+: Doug Phillips’ Sangrias at the Camp Robber

Δ: Challenging Day on the River

About 45 minutes in the drive the weather started to change and by the time I reached Silverton, I was in a classic mountain snowstorm. Red Mountain pass is famous for its dramatic drop-offs and I felt fortunate that my side of the road hugged the mountain and I have a great 4-wheel drive vehicle. The good and the bad.

I arrived a little late at the “Paco”, or Pa-co-chu-puk, the tail water fishery below the Ridgway Dam in the Ridgway State Park where I was meeting my fishing partners, Carol Oglesby, Nancy Burdette, Mary Graham, and Phyllis Pool. These Grand Junction area women have quite a few years of fishing experience behind them and it was great to meet other women who are as passionate about fly-fishing as I am.

We were along on the river and found some holes that produced large numbers of fish. At one point Nancy caught a very large cutbow. We wanted to get a photo of this beautiful fish so I rushed up from my fishing spot to help. I took out my point and shoot only to discover the battery was dead. I shoved the camera back into my front pack, but neglected to zip up the pouch. I leaned over to try to help with holding up the fish and my camera fell into the icy cold water. The good and the bad.

We continued to catch fish all day and decided we would leave around 3:30 and go to Montrose for dinner. I was making my last cast when I spotted a heron just across the river from me. I decided to run back to the car to get my Nikon D7000 with the telephoto lens hoping that the heron would still be there when I returned.

When I arrived at my car, I took off my front pack filled with all my gear, picked up my camera and locked the car from the door lock. I was able to get back down to the river on time to take some fabulous photos of the heron who was incredibly cooperative as I edged closer and closer to it.

I drudged back to the car to hook up with everyone and realized a few steps away from the car that I was in trouble. My car keys were in my fishing pack, and my fishing pack was in my car – locked up. Thanks goodness for AAA and patient girlfriends. About 90 minutes later, I’m back in my car and we’re on our way to a great meal and lots of laughs at our restaurant in Colorado. The good and the bad.

As I gazed up at this rock I thought of one of the silly rhymes we used to cite as children. We used to carry around autograph books and get everyone to write some expression. One of them was “Look Up, Look Down” and it went like this…

Look up, Look Down.

Look at my thumb.

Boy you’re dumb.

Look up, look down.

Look at my pinky.

Boy you’re stinky.

I finally get it! As I sit here next to a river writing and reading I realize I have arrived! I am where I want to be. I need to look up and notice the cloud patterns and the evergreen-filled mountainsides.  I need to look down and notice the caddis flies and the spiders and the flower buds. I don’t need to look at my thumb. I’m not dumb.

+: Love following my passion for rivers, fishing and the west.

Δ: Made possible by my father who passed away a year ago.

Charlie is TU’s Northeastern Utah Coordinator. One of his responsibilities involves the fight against the “Million Pipeline.” The plan behind Aaron Million’s (a name as appropriate as Weiner’s in NYC) project is to take 81 billion gallons of water from the Green River and pipe it to the Front Range.  As a Colorado resident, I certainly understand the dilemma as we develop and lure more and more thirsty people to Denver. As our reservoirs become more and more depleted and our forests burn, the old borrowing from Peter to pay Paul is not a long term solution.

Once again I must state that I am not an expert when it comes to the water issues in the west, but it just makes sense for us to take conservation a lot more seriously. Other solutions I have heard tossed around include desalination, cloud-seeding, and reclaimed water usage. I think it’s important to paint the picture of water conservation in the right light. That is to say, it’s not really about deprivation, but rather about a cost-benefit model or a healthy model of improved efficiency. California has learned this lesson well.

So let’s stop for a second and think about xeriscaping, low-flow fixtures, repairing leaky faucets, and a multitude of best practices before we start messing with mother nature. Mother nature doesn’t like to be messed with.

The preservation of this beautiful stretch of the Green River is important so we can share it with future generations. We cannot ensure the future health of our waters without due diligence to the known issues that our rivers are facing. Thus the topic of my post today – zebra mussels (ZM).

