout with bull elk bugling over my shoulder.  I can think of few more beautiful places than Moraine Park in mid-October…trout and elk…two of the creatures I love most in the world.

The view of Moraine Park this fall.

With my fishing time even more limited this year, my first stop was Steve Schweitzer’s “A Fly Fishing Guide to Rocky Mountain National Park”.  This extremely useful and very well laid out guide provided me with several options for a partial day of tenkara that was easy to access from our YMCA cabin.

 

Monday, October 13^th dawned clear and cold at the cabin, with the temperature just above freezing.  Perfect!  I headed into the park, with the upper section of Glacier Creek in my sights.  My goal was to avoid the trail and streamside traffic lower on Glacier Creek, and concentrate on the section just below Mills Lake.  I wanted a stiff hike and some solitude.  I got both.

I parked at the Bear Lake trailhead, which was packed with cars and tourists.  Putting my head down and my legs into overdrive, I hit my three-mile-per-hour “power hike” pace.  Once above Alberta Falls the trail traffic thinned out, the path narrowed, and the farther up I went, the more I enjoyed my hike.  I flew right past good looking water, wanting to reach Mills Lake by lunchtime.  I ended up at Mills Lake to find it cold and windy.  I looked for trout in the pools just below the outlet, finding none.  Just below the lake there’s a wonderful ltrough of water beside a sheer little cliff, but I found no trout there either.

The view of Longs Peak from just below Mills Lake.

Prospecting my way downstream from Mills Lake didn’t produce any brookies until I had gone below Glacier Falls.  Once there, I started getting into fish, all brook trout in the 7”-9” range.  These bends and pockets kept gifting me those wonderful little brookies for an hour or so, until I had to stop, bushwhack my way back up to the trail, and fly down the trail to my truck.  It was a good day for a hike and a few hours of breathing thin, cold air and catching feisty little square tails.

Some things that worked really well on this trip were:

My Tenkara Times TRY 330 rod, sent to me by my good friend, Anthony Naples, who owns Three Rivers Tenkara.  I’ve thanked you before, Anthony, but please accept one more kudo!

Tenkara USA 3.5 level line.  The TRY 330 REALLY likes this line for most conditions.  If it had gotten any windier, I’d have switched to the same line in 4.5. 

My self-tied Killer Kebari.  I got this pattern from Chris Stewart quite a while ago, several years in fact, and it never stops producing.  I wish I knew how many Killer Kebaris I’ve tied for both my fly box and for others.

My tried-and-true full-day day pack…a Kifaru Spike Camp.  I’ve worn this pack through a number of seasons guiding tenkara trips in the backcountry, hunted elk and mule deer with it, and have taken it just about everywhere in my truck and on my back as a go-to piece of gear.  You might as well bury me with this pack on.

You might as well bury me with my boots on my feet too.  They’re Salomon Quest 4D GTX boots, and they’re damned fine footwear for the backcountry.

Thanks for reading!  I hope you have an opportunity to visit Rocky Mountain National Park in the fall.  It’s a short season of golden aspens, frosty mornings, screaming bull elk, and the last good fishing before winter arrives.

PS:  I've just received very good news!  Tenkara USA will be hosting their annual tenkara summit in Estes Park, at the YMCA, in September 2015!  Check the Tenkara USA website for upcoming details!

Backcountry Hunters and Anglers 3rd Annual Rendezvous!

Nearly a year ago I found myself flying to Boise, Idaho, on a trip to attend the second annual BHA rendezvous.  It was my first attendance at this event, and I really didn't know what to expect, other than the information that had been sent my way by BHA officials.  By that time I had been an active member of BHA for a few years.  Last year I was asked to conduct a presentation on backcountry tenkara, and I jumped at the chance.  The rondy last year was a wonderful success by all accounts!

Right after last year's event, plans were made for the 2014 rendezvous.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the Colorado Chapter step up to the plate and agree to host it in Denver!

The third annual rendezvous has a lot to offer!  I will again provide a demonstration of tenkara fly fishing, as well as represent RIGS Fly Shop and Guide Service and Tenkara USA.  RIGS has donated a guided tenkara trip for two (with yours truly as the guide), and Tenkara USA has donated rods and other tenkara gear for the auction.  My good friend, Eric Lynn (owner of Mountain Ridge Gear and Original ATV) will conduct a presentation on burro packing.  Patrick Smith and crew from Kifaru (one of BHA's biggest sponsors) will be set up in the vendor room.  We also have a substantial list of seminars and demos during the day, which includes game processing, mule deer hunting techniques, panel discussions on "technology and hunting" and "women and hunting", and state and national conservation issues.

Here's a bit of event info from our executive director, Land Tawney:

"Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA), The Sportsmen's Voice for our Wild Public Lands, Waters, and Wildlife, is pleased to announce our 3rd Annual North American Rendezvous, to be held March 21-23, 2013, in downtown Denver, Colorado at the Red Lion Hotel.

