Trip Report: Annual Surf 'N Turf Weekend (October 3-5, 2014)

There are places on this earth where time stands still.  Most of those places in my world are tiny pockets of seclusion, hidden for a while from most, known well to a few.  They hold trout, snowshoe hares, pine squirrels, and blue grouse.  The barren ridges above the streams have provided my family with lean, red meat from elk and mule deer for decades.  They sustain, nourish, and renew.  They are, and forever will be, my stomping grounds.

The Stomping Grounds, as seen from the east from 12,000 feet.  Our camp is at the center of the photo.

Steve and I, heading south toward our camp.

On the trail...

I come here each year for an extended weekend that falls just after the Colorado archery big game season draws to a close at the end of September, and just before the first big game hunting season begins for hunters toting guns, of which I’m one.  It’s usually the first full weekend of October.  A bittersweet time of the year here, when the aspens have mostly blown off all of their little golden pages, but a few weeks before snow starts to pile up faster than it melts.  Autumn is a fleeting season at 11,000 feet. 

This year’s Surf ‘N Turf Weekend came and went like a swirl in the wind.  It came fast, twisted and spun quickly, and then blew on past like the dead aspen leaves it picked up and scattered while I was there…just like it does every year.  This narrow window between my summers spent guiding tenkara trips in the San Juans and a month of time between mid-October and mid-November securing a year’s worth of venison, signals the onset of a dead and decaying world in the backcountry with autumn, and the bone-cracking cold and stillness of high-country winter.

We usually have a knot of three or four close hunter-angler friends at our Surf ‘N Turf Weekend.  Friends who backpack, hunt, fish, and shoot together at various gatherings throughout the year, all lifelong friends, all with much in common.  This year it was a bit different.  The wrinkles of life kept the usual cast of characters from attending.  Instead, I was pleased to share my camp with a husband and wife who had been former clients of mine on a guided tenkara trip.  I had only known Steve and Melissa for a short time, but I already knew we were kindred spirits.  Nevermind that Steve and I had both spent time in the Army, he a young armor officer, me a twenty-year career NCO, with service time that overlapped during Operation Desert Storm.  Beyond that, I knew that both of them were experienced backcountry muscle-powered travelers, and I also knew that they were open-minded enough to understand and embrace the significance of killing and eating to sustain yourself in the backcountry.  I think we understood each other.

My backcountry palace…my Kifaru Sawtooth and wood stove.

Our weekend was spent exploring the stream near camp, where we had pitched ultralight shelters.  While Steve and Melissa tried their luck with reluctant brook trout, I hiked up the ridge to the north to search out pine squirrels and snowshoe hares.  I had two hares sneak by me, circling around to my left each time and running behind me.  Over this weekend each year, I can usually take a couple of hares easily, but this year there weren’t nearly as many in the woods.  I was able to hike up to the saddle on the ridge and nail down a pine squirrel to take back to camp for supper.  I was hoping there were trout on the stringer from my partners.

Steve and Melissa, prospecting for brookies near camp.

Steve and Melissa hadn’t caught any trout, so I stashed the squirrel and headed straight back upstream to a spot I knew would give us the “surf” in our Surf ‘N Turf Weekend.  We already had the “turf”…our squirrel.  I hiked upstream above a steep section of waterfalls to a flat bend in the creek.  There I caught three absolutely beautiful brookies, all about nine inches in length.  All with orange, white and blue.

Surf 'N Turf in the boonies…brook trout and pine squirrel roasting, while red beans and rice and tea simmer on the coals.

Preparing trout bones for our kotsuzake ceremony.

A wilderness tradition…a kotsuzake ceremony around the fire.

We spent good time around our open cooking fire, roasting up trout and squirrel.  As soon as the sun sank below the mountain to the southwest, the mercury dropped quickly.  We retreated to my woodstove-heated shelter and talked about everything and nothing at once.  This was the most intimate of these weekends I’ve had, and I really enjoyed sharing it in my shelter on a cold night with two very good friends.   Steve and Melissa will be forever welcome in my camps.

*Many thanks to Stephen and Melissa Alcorn for sharing their photography with me for this blog post.  You guys ROCK!

Tenkara Times TRY 330 Review

I tested a new rod the past couple of weeks, and I like it!  Anthony Naples, who owns ThreeRivers Tenkara, sent me a Tenkara Times Try 330 6:4 to wring out.  I have some cool friends!  Those of you who know me well know that I get pretty set in my ways.  However, over the past few months I’ve fished more rods than I ever have before and it’s been a lot of fun as well as enlightening.

