2008 Summer Journey

[Dr. Strangelove]

wow!
another excellent display, one of the better ones in a terrific portfolio.

was gros ventre a euphemism for the buffalo?

and with the "tetons" as backdrop were there any other body parts in the area?

John

[1MPH]

GypsyRR, Beautiful travelogue but when will we see a photo of fish frying in a pan over those mesmerizing fires?
Other than that keep up the great work and thanks for taking the time to post.

[GypsyRR]

GypsyRR, Beautiful travelogue but when will we see a photo of fish frying in a pan over those mesmerizing fires?
Other than that keep up the great work and thanks for taking the time to post.

Hmmmmmm. I was told food pictures don't belong in a ride report. I did slip in the one of the dinner my campground host brought me. But that was beyond food!! Thst was hospitality and kindness in a couple of tupperware dishes!!

Okay. One food picture coming in the post after next. But no fish frying. You will see trout poached. Much healthier!!!

I was also sufficiently frightened by the threat of bears, so any smell of fish around my campsite in Wyoming was avoided! Hahaha. You should have seen me trying to sleep with ears and one eye open in those grizzly areas. Its no wonder I fall asleep as soon as I sit still. I woke a lot in the night and was always a little confused about where I was. The mental image of myself trying to cope with fear in my tent in the wilderness makes me laugh now. I practiced a lot of mind games to convince myself to hang in there and face my imaginations-real or not. A couple of times I did move to the truck though.

[Dr. Strangelove]

did you ever hear anything that went bump in the night? could you really sleep? was one chambered at your bedside?

[GypsyRR]

Yes, I heard noises and animals at night. I knew if it was a bear it would sound big. And from my experience in Alaska, I knew I could smell a bear before I ever saw one, so a couple of times all I had to do was stick my nose out the tent and 'sniff'. (blushing; that sounds so unlady like). They really stink. You never forget the smell either.

I never had bears around my campsites. I did have coyotes and raccoons and other small animals. Mountain Lions crossed my mind a couple of times!!!!! But in the middle of the night, a lot will cross your mind, you know.

I had a big canister of bear spray in my tent and would rehearse in my mind my plan of action if a bear was in my camping area, just to be sure I knew how to use the spray. Seriously, I was more worried about shooting that spray correctly than getting a gun fired!! hahahaha. I don't really own a gun large enough for bears, so there was no sense in planning on that!!

I think I almost came upon a mother and cub while fishing a small creek. That would have been bad. The creek had dense cover on the banks, and it snaked around in tight turns. Had it been paved, we would have thought it was a nice motorcycle road with really tight 10mph twisties - if that helps you imagine it. I was fishing and all of a sudden the water got real cloudy. At first, I thought maybe there was an afternoon shower up in the canyon and the water was getting cloudy because of that. But, I looked up that way and didn't see any clouds or rain. It really puzzled me and I kept fishing for a bit more, but trying to reason this out. Why did the water get all 'muddied up' as we say down in Texas. About the time I figured out that a bear could be stirring up the water around the bend, I started to get out of the water and I heard some crashing of water upstream. Whoa!!! My heart was racing. But I figured I could run on land faster than I could walk on water so I was splashing out of it and trying to make noise in case there was a bear.

They tell you to make a lot of noise and splashing doesn't really count as 'human noise' so I started talking out loud. What do you say? I know. It's a strange thing. You're suppose to make noise so bears are not startled, but what do you say? I guess some people sing maybe. Others have friends/companions to talk to. I was alone. So I say what I always say when I'm trying to keep bears from being startled. "Hey Bear. I'm coming through here. If you don't want to be startled, you better move. Hey Bear. Don't give me any trouble." Hahahaha. I'm seriously laughing at myself, but really.............. what noise do you make to alert bears?

And - when I finally got through the brush and to the bend, I could see that above the bend the water was clear. So I started looking for tracks. I found 2 sets. 1 large set of bear tracks, and 1 smaller set. Surely a mother and her cub. Close one for me. No pictures of it though. I left that place and headed out.

