Leaving Las Vegas

Some places we go I have a hard time leaving and others not so much. In this case as much fun as Las Vegas can be I am always ready to leave when the time comes or earlier. Like most anglers time spent in a big city can wear on too long in a very short time unless there's a great fishing river running through the middle. I would much rather be some distance from any big city no matter which one it is under any circumstances because I can't think of one that does have a good fly fishing river running through it. With Reno calling in the distance our stay in Vegas seemed too long.

The drive out was refreshing after being hemmed in by traffic lights, crowds and lights so bright they can be seen 100 miles away in the desert sky. It felt good to be in the middle of nowhere for a while. Driving along Hwy 95 I found myself invigorated by the extreme contrast between the two places. Vegas is an overwhelming mass of humanity and the desert is so devoid of visible animal life that you wouldn't know anything animal lives there. In the 300+ miles I believe we spotted 2 birds, a falcon and a crow.

This is a drive I made years ago on my way to Reno from Fort Worth for work. I remember it being desperately lonely for those long, seemingly never ending hours across Texas, New Mexico and Arizona but once I passed Las Vegas the drive took on a character I never expected nor had I experienced before or since, until yesterday. The character of the desert is different here from anywhere else I've seen. Flanked by mountains in the distance on both sides there's a feeling of being isolated like the world doesn't exist beyond the mountains. It was just us and the other travelers making our way somewhere else because this surely can't be the destination, or so you think.

Out of nowhere there are these small, ghostly mining towns most of them so dilapidated it's a surprise to see human life on the rare occasion when it happens. Between the heat, cold and wind blown sand the climate out here is brutal on structures. For the most part all human life is hidden giving the traveler a sense that some apocalyptic event has occurred without you knowing. It's just you, the wind, weather worn structures, abandoned mining equipment and the kaleidoscope of muted colors painted by the layers of minerals exposed over time. Mostly a drive out here consists of a few travelers, the scenery and the wind.

You have to stop at some point though because it's a long drive. The necessities of fuel, food, hydration and the need to pee brought on by hydration finally catch up. Something I have noticed as we travel around the country is that the people you meet in the desert, any desert are a friendly bunch. I often wonder if it's a mind set that they have which stems from making a life in  an inhospitable environment away from things that inhabitants of say the Rocky Mountains take for granted. Not to stereotype too much but more often than not people living in what we consider to be beautiful places tend to be a bit on the crabby side. When I've mentioned this to a few of them they invariably say they're upset that other people have moved from other places to their beautiful place making it more crowded. I wish I knew what to make of that attitude when you're staring at something like Pike's Peak on a daily basis. It's hard to hold fault with that line of thinking though because it's the main reason I wanted to leave Texas all those years ago. Seeing the open country my brothers and I cut our teeth on become one of the biggest and fastest growing cities in the state for a couple decades was hard to take. I suppose that is one of the main reasons I get such satisfaction seeing the open desert in all it's inhospitable glory. It won't be overrun with humanity any time soon.

Solitude.

Often enough there are times when the other travelers seem to have just disappeared. At one point yesterday we went over an hour without seeing another soul on this long lonely highway. Remembering my first drive out in February 1994 I had left Las Vegas not long before dark. Driving along as the sun set to my left I came to a set of hills close to the highway. Looking off toward the yellow, orange glow I thought I saw a Native American wearing a quill headdress standing on the top of one of the hills, then there was another and another. I finally realized it was the Joshua trees dotting the hills I was seeing, their silhouettes looking so much like sentries guarding the hills and landscape that I was imagining things. But was I? As night fell completely I could feel the presence of the Native Americans that roamed the land before the white man came and changed the country we call home. Though such thoughts bring an urge to lament the past it does no good. Such thoughts can only bring regret and pain that can't be wiped away. Those thoughts I have to suppress lest they overtake my emotions and send me spiraling down the rabbit hole. Some things can't be changed they can only be remembered.  What I do lament is the fact that we as people haven't learned from those events. I think of what this land must have been before progress took it over forever.

