We were sad to leave Montana and could easily have stayed for weeks and weeks in this very scenic state. Henry’s Fork is a tributary of the Snake River or “North Fork of the Snake” that is famous for its flyfishing. However mainly good fishing during insect hatches which occur unpredictably and for varying amounts of time. In the parking area, fishermen were sitting in their trailers waiting for the “hatch”. Fields of Mules Ears created a vivid yellow palette.
Harriman Sate Park sits alongside the river with trails and a working ranch. The Harriman family transferred 11,000 acres to the state of Idaho in 1977 for public use and wildlife preservation. Trumpeter swans, osprey, eagles and other fis loving birds make their home here.
We spent the morning fishing the Firehole River. I finally caught a fish, though small, it felt like an accomplishment on our last day on the river. At the picnic area, I was surprised to see a mama bear and her two cubs.
By noon, dark clouds swept in with a downpour and hail that made even the bison seek shelter in the woods. The rains put down the fish and we drove north to Mammoth Hot Springs for a quick visit.
The gusty winds and rain died down by evening and we tried fishing the Madison River, hoping that conditions had improved. I was able to catch 3 fish in one hour!
We met up with our friends Ron and Gay on Friday night and it is great having company to share stories, food and laughs. Unfortunately the Madison River is not fishing well this week and our morning session on Saturday was a bust. Cool temperate and rain have delayed the insect hatches and muddied the water. Typically lots of fisher people (fishermen and women) stake out the good holes but on this day, we had the entire river to ourselves; the river was deserted. In the afternoon, we tried the upper Madison below Hebgen dam and had some success. We caught 5 between us which was not bad- we are grateful for small victories this trip!
Sunday was a glorious day in the park after hitting “bison sighting traffic”. The fish were elusive, not much action, but the setting was spectacular and we rewarded our work with huckleberry ice cream in waffle cones.
Monday morning we tried to beat the crowds by entering earlier apparently others had the same idea and the entrance line backed up into West Yellowstone! We got to the river around 10 and saw thatfish were rising!! But even more surprising was the herd of bison and their calves at our fishing spot, crossing the river and grazing across the river from us. Sharing our fishing spot with wildlife made it that much more special. It also meant that we had an audience watching us fish.
Catching the trout in the Firehole requires technical skill which all of us except Ray are still developing; he caught several on dry flies. “ It’s all in the perfect drift”, he says. I guess my drift is far from perfect as they jump all around me but never take the wide assortment of flies I cast out. I do have fun trying though. By noon, the thunderstorms roll in and continue into the evening. We take a brief drive to Midway Geyser and Biscuit Basin, both overrun with tourists, which we don’t experience from our fishing spot. Last stop is for bbq ribs at the Firehole BBQ and back to the trailer.
The weather has gradually improved as has my flyfishing skills. We’ve spent time on the Madison River, on the Upper Madison below Hegben Dam, and on the Firehole River in the park. The best fishing has been on the Firehole. Not only is the scenery stunning but the fish have been jumping. Although challenging to figure out what they will take, catching one on a dry fly is a huge thrill. Today is the first day I have felt like I know what I’m doing and also feeling independent and proficient. It is a good feeling and instead of frustration, I feel like this is a sport I can actually see myself having a future pursuing. I was able to catch 2 today on my own. I might even try tying a fly!
I have been chatting with every fisherman I run into. Mostly older guys, they are happy to share their wisdom, tips and encouragement. I find I can learn a lot from people and also hear great stories, like the guy who told me he had an encounter with a grizzly up river, his friend who had the bear spray was far away and not about to come running! Our main encounters have been with bison.
Afternoon or early evening rainstorms are a sight to behold.
No rain but rather gusty winds starting at noon.. We again headed into the park and ended up in a long line of traffic, which delayed our arrival to the Firehole right when the wind gusts began.
The Firehole River flows through several geyser basins in Yellowstone including the one which contains Old Faithful.. The river was named by early trappers for the steam that makes it appear to be smoking as if on fire.
Temperatures in the river have been measured as high as 86 degrees and the water contains dissolved chemicals and minerals such as boron and arsenic. Despite this, brown and rainbow trout live and spawn in the river. It is a well known stream for flyfishing.
The chilly gusts up to 30 mph are truly an annoyance and I alternate between fishing and hiding in the car listening to an audiobook. The fish occasionally rise to feed and I rush out to fish with a dry fly but swinging a small fly into this wind is frustrating. By the end of the day, I have had it with the wind and call it quits.