[NoRRmad]

From another site:

(Thanks to Doug Bunch.)

[bmwdave52]

I don't know about anyone else but I don't mind food shots.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I don't know about anyone else but I don't mind food shots.

oh, man, they're almost always really gross: a half eaten hamburger and fries with chili looks like garbage; so do the waffles with a fork on the plate. Food shots are very hard to make appetizing, but Kristi did it with her veggie pasta shot--that is unusual. But, ok, maybe that's just me

anyway...Instead of bear spray could an air horn be used as a deterrent? Portable, small, cheap, loud, won't disable the "victim." (except for the disable part, sounds like a girl I once knew)

John

[GypsyRR]

Regarding the girl: was she inflatable?

The horn would be a replacement for noise, but could not stop an angry bear. You need something to disable a bear if they are coming at you. Don't make me start pulling out all the bear attack stories. It is gruesome. If the horn doesnt stop a bear, then what defense do you have. There have been plenty of stories of people making noises to stop a bear, and still get mauled. They are unpredictable. Remember the documentary on the nut who went to live among the bears in the Katmai Wilderness of Alaska? His girlfriend was banging pots to scare away the bear. It still entered the tent and killed and ate both of them.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Regarding the girl: was she inflatable?

yes...sort of... now I am ashamed. Thanks.

The horn would be a replacement for noise, but could not stop an angry bear. You need something to disable a bear
...His girlfriend was banging pots to scare away the bear. It still entered the tent and killed and ate both of them.

good point

didn't they have it on video? how else would we know she was banging pots?

[1MPH]

GypsyRR, Beautiful travelogue but when will we see a photo of fish frying in a pan over those mesmerizing fires?
Other than that keep up the great work and thanks for taking the time to post.

Hmmmmmm. I was told food pictures don't belong in a ride report.

Hmmmmmm. What is the difference, a building, some trees, a river, a camp site, a meal. If it's on a ride why not a picture?
I didn't see that in the user agreement.

[GypsyRR]

Jack, I hear ya. But the plate of trout heads, and filets might just get me banned. I learned that trout cheeks are a delicacy. Seriously. I had heard of cod cheeks while in Newfoundland, but never saw any. Well, in Wyoming, I ate trout cheeks. Takes a lot of trout cheeks to make a meal though, so you eat the fillets as well. I didn't get an actual picture of the cheek meat though. Anyway, that's still yet to come.


DS,
I don't remember how they knew she was banging pots. He may have tried to film part of it and they found the film later. How gross. Or strewn pots/pans near the body would have led them to surmise that she did. I can't remember. I saw that about 2 months before I went to the Katmai Wilderness in '06. I was nervous a bit about bears, but not toooooo much.

[GypsyRR]

continuing -

For me, the riding in Gros Ventre was was more challenging than anything I had ridden thus far. Possibly much of that can be attributed to the fact that the Gazetteer/DeLorme map didn't quite match up with what I was seeing marked along the dirt roads. Initially, the roads would not have been that hard. It's when I veered off on a road near Goosewing Ranch, looking for Cottonwood Creek, that things got confusing. I ended up on a horse trail! A rutted single track type path that took me further than I had intended to go, and kept me longer than I wanted to stay!!! AND the reward?? Well, besides the experience of riding (without dropping the bike or falling) successfully a difficult course - it led me to this prize.............

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Perhaps you've noticed there is no 'road' before or after this sign? Yeah, Right. But that is what I was riding on. I don't have a lot of photos from the rutted single track, non-path stuff because obviously I was just trying to stay upright. Here's another angle



Well, at least the ground was dry. And the view from there was wonderful. I would love to have passed over those mountains amid the wildflowers.









Looking back from where I came. Notice the treeline? That's a dry creek. But when I had seen it below, I saw two nice sized trout in just a narrow stream of water. I thought for sure I was following a creek that was going to open up for me.





