Wyoming - Golden Trout

After catching Golden Trout in Alberta the last few years I decided it would be great to go on an adventure in the Wind River Range of the Bridger wilderness in Wyoming to catch some a little bigger.

Jeannette had never caught a Golden Trout and would be coming with me.

We headed south from Calgary and after 14 hrs arrived in Cora Wyoming at the D.C. Bar Ranch where Tim Singewald has been leading pack trips into the Bridger Wilderness for the last 28 years. Tim had decided this would be his last year guiding and we were lucky enough to go on 1 of the two trips he would be hosting this year.

Folks in Pinedale seem to dress more primitively than one would expect for 2010! :)
Actually, it was the tail end of Rendezvous Days in Pinedale. Historically, the Green River Rendezvous was an annual event in the 1830s. Mountain Men, Trappers, Travelers and Indians all gathered in a valley "below the Green" river and bartered, traded, sold, and swapped various items such as skins, pelts, guns, jewelry and whatever else they needed.

Our pack trip wasn't going to start until Monday and we had arrived a day early. We headed into Pinedale, Wyoming to have some fun and ended up at a bar aptly named "Cowboy Bar" for a few drinks.

Here we go starting our journey into the wilderness. Little did we know how hard it was going to be riding through forest, up and down mountains, and through rivers. After 5 days there were several mishaps including horses falling over and people falling off. Things could have been worse but fortunately no one was serious injured.

Our group consisted of 11 people and 21 horses and mules.

Eight hours of riding and we finally arrived at our base camp after travelling through some of the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen.

Every morning after breakfast we would get back on our horses and travel an hour and a half up to the lake we would be fishing for Golden Trout.

This was our view of the lake on the first day we arrived. It wouldn't be the first time I arrived at a lake only to find it frozen.

At an elevation close to 11,000 feet it was easy to get winded while hiking down to the lake. There was too much snow to take the horses all the way. Fortunately there was open water when we got down there.

After fly fishing for the Golden Trout at this lake for 3 days it was quite evident that catching them here was as difficult or more than catching the ones back home in Alberta. However, fortunately everyone managed to land one.