This past year traveling around the country we have seen so many new places and revisited so many places that just a short time ago were completely different. More often than not the sites we see or alarming but I don't hear the bells going off to sound any sort of alarm. Open spaces are being covered with urban sprawl that consists of houses that are far bigger than necessary for the families that live there. Each one with a bright green lawn that requires water which is becoming more scarce with every new neighborhood.

What do I think of when leaving Las Vegas?

Water that could and should be in the lakes and rivers and not on urban and suburban lawns. Land that could and should be used for producing food or better yet left alone and allowed to remain wild.
Mostly I wonder what it will all look like a decade or two decades from now.

There are certain things that in our age seem to have always existed. One of them is Las Vegas and the story that anyone who has driven in from the north at night tells. Heading back to Texas from Reno 22 years ago I had been watching the glow in the clouds become brighter and brighter for well over an hour as I got closer to the city. At a certain point the entire city came into view, a sea of lights that lit up the sky and the earth like nothing I had ever seen before or since. It was 2 am and I stopped to take it in.

Last Friday night Sharon and made the drive north of town to the spot where I had stopped years ago to admire the sea of lights. I had told her about it for all these years.When we got to the spot I was confused and disappointed. The new highway heading north topped with overpasses and the ever growing sprawl of  over-sized two story homes has blocked what used to be a visual wonder. You can't see the wonder that is Hoover Dam coming from the east anymore either.

They call it progress. I think that's why I would rather be in the middle of nowhere.

South Platte River, Big Wind and Nick's Swanky

Rewind back a week to the only fishing I've been able to squeeze in since leaving Texas in March. This is after all a fly fishing blog and some of you may be getting tired of reading about traveling.

Our Traveling Companion Dominic

Since we started our journey around the country last May I don't usually try to go fishing when we're in Colorado Springs. The goal is usually to get in, get our business done and get back on the road as quickly as possible. This trip through took a little twist and we ended up sitting for a week.

We took care of our normal business with the added chore of getting Dominic, our cat, to the vet for a dental cleaning that turned into multiple extractions. Not wanting to hit the road until he recovered from the anesthesia we added a week to our stay. Not only did that week give me a chance to do a few extra chores around town it also afforded me a chance to hit one of my favorite stretches of the South Platte.

I didn't exactly choose the perfect day to go up to The Charlie Meyers Wildlife Area formerly known as Spinney Mountain Ranch or maybe those signs have always been there I can't say because I have always gone in through the state park.

Midge Larvae From the Guadalupe River

The wind was howling from the moment I arrived. I's not unusual for the wind to be blowing up at South Park but this was more than normal.  So much for my plan to fish a spring dry fly. Up here the river is one of those rivers that on any given day there will be some risers that will take a dry. The addendum to that is you have to be able to make good casts and get good drifts. These trout get fished over very hard throughout the year and won't fall for a bad drift with a dry fly 95% of the time. I say 95% because even I can catch a trout on a dry fly here from time to time.

A Bunch of Nick's Swanky Midges

Not to be thwarted by the gale force winds I took a different approach and went with a dry/dropper rig from the beginning. I'm not much of a nympher or maybe I should say haven't been in the past. This winter I had the opportunity to spend some time with Nick of Nick Fly Fishing. During that time he taught me a thing or two about nymph fishing. For the most part in the past I've avoided nymphing techniques in favor of dries making my own excuses just to keep a dry fly on the water. Though Nick helped me to break that way of thinking -somewhat- I would still much rather see a trout take a fly from the surface: it's a visual thing. That said I'm starting to feel the thrill of suddenly having weight at the end of my line with no other indication of a take. That's a discussion for another time after much more on the water research.

In homage to Nick helping me along on the nymphing trail I opted for the fly he introduced me to on the Guadalupe this winter. One evening Nick texted me a photo of  the overly abundant midge larvae in the Guadalupe River along with the fly he was working on to imitate it. After some collaborative discussion he sent me a photo of the fly that we would eventually call Nick's Swanky Midge. It's a long story how the name came about but it stems from the glass bead head and the sparkling UV collar.



I figured it to be a good place to start given the number of midges in the river. It didn't take long for that decision to pay off but not without some work due to the wind. My first trout, a small cutbow came within 15 minutes of getting started. I can't say the action was fast and furious but it was definite enough to let me know the Swanky Midge was working. In total I was able to land five rainbows and cutbows all about the same size.