Tenkara USA 11' Iwana (top) and Tenkara Times TRY 330 6:4 (bottom).  The Iwana comes in a really nice hard rod tube (sadly discontinued), and the TRY 330 comes in a cool stretchy rod sock.

Small streams like this semi-desert creek are where the TRY 330 shines!

The small line holders from Tenkara Bum fit nicely on the handle of the TRY 330.

An unexpected 12" rainbow caught in the canyons on the Tenkara Times TRY 300.  

I took this little rod to two vastly different pieces of water.  While guiding Zen Fly Fishing Gear owners, Karin Miller and Adam Omernick, on the Cimarron River tailwater in the northern San Juan Mountains, I got a chance to try it on a comparatively big section of water.  The Cimarron River tailwater was running around 120 cfs, and was about 75 feet wide at the most.  It has countless washtub-size and smaller pockets and lengthy edges against tall grass.  The 12-16” browns and rainbows there like to hit dry-dropper rigs, so I wanted to see how a short, very lightweight rod would handle a 12’ RIGS floating line, 5’ of 5X tippet, and a #12 Yeager’s Neversink over a #16 purple Psycho Prince.  That’s a lot to ask from a 10’2” mid-flex rod that only weighs 2.2 ounces!  I wanted to see just how much the TRY 330 could handle.  I found that it took some work to get it to cast the 12’ floating line, and that 17-foot line is a little much for this rod.  It was a little difficult to bring fish to net with such a short rod and long line too.  It’ll work, but I think effective fishing on this size water is best left to 12’ or longer 6:4 rods, especially 6:4 rods on the stiff side of that rating. 

The second place I took the TRY 330 6:4 was a local semi-desert canyon, with a much smaller flow than the Cimarron River.  This was truly “small water” and from the rod description on Three River’s website, it was “perfect for small headwater streams that require precise casting in tight quarters”.  At 45 cfs and no more than 20’ across, this little creek is a typical canyon country tributary.  A trophy trout in it will go no more than 16”, and most good fish are around 12.  Navigation upstream on this creek requires fishing around and ducking through streamside narrowleaf cottonwoods and willows…lots of them.  I chose to go trad on this creek, and fished the TRY 330 with a 3.5 level line from Tenkara USA, about 4’ of tippet, and switched between an Amano Kebari and a Takayama Kebari, both size 12.  When I started fishing, I was using a 10’ medium presentation line, hand tied by Chris Stewart (and no longer available), but I found that this rod liked casting the 3.5 level line better, perhaps because it has stiffer tip sections than most mid-flex rods do.  This is a level line rod, and it performed flawlessly in that role.  While on this creek I also tried to cast a #10 Hale Bop Leech (think #10 bead head bugger), and it was an ugly cast at best.  This rod is best suited casting a 2.5-3.5 level line with 3-4 feet of tippet, with non-weighted flies.  It just so happens that’s about 90% of what I fish when I’m fishing alone.  Perfect.

The TRY 330 cast this self-tied #12 Takayama Sakasa Kebari perfectly on a 3.5 level line.

I performed a lot of side-by-side comparison to the only comparable rod I own, a Tenkara USA 11’ Iwana (rated by TUSA at 6:4).  This rod option is no longer available in the 11’ handle from Tenkara USA.  I’ve fished the Iwana A LOT, and the feel of it has become ingrained in my right hand and arm.  I know it well.  Here’s my take on how the two rods compare…

The TRY 330 is a slightly lighter weight, whispier rod.  It’s also just a bit shorter, but not enough to really become a factor in the negative.  The “feel” of a rod is a highly subjective thing, but I really like the feel of the TRY 330 over the Iwana.  I cast any tenkara rod with a rather quick, snappy cast and I like rods on the stiffer side of the spectrum.  Having a mid-flex rod with stiff tip sections gives me the best of both worlds…a responsive and sensitive rod that likes my snappy cast.  Those stiffer tip sections also allowed me to keep casting the TRY 330 in a moderate up-canyon breeze better than any 5:5 mid-flex rod I’ve used.  Another feature I prefer with the TRY 330 over the Iwana is the more deeply contoured, slightly shorter handle.  My hand migrated toward the butt end of the rod, where it felt balanced and comfortable.  The bottom cap on the TRY 330 has a tool slot for ease in removal, and although I do carry a couple of tools in my day pack that could be used on it, it would require taking off my day pack to do so.  This rod could use an improved bottom cap that has a knurled edge and no tool slot.  The two rods are similar in price, neither of which are a burden on the wallet, and both are a bargain.  The Iwana is a prettier rod, and if there’s one thing I would change on the TRY 330 (if I could) would be improved finish and an upgrade in cork quality.  Of course, those things come at a price, and the $129.00-$139.00 price tag would take a bit of a jump, I’m sure.

