just got back, and my knee swelling is down. we were 20 miles in the backcountry, and took a 30 mile trail out. we hit trout hot spot after hot spot. my brother and i ate about 50 trout. we parked at a buds horse pack station. guess what? he asked if we could show his new young wranglers the route..he offered to pack us in!!! it was a blessing and a curse. we opted to go further and over a pass..which we had to hike back over. 11,000 feet and like a stairmaster. if we knew we had horses, we would have eaten real food our first few meals. like steak, eggs..bread. we just paid for time. cheap.
our group hit five species of california native trout. brook, rainbow, some rainbow hybrid, brown, and we caught a single golden trout. (i think the brown was the most tasty). biggest trout of the group was a salmon looking 24" brown. the most stunning was the 20" rainbow. rainbows fight so hard, and are jump masters. fighting them on ultralight, with 3lb line was a pucker exercise.
my pack weighed in at 31 lbs for a 9 day...so i packed my Wetterling hatchet. making firewood was so fun..til i cut my thumb. hehe.
never did figure out how to cook a trout on a stick without it falling into the fire. we packed foil, a pan..and yes, one guy brought BUTTER!
i was the worst fisherman, and i didnt get skunked. my first cast got snagged into a tree behind me, to the right..DUH!..my second cast barely hit water, but i got a 13" brook. the fishing was that good. thank goodness my casting improved when we hit then big river.
oh, i lost maybe 10 lbs. i had to use a leathermen to add two holes to my belt. my pants and short folded over themselves to wrap me. (my bro lost 14lbs)
we met 3 thru hikers on the pacific coast trail. they started in MEX and expect to be in canada sept 11. they said they eat 5000 cal min per day. how? they looked like elves.
we also met one fool that had a 170lb pack. we heard about him, and found him 8 miles from the start..just sleeping. he had canned peaches out and a painters tarp. heavy stuff. he had a framed pack and carried a rolling duffel on the top and a regular duffel on the bottom. we figured him less backpacker and more HOMELESS..he was smoking the worst smelling weed.
pics. well some pics. the last pic was beaver damage. it was like a cartoon beaver log.