I made a nice breakfast for Fathers’ Day- pancakes, eggs and leftover sausage from Pinky’s in Livingston. Only problem was, I left the syrup at home. Outside, the rain was coming down steadily and forecasted to continue all day. We could stay in our nice warm and dry 100 sq ft trailer or we could venture out. The lure of scrabble was not enough to keep Ray sedentary so we headed off to Yellowstone to fish the Firehole River. Rain is actually not a problem once you put on waders, boots and a good rain jacket with hood. Wading requires being in the water anyway.
Despite the rain, it was pleasant fishing, and the park was quite empty. However by noon, the winds picked up and came in gusts, too nasty for me and I hid in the car. There’s no stopping hard core Ray and he kept at it all afternoon, catching 12 fish; I had a few grabs.
By early evening, the skies cleared and I took a walk to the geysers. We regularly fish in Yellowstone but usually avoid the main sites because of the crowds so this was an unexpected opportunity.
We have a 2 day reservation to fish the DePuy Spring Creek in Livingston. This private ranch is located alongside the Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley. The entrance is a “Gone With the Wind” house with tall white columns. 10 slots each day are available along the 3 mile stretch of creek, which has become so popular the days of June and July fill up a year in advance; we met a gentleman who has been coming for 30 years. It is run by the 4th generation of the DePuy family, Darrell is the groundskeeper and manager of the ranch/flyfishing operations; his mother was a DePuy.
1905, the DePuy family moved from Kansas to Livingston where they purchased a small farm on the Yellowstone river in Paradise Valley, supporting the family with farming, sheep and cattle ranching. Over the years, additional property was added to create the current DePuy ranch. During the late 1950’s, Warren DePuy decided to build a fish hatchery on the property. After obtaining ownership of the water rights to a large spring creek that flowed through a portion of the ranch, he bulldozed a diversion to redirect the creek outflow so it could feed the newly-built hatchery, grew it to be one of the largest in the country. When a highway was constructed through the hatchery, the original creek was dredged to add a series of new channels, drops, pools, and runs throughout the ranch, resulting in the world-famous spring creek fishery.
We have exceptional weather and thoroughly enjoy our time on the creek. Spring creeks are challenging to fish as the water is clear and slow flowing, so the trout can see everything you cast, including your line. They are cautious and selective in what they try to eat, so finding the right fly, being stealthy in approaching and casting are critical. This is the first time I felt casting expertise was critical and I realize I need to perfect my stealthiness and accuracy. Fishing spring creeks, unlike other rivers and lakes is watching for “rising fish”, the circles in the water and casting your fly to drift over their head, hoping they open their mouths to take your fly instead of a real bug floating by. The DePuy is only about 50-60 feet wide with a silty mucky bottom that is hard to wade. I don’t venture more than 5 feet from the bank and have to pull up my feet every few minutes else they get more and more stuck! During a slow part of the day, I go to take a break for lunch and wouldn’t you know, the fish decide to eat too! Ray catches 6 while I am gone. All in all, I managed to hook 3 trout in the 2 days but am not able to land them and they get away. Boy are they strong. Ray catches a total of 14!
We fished practically 8 am to 6 or 7pm – swinging a rod and fly all day (crazy huh?) and fall into bed at night. It is a hard place to leave.
It has been 8 months since we last took Cali-alto, our trailer out and a good cleaning was in order, followed by a dry run hitching and unhitching, and a sigh of relief that all appears to be in working order. Despite our efforts to be minimalist, the essentials for this 3 week trip filled the trailer cabinets, trunk and back seat of the car. I think much of the gear is related to flyfishing and I can’t imagine how we would manage if we were flying.
Livingston, Montana is our first destination and we spend nights at rv parks in Winnemucca Nevada and Pocatello Idaho, all quite nice with clean hot showers. Spring in Nevada is quite different from the hot dry brown landscape we usually see. The vegetation is green as are the surrounding mountainsides which makes for an enjoyable drive.
Once we hit Idaho, we see acres and acres of potato fields, courtesy of McDonalds’ Simplot, watered by long moving sprinklers. We arrive in Livingston in the early evening, detach the trailer and meet a former SJ Flycaster acquaintance for dinner. Downtown Livingston’s Main Street is charming, with restored historic brick buildings housing restaurants, shops and many art galleries. Bob gives us a tour of the town and the outskirts which are framed by the Absaroka mountain range, sporting snowy peaks and bright green cliff sides. The Yellowstone River runs through town, still muddy from recent rains. Livingston, about the size of Truckee, is still a safe enclave, free of crime and traffic, and the quality of life is good if you can handle -20 degrees and many winter days that don’t get above 0 degrees! It is the reason why there are so many part-time residents. We have to admit the setting is incredible beautiful and housing very affordable.
