Three years ago while visiting my sister in Montana my dad and myself took along our fly fishing gear. Well, it's sorta turned into a yearly event know. Not visiting my sister, but rather fly fishing Montana... :o) (I love you Holly). When we talked about where we wanted to fish I was pretty animate about my desire to fish Yellowstone. So this year we fly into Bozeman MT. When we arrive we where greeted with the "Spirit Bear" or something like that.
This year we decided to take some other with us. We were joined my dad’s brother, Uncle Skip,
and one of dad’s co-workers, Jared, who is an Orvis guide. It was late when we got there, and we went to the store for
food then straight to our cabin, about an hour upstream from Bozeman. The next morning, after breakfast we head out to the Gallatin. We drove past it all night and never got to
see it since it was dark. It’s not my
favorite river to but it’s in my top 3, and beautiful river able to hold it
own. We started off fishing at your
favorite spot. The last 2 years we have
done REALLY good here. “Where is here?”
you ask, well I forget. :o)
After fishing the Gallatin for a while in the am we decided
after lunch to head to West Yellowstone and get our permits for fishing in the
park. We also needed to scout out the area since the 8 days earlier the park
closed down the 3 main river to all
fishing. That bad news was quickly over
put out of the way. The whole way there
I was excited that I was going to see a wolf.
After my ‘list of first sightings’ last year that included Big Horn
sheep and moose, I needed something big this year. I was convinced that I was going to see a
Wolf. After talking about seeing one, my
dad reminded me that we were not headed to the part of the park that had any of
the wolf packs in it. I was really
saddened but I remained optimistic still.
A couple miles later, I was over whelmed with excitement. There in the middle of the road, waiting on
me, was a WOLF. As our vehicle drew
closer he trotted off the road and over to the berm. There he waited till we stopped beside him
and allowed up to wind down our windows and take some pictures. I was so excited to see it that I didn’t even
remember to take any pictures for the first 10 or so seconds. From that moment on I didn’t care how the
rest of the trip went. My vacation was
already made. Wolves are hard to come
by, and this one was a once in a life time shot. Some people follow the wolf packs all over Yellowstone
and never get a view like we get. What was even more impressive was that we
were not even in Yellowstone at the time. I called my sister Holly up to tell her the great news. She then turned around and 1-up'd me by spotting a couple of Juvenile Mountain Lions playing in the mountains outside of Missoula.
In case you can't tell, this picture was taken as we entered the park.
The Gibbon River. It was closed due to hot weather conditions.
An other view of the Gibbon, further upstream.
Not something that I wanted to see. The red marks the closed sections of the Gibbon, Firehole and Maddison rivers.
Me, Dad and Uncle Skip.
Dad caught this Grayling. It was the only one caught on the trip.
A Bull Elk, we actually saw a Bull Elk. This was dad's 5th trip to the park and this was his first Bull.
Uncle Skip standing at the look out beside Gibbon Fall overlook. Great view!
On our way out of West Yellowstone we stopped and fished a little creek called Grayling.
The fishing was the best quantity wise, but the size of the fish was lacking. Most were only about 4-5 inches long.
Dad with a nice trout back on the Gallatin.
After fishing Yellowstone and the Gallatin for a couple of days we headed to my favorite river, Rock Creek. Rock Creek is outside of Missoula, and its a 20-40 mile drive up a dirt road to get to the good fishing. Yep, we were out there. My kind of place. Dad and Jarred went one way and me and Uncle Skip went another. I was glad that we went another way as our fishing at one of my favorite holes was a lot better then the fishing that Dad and Jarred had. We got into some nice Browns, as well as some Rainbow and some Cut-Bows.
While fishing the Rock, my sister tracked us down and brought us lunch. I guess that 26 miles of the main road was not far enough... just joking. Love you Holly! Miss you already!
We did go into town for the evening and go out to dinner together, as well as some huckleberry ice cream at The Big Dipper. It was fun, but we had to get going again.
The next day where where 5 miles southeast again at West Yellowstone. This trip in the park we got to see a wild buffalo. This was my first ever buffalo.
Later that day my life go a little more exciting again. We decided to split up again to cover more area's. Dad and Jarred went to Bacon Rind Creek and my and Uncle skip went to fish Fan Creek just a mile up the road. As I approach the parking lot I see they have bear warning signs. Now they typically only put these type of signs up when Grizzly bear are frequently sighted or there is signs of them. Now the sign says to hike in groups of 3 or more. Well, there is only 2 of us, but we are experienced outdoors men so no worries. As I park I get out of the car and Uncle Skip decides that he wants to rest for a while. OK, just one now. No biggie, I'm an experienced outdoors man, I can handle it.
I go over to read the rest of the signage while putting on my fishing stuff and I see another sign about the bears in the area. I notice that someone has penciled in "CARCUSS NEAR FAWN PASS".
Well, this could be bad. In a couple of minutes I find this sign. I'm not worried now because as you can see Fawn Pass is 9 miles away and I only have 2 hours to fish. There is no way that I can make it that far.
Well, 3/4 of a mile away I find this as I round the bend. My second Bull Elk of the trip. But this one is not moving. He was pretty much intact,other then some hid ripped off his rib cage on the one side. Well, that was a long walk out of there by myself.
The next day me and dad went back and found the carcass ripped to pieces and dragged everywhere. Upon our return to the parking lot we found a ranger who confirmed that it was most likely a wolf pack kill and not a bear. Wolfs will corner animals, kill them and leave them lay where they die and eat them. Grizzly bears will drag their kill into the bushed and try to hide it.
I neat picture of one of the trout that Jarred caught. This was his first cut throat.
Me fishing up Bacon Rind Creek our last day of the trip. Beautiful area, but the fishing was lacking because of the warm weather.
We are already looking forward to hopefully next year!!! What adventure will we get into next time.