Ooops, I think I disturbed somebody here.




By the time I had gotten to Gros Ventre, I was completely lost in the enveloping and comforting silence of the mountain wilderness, enjoying every aspect of my time there. Ending up at a "Road Closed" sign only made me laugh. I guess the ride getting to the closed road was way too fun for this to discourage me. But frustration set in when I realized the time I spent getting to the road closed gate had taken up too much time and a storm was on the horizon. The other frustrating thing is that I knew if I had not stopped to take photos along the way, and had I not stopped to watch a fire engulfing a tree way up on a mountain across the Gros Ventre River, and had I not ventured down other roads - like the other closed one to Soda Lake, and had I not stopped and talked to some folks on horseback, and had I not stopped and crept up to the small stream and seen the two trout, and had I not stopped under a cluster of shady lodgepole pines to eat a snack I had brought along, and had I not stopped working at my campsite to take time to talk to Dave and Cast again, and had I not stopped and talked to the two guys fishing near the bridge, and had I not fallen back to sleep after sunrise........................... well,.................. I guess I might have had time to find Cottonwood Creek that day, but I sure would have missed a lot of other very fine things. Frustration walks out when gratefulness walks in.


more following

[GypsyRR]

Here are some shots I took on my rides in the area. Usually, other than the round about trip to Non-Cottonwood Creek, I was riding to a place to go fishing. I had a blast.

Here is where I made my mistake. I should have stayed on my course. Instead, I turned around and took a right on a horse trail. I still laugh. But - what a shot of the Tetons behind me, eh?




Oh wait. I forgot to tell you the funniest part of this mistake. The road was getting really rough - well, let me show you a picture of some of it.

This is behind me





And this is in front of me. The road sort of disappears, doesn't it?

Vanishing




But when it disappears, it sure is pretty. Nice wildflowers






I sort of picked my own way through that and eventually found the path again which was rutted. At some points the ruts were so close together I had to just choose one and try to stay in it. Difficult. They were deep enough that I think the skid plate was touching a couple of times. I was sort of 'paddling' with my feet on either side of the rut just to make sure I didn't fall out here in this dry wilderness area. I was certain the birds would feast on me before I would be found if I got stuck out here!!! My imagination was getting the best of me.

Eventually, I ended back on a trail. Probably a jeep and horse trail.




OH GREAT!!! A water crossing........... by myself. I want one of those cool water crossing photos where the wheels part the water and it splashes the rider and bike. I wasn't going to hassle with setting up the camera and hitting a remote to make that happen. Here is all you get.

Ahead of me:



Looking back at my bike after inspecting the depth and bedrock.




And looking back again (and around), once I'm on the other side with my bike.



And back on my path to non-Cottonwood Creek and the "Road Closed" Gate.


Where I came from:






A little further up this road, I saw two paths. One was the obviously more used path, but it was rutted so deep, I thought the bike would be hard to handle in it. the ruts crisscrossed and dipped into a ravine and then climbed out. Ugh. So I chose the 'road less travelled'. Right choice, but still difficult. I had to cut Moose Willow out of the way just to get through. Well, while I was back in the thick stuff, that is when I noticed the creek with the trout in it. To catch trout in a stream that narrow, you would have to hide behind a willow bush, or lay down and try to just flip a bit of line out. It looked like there might be snakes in that area, so I was satisfied to just catch a glimpse of them periodically. Amazingly they could always see me and then they would dart past me to the next willow covering they could find. I played that game with those fish tooooooo long. What a memory though. Playing hide and seek with wild fish all alone out in the vast wilderness of the Gros Ventre.