The wind was relentless gusting to, I would guess, around 25 mph with a sustain velocity of around 15-18 mph. It didn't take long for the novelty to start wearing off. I had encountered a pod of good size trout feeding on emergers but couldn't get them to take the Swanky deep. I tried it dropped shallow with only one refusal look. Netting the flow showed me exactly what fly they would take but the wind was too brutal to use it. Cast were going awry and the couple that did land well dragged horribly. I was left contemplating going home for the first time ever from this stretch of the South Platte without at least hooking a really good trout.

I started back to the parking lot walking upstream along the bank forcing short casts into the wind rolling off the Spinney Reservoir dam. The sun was approaching the horizon giving some hope of a lull in the wind's velocity but instead it just kept coming. As I rounded what would be my last bend in the river I turned and fired a cast at a favorite large rock in the river close to the far bank. The wind caught my line and catapulted it across dropping my flies just far enough upstream for the Swanky Midge to sink and drift along the back edge of the rock undoubtedly my best cast of the day thanks to the wind. When the Turk's Tarantula stopped and disappeared I lifted the rod thinking the midge was on the rock. Instead of dead weight I felt life, heavy life and it was moving fast downstream on 6X and a size 20 hook.

The trout in the South Platte like to jump when hooked putting on a show and this one did not disappoint. Though not as acrobatic as the browns I've taken here this one completely cleared the water  three times before diving deep into the current and holding there.With the light starting to fade I forced it as much as I dared eventually dragging all 22" of it into the net.

A couple times during the day I thought about calling it in due to the big winds. I'm sure glad I didn't because a fish like this makes it all worth it.

This is definitely one of my favorite stretches of river, anywhere. Nick and I are making plans to hit it in the fall when the browns cruise up from the lower reservoir. Hopefully we'll have some luck, plenty of Swanky Midges and just a little less wind.

Impromptu Changes and Pleasant Surprises

The thing about impromptu changes is that occasionally they don't actually work out as peachy as you hope. When we decided to slide on past Salt Lake and go a little further south to cover extra ground getting to Vegas our overnight happened to be one of those occasions.

First there was the slightly creepy little RV park which will remain unnamed to protect the innocent. We never saw anyone working there even though we doodled around the next morning. I paid by putting cash in an envelope and slipping it through a mail slot. We did survive though. We didn't really have much choice as we were running out of time when we pulled in. The storms that ran through Nephi Sunday evening were bearing down on us forcing a stop just to make sure we didn't blow off the road. It happens that way sometimes and this wasn't the first for us. Russell, KS comes to mind as we were headed toward a concert date to see Rush last year for the opening of their R-40 tour. Driving east on I-70 we could see the storm forming and the possibility driving into a tornado stranded us in a most unusual little RV park. Similar circumstances with similar results........sadly Rush isn't waiting for us in Las Vegas.

For this traveling leg I decided to take a few snaps on my phone. Although they won't really do the scenery justice at least it gives you an idea what the area looks like.

The storms did bear down on us and rocked us all night long. I am very glad we made the decision to stop. Heavy rain, hail and brutal winds would have been our companion on the road. It's always much easier to ride out a storm at a standstill.

That out of the way we headed out of Nephi, south on I-15 heading to Vegas early Monday morning. We were greeted by more rain but it was light, bearable and made for a pleasant accent to the scenery of the Wasatch Mountains that flank the interstate all the way to the Arizona border. Several times we burst through the rain and were greeted by brilliant sunshine, then more rain, a little small hail, light snow more rain and finally sunshine at the Arizona border.




We found ourselves in a canyon of barren stone walls and formations at the Arizona border. The geological formations here are nothing short of spectacular. Seeing the layers of the earth exposed, thinking about the formation of these monolithic formations I often find myself feeling rather insignificant in these places. This was definitely one of those times. If you ever have a chance to make the drive to Las Vegas from the north on I-15 do it, you won't be disappointed.

We came into Vegas in the early afternoon after picking up an hour by moving into the Pacific Time Zone.

