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Monday, September 2, 2013

What a great day! Fishin in the rain, and finding out how good the 4-wheel drive really is.

My favorite place to go fishing is about two hours from my house. We found it by accident when we were out exploring a few years ago, and it is where I really fell in love with fly fishing. Work has been busy, so I've only been there twice this summer... the season is quickly coming to an end.

It's a beautiful place. Even when the clouds are thick and the rain is coming down. I just love it.


We thought, 'Any day now, the roads are going to be impassable, so we gotta get back at least one last time.'

It rained all day Saturday, all night Saturday night, and was still raining Sunday morning.
The roads weren't TOO bad getting in, so we pulled out the float tubes and started fishing.


We'd been there about twenty minutes when we could tell the roads weren't getting better, the rain wasn't letting up, and maybe we needed to get out of there while we still could.

This guy didn't want to park there. This was our evidence that the roads might not be so great...
We fished for another hour or so, and then packed up and drove out. There is a steep hill, the mud was thick and slimy, but the FJ (Toyota FJ Cruiser) just climbed up it. VERY slowly, but it made it. We decided to pull over at the top of the hill and hike back in. I was not done fishing!


I learned that standing water on the roads isn't so bad... It's when those puddles become one with the road that is the real problem.
The hike was only about a half a mile, but it was mostly up hill, and slippery. I am SO glad we went back! The fishing was AWESOME!
The hike was tiring, so we stopped to take a selfie.

BJ with a fish.

One of the many tiger trout I caught.

Probably the same tiger trout. I am not talented enough to take pictures of my fish. BJ stopped fishing and ran over to check out my fish. I love that he gets almost as excited about me catching a fish as he gets about him catching a fish.

It's gorgeous, isn't it?



We fished for a few hours, but we hadn't thought to bring water with us... At least I remembered to bring candy bars. There was a guy camping with his boys and 4-wheelers, and they offered to drive us back to the FJ. THAT was a muddy ride. There was no place safe from the flipping, thick, slimy, mud.

Back at the FJ, we changed out of our waders, thinking we were home free. It turns out the roads didn't get better - they got worse. The rain hadn't stopped, but also, there were several cars and trucks that had tried to get out but couldn't. They had dug ruts and holes and churned up mud, so it was six-eight inches deep. There was a big pick up truck stuck, but BJ's truck just slowly made it's way through. We were sliding, we were kicking up mud, but the FJ sent power only to the wheels that were getting traction. Somehow, it figured exactly how to get us through it all. I wish I would have taken pictures of the road, or even a video of the people on the side cheering us on as we chugged through the mess... but I didn't. 

The mud doesn't even begin to tell the story.

I wish the pictures and my story telling could better explain how AWESOME this day was. The adventure was perfect - just the right amount. The fishing was great. I lost count of how many fish I caught, but I lost count at twenty-something. BJ caught just as many. The scenery was beautiful. I couldn't plan a day that great, but if I could, that is exactly how I would want it to go.

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