In all, the TRY 300 will spend a lot of time with me on the little creeks I fish, both in semi-desert canyons and high alpine headwaters.  I’ll send this rod back to Anthony with an agreement that he sells me one immediately!  You’ve got a great little rod in your inventory, Anthony, and I’ll bet Three Rivers Tenkara will sell a bunch of them.

Tenkara Times TRY 330 6:4

Length as tested:  10’2”

Weight as tested:  2.2 oz/61g

Segments:  7

Retail price:  Currently $129.00 from Three Rivers Tenkara

Tenkara USA 11’ Iwana 6:4

Length as tested:  10’6”

Weight as tested:  2.4 oz/69g

Segments:  8

Retail price:  $157.00

Simple Pleasures

I am a fart in a tornado!  My spring season has been a jigsaw puzzle of teaching, coaching, family, and a move from the mountains to town.  The last item in that sentence is significant…we haven't lived in a town in nearly 18 years.  Matter of fact, at our mountain home we couldn't see any neighbors, only had mail delivery three days a week, and I hauled all 60,000 gallons of water we used in our house each year in a transport tank in the bed of my 3/4-ton pickup.  So, it's been a whirlwind around our place.

As we're still unpacking, I've yet to set up my fly tying bench, but I've actually located all of the tools and supplies that go into it. Just today I finished up putting together my reloading bench and all of the supplies and components that make it work.  I imagine that I won't get much tying done until I move over to my summer home in Ridgway and start work at RIGS Fly Shop and Guide Service for my third season.

As all of this change in our lives takes place, my refuge exists in those simple pleasures that have taken place in the past, and will continue to take place in the future.  It's in those times that I can always find peace amid the changes and know that those special spots I've taken our daughters to fish will always be there.

Small stream fishing, more than anything, has been the central theme for the time I've spent outdoors with our children.  It was that way for me as a child as well.  I remember well sneaking a couple of miles across the mountain to a private pond so I could steal my limit of stocker rainbow trout, retiring home so my mother could fry them up in a cast iron skillet.  That was 40 years ago…not much has changed.

Our oldest daughter, Rachel (age 6), on an early trip to Grape Creek,  2004.

Hannah, Rachel, and I on a secret stream that I fished as a boy, 2005.

Rachel and I on our inaugural backpacking trip.  Music Pass and Upper Sand Creek Lake, Sangre De Cristo Mountains, CO, 2008.

Our youngest daughter, Libby, in a nameless canyon full of brown trout.  Spring 2014.

Our little comedienne, laughing about all the badger holes along the creek, with my tenkara rod, ready to start fishing.  Spring 2014.

For the past fifteen years I've taken our girls to nearby remote semi-arid canyons and to the sub-alpine valleys of my youth.  The first trout they ever caught were in the same streams I fished as a youngster.  Coming full-circle with them is one of the most rewarding things I've experienced as a father.  It's my hope that someday they will bring their own children to these same streams and canyons to do the same.  Family, water, trout, simple pleasures.  

Gear I Use: Edged Tools

"Sawtooth's Quartet":  Victorinox Swiss Army Tinker, Randall's Adventure & Training ESEE-3, Cold Steel Trailhawk, Bahco Laplander.

All photos by Randall Haynes.

I have a confession…I love knives.  I love them so much that I have too many.  I have a whole drawer in my gun safe full of knives I don’t use.  However, as much as I love knives, I love truly useful backcountry gear even more.  With that thought in mind, I’ve really whittled down all my gear to those items that really are purpose-driven, and I’ve vowed to part with the rest.  I know it sounds cliché, but less truly is more.  You’ll see that it’s a recurring theme in my “Gear I Use” series.

This post is devoted to those edged tools I use in the backcountry.  All of my tools serve a specific purpose, have been selected after a considerable amount of testing and thought over an extended period of time (in some cases, decades), and none of them will put a big dent in a wallet.  All of them fit hand-in-glove with my version of lightweight backpacking, backcountry tenkara, both small and big game hunting, and light duty bushcraft.  If I were a vegan, camped in a hermetically sealed tent at night, and only burned fossil fuel stoves, I wouldn't need these tools.  However, I do kill and eat game animals and fish in the wilderness, build fires constantly, repair equipment and clothing in the field, chop ice, and fashion tools out of wood or even bone if I have to.  I need capable tools.