We're set up at Arizona Charlies. It's not anything spectacular but does the trick for the right price. We're just far enough away from Freemont Street and the Strip to not be bothered by any of that traffic but close enough so it's still convenient.

I would like to write more but it's getting to be evening and there are things to do on the strip. As far as I can tell this change of itinerary like the unexpected, pleasant scenery on the drive down is working out pretty.

Viva Las Vegas Baby!!

Detour #1

I'm just going to say it.......that sure didn't take long. Staying with the "anything can happen" theme less than 2 hours into the second day after beginning our journey again Sharon and I made the decision to make a change to our itinerary. When we left Western Hill Campground in Rawlins, Wyoming  this morning our next scheduled, non-traveling day stop was Reno, Nevada and fishing at Pyramid Lake. Reno is still on the itinerary but not in a straight line anymore. That is one of the great aspects of an open-ended, mostly unscheduled journey.

Driving west on I-80 we were both looking forward to getting a look at Evanston, Wyoming. Back when I worked in the Jonah field on a drilling rig one of the chemical engineers told me that he thought is was the most beautiful undiscovered town in Wyoming. I haven't seen all of Wyoming and we didn't get to explore but I have to say I agree. Cruising along in the high desert Evanston strikes you as an oasis then suddenly you're back in the high desert. Had we not been looking forward to it Evanston would have been a most pleasant visual surprise. As it was it was just a pleasant change of scenery while it lasted.

What we weren't expecting was the scenery from the Wyoming/Utah border all the way to Salt Lake City. The mountainous terrain is nothing short of gorgeous along that whole stretch of I-80. The mountains are covered with a unique mix of aspens, conifers and sage. Some of the geological formations are fascinating enough to warrant considering a trip back through the area for some better sight-seeing. That's the problem with having a destination to get to, there is never enough time to stop, take photographs and just soak it all in let alone take a hike. We were fortunate enough to see it all under a heavily clouded sky. I think everything looks better in low light studded by clouds. The colors are richer and more visually satisfying.

I think the most beautiful stretch we were on today is the run through Park City, Utah. From the highway all the ski runs are visible because of the snow-pack. You can also see the ski jump that was used in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. The tops of all the heavily snow packed peaks were covered by thick clouds.

You may notice a glaring lack of photographs of all this beauty. When it comes to road scenery I'm not a big fan of trying to photograph while driving and stopping every time a beautiful scene comes in to view seriously impedes progress on the journey. And let's face my photography skills probably wouldn't do it justice anyway.

Coming into Salt Lake City seemed a bit of a let down after the drive coming in. Let's just say I am much more of an enthusiast for natural scenery than cityscapes. As cities go though Salt Lake seems like a really nice place. One thing it does have going for it is the scenery to the east. The views of the Wasatch Mountains are spectacular. It made me wonder how all the commuters get to work each day with all that wild terrain calling.

I almost forgot the change of itinerary.

Driving along I-80 about an hour after we left this morning I said to Sharon "I think we should swing through Las Vegas". I could tell by the look on her face all she needed was an idea of the route. Within minutes of the idea coming up she had the atlas in her lap mapping the route.

Back in 1995 I made the drive from Fort Worth, Texas to Reno for work. For some reason that drive has been lodged in my mind ever since. I've talked about it many times wishing that Sharon and I could do it together. A short detour through Las Vegas before Reno sets that up perfectly. We may never have another convenient chance to make this drive

We are still heading to Reno and Pyramid Lake but we have a short stop to make first. I'm not sure how much blogging will happen while we are actually in Vegas because you know what they say. What happens in Vegas............ Viva Las Vegas Baby!!!

Round 2

Looking out the window I can see snow covered peaks in the distance. I'm not sure which peaks or what range it is off in the distance. I can't even tell for sure how far off the mountains are in the distance. It's hard to judge the first time you see a mountain range in the distance. Sometimes you'er on them before you know it and others it takes forever to get there. We will see in the morning if we are even headed toward them when we push on to the west. It's a strange and invigorating feeling not knowing what is beyond the next rise.