I THOUGHT I was all alone, anyway. Pretty soon I heard voices in the distance. The willow was too tall for me to see over, so I walked up the path a bit to see. At this point, I have my helmet and jacket off. So I'm wearing black boots, black pants, a WHITE fishing shirt, and I still have my black gloves on. I was moving brush and willow and my hands had scrapes on them already, so I left my gloves on. So........ dressed like that, I sort of quietly go walking up the trail to see who else is out here. I had no idea anyone would be out here. I was certain I was probably on land hardly ever used. I could hear male and female voices - maybe 5, but could not make out the conversation. Standing behind a willow bush, I see the group on horseback. It's a trail ride! The leader is a young girl and she is turned slightly in the saddle, talking to the guest riders, clients of the Goosewing Ranch probably. They do not expect to see someone walking around out there.

But when I realized this was a trail ride, and I saw a couple of young children on horses, the thought occurred to me that sometimes horses get spooked by motorcycles. And certainly, the path I was parked on was too narrow for horse and motorcycle to pass together. So I stepped out from behind the bush about 20 yards ahead of them to tell them I was parked down this one trail, so she would know to take the other. There is no way I could have turned the bike around in those ruts. Well - when I stepped out to get her attention, the little boy behind the leader just pointed and his eyes got huge!!!! She turned forward. When she saw me, she immediately pulled the reins and stopped that horse dead in it's tracks. It was like dominoes stacking up against each other, watching each of those horses abruptly stop. The cowgirl was speechless. I suppose seeing a woman standing there in black gloves, black pants, black boots, and white shirt was not a common day occurrence. She turned white as my shirt and her eyes and mouth were stuck open. I almost laughed when I thought about the scene from her point of view. :lol3

I waved my hand, and said, "Hi. Uh, is this Cottonwood Creek?"

All she could muster was a faint "uh huh." But it wasn't Cottonwood Creek. She must have really been scared.

"Okay, thanks. Listen. I have a motorcycle parked up this trail. You may want to take the other one, unless you want me to ride out past your horses first."

"Uh uh" Which I think meant 'no' because she then turned to the riders and said,

"Let's go this way, okay?"

And they rode on staring at me as they passed. One guy looking at me said to his son,

"Well, there's lots of wild life out here, isn't there Marcus?"

Give me a break. Who looks staid with helmet hair? Sheeesh!


They moved on down the trail and I moved on up the trail.

Never even following Cottonwood Creek. Not even close.

[GypsyRR]

"Grace and beauty are performed everyday, whether or not we will it or sense it. The least we can do is try to be there for it." Annie Dillard

I showed up for the performance and asked for an encore. The above is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite nature writers. I just thought it fit the Gros Ventre Wilderness very well. So - continuing. Here are some shots from the riding I did out there.
































One day, while heading deeper into the wilderness I saw something strange up ahead on the left as I was trying to stay out of that minor rut on the right.




Coming closer...... I slow down.

It looks like a helicopter



Initially, I thought "how nice. Someone gets flown in here for vacation" But then a closer look:




I'm not sure what they are doing, but I wonder if it had anything to do with the fire I had seen the day before right across the river from where they are standing.


Those are the roads I played on while in the Gros Ventre - all taking me to fishing spots (or Road Closed gates, 3 of those at final count). I never took a road over a pass though. I think I could have gone over a pass, but after my first mistake with the DeLorme map on the first day out here, I decided I better have someone guide me over if I want to do that.


Fishing spots next.

[GypsyRR]

Here's a couple of spots where I went fishing and took a camera with me. I should rephrase that.....'where I took a camera and a memory card with me." Yep, one day, I forgot to put the memory card back in my camera and I only took the point and shoot that day. That happened twice on this journey.

After my mistaken route to a road closed gate, I headed back to the bridge that crossed the Gros Ventre River where I had talked to the guys that were fishing there earlier. I assumed they would have moved on by now. This is the bridge crossing.







the guys I saw earlier






The water looks good, doesn't it?

They were gone by the time I got back. I parked and set up my gear. I was using a 3wt Browning with an Orvis reel here. I picked it up before the Arkansas leg of my trip back in May.






