A Hidden Treasure

The coffee clutch gathered at our picnic table this morning. After the pot was emptied we decided to go into Fort Smith to a little "green" place (no name) that Richard told us about. He said they had great burritos. He was right! So a breakfast burrito and 2 chai's later we were ready to fish again.

We picked up some "hoppers" (flies) at another fly shop. There are 3 in town, oh yes town consists of about 6 buildings. We waded the shoreline for a couple hours, and Ken asked me a strange question - "What day is today?". I said I didn't know (I'm retired now...). Bob stopped by to fish about 2:30 and Ken checked with him and Bob said it was Aug 7... (OHOH)... we have been fishing illegally all day! Our license ran out at midnight Aug 6! We packed up quickly - Ken had a hit and I had a bite - but we left.

Another campfire and cocktails with Bob & Barb. They invited us to join them in Idaho next year for their annual trip to Hells Canyon (jet boating). We are going to try and make it the year after next because of our plans for Alaska next year. Everyone at camp showed up at the fire. It was our last night so we exchanged addresses with everyone. We will miss this group, but the weekenders were arriving and it was time to go.

If we hadn't gone exploring 4 days ago we would have never found this wonderful place or made new friends. Bighorn Canyon will be a highlight of our trip. What a special stop!

Bighorn Cleaning Day

It's 8AM and already in the high 80's and humid. We got up and over coffee decided it was a cleaning day. With a view like this who minds cleanin g! Richard appeared and spent most of the day talking with Ken. Richard is sweet and has millions of stories. Perry returned from fishing while we were having coffee. We never heard him leave at dawn he was so quiet. Perry ties his own flies and he gave me a really neat foam "hopper" to fish with in Yellowstone.

After last night we decided to put the boat away so we repacked everything in the car (boy do we need a car top carrier). Unfortunately one of the oars got bent a little last night so we will probably need to get a new one. It took all day to give the coach a good cleaning in and out. We are tired because we got little sleep because of the heat last night (no electricity here, so no fans or AC).

About 6:45 we took a ride to the access to watch people fish. It wasn't too crowded and the fish were jumping right out of the water... no one was catching any though. We watched big black clouds move in and started to see pretty large lightening bolts over the Bighorn Mountains so we headed back to camp. Just as we got in the rain started and we had pretty strong thunderstorns tonight.

It was a good down day. If the weather is good we'll stay another day. We are really having a good time with the group here and hopefully tommorrow we will fish again. Otherwise we will head out.

Floating the Bighorn River

Luck is with us and we were able to make reservations for a site at Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone for Aug 12 - 19 so we can take our time to get there. We have gone 4200 miles as of noon today on this trip!

With Yellowstone in place we headed for Hardin, Montana on I90. We found a place to wash the coach and car.. and it needs it! Let me tell you about the grasshoppers out here. They are all over the roads and ground. Sometimes there are so many it looks like the road is moving! They make a mess. We had one come flying in the window and was hopping all over the front of the cab. At first we though we were in a rain shower with big drops hitting the windshield. It took us a couple days (yes we are slow...) to figure out what they were.

Now that we are clean (for the moment) we headed down Rte 313 to the Afterbay Campground in Bighorn Canyon. Down a 8% grade gravel drive we pulled into what looks like a parking lot with campsites along one side and which overlook the river. We pulled up and checked with the Camphosts (Bob & Barb). They are really nice folks and we hit it off right away.

After we got set up Bob said he would take us down the river with our boat and we could fish together. Ken's eyes lit up like saucers! We went down to Fort Smith and got licenses and some flys. Then we raced around getting the boat together and loaded the boats onto Bob's trailer. We parked one car at 3 Mile Access and then drove back to the access where we had left the boats. About 4PM we hit the water. Ken hasn't rowed much so he tried to navigate the river with Bob coaching from the other boat. He kept apologizing to the people fishing along the shoreline. Unfortunately the oars kept coming out of the holders and it made it really hard for Ken to manuver. I'm trying to fish and then I hear "grab the oar"! Oops I pulled it out of the water as it floated by (Phew). We stopped on a sandbar and fished for a while, but no hits. The Black Caddis hatch is awesome tonight. We are covered with them. Back on the river we are struggling to get into position to stop at our end access point. It was fun floating a river for the first time, but nerve racking for Ken. He did really great though. I think we will wade if we go again as he didn't get to fish much.

Another RV pulled in next to us while we were fishing. Perry seems very nice and spent some time exchanging fish stories with Ken. Back at camp we joined Bob & Barb for a campfire and cocktails. Richard, who is also camping here from California, came by. Another couple, Ronnie & Barb, joined us later. They all come here every year and it's a nice little group. They made us feel really welcome.