Many of you have probably heard of zebra mussels. No, not a large, strong, striped animal who lives in Africa, but rather a small shellfish that is named for its shell pattern.

Kidding aside, the presence of these creatures is considered one of the most important biological invasions in North America because they disrupt the ecological balance of our rivers and lakes.  One of the reasons the ZM is so problematic is because they consume phytoplankten causing a decline in algae,  which results in the water ecosystem being thrown out of kilter.

These creatures also cause  significant problems with our public water supply plants, industrial facilities and power plants because they amass and then restrict flows. USGS has put out a lot of information.

ZM are so prolific. They lay over 40,000 eggs in one reproductive cycle, and they can live 3 – 9 years! Dealing with these creatures is a big deal. And, they have a “cousin” – another species similar but causing the same problem – the quagga mussel.

The rapid invasion of North American waterways has been facilitated by the zebra mussel’s ability to disperse during all life stages propelling the ubiquitous takeover of our waterways. In addition, boaters and anglers play a part in transporting the creatures by allowing them to attach to the hulls of our boats or our clothing and are thus anthropogenically transported to new locations.

So, as an angler going from river to river, I have a keen responsibility to follow guidelines that will prevent me from spreading these creatures to new waters. I will write more about prevention in the next few days.

The Flaming Gorge Resort is a wonderful place to stay if you want to head up to the eastern side of Utah to raft, fish, hike or just enjoy the views. This is my second visit here. I have eaten at their cafe and enjoyed wonderful homemade soups, breakfast burritos and an excellent taco salad.

Many thanks to the folks at the resort who let me park my camper here for the three days I spent on the Green River.

If I could only fish one river again in my life, it might very well be the Green River near Dutch John, Utah. The perfect combination comes together here – huge numbers of fish, abundant wildlife, and incredible scenery. This is also a great fishery to both wade fish or float on a boat, which I did today. I didn’t even get my boots wet! This photo is of icicles formed from a leaking dam.

After launching my first 5-week trip yesterday, I arrived at dusk at the Flaming Gorge Resort, a great place to stay when visiting the Green. They allowed me to park my camper in a not-yet opened RV spot.

My camper management skills are not really up to par. In fact it took me about 30 minutes just to back my camper into the spot near enough to hook up the electricity for my camper.  Unfortunately, the plugs didn’t match up so I decided that heat was good enough for the first night and I would just use my LED lights.

I walked into the camper with visions of a glass of a good Cab-Merlot mix with a candle to celebrate my first night on the road only to find 5 gallons of water on the floor after a jug had cracked open. Fortunately I didn’t have anything on the floor except some throw rugs so I hung them up to dry and pretended I had a sound spa on all night with their drip, drip, drip.

I dealt with the electricity this morning – or rather a kind person from the resort did – unhooked my camper, headed off for a delicious sausage breakfast burrito, a cup of coffee and a bathroom! With the cold weather I don’t dare to put water in the camper in fear that it will freeze.

So the camper experience may not have started out auspiciously, but the rest of the day made up for that. As I’ve said before, being on a river helps to put everything in perspective. The troubles you bring are soon forgotten or at least packaged and sent elsewhere.

I love this photo of Snoopy’s Hole in the “A” section of the Green just below the dam. So much more to write about but I keep falling asleep sitting up at my computer…

I am going to highlight Charlie for several days because he is so special! I learned so much from Charlie today on the Green River. Charlie works for Utah Trout Unlimited and is doing some very important work to safeguard our fisheries. As Charlie said today, “I have enjoyed and taken so much from our rivers that it was time to give back.”

A good friend of mine from Vermont, Nancy Wilson, asked me about the secrets to learning how to fly-fish. Well, I am a true beginner myself with only a few years under my belt. But,  my advice to her was to work with a guide to learn… and if you’re lucky you will find someone like Charlie who knows more than I will ever know in my lifetime. More on Charlie in the next  few posts. Merci mille fois, Charlie!

Wondering, questioning, growing.

Always searching.

Your peace is in accepting this.

Remembering it’s about the journey,

Never the destination.