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!

Gear I Use: Stoves and Grills

We can thank the Titan Prometheus for stealing fire from Zeus and giving it to we lowly mortals.  He paid dearly for it.  Greek mythology notwithstanding, truth is humans have been warming, protecting, and feeding themselves with it for around 300,000 years.  Controlled fire is an integral and necessary part of  backcountry living, whether you're carrying everything on your back or leading a pack animal down the trail.

With this first installment in my "Gear I Use" series, I'll outline the choices I've made for stoves and grills - the gear I use when harnessing the energy of my backcountry fires.  Lightweight and ultralight gas-powered stoves have come a long way since I started backpacking in the late 1970s.  I remember well my first bona-fide gas backpacking stove, a Coleman 502, purchased by my parents at the Sears department store.  It was heavy, but it worked fine, and as a teenager I managed to keep from blowing anything up with white gas and cooked up many cans of Dinty Moore beef stew.  The first grill I ever remember using was actually one off a small hibachi, small enough to slip down inside my old, rather box-like Kelty backpack.

Here are some different backcountry scenarios I often find myself in, and the stoves and grills I use in each.   I travel as light as possible, and consider myself a "lightweight" backpacker as opposed to "ultralight".  There are some things I'm willing to budge on a bit to make camp life a little more comfortable or more convenient. 

 BACKPACKING (DURING OPEN FIRE BANS)  Fire bans seem to be an annual way of life in the West.  During those times I can't build an outdoor fire, I use an ultralight gas canister stove.  Long ago I stopped using my homemade alcohol-fueled Pepsi can stove.  It just took too long to cook with it.  I've gone through several small, lightweight canister stoves, starting a long time ago with an MSR Pocket Rocket.  I ended up with a Coleman Exponent F1 stove, which received very good marks in this Backpacking Light canister stove review.  I like the F1 because it's very light at 2.7 oz. (9.1 oz. with full 110g fuel canister), and it fits inside my smallest and most-used pot, a Snow Peak Trek 700, along with a 110g fuel canister.  That's something my Pocket Rocket couldn't do.  Unfortunately, Coleman discontinued this model, but they're readily available on eBay and other online sources.

Coleman Exponent F1 ultralight canister stove.

Coleman Exponent F1 stove and 110g fuel canister nested inside
a Snowpeak Trek 700 pot

BACKPACKING (OPEN FIRE COOKING)  Sometimes I'm lucky enough to have an established fire ring at my backcountry campsites, sometimes I'm not so lucky.  I have an option for both.  For those times I have an already-built fire ring (I don't create new ones, ever) I use my Purcell Trench Grill (Streamside Traveler).  I chose the Streamside Traveler because it's the perfect size for one or two campers, and the mesh allows me to grill fish, something I like to do whenever I can while backpacking.  It's the lightest weight cooking device I have, coming in at 5.9 oz.  A huge advantage to using a wood-fueled fire is that you have an unlimited fuel source that you don't have to carry on your back!  Cooking over an open fire does create soot on your pots, but if you use some ultralight pot bags like these from ZPacks, the problem is solved.  Besides, watching a small campfire burn while you grill a couple of brook trout and cook up some miso soup is a real treat!

Purcell Trench Grill (Streamside Traveler model).  Snowpeak Trek 900 pot shown.  My eight-year-old daughter caught these brown trout with my Tenkara USA 12' Iwana rod.

There are other times when I don't have an established fire ring available, and that's when I reach for my Emberlit stove.  These ultralight takedown wood-burning stoves pack down very flat and small, weigh little, and provide a no-nonsense, low-impact wood fire.  The inherent chimney effect of the stove channels the flames and heat straight up onto the bottom of your pot, making for very efficient cooking.  Additionally, the loading port on the side of the stove makes it possible to feed much longer sticks into the stove than with other stoves on the market.  There are lots of other compact wood-burning stoves out there, but I like the way the Emberlit packs flat.  I chose the lightest weight Emberlit, made from titanium (5.45 oz).  You can check out a side-by-side comparison of the Emberlit vs. the Vargo stove I posted a couple of years ago.  I opted for the Emberlit and I've really enjoyed the usefulness of this little stove.