We're set up in Rawlins, WY at the Western Hills Campground for the night. It is a well kept, well run RV Park from what I can tell but I may just be enamored with the change of scenery. After sitting in Colorado Springs for almost a month it sure feels good to be on the road again. The Springs being our home base has been our most frequent stop over our journey and quite frankly I'm rather bored with it every time we go back. We swing through and take care of vehicle registrations, doctor visits and the like then head out in a new direction each time.

It's been just over a year since Sharon and I originally hit the road in the R-Pod 179 formerly known as Hippie-pod-R-mus. During that time we have covered a lot of ground making our way through Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California covering some of them multiple times with one day trip into British Columbia via ferry from Port Angeles, WA.

Neither of us knew  exactly what to expect when we started out though we did have some pretty serious expectations. What we have found is that no matter what you plan or expect, once you step out the door anything can happen.

I do know what's happening next though. We're headed to Reno for some time on Pyramid Lake before the end of the season. Look out Lahonton trout here we come.

Peace, Love, Happy New Year!

Okay so in case you haven't noticed this is my new thing; Peace, Love and Fly Fishing! Oh and Happy New Year 2016!!

For the last few days I've been trying to figure out how to cover an entire year of traveling 20,000+ miles, 20 states, 58 RV parks, floods, drought, fires, stellar fishing and being skunked on the water. Let me just say it ain't happening to the extent I had in mind. I've been down the rabbit hole writing other things and there's no time left so here are just a few highlights.






I had high hopes for the White River in Arkansas but a flood the night after we pulled in killed the fishing there.

Birthday fishing with my son. This will for many years be one of the highlights of my fishing life, right there with our camping/fishing trip to Yellowstone in 2012.

Disneyworld! Not fishing but an awesome time none the less. Let's face it sometimes you just have to let the kid inside out to play.

We headed back up through Texas to see friends and family with some sunfish and small bass fishing. I miss those warmwater fish sometimes so a nice fix was just the ticket.

Up through New Mexico for some trouting on the Rio Chama. It's a small intimate river at the town of Chama that's worth a stop if you ever make it through that part of the country. Lots of small to medium sized browns that are eager to take a fly in the morning and evening and at the time we were there one really large brown that beat me on what has become my new favorite light rod.





Colorado Fishing on the Dolores River between Telluride and Dolores. Always a great time there, more on that later.

Made a stop in Gunnison to meet up with some friends. Tom has the inside scoop on a couple nice fishing spots that he shared with me on the condition they both be mentioned only as Forbidden Creek 1 and 2. Thanks for the great times Tom!

Awesome stuff without crowds and more fiesty fish than you can shake a stick at.

In between the two Forbidden Creeks I made a solo trip over to the Taylor River tailwater where the fellow working the local fly shop said the drakes were just starting to come off along the lower and middle sections. It was a super catching day and a loosing day at the same time. While trying to photograph a nice brown mid-river I lost my favorite net. Oh well I've got more. ARRRRGH!!!!!

A stop along the Yellowstone River near Livingston turned to another flood experience like the White in Arkansas but De Puy's Spring Creek saved the day. It was tough, tough, tough fishing!! Those trout are smart, educated whatever you want to call it.

I was able to land four good trout. Well worth the $100 it costs to get on. If you ever have the chance do it!!

The swing over through western Montana through Idaho and into Washington was tough to see. The land was so parched and dry it was hard to look at in that condition. By the time we got into Washington in late August the state had recruited volunteers to get out on several salmon rivers and re-position rocks to make navigable channels for the salmon to be able to get to spawning grounds. A huge sigh of relief has since been collectively breathed as rain and snow have come in spades to that region of the country. As it was at the time it forced Sharon and I to move on just to get out of the smoke. It wasn't all bad though.

Back to Priest Gulch Campground and the Dolores River. No text or photos on that one here. You'll have to pick up the January/February issue of Southwest Fly Fishing Magazine for that story, page 46 in case you're interested.

No fishing for a while after that. We swung down through Las Vegas BABY!! And you know what they say about that..............

Then down to San Diego Swami Beach, Coronado Island and the San Diego Zoo. Big fun even though it was a butt-load of walking......makes me tired thinking about it!

