BilletHead's ride again. 2018 trip, new fish,new places!

[Johnsfolly]

Beautiful country and photos of the tigers! Great job guys! Do you have any of those hoppers that you showed me before you left?

[Ham]

Such beautiful vistas. Im not sure if I would be too busy fishing to take pictures or too busy taking pictures to fish, but I am sure I would struggle to have to the right mix of fishing and photography. 

Great Stuff Marty! Jealous, but you two put the work in and deserve the rewards for your efforts. 

BTW, I think you’re a Hopper Head

[BilletHead]

     

1 hour ago, Ham said:

Such beautiful vistas. Im not sure if I would be too busy fishing to take pictures or too busy taking pictures to fish, but I am sure I would struggle to have to the right mix of fishing and photography. 

Great Stuff Marty! Jealous, but you two put the work in and deserve the rewards for your efforts. 

BTW, I think you’re a Hopper Head

        It was tough, more scenery, more fish, what to take pictures of. I hope you all are not becoming tired of the same old thing in different places. We are getting close to the end. 

  Hopper Head? Most definitely, the rare bald headed, hard headed subspecies,

  BilletHead 

[BilletHead]

On ‎8‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 9:48 PM, Johnsfolly said:

Beautiful country and photos of the tigers! Great job guys! Do you have any of those hoppers that you showed me before you left?

          Yes I do John! Lots of them . I always over tie for trips like this.

BilletHead

[BilletHead]

           Well I will try to move this story along and see if I can finish the report up,

  So our next destination would be the Green River below Flaming gorge dam. We have been here before many, many years ago with BilletHead Jr. as a little guy and then once again a few years later just Pat and I. There is a nice campground called Dripping Springs we like. Not many trees and the ones there are small. Previous fire cleaned things out. The campground is paved with concrete picnic tables and these are covered for shade. Fire pits too a nice place to stay. On the way there we stopped at a fly shop/convenience store for fuel and a break. Went in to see part of the Ozarks on display,  I think this has been discussed before on here that this shop had a supply:) . So we make it to the campground pay for two nights and have a meal of our variation of street tacos with the little corn tortillas we scored in Arizona . Gear reorganized and ready to fish the waning afternoon. We than went to the first takeout for rafts and drift boats and rafts, paddleboards etc. that put in at dam .If I remember right it is 6 miles up to the dam from here and we were at the Little Hole Access. We built and strung up rods and hit the trail going upstream. I noticed things had changed. Tall willows along the bank making it hard to get to water. Very few trails that led to water and water was higher than we had seen before. So this is where things went bad, sour or whatever you could call it. A drifter boat was right on the other side of the willows we were behind on our side of the river anchored. I could see the guide was dip netting a fish for his client. I wanted a photo and while trying to get a shot I lost my balance and went down folding my right leg the way it was supposed to go but twisting it too the way it is not supposed to go. It hurt, it hurt bad and Pat had to help me get up. I could not bend it and in an instant the knee and above it to my groin started swelling. i could hobble stiff legged slowly. Pat was ready to leave and go get me checked. No I am alright i said while in my mind I told myself you screwed up. We pushed on, actually Pat pushed on and I drug along like a pirate with a peg leg. in the Famous words of my good friend Brad "You have to be tough when your stupid". I was fast becoming not so tough and stupid for going on. We kept looking for places where the willows split and we could fish,  i just had to stand up high on the trail not being able to go down the few places on the rocky bank.  For some reason a short fat brown decided it wanted a BilletHead hopper and i had on to hand, We made it a mile and a half to turn around and head back to truck, I snapped a pic of my bride at that point,   The knee had got to the point if I stopped for even a moment I had a hard time getting it moving again. What have I done I thought?  Making it back at the truck and hard to get into drivers seat I had to lift my leg with my hand and arm to get it on the gas pedal. I could rotate my ankle to go from gas to brake but could not lift leg from floor. We made it to camp and set back up. Fire started the Mrs. Got to have her wiener roast. Three things Pat requires on trips like this. Marshmallows , wieners and jiffy pop over the fire. This gave her two of three so far.,

The knee and upper leg continued to swell,

   We finally got cleaned up after star gazing. We and I say we got me into bed. It took us both to get that done.  Besides my daily prescription anti inflammatory I downed some alieve. It is the  basically same thing as what I take over the counter. I have been warned to not do this often as it is not advised but tonight it was a judgement call and a must. Supposed to tale arthritis strength Tylenol instead like I said judgement call. Made it through the night and rolled out of bed. Knee still swelled like a mini tight balloon I thought it may of been a bit better. Not bending but resting pain wise. We discussed about staying or biting the bullet and eating our cost for the second night. Broke down camp and decided to leave and do a tour of the Ashley National forest looking for a small stream and more fish. A more easy place to negotiate,

 BilletHead

[Johnsfolly]

1 hour ago, BilletHead said:

          Yes I do John! Lots of them . I always over tie for trips like this.

BilletHead

I keep thinking that hoppers would work on the brookies here in MD. I don't think that I have any or could find them in the boxes sitting at the house. Haven't seen many fly shops locally. May buy some generics at Bass Pro.

