4/29/2023
We had a great night sleep and a great breakfast. Then we went up past the reservoir to fish the Upper Frying Pan. There were a couple campgrounds which I knew were closed but we still thought we should check them out. We parked at the first one and fished the river right off the campground road. The river was quite clear, a little thin, and the rocks were more slippery than I would expect for early spring. Dave fished up from me and got a few — browns, which totally surprised us. He was yelling something at me but I couldn’t hear a word so I made my way closer. I stepped off the bank into the water and fell over – that clear water is so deceptive! I thought it was like 8″ deep and it was more like 18″ deep… I filled my waders with water and got soaked. I spent the next 20 minutes undressing, emptying my waders, etc. etc. Thankfully, it was sunny and calm so I wasn’t freezing. When I finally waddled up to Dave to find out what was so imPORtant, I learned he just wanted to tell me that he caught a couple fish. Good grief.
I did eventually catch ONE. (Also a brown.) So that was good.
We went back to the camper to nosh and were surprised to find two pickups that had just arrived to open the campground up — or so we thought. It was actually the campground host coming to see if HE could get in there and stay yet. He was very nice and we chatted for a long time. He said there were a few turn-offs we could camp at a few miles up the road, so we took out the bikes and rode up to check them out. We saw a couple good options, had a nice ride, and in the end decided to simply stay where we were–by the gate of the still-closed campground–knowing that IF the host came back, he wouldn’t care.
I made a a bizarre dinner of pasta, pesto, sausage, garbanzo bean, cauliflower, pine nut, Parmesan. Does that sound good? No? It was fine. Not my greatest concoction, tbh. But you have to understand: we have this back-and-forth thing from Minnesota to Colorado and back down to a science. We are (I am) EXPERT at cleaning the fridge out and almost NEVER throwing ANYTHING away. Not kidding. It’s a bit OCD if I’m to be honest. If not OCD, then let’s call it a genius-level hobby. And that, my friends, is how that meal came to be. It sounded better in my mind than it looked in the pan. But it tasted fine. and I think Dave actually liked it.
The best part of dinner might have been the vodka tonics for me.
4/30/23
Another Surprise: When we woke up it was 27 degrees.
Our wading boots were frozen bricks. Dave thawed them out by the fire and we had avocado toast while we waited. Eventually we were able to get the boots on and hiked a couple miles up beyond the campground to some very nice bends of the river we had spied from our bike ride the day before. The water looked amazing.
We fished it hard. Dave said he saw two dart from the bank–super spooky-like. Our guess is that they were there, but just too spooked to bite. Actually… to be honest, I can’t even say I believe that. Maybe they go down to the reservoir until it warms up? Like Minnesota snowbirds? I dunno. It was so quiet and peaceful and pretty, I was enjoying just that aspect. Easy walking in the river. Warmish. And good snacks in my pack. Eventually, I heard Dave somewhere very distant yelling some indiscernible stuff (once again) and I assumed he was ready to go. And, Of COURSE, right at that exact moment, a nice fish came to the surface and ate my dry fly! HOURS of fishing and the ONE SECOND you take your eye off the ball, hollering your fool head off at your missing husband… #@!^%$! It was on for a few seconds and came off. Still fun though.
I eventually found Dave in the willows – easier said than done — and we hoofed it back to the car, posting-holing through deep snow for long, trying sections. Nothing worse than trying to stay on top of snow, thinking you’ve made it and falling two feet down. Over and over again.
Eventually, I will stop extolling the amazing delight of not having to pop-down the camper. And then pop-up the camper upon arrival home… the Topo2 is just really fun. And easy. And we are still glowing and crowing at being able to just drive away with it.
Interesting fact: as the crow flies, our house in Eagle is only up and over one ridge, about 30 miles away. There is a (currently closed, of course) forest road that connects the two that we’ve driven two or three times. But today we head back the way we came. As we drove by, now a Sunday afternoon, the lower Frying Pan River was up to its normal tricks with all the turn-outs holding a car or three with lots of fishers in the water. Gorgeous weekend.