Teton's and Yellowstone (among other places) 7/14 to 7/28

Just got back from a two week, 3,462 mile road trip with my wife Sandy and my boy Drew.  We first went down south to visit some relatives and then up to the Grand Canyon's South rim to camp a bit, simply amazing and awe inspiring.  We then traveled around the canyon to the North rim and up into Utah.  Spent the next day driving to the top of Utah through Zion and then on to the Grand Teton's the following morning. 

We camped at Signal Mountain on Jackson Lake.  I got out early the next morning and found the weather a bit on the foul side.  15+ knot winds and whitecaps by 0830 with a good amount of rain.  I hooked one cutthroat on the troll with a small pointer jerk bait, but it came unbuttoned next to the boat before picture time....

Did some more yaking with the family later in the afternoon when the skies cleared and the wind died a bit.  The wind came back up shortly after making our jigging for mac's difficult so we headed back to the sheltered lauch and Drew began to slay the juvenile chubs in the shallows.  I even managed to get a few on the fly rod and a pheasant tail nymph. 

The weather was still poor the following day, so we headed up to Yellowstone to explore as none of the three of us had ever been there.  We did all of the typical geothermal tourist attractions the first and part of the second day.  I did manage to get out with my flyrod and waders the second morning for 3 hours and had good luck on a few browns and rainbows, mostly on the dry fly during the mid morning caddis hatch.  Great fun, and not being an accomplished fly fisher, it boosted my confidence a bit.     All of the fish I caught on that morning were on the Gibbon and Madison Rivers, which are all barbless, fly only.  Needless to say, I think I only landed about half the fish I hooked as even the smallest wild trout in those warm, thermal-feature-fed rivers thinks it is much bigger than it is. 

The next day we went up into the far northern parts of the park and Drew and I fished some of the creeks that feed the Gardner River and parts of the Gardner itself.  This is the only drainage system in the park which allows the use of any bait, and that is limited to just worms and you have to be 11 or younger.....  As Drew just turned 11, this was his last opportunity to dunk the worm in the park, and he began to go on the full Brooke Trout attack.   He was fishing an ultralight spinning set up with 4lb and using a large fly fishing indicator float for a bobber.  I managed to get a few to rise on the dry fly in the area as well.  Though there are other species in this drainage, all we found were Brookies.  Not complianing, as they were very aggressive and put up a good fight for their size. 

I really hoped to get the kayaks out on Yellowstone lake, but the Kayak gods hit me with big winds again whenever I had it worked out with the family to go.....   As it was mainly a family adventure, I didn't push Sandy and Drew to head out into the chop after the looks of concern and trepidation were flashing accross their faces when I said, "here we are".  That's okay though, I have the big water of Yellowstone Lake to get me back up there on another trip sometime in the future to try and find some of those big Yellowstone Cutthroats that live there. 

We headed back on the road home from there, through Salt Lake and spent two nights in Reno.  Though I didn't get to fish the Truckee, I did get to do some shopping.     Just kiddinng, it was the fun kind, we went to the Sierra Outfitters Outlet store and then spend 3+ hours in the Cabela's store.     It was very cool indeed!!

Even though the kayaks did more riding than paddling on this adventure, the experience of the whole trip was amazing and priceless.  It had been quite some time since the three of us were able to spend that much time just having fun together.  I'm sure Drew will remember the things he saw and experienced many years down the road as I know that I will.  I took about 150 pictures on the trip and here are a few that I hope you enjoy.........

Norm

You make me miss my adopted "home" -- sounds like a great trip

Flyfishing on the madison and landing fish-- i think that is pretty high up there on the "things to do before you die" for a flyfisherman.

Awesome photos!  I really want to see the grand canyon again.  For anyone reading, no picture will ever show you what the grand canyon is like in person.  It is amazing to see.  Probably similar to the bison, it looks huge in a picture, but it is probably 10 times more intimidating in person. 

I want to take a road trip now!

Thanks for the report and great pictures, I would love to take my family for A trip like that in the near future! Looks awsome!!

  Thats an adventure your boy will cherrish for the rest of his life!  Bragging rites as well as I'm sure most of his friends will never get to that.
Heck, I may never get to do that!

Great pictures and you've brought back some great memories. I used to live in Flagstaff and I guided backpacking trips in the area including the Grand Canyon. That first picture from the top of the Bright Angel Trail is great and I couldn't help remembering all of the trips I've done in that wonderful place. Man, I gotta get back there soon...

Great pictures Nawn. Thanks for sharing.

Jed

Welcome back, Norm!   Great pics.   Am right now planning almost the exact same trip as you just did.   Will be leaving mid-August.
 

Really nice report, Norm.  Inspires me to get the heck out of here for a while.