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I think day 3 was my favorite of all…The hunt for Golden Trout!

Happy faces to start off the trek

I expected the altitude to make life difficult for us “flatlanders,” but it wasn’t too bad. Maybe the landscape was just so incredibly beautiful that it didn’t matter!

Trail Panorama (gotta click to appreciate)

Reese was definitely a trooper… The hike was a little longer and had a lot more elevation gain that I had pitched it to her (honest mistake). The last leg was pretty intimidating looking up from below, but once we got on top it was all smiles again.

Can you see the relief??

Just had to drink some...

Snooooooow

After eating some lunch it was game time… Found a good looking spot and managed to get a take (on the dropper) on the first cast.

1st cast

Giddyup

Even more stunning in person... Crazy to see their colors through the clear water

I felt like I was going to have a case of the “fish on the first cast curse” after this one… I made casted to some risers for at least 30 min without even getting a look (that I could see). Threw every dry I could think of, soft hackles, emergers, you name it… couldn’t figure ‘em out. Didn’t want to spend all day on those fish so we moved on to find some others…

Trying to sneak in...

Another dropper victim

Good look from above

I didn’t have crazy success up there, but I did manage to bring in a handful. The winds were consistently strong and made casting the 2wt a chore. I thought I had become pretty proficient at casting in the wind thanks to all my okie fishin’ time, but throwing a 2wt into a headwind made me think otherwise. I don’t know what is considered a “good” day fishing these alpine lakes, but I’m very pleased with the results of this outing. A handful was enough to seem like a lot while still making each fish seem valuable! It’s hard to say which was prettier, the scenery or the fish!

So blue.. and it's not even post-processed!

Catching fish like this everyday would make you spoiled... ha

The hike down was a heck of a lot quicker than the hike up and we made a few pit stops on the way down for Reese to get in some fishing…

Looooks good to me...

"I GOT one!!"

"Cute little brookie!"

Not a bad way to close out a sweet little adventure!

Once we got back to our place in Mammoth it didn’t take long to wind down and hit the sack…. Only we didn’t stay asleep long. We woke up to loud crashing outside and I immediately hopped out of bed and high stepped it over to the window to look out and see if it was a bear. Was so pumped when I looked out and saw it out just across the street trying to get into one of the dumpsters. We got out our cameras and tried to snap some pics of the beast below, it was HUGE (granted I have nothing to compare it to). Seemed like it was as big as the cars down there. Reese’s camera wouldn’t actually take the shot, I guess if it can’t focus it wont snap the shutter (too fancy for me to understand)? My flash didn’t help at all either, but after adding some fill light to the picture you can see the outline of the bear at least…

BEAR... very black

Really don’t know if we could have packed in any more cool stuff in one day…

I finally gave in and bought some internet access for our room… figured it’d be free in a place like this, but oh well. Now it’s time for some pictures! I thought I’d break the trip down into a little more detail. The iPhone updates just aren’t enough.

The flight from OKC to Vegas was pretty uneventful… but once we got to Vegas things got a little bit more interesting (standard for Vegas). While we were waiting to board our flight to Reno we heard some commotion… Looked over and saw a woman choking and turning a eerie blue. A man next to her started doing the heimlich maneuver, but was unsuccessful after about a dozen tries. The woman definitely looked like she was in bad shape and things were getting pretty intense. A few military personel ran over and went to work… it took them a few tries, but they ended up dislodging whatever was keeping her from breathing. Taking care of business at home and abroad… very nice. I wish I would have pulled out my camera for a quick video…would have made for a great youtube vid, but things were a little too intense to think of it at the time.

We were delayed a few minutes while doctors checked out the lady, but she checked out and we boarded pretty quickly. Soutwest is weird, they don’t give you seat #’s and it’s a bit of free-for-all to get a seat. Reese and I grabbed a couple of seats by the window and waited to see who would be joining us… a fun waiting game. We lucked out hard core and sat next to a guy named Steve Keegan. He was a really nice guy, offered us a couple of congratulatory cocktails after noticing Reese’s ring and struck up a convo that lasted the whole (short) flight. Turns out he’s a pretty big name photojournalist who’s now doing some wedding photography to pay the bills. He was able to give us a ton of information about the Sierra’s and Napa and we definitely landed in Reno more prepared for our adventures than when we boarded.

We picked up our fly ride (impala baaabaay) and after a quick pit stop at an In and Out Burger we were on our way. Most of the drive was in the dark, which was disappointing to miss the view along the way, but the drive to Mammoth Lakes went pretty quickly regardless.

We had a terrible time trying to find a place to stay near Yosemite, but managed to find the Cinnamon Bear Inn a few days before we left. Turned out to be another lucky find… it was a great place. Comfy bed, living room, full kitchen… we were definitely a lot more comfortable than we would have been camping.

No AC, but the open window cooled things down

Not a bad spot to chill out after a long day

All kinds of Convenient

*you can click any of the pics (including ones below) to see them enlarged

Didn’t take long to crash… driving wears me out and had a long day of fishing/sight seeing ahead of us…Woke up and hit up the complimentary breakfast. They do it right..

It was nice to get outside and finally see the beautiful country that we were in. Ran into an interesting specimen while gassing up…

Never seen anything like it...

The short drive to the Tioga Pass leading into the park was pretty, but the view once we were on the pass was crazy pretty.

Once we finished the steep trek into the park I was greeted with more open water than I knew what to do with. I started fishing one particular creek that had been (VERY) kindly recommended to me…

Cold, clear, and FISHY

Didn’t take long after tying on a EHC and caddis puppa dropper to see some success. The first of many out of this creek was a pretty rainbow (turned out to be one of the larger ones I caught out of the creek).

Stealth was harder in the trees/boulders than I imagined

Can't even express how much fun it is to catch wild fish, nice way to start things off

Nice to have clear water for the underwater shots... Definitely not used to that

The first few to hand were all bows and they seemed to get progressively smaller, but I stumbled on to my first Brookie in no time.

Check another one off the list!

Pretty soon after the Brookie, I noticed Reese walking downstream (had been working my way downstream and left her set up with a camp chair and book on a boulder) looking for me. She had missed me crouched on a boulder and had passed… had to hop across stream and chase her down, but she had already become a little worried (ok, very worried) that we had been separated. Strike one… Note to self, be more careful to stay in sight!

I put up the fly rod for a few hours to make amends and we did some sight seeing… Took a while to get down to the Valley and we were met with huge crowds, but it was still nice to see the sights.

Lucky charm?

Another of the many impressive views

Don't know the name of this one... but I was exhausted just watching these guys/girls climb

After making the rounds, we headed back over to the east side for some more fishing before calling it a day. Found a nice little meadow and decided to give it a shot.

I love this place

I closed things out with another handful of rainbows and brookies before hooking into my first brown of the trip.

3/4 of the way to a slam

A pretty great way to start off the trip… Lots of fun, feisty, wild trout… and some great scenery that I’m sure I’ll never forget. On top of it all I got to share it with the girl I love more than anything… pretty much a dream scenario. It’s official, I need vacation more often.

Hope to throw up a post of day 3 (alpine lake/golden trout day) tomorrow, but we’re headed to Napa to have our fill tomorrow, so I’m not sure what kind of “posting condition I’ll be in.

-Ward