Emberlit titanium stove.  Snowpeak Trek 700 pot shown.

BACKPACKING/WINTER SKI CAMPING/BURRO PACKING  Kifaru wood stoves!  I call my Kifaru wood stoves my "everything stoves".  They truly do it all!  I use the smallest ones for backpacking in cold weather, since they're used for both heating my Kifaru shelters and for cooking.  I use the larger ones for ski camping and burro packing, and for any time I'm with a group (heck, even for car camping).  They pack down small, are lightweight and man-carryable, and are one of those gear innovations that really completely changes how you camp.  I will never be without the option of a heated shelter, and these are the stoves that make it possible.  I have four of the older Kifaru box stoves (para, small, medium, and large), but the company also now produces lighter weight titanium oval stove models as well.  All of them are compatible with Kifaru shelters, or any other shelter that allows for the use of an internal wood stove and stovepipe.    

     
 

Kifaru Para Stove (smallest model)-solo bowhunting
Snowpeak Trek 700 pot shown

Kifaru Large Stove-wilderness base camp

WINTER SKI CAMPING/BURRO PACKING  Getting out into the wilderness without a full-sized backpack is a wonderful thing!  It means you can carry more, and heavier gear (beer, too!).  Whether I'm skinning up a snowed-in forest service road while hauling a pulk, or leading a sturdy pack burro up the trail, having a bit heavier stove capable of operating in a bigger base camp and in extreme cold is possible.  For both I like to have a gas stove along with my Kifaru wood-burning stove.  I simply don't like waiting for coffee in the morning, and having both a gas and wood-burning stove makes multitasking possible when I'm cooking for a group.  My long-time favorite gas stove (for times I don't have to carry it on my back) is the MSR Whisperlite.  Since it burns white gas, it performs well in extreme cold (MUCH better than the iso-butane canisters I use in the summer).  Whether it's in a pulk or in a pannier, the weight of my fuel bottles isn't really much of a concern, and I can carry just about much fuel as I need to get by for several days of winter camping or elk hunting.  There are newer gas stoves of this type on the market, but I know how to use my Whisperlite, it's easy to repair if needed, and I've found it to be a dependable and durable appliance.  I could go lighter in weight, but that's the beauty of getting the load off your back…you don't really have to go lighter!

My venerable MSR Whisperlite Internationale

SUMMARY  My stoves and grills are not "one size fits all".  These are some excellent purpose-driven backcountry appliances.  Each one fills a niche, and sometimes those niches overlap.  There are times when I even carry two of the stoves shown here, or a stove and the grill.  All of them have proven themselves over the years, and are pieces of gear I completely trust.  All of them are produced by top-notch companies with loads of experience and testing, as well as excellent customer service.  Are there lots of other options available?  Yes!  These are my top picks.  I hope this gets you thinking about your own gear!

   

Gear I Use: A Series

I don't really make serious New Year's resolutions, but I do set goals for myself off and on throughout each year.  Starting work on a goal on New Year's Day just makes it easy to keep track of.  One goal I have, and a broad one at that, is to put deliberate effort into improving my writing.  Blog posts, magazine articles, book contributions, meaningful content, matters not.  I can make all of it better.

Tenkara Tracks will start to highlight lightweight backpacking, day hiking, and burro packing a little more, and one way that I'll do that is to feature my gear every few weeks in a succession of posts entitled "Gear I Use: A Series".  Pretty creative title, huh?

My understanding and long-suffering wife thinks I have way to much outdoor gear.  I really don't, but what I do have is extremely purpose-driven.  There aren't too many pieces of equipment I own that don't get used, unless you count a couple of my twenty-five-year-old backpacking stoves, or the pair of plastic Lowa mountaineering boots that I got in Germany back in 1984 or so.  Some things you've just got to hang onto.

Packing out my 2013 cow elk with Eric Lynn's burros, many miles from the trailhead.  

So, stay tuned for the first post, which will feature my stoves and grills.  "Gear I Use" posts will come at you as categories, i.e., stoves and grills, and inside each post will be featured the pieces of gear I use the most within that category.  Other categories may include shelters, sleep systems, camp kitchen, lights, footwear, edged tools, clothing…you get the idea.

If I can infuse more backpacking and burro packing into Tenkara Tracks, inform you a bit more about choosing your own gear, or even get ideas from readers on their top gear picks, then one of my goals will have been met.

Next up:  Gear I Use:  Stoves and Grills