Our whirlwind weekend continues as we board our flight to nyc. It is late evening as we take a cab to our hotel in Chelsea; the lights of the city are beautiful from our 21st level window. Ray and I walk to Time Square and back returning after midnight.
Robert arrives after a red eye flight and we hurriedly dress and figure out public transportation to Brooklyn. We arrive just in time and enter the Polish Catholic Church. I expected a full congregation for high mass but it is mostly our families and friends. The mass is in Polish and quite long which is exemplary of the 2 babies who sit through the entire service. The baptism follows the mass and is memorable. Then the celebration begins at Kafsa, a polish European restaurant, for a seated lunch, music and dancing, dinner and cake. Aside from the music being quite loud, it is a lovely party.
We make our way back to Manhattan and take a lovely walk to the High Line, The Vessel and back. The streets feel safe and the city lively.
I left the hotel early, drove around campus which looked more familiar to me today. Campus town is definitely much nicer. I walked West Nevada where our family home still stands, surrounded by run down rooming houses. The house still looks the same though the front yard is severely overgrown and in need of tlc. I drove past the house my family moved to after I left home. It also looks the same. How different from the demo and rebuild of Silicon Valley. CU is quite a livable community, which I appreciate now more than before. Age makes you realize that there is something to be said about the value of safety and simplicity in small towns.
I joined my class for a tour of the school. We were all struck by the metal detectors at each entrance and the long tables for searching backpacks- glad to see such measures but sad we have come to this, grateful we did not have these issues in our youth but troubled that it is such a part of today’s youth. Walking through the halls, certain memories come back but they are in bits and pieces.
My next stop on memory lane was Lake Iroquois, where my parents had bought lots, intending for my brother and I to each bring our families. We spent several summers at our house there, in a prefab house they had put up. Unfortunately for my parents, neither of us stayed in town. The lake development is in Loda, a small town in the middle of farm fields, 45 min from CU. Surprisingly how the lake is fully built up considering its location. I had a hard time finding our house among all the winding streets. My parents would be amazed to see it now.
Urbana High School graduating class of 1973. It certainly is hard to believe it’s been 50 years. Although highly anticipating the event 5 years ago, I was undecided as to whether to attend the reunion due to covid then since the weekend conflicted with Ela’s christening. But a few weeks ago, after getting covid, decided that 50 only comes around once. Since we were heading east anyway, I tried to arrange flights to make it happen and was able to use our remaining American Airlines flight credit for part of the trip. The plan was for us to fly to Chicago, Ray would visit his sister and I would drive to Urbana to attend the first night of the 2 night event.
It was a full flight and we arrived in Chicago around 9 pm, checked in and drove around Glenview looking for food, finding everything closed, settled fir McDonalds. We stayed north of the airport Thursday night, met Elaine and Roger for breakfast as my favorite breakfast place, Walker Brothers then I took off in a rental car. I arrived at the outskirts of campus and didn’t recognize the area. The old campus buildings had been filled in with new construction and has grown considerably. I found the I Hotel and suddenly was filled with excitement and apprehension- what if I didn’t recognize anyone? Was it a good idea to come? My first encounter was in the lobby and I realized everyone had the same feelings. People have really changed in 50 years! I had arranged to meet up with Tom and his wife before the evening event. We had connected on FB but meeting in person was quite fun. He told me about Val and pointed her out to me; she was outside. I ran out to say hi and we had a great chat, spending most of the event together.
The event was held at Riggs, a relatively new brewery and it was a blast. Our classmate organizers had made name tags with our high school yearbook picture on them so we could identify eachother. So many mentioned they love my photos, I realized this is my biggest fan base haha! We all agreed the women aged better than the men! Everyone was super friendly and happy to see one another and I realized that after 50 years, we are all the same. It didn’t matter who was homecoming queen or most popular. It felt like being transported in time – everyone looked 50 yrs older but we didn’t feel 50 yrs had passed. Then there were curious stories -Craig said he remembers I had to get up and sing a solo in 7th grade. I sang “Getting to Know You” and he was in awe of my singing in front of the entire class. I have no recollection of this!