From San Diego we made the short jaunt up to Anaheim for a few days at Disneyland. After all that serious adult time in Vegas we had to let the inner child out to play again, and play we did. We both agree it was our best Disney time yet on either coast.




Back up to the Springs to take care of some business before heading south for the winter. A stop in North Texas to see some family and then south.

We chose Kerrville as our first monthly stop for the winter. I wanted to do some serious fishing and did I ever. The park we stopped at has a catch and release pond. I was able to land some small largemouth bass and sunfish. Good stuff!!

If you think you're seeing the same rod over and over you would be correct. I really need to tell the whole story behind that one.

The biggest thing that happened on this leg of our trip is that I was finally able to meet some cyber-friends (Facebook) for the first time in person. Not only were we able to finally get to meet and fish together were able to catch a bunch of fish. Fishing the Llano with Nick was a hoot. Lots of Guadalupe bass and sunfish were caught and one Mee-Maw lost. Maybe I'll share that story later.

L-R; Me, Chris, James, some old guy in the back, Nick and Robert.

Fishing the Guadalupe with Nick and Robert for stripers was a bust as far as the catching but the company was great. Again a hoot was had by all present. We also had a great lunch that day and met a couple more friends.

Being a bit of a bulldog when it comes to catching a fish I've targeted I headed back out a few days later determined to catch a striper. It wasn't the 30 pounder I was hoping for but it was a striper and that has to count for something. Are you kidding me? It was sweet to be able to land a striper for the first time in over 10 years!!!!!!

Our next group outing on the Guad, as it's locally known, was more of a catching day. GRTU had just stocked some of the 14"-20"+ trout they put in the river annually. Nick, Robert, Joe (yet another new friend) and I spent the morning in one location catching trout all morning. Joe had to leave for home after lunch and the others of us caught yet more trout until evening.

A few days later Sharon and I headed for Mission to wait out the cold weather before moving back north. Mission is an interesting place. Nick and I met in Port Aransas for a day of casting practice where I hooked into something nice on my first cast and we spent the rest of the day scouting and casting, casting, casting.



So that's 2015 for J Wood Fly Fishing. During that first group outing on the Guad the subject of blogs came up while Robert and I were wading into the river trying to catch Nick who had bolted out ahead like an antelope being hunted. Robert said he was surprised I hadn't been chronicling my journey here on the blog. I told him how I had been somewhat surprised by the lack of chronicling myself. Covering 20,000 miles was a little more consuming than I had expected. This coming year will see far fewer miles and hopefully far more chronicling. Heck I may even be able to do some back tracking a cover some of 2015's adventures in more detail.

Until then Peace, Love and Fly Fishing!

Peace, Love and Fly Fishing

Yes I know it's been a really long time and a day since I posted here. Seems odd since this has been one of the most event filled summers Sharon and I have had in years.

In part my motivation to write went out the window due to politics and what it's doing to divide the country into segments of people that dislike one another. Looking around on Facebook and in the news there is so much disagreement, division, derision and hate over political and religious differences that I let it get to me; not something I would normally do but there you have it.

It's time for a new attitude though apparently not everybody is on board. It's true! I have already been scolded for posting this photo on both of my Facebook pages. Yes I know politics is in my life whether I like it or not but I am NOT a politician. I vote, I have political opinions and sometimes even share them. But let's face it that IS about all we as citizens can do without actually going to the dark side and/or seeking elected office. I won't go into it any deeper than that because that's what the new attitude is all about.

Peace, Love and Fly Fishing! Leave the politics to the politicians, I just want to catch a few fish and try not to get into too many more fights before I die.

What brought about the change in attitude was finally getting to meet some of the people I've been Facebook friends with for a long time. Some fine men with, I'm pretty sure, varying political and religious beliefs but one thing in common. We all really, really like fly fishing and catching fish.

Just when I was on the verge of loosing my faith in humanity these guys came along and saved my soul. A bit far fetched? No. That may sound a bit too touchy-feely, squishy (insert your own adjective here) for some but the truth is I was right on the dark edge. Spending time with these guys on the water has brought me back to a place that used to be familiar but had become a all too unfamiliar.

So thanks guys and let's get together again in February.

Peace, Love and Fly Fishing!