This morning I left home set on finding a few trout and Albright Ghost Town, the remnants of a mining town abandoned after the gold dried up. Finding trout was and is never a problem. Finding the ghost town proved much more difficult...
This was the closest thing we could find after 3 miles of hiking on rough terrain.
Sluice Boxes is one of the most awe inspiring places I have ever been.
Our directions proved accurate and we arrived shortly after ten. The trail began well groomed for the first few hundred yards, but then became almost indecipherable. We stopped at a crossroads where our trail became completely overgrown and another trail appeared on the other side of Belt Creek. We stopped to chart our next move and I took a few casts.
On my third cast I hooked into this Cuttbow, my first hybrid that looks more like a Cutthroat than a rainbow! Notice the discernible reddish marking on the fishes gill slits (throat). As soon as I hooked him some people that took the overgrown trail to its end and were now returning caught a glimpse of the fight and came over to see my prize. I heard them say to the wife that I just started fishing and to catch a fish so fast I must really know what I'm doing. Very flattering!
We continued through the river and up a slightly better trial, although our progress was often impeded by dead falls. After a few detours and a few wet trips across the river we came to a spot that was essentially impassable. We scrambled along the shore a ways until we found another spur, which led us back to the better trail, beyond the impasse.
A little further down the trail we came upon the beginning of the sluice box formation. From this railroad trestle foundation the trail climbed up and onto the rock walls.
From the trail multiple steep climbs led down to the creek. We hiked for a distance, then the wife rested at these spots while I waded and casted.
The Deer Hair Stimulator fly elicited two hefty strikes in this pool, but neither fish came to hand. The first looked to be a 15-17 inch brown while the second was a much smaller trout. I missed quite a few strikes today and I'm not sure why. I think it was because I was more focused on my surroundings and less on the trout.
After some more rigorous hiking/climbing the wife was exhausted. Given her recent medical problems we decided to turn back, 3.5 miles shy of our destination. (In hindsight it's good we turned around. I'm beat!)
We hiked back to the railroad trestle where, rather than cross back to the trail we were familiar with, we took a trail on the other side of the stream. We assumed the high road led to the overgrown spot where we first crossed the creek.
We just kept climbing. At one point we turned away from the trailhead in a bad way. We both feared this path might take way longer but we continued. The rock outcropping on which we traveled got sketchy at some points.
The picture doesn't show it well but one slip on this trail and you'll fall 150 feet! After a few sure steps we crossed a barbed wire fence and hiked up to a scenic overlook. We walked the road a mile or so back to the car. Exhausted, we decided to drive the scenic highway through the Little Belt Mountains and look for a few spots to pull off and cast.
This spot was especially beautiful. Not many fish but I did manage a few little bows, a brookie, and a bunch missed strikes.
After a little more hole hopping we waved goodbye to the mountains and headed north. We didn't make it to the ghost town but next time we'll start from the scenic overlook so we get there. I am not disappointed. I spent a beautiful day at a beautiful place with my beautiful wife...and I caught some beautiful fish on top of it!
Stay Tuned: I hope to fish my home stream like crazy for the next 10 days because come September, local ranchers lease the park for grazing, so big stupid cows take over.
No comments:
Post a Comment