After last year's success in Boise, it seems only natural that we follow up with a Rendezvous that is bigger and better.  Over the past two years, the National Rendezvous has attracted passionate backcountry sportsmen and women from across the country.  Attendance has grown by leaps and bounds and we fully expect another year of unprecedented attendance, energy and good times.  Not to mention it's our 10 year anniversary and it's time to celebrate the successes that BHA has had over the past decade.

The centerpiece of our event features a not-to-be-missed dinner with famous outdoor writer and contributor to Field & Stream, Hal Herring as our keynote speaker.  We'll also hear from BHA leaders and local and legislative luminaries.  Our banquet dinner will be complimented by a live and silent auction and music."

I HOPE YOU CAN JOIN US!

Tenkara Magazine is LIVE!

“Slipping my wading boot into the crystal clear, calm water of the pool, I know I am exactly where I want to be.  I have a collapsed twelve-foot tenkara rod in my right hand, a pack on my back, and a day full of possibilities…”

Paul Vertrees

“A Homecoming”

Tenkara Magazine, Volume 1

Although I’m no Kirk Deeter, I do know a good fly fishing magazine when I read one.  Enter Tenkara Magazine, Volume One. 

I know, I know…I’m biased.  Several months ago Tenkara USA founder and magazine creator Daniel Galhardo asked me to write a couple of articles for his then work-in-progress.  After hammering them out, they were sent to Tenkara Magazine editor Anthony Naples, and I began the long wait for the magazine to go to press.

At the time my articles were written, I had no idea who my fellow writers were or what sort of pieces they would submit for publication.  I had some pretty good guesses on who might have been asked to write, but nothing more.

In late November my copy of the magazine arrived!  I was humbled to join the ranks of Daniel Galhardo, Anthony Naples, Dave Dirks, Jason Klass, Rob Worthing, John Vetterli, Kirby Wilson, and others.   I feel very much a rank amateur compared to the rest of these folks. 

Many of the contributing writers and artists are friends and acquaintances, and it was especially good to read their articles and see their craftsmanship.  My magazine arrived on a Wednesday, and I spent the next two days reading it cover to cover.

If you really want to get your finger on the pulse of modern tenkara, get a copy of  Tenkara Magazine!  It covers a wide range of how-to's, tenkara experiences, destinations (both American and beyond), and writing styles.  Many thanks go out to Daniel, Anthony, and the rest of the team who put this project together.  I’m looking forward to what Volume 2 will bring! 

Time Well Spent

Glacier Creek, below Sprague Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park

 It’s mid-October and I’m spent.  It’s only two months into the school year, yet for some reason the cumulative effect of daily behavior management of 100-plus teenagers, the busy-ness of a rip roaring competitive marksmanship season I’m coaching, and a daily routine that seems way too routine, is catching up with me.  It’s time to rally our family and check out.

That’s exactly what we did last weekend.  We rented a cabin at YMCA of the Rockies near Estes Park (a familiar haunt), loaded up our SUV (complete with a cargo platform riding caboose), and headed north.  I could feel the mental baggage falling away as we drove into the fading light.

Along with some long overdue family relaxation at the cabin and some sightseeing in Rocky Mountain National Park, I was able to sneak out for most of a day of tenkara in the park itself.  In light of the recent government shutdown, we really lucked out.  We had planned this trip for a couple of months, and were worried that we wouldn't be able to visit the park.  However, just in time, the park reopened at noon on the Saturday of our our trip!  This time of year the park isn’t nearly as occupied by people as it is during the summer.  Most folks are there to watch and listen to the elk, and much to my surprise, none of those folks seem to be interested in all in trout.

 

A snowstorm rolling down onto the upper Big Thompson River in Moraine Park

Because of the recent flooding in the Estes Park area earlier this fall, I was curious as to the fishability of the eastern watersheds of Rocky Mountain National Park.  I was pleasantly surprised by the condition of both Glacier Creek and the upper Big Thompson River.  I fished both with my 12’ Iwana by Tenkara USA, and had good luck catching browns and greenbacks with my self-tied Killer Kebari, a wonderful pattern from Chris Stewart, aka, the Tenkara Bum.  I was also testing a new product we’ve developed at RIGS Fly Shop, and I was pleased with the results.  I’ll be posting much more information on this later this fall, and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with what we’ve put together.

 

It was cold and snowy on Glacier Creek, but the fishing was great!

 

Big Thompson River, Rocky Mountain National Park

 

All in all, our family had a wonderful extended weekend.  We got to spend some quality time together as a family, we had time to relax for a change, and I was able to get into the park to enjoy some water that’s absolutely ideal for tenkara.  Catching trout with bull elk bugling over your shoulder in the middle of a wide mountain valley while snow falls gently on your head is something to be treasured!  It’s time well spent!

YMCA of the Rockies, Estes Park Center