[BilletHead]

          So we took the red cloud loop of the highway into the Ashley National Forest. Blacktop to rock and gravel Not too bad of a road compared to some we had traveled. Up and down in thick forest we seen deer and elk along the way then into a beautiful valley with open range cattle dotting the landscape. Soon a bridge and under this little ridge was the North Fork of Ashley creek. This was water more to our liking and something I thought I might get around in. 

Parked and rigged the rods. Pat got my wading shoes on me and she and the peg leg pirate went to fishing. I opted to drag out my wading staff and was glad I did, It took us awhile to get away from the road and find fish and when we did it was Colorado River Cutts. This was and is the native range for this subspecies,

We landed several of this size, missed a few and only one chance as they wouldn't try again. A couple of bookie's took the temptation too , This was fun and what we again needed. Hobbled back to truck and back on the loop road we came upon this sign, No matter where we seem to go we are reminded of  that Wrench Glenn character guy we have on OAF. I have even sent him road sign pictures of Sims creek. We laughed. So down the road until we ended up in Vernal Utah. We drove right by an urgent care and Pat said stop you need to see about your knee. I kept on going still having to manually lift my leg onto the gas pedal. Remember the saying you have to be tough when you are stupid . In Vernal we got a commercial campsite for showers and regroup. Pat and the Pirate did some shopping and decided to eat dinner out. Three times in the two weeks we ate out. Twice on the road for fast food and once this afternoon.  A real sit down meal. As we drove looking we spied a little dump place. We drove in and after looking we passed right by it and behind that place was the Vernal Brewing Company. We pulled in, went inside and were led to a table. Pricy for Pat and the Pirate but what the heck this was a treat. We ordered a couple of their signature brews. Pat went with "She's a Peach" and I a "Dinosaur" Then ordered a couple of burgers and fries. The Pirate standard fries and Pat sweet potatoes. Brews were great and when the burgers came oh my they looked good. Good they were  and spot on medium rare,  This was the recharge we needed. The Pat and Pirate slept well that night. Knee had got better I thought but was retaining a great amount of fluid. Bossy Bride said it needed draining, Hard headed pirate said no,

  BilletHead

[BilletHead]

13 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

I keep thinking that hoppers would work on the brookies here in MD. I don't think that I have any or could find them in the boxes sitting at the house. Haven't seen many fly shops locally. May buy some generics at Bass Pro.

          You know you can always count on the BilletHeaded Pirate if you would ever send me the new address. Don't buy the Bass Pro crap. You may have to pay dearly in the future someday ,

  BilletHead

[Johnsfolly]

13 minutes ago, BilletHead said:

          You know you can always count on the BilletHeaded Pirate if you would ever send me the new address. Don't buy the Bass Pro crap. You may have to pay dearly in the future someday ,

  BilletHead

Now thay there are people here more frequently I'll send you the address. Though next week we are going to be in MO through Labor day.

[BilletHead]

             Lets Wrap this trip up now,

  We figured we had one more time we could fish on the trip but it was time to head Easterly and homeward. We decided to take a route back through RMNP. Fish there again, spend the night and head home. We hit the pavement and back into the park early enough to get a campsite. Got set up, strung up the rods once again and hit the creek to catch dinner. We caught a few Colorado Cutts and Brook trout. Kept a few brookies for dinner. The dinner was Fried brook trout, baked beans and "She,s a Peach" From the brewery in Vernal,  The Last campfire of the trip was lit and we sat there and relived what all we got to do and see this vacation. One last wish was received as Pat got her jiffy pop! .  More star gazing then that last fire extinguished and to bed. Up one more time in the high country we continued up the trail ridge road to the top for some breakfast. We wanted to see the sunrise to the East from the top and we did. How about some breakfast at 11,000 Plus feet? Nice and cool up here next to the Alpine visitors center we crawled up into the camper where Pat cooked scrambled eggs and crisped up the mix of regular and sweet potato fries leftover from the Vernal Brewing Company. 

  After that we excited the camper and took a walk on a trail through the Alpine tundra for one more snapshot of the Pirate and Pat, On the walk up we played whack a mole with the marmots as I tried to snap a few pictures. They would come out and then back into the rocks but I caught a few out, I would like to have a marmot skin ,

   From there we worked our way downward seeing a few more elk and towards the very bottom of the park wild turkeys. Through Estes Park and then towards Boulder. We wanted to visit the Front Range Anglers and surprise Randy on the way home. We did just that. A visit and recap of the total trip we had taken it was time for bug hugs and a sad but happy goodbye. The long trip across Kansas was made and one night on that ride we needed. We gained three more stickers for the folding table on the back of the camper,

  Thanks everyone for letting us share the trip. This can be done by everyone on here. Actually all you need is the family sedan, a tent and ice chest. If anyone wants help to do something like this trip or like the ones we have done in years past we can help so ask questions. Again thanks,

The BilletHeads

    PS The Knee and leg? Just about the time we got home I was able to lift the leg off the drivers floor to gas and brake pedal. Yesterday was the first time I could stand up off of a low seat without having to grab something for help. This morning Sadie and I did a three mile walk and it only swelled a bit. Pockets of fluid on both sides is barely visible.  About back as close to my normal self. Thank you lord for healing me!

  BilletHead