Post fire recovery (Owens river)

 Last year I moved to my new home waters on the lower Owens. I found a place just a few minutes from the river and even found kayak storage close to the take out. All was awesome until I had to evacuate due to a fire. My place and my boats survived but the river banks got roasted.
These are the photos that I took at my closest put in right after the fire and some recent shots that I took of the area from the office post regrowth.

That sucks, and will affect the water quality. However, your home making it through is priceless!!

How close did the fire get to your house? I fished the Owens many years ago for big trout.

 The fire was less than a mile away when the winds shifted and turned the fire east. I live on the outside edge of town and only a road separates my place from the undeveloped area that was burning. I count myself extremely fortunate. What limited resources that are here had not arrived yet when my dog and I made our escape.

 Brighter side was that the burn exposed years of trash left by anglers along the Owens and I enjoyed some fantastic river keeping. In just over an hour, I was able to fill my bin with glass and aluminum alcohol containers and over 30 salmon egg jars.

Thats too close a call!
The river will come back in short order I'm sure, especially with less trash blocking seedlings and sprouts


Great job on always cleaning up!

I know I’m responding late to this post but so glad and you and your dog are safe.  Just got back from Lee Vining and Walker Lake on Tuesday. Had some crazy smoke filled sky’s driving there and back to Davis.  Not sure when your fire took place.   

Had not been up to Mono and that general area in years.  We had forgotten how beautiful it was and how much fishing, hiking, and kayaking was up there.  I guess we were still a good distance north of you. I agree with others nature can recover pretty quickly. 

I have a niece in Montana and she recently posted that in her part of the world they now have two seasons: winter and fire. 

These are weird times in just about every way but... we can still go fishing.  We’re already planning a trip up to Lee Vining next fall.  Enjoy your new home waters.  Watching it recover and relearning it will be great experiences.







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  There are some spots that are tight but not choked out and with some skills you can paddle the Owens safely. There are a lot of fast sharp switchbacks and I find that I use the T-stroke often to keep from being sucked into the undercuts. T-stroke, bow rudder, and static rudder skills need to be sharp.
There is a lot of water in the system now, so the bridges have to be portaged and the drift anchor isn't as effective.  I can paddle the river now but paddling and fishing is tough until the flows decrease.
Ive done it alone but a partner is preferred IF they are river wise.

I know I’m responding late to this post but so glad and you and your dog are safe.  Just got back from Lee Vining and Walker Lake on Tuesday. Had some crazy smoke filled sky’s driving there and back to Davis.  Not sure when your fire took place.   

Had not been up to Mono and that general area in years.  We had forgotten how beautiful it was and how much fishing, hiking, and kayaking was up there.  I guess we were still a good distance north of you. I agree with others nature can recover pretty quickly. 

I have a niece in Montana and she recently posted that in her part of the world they now have two seasons: winter and fire. 

These are weird times in just about every way but... we can still go fishing.  We’re already planning a trip up to Lee Vining next fall.  Enjoy your new home waters.  Watching it recover and relearning it will be great experiences.







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Was just scouting Lee Vining creek for a future trip.

 This is the corner in the first picture of this thread as it is today.
And a few more of this stretch. The flow is still where I can paddle it or fish it, but putting it together is tough and I'm not willing to increase the weight of my drift anchor. Hoping that the flow will be decreased just a bit very soon.
This section is also the primary focus of my clean up effort.