You can see a few raindrops on the bike seat. Standing in water, no trees around with a graphite lightning rod in my hand was not on my list of 'to do' things for this day. I ended up laying the rod down and sitting on the banks of the river, a few feet back from the water for a while - eating some trail mix while I waited for the lightning and rain to stop.


But before the rain, I caught three trout over on this side of the bridge, up against the bank under the moose willows on a parachute adams, I think. They were too small to keep. Smaller than the ones I had seen in the little stream!!





I caught them right around this bend, not too far from the bridge



Then after the threat of lightning was over, I walked to the other side and fished a hopper against the banks closest to the road



I know this is going to sound like a typical 'fish story' but it's true. I was fishing and not doing so good after the storm. And you know how you just sort of start fishing by rote and kind of forget what you are doing sometimes? Well, I was in THAT mode when a really nice fat trout rose to the surface and grabbed the hopper on the end of my line. At that part of the river, I was above the water about 4-5 feet and just flipping in the hopper and letting it float under the grassy edge of the bank for about a 10' float and then flippin' it back upstream and doing it again. But I saw this fish come up from the bottom. It's head was the size of a large man's fist rising up from the water throwing an upper cut. I had too much slack in the line and it spit the hook. I know I shouted out loud when I saw that. I fished on downstream a bit and came back, hoping to get another shot at the fish. First cast - bang!!! He hit it again!!! But again, I did not set the hook. I'm embarrassed to say that this happened one more time before I gave up because another storm was rolling in and the mosquitoes were getting thick as well as the flies. There was better fishing the next day further down from this bridge crossing.


The next day, I rode again for a while looking for a nice place to fish. There are plenty of places to fish along the river, but not all of it is easily accessible. I'd see great places, but the hike down to the river would have been more than I wanted to do. Or I'd see a great place to fish, and it might be on ranch land. I finally rode down past Soda Lake a ways and found this spot.









Still a bit of a hike down, and it looked like rattlesnake territory to me! But I was determined to catch some fish that were legal size and perhaps take a photo of one on the line again.

The Gros Ventre River really snakes along here. At the bends, the water is moving deep and fast, so you either have to wade across to the other side at each bend, or get out and walk past the deep water till you can get back in. The river is not as pretty here, but the backdrop is wonderful!!













I have never fly fished by standing on a bank and dropping a line and letting it float under grassy banks or moose willow, till I came to this area. I'm sure it is not the preferred way to fly fish, but it seemed to work on these waters. I caught 5-6 fishing like this, all legal size too!

Proof! (fishing with a size 10-12 Chernobyl as a stimulator to bring them up from the deep)













Shortly after catching these is when I just could not take the flies anymore. This is the truth. During the afternoon, I don't know what happened, but on this day and the day before, every kind of fly (like house fly) must have descended on the Gros Ventre area. And horseflies too!! Biting ones. The mosquitoes were bad as well, but I had deet to keep them at bay. I had nothing to keep the flies from bothering me. I can't tell you how bothersome they were. All I can say is that it was the first time on my trip that I felt any kind of agitation or anger. Their incessant buzzing at my head was torturous after a very short while. I had been use to quiet solitude for weeks. Other than the hum of a motor, music I chose on my iPod, or the cradling sounds of nature - there were no sounds. No voices constantly chattering, no television, no radio dj's, no crowds droning, no city clangings. Just peaceful sounds of my choosing practically. And now, along this river in this paradise, someone has loosed the flies of hell to ascend and encircle me daring me to curse god and die!!! It was close. I was mad. They were flying so thick and so close to me that the buzzing was driving me mad. I couldn't get any relief from them. I was constantly swatting them away from my face. I was trying to cover my ears. I tried mosquito netting around my head. That kept them off my face, head, neck, but it was hot and the sound of the buzzing was so loud and so constant! Even earplugs could not stop the agitation. The flies would leave at dusk and come again around 10:00 a.m. They finally drove me from this fishing spot, and eventually they are what drove me away from Gros Ventre completely. I packed up my rod/reel, got on my bike as fast as I could, and rode back to camp and started a fire just hoping it would get them away from me. They were unmoved by the fire. I couldn't take it anymore, so I started packing up, loading up the bikes, and getting things ready so that I could leave in the morning.

