Annual September North Fork of the Clearwater trip

Yep, it's becoming annual.

Well, I finally figured out in my head what "Kelly Creek" actually was. It is composed of beautiful water, great scenery, and Washington residents in their uniforms, fishing waters that they cannot seem to find in their own state. They do not wave when you pass in your truck, they don't acknowledge you as you walk by, they push and shove to get to where they are going, they tailgate, they possess the attitude that speaks loudly, "if you don't look and act like me, I don't give a shit about you!"

However, I did still pass some Kootenai county folks who waved, gave me room on the road, and smiled as they went by. And I even saw some washington guys, straight off of their ATVs, fishing with spin rods in Kelly Creek! Perhaps it is I who is snobby. It just didn't seem right. But, who cares.

I was on my way to a relaxing solo weekend on the Northfork of the Clearwater. A place I cut my teeth in the Forest Service world. A place where I figured that during bow season I could have the river to myself. Not so. The weather has been so pleasant here during our Indian summer that many many many people were on the river. Ugh. Irritating.


The gorgeous Kelly creek


Kelly again

Well, I went over there with a can of beans, a quarter onion, and half a green pepper. I figured I'd either catch or shoot my dinner! (I had a dehydrated meal as backup.) Sure enough, my first fish was over the legal 14" limit but I threw it back..."shoot, if I caught one this big the first cast out...I should be able to get more!" Negative. I fished and fished and caught nothing else that was legal. When I finally figured I'd just keep whatever else I caught for dinner, the bite shut off! I suppose someone wanted me to be totally legal. No matter, I still needed to get some firewood for camp...so I headed to Mush saddle thinking there would be no one up there for a little grouse hunting / wood gathering trip! Perhaps even, a little time alone.

Wouldn't you know it, I found a grouse. It flushed by the side of the road and I got to go up the sidehill, through head-high ferns (very cool by the way) and shoot this grouse out of a tree...yea, with a shotgun. I wasn't playing around at this point.


Dinner

I got some wood off the same log I cut rounds from when Sarah and I were up there weeks prior and headed back to camp. I started a stout fire and got ready to cook dinner.
I cleaned the grouse and stuffed it with onions and green peppers, wrapped it in foil, and got the beans going on my little backpacking stove.


Dinner cooking

Things turned out fairly well. The fire burned well, the wind kinda died, camp was made, and I could finally relax while dinner was cooking.


Perfectly cooked!


Dinner from the foil to the pot


Dinner

I then tried to relax into the evening. It didn't really work. Something about all the people and feeling like I needed to do something at all times got to me. I went to bed late in the night after eating and listening to sad Cash songs via the truck CD player.

There weren't as many salmon in the river as there was last year. It didn't have the same feel...even though I was in the SAME camp. Not sure what happened there, but it wasn't the same. I did sleep well and it got COLD that night.


View from the road to Mush saddle


Camp...easy access!


My little tent tucked in the trees


Old camp from last year


View one from the fire


View two from the fire


Self-photo opp Sunday morning


Me lookin' at you


Just for Kelly


I thought this fire picture was interesting. Look at the devil in the upper right.

All in all, the trip was kind of a let down. Perhaps next year I can go later in the year and not find the same situation.

I DID come to the cutoff that led over to Powell and thought about taking it. BUT, I told interested parties that I would be on the Northfork, and for safety sake, I committed myself to that instead of going up on the Motorway/Nee-mee-poo trail.

I WAS proud of finding my own food on the trip and following through with that.

Other news:

Butch cannot make our elk camp this year which kinda bums me out. But I'm going to live it for him (since he's gonna go to Colorado on a sweet elk trip anyways) and I'm going to do that trip solo as well. I'm getting a lot of raised eyebrows from guys at work, "you're going hunting ALONE for a week?! Wow!"

And I recently got my truck fixed. It had been making a whoomping noise from the rear-end for the past couple of weeks. I figured it was tires, so spent $850 on those. Nope.
Sarah and I went to Cabelas and getting back in the truck, she said, "I'm not sure I want to ride in this much more. You should take it in."
So I did.
Turns out the rear bearings were basically gone and the left-rear side bearings had worn a groove nearly through the axle. Also, gasoline was spitting onto my manifold from the fuel pressure valve! They fixed all that and now, two days later, I have a nice running truck. All in all, my axle could've broken, my truck could have caught on fire, and I could have been in a world of hurt...or dead. I'm glad I have someone here to tell me things I should do and not just put off like I was doing. It's interesting that I don't really care about myself, but when someone I care about says she is REALLY concerned that I finally do something. Interesting...
LYSK