A Week in the Winds

[SkunkedAgain]

My young men's calling is a great blessing to me, it gives me a great excuse to still go camping and do a little fishing while I'm there... This past week we went to the Wind Rivers for our 2016 summer camp... We started from the east side of the range and tried a new area with the hopes of big fish and beautiful scenery... Well the scenery was all that, however, the fish were small brookies in every lake we hit....


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We spent the first two days clearing trail and packing in, then the fishing rods came out on day 3

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We took a walk about and hit four or five lakes and I managed to catch at least ten fish in each lake... It was really fun, even though the fish were small, they still hit like freight trains...

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At a little known and unpopular lake, I had my most fun... It was beautiful, and the brookies were ferocious...

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Then we treked on to the land of golden trout.... But no one was home, only the brookies again...

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Well there was another golden lake not far away so we started off for that one, but on the way we had a river crossing and oops, I forgot my wading shoes, so I ended up bear footing it.... Man I have wimpy feet... Anyway we ended up starting to play with the river brookies and the next thing ya know we were too late in the day to make it to my desired target and still get out... So we started to head for a second favorite hope for this trip, but ran out of time for that one too... So we ended up 1.5 miles short of both hopes of this trip... Little did I know that, that would be my only attempt at getting that close to those spots... The next day everyone was dead from the 12 mile hike with 1800 vert. the day before so we stuck around base camp...

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Which wasn't all bad, it was pretty and had lots of brookies, and some great cliff diving locations...

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Plus I got a chance to try my new ride and the T-pod sonar phone, which the guys at Vexilar rushed back to me after the rapid repair, and I picked up the morning as we were leaving from my local UPS... Anyway, the system worked great!!! Seen lots of fish near the bottom, and was able to get on them and catch fish... Didn't know those lakes are over 70' deep... But no big fish could be found....

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Anyway the crews became restless and decided to head for home one day early, so I was never to return to the deep Winds that I so wanted to fish... Ended up having a great trip, only 121 fish this year... In fact the last morning they came and picked me up at the lake on a horse and said it's time to go as I was landing my 29th of the day.... Sad to say sooo long to such a beautiful place...

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But I'll be back.... Thank goodness I lost those 35 lbs or I wouldn't have made the hikes this time, it was brutal, but so worth it... I love this spot and the chance to work with a great group of young men and leaders.... Later J
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[gaardvark]

Sounds like a great trip! (Except maybe for the gueling hikes) Those pictures are as pretty as anywhere I have seen on earth. Our boys are headed up there somewhere in the next week or so. I can't wait until my boy is old enough to go and I can tag along again.
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[SkunkedAgain]

That's the best when Dad's can go with their sons. I had a hand full of Dads that came with us and it was so fun watching fathers teach their sons to fish and spend time with each other. It was the best. The hikes are hard, but everything that's worthwhile takes a little effort and the rewards are really worth it. Hope you make it soon. J
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Great report and purty pictures. Reinforces the old saying "trout don't live in ugly places". Well, there are a few of our Utah ponds that are nestled in some barren and homely habitats.

Brought back memories. I used to take scouts back into various places in the Sierras, in California. Always prepped in advance for multiple merit badge requirements and worked on them while camped and fishing. We got a commendation one time for a week long cleanup effort at several of the camp areas that had been "overused". Arranged with a horse pack-in outfit to bring out the burlap bags full of unburnable materials we bagged up and set beside the trails.

Some of my fondest memories are of young men who I would find sitting alone on a rock...looking out over an alpine lake...sometimes with tears in their eyes. A lot of these kids were inner city kids who had never been outside of traffic and smog. And once they were exposed to the beauties of the wilderness some of them had dramatic turnarounds in their lives. A couple decided to pursue careers in the outdoors...park service, rangers, wildlife, etc. But there were also those who were a royal pain on the whole trip and who were never invited again.

Congrats on the sacrifices you made to be a part of that trip...again. May your body and your endurance hold out for many more in the future.
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[lakepowellnut]

Great report and pics! I have a lot of great memories taking young men out to beautiful high mountain lakes. Thank you for sharing your time with the young men!
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[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Pat, it is amazing how that country affects us. I love being able to experience it. One thing you mentioned really rung some bells for me. We cleared trails on the tribal lands where we could use chain saws, but when we got to wilderness there are no power tools allowed so our progress slowed way down, but the next day a team of two Forest Service guys showed up with crosscut saws and they opened up all the dead fall on several trail segments over the next couple days. Those guys need to have a huge thank you from those of us that like to visit the back country. We now know what a task they have to do to keep things open for us. Crazy how big of trees they can cut with a hand saw and how nice of job they do. Anyway I'm sure greatful. Thanks again Pat. Later J
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[lavaman]

Jeff, those are the most beautiful pics. I'm glad you got to have that great adventure!
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[mtncat1]

awesome pictures and report , thanks for putting the time in to help raise men. [][][]
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[SkunkedAgain]

Thank you for your kind comments, it really is more fun for me than the boys so it's the one event of the year that I look most forward to... With your prior experience you probably feel the same way, it's a great opportunity to get in the hills and enjoy the beauty around us... Later J
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[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Derek, it was a fun time! So now I'm back, we can start thinking about that night cattin trip if you and Mike want to try it... I'm still baling hay and such, but can likely find a night I can go try it.. Let me know what you think... Later J
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[SkunkedAgain]

You're more than welcome, it was my pleasure to take the boys on trips like this.... It's actually the payback for the other weeks when your gathering food, or working on other projects and badges and such... This is the ice cream on top of the cake... Tell you what, I was so proud of the boys digging in and cutting logs and clearing trails the way they did... These boys really know how to work and it was fun to be with them as they tackled a tough job and didn't complain... at least until the next day when they were all dead tired... Sure made a nice trail on the way out... Thanks again... J
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[BagABigOne]

That's awesome Jeff. Thanks for sharing.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Rod, it was a fun trip and hard to decide which photos to include... Since the fish all looked alike, I didn't think a dozen photos of mini brookies would be as good as some scenery pics... Wish our mountain's had lakes like the winds.. but glad I still get a chance to go see them anyway... Thanks for the well wish... Later J
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[kj]

I have a group of Ventures (16 & 17 year olds). I have been trying to talk them into a high country fishing trip next month for our summer camp. I wanted to take them into China Lake or even to Red Castle. They aren't interested. Probably a good thing. Not so sure my 62 year old body could keep up with them. They do watch out for me though and take care of me when we go out. I get pampered... especially by the young women at their wilderness camps. The rewards you get from working with the youth is Phenomenal. I was at Youth Conference in Payson Canyon for 3 days last week. 16 12-17 year olds. My hat is off to anyone who is willing to give of themselves for the sake of youth.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Each group is different in their wants, we started young on this group and so they still like the back country, but they want a snowmobiling winter camp so they like the best of both worlds. We have farm kids in our group and I think they are still more tied to the old ways, so that helps for fun camps. I hope you get to do something fun for your camp, it sure makes the job more fun for the leaders. Thanks for the kind comments. And I'm glad the kids help keep ya young, and treat ya right. I'm sure you do the same for them. Later J
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