I hope it is just a seasonal problem because I would really like to go back and find Cottonwood Creek - but not at the end of July again!!


I loved this area. I just hated the flies. I moved further east - toward Brooks Lake in the Dubois area.

[1MPH]

BEAUTIFUL

[Dr. Strangelove]

not a fisherman at all, but that was a great entry to the log. It might be that the fishing was good because the flies were aplenty. Beautiful country that

thanks again< Kristi.
John

[GypsyRR]

Thanks. It was beautiful. Trout don't live in ugly places, you know!!! Well............ maybe you didn't know that. But they don't. Here is another beautiful place close by: Brooks Lake


After giving up Gros Ventre to the flies, I packed up and headed east toward Dubois, Wyoming. I was surprised to see all the road construction along the route. Although many people know of the Dubois area, there never seems to be much traffic and it has been sort of a hidden treasure for a while. But new construction is going on along the roads and on the land. New developments. I suppose that will open the door for more people to discover the great fishing spots in the Dubois area. Not much pavement riding for motorcycles, but there is plenty of dirt. Crossing the Continental Divide along Union Pass between Dubois and Pinedale, southeast of Jackson, was on my to-do list, but I never got to it. I needed more time. But for every one thing I didn't have time to do, I can list maybe 5 other things that did enter my schedule! Fishing at Brooks Lake and watching the scene below take place was one of them.


This is the location of Brooks Lake. Just a few miles out from The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks.



It's a beautiful drive between Jackson and Dubois. The scenary changed from Alpine Mountains to the scenic Wyoming Badlands in Dubois, and again the kaleidoscopic landscape amazed me and kept my peripatetic soul amused.


past the Grand Tetons again



past a ranch near Moran



past a patriotic bear????? The closest I got to any bear





And across Togwotee Pass where all the construction is going on



It is here that you begin to see the mountains that surround Brooks Lake



and know you are close






And then, the road up to Brooks lake. A fun climbing twisting gravel road!










continuing

[GypsyRR]

continuing at Brooks


Here is what it looks like once you get to the lake. It is one of the prettiest places I have ever fished. This particular day, the weather was nice. A little windy at times, but not so bad that I could not fish.

Take a look at the scene surrounding me as I fished in the lake. I just waded out past the moose willow, threw toward the deeper water and as I was bringing back in the line, the fish would hit the wooly booger (the fly I was using) right before the drop off. There is an area where Jade creek flows in to the lake, and if you can stand on that point, you will catch fish with every cast. A group of boyscouts had that point taken while I was there.


From the parking lot where I put on my waders, this was the view:






Also from the parking lot - an Osprey







An outlet creek from the Lake







Here are some more views of the area where I was fishing and surrounding.













later in the day, the sun casts an orange hue on the rock face




Beautiful isn't it? All of those rusty/brown trees would almost trick your mind into thinking it is autumn. But this is July! What you see is dead pine trees. I have neglected to say anything about it before, but in many of my photos, you will see the same thing. Mountain Pine Beetles are devastating so much of the forests in the west. Large amounts of trees are affected by this beetle. Once a tree is attacked by the Pine Beetle, it will be overwhelmed within 2 weeks, unable to fight against the attack. These trees fall and carpet the forest ground with wood that burns like flash paper. I don't know if anything is being done to control the infestation, but it sure seems like the beetle is setting up the west for more ravaging forest fires. The cold winter was hopefully going to curtail the onslaught, but residents I talked to said it obviously was not cold enough. Photos I have from Pelham Lake near Lava Mountain show the infestation even worse. There is obviously a fine line man can walk between helping and hindering when it comes to the fragile balance of the ecosystem. Arguments fly on both sides of that topic. I don't have answers. I only have concerns.