Day 10 – Yellowstone ( Fishing )

Thursday, June 13th, 2013

After breakfast, another thunderstorm with high winds hit the area and I stayed at the restaurant until it was over. Surprisingly, it became sunny and warm so I packed up my fishing gear, got a license. There is no fishing allowed on Yellowstone Lake and the river’s near the campsite, so I had to drive 40 miles ( near Old Faithful ) to go fishing.

On my way there, the traffic was stopped by tourists trying to take pictures of a grizzly bear on the west side of the road, foraging for food among the dead trees and 50 yards further, an Elk that was sitting on the east side of the road among the trees. I confess, I stopped and took some pictures but the they were taken with my camera so I am not able to post them at this time.

I rode to one of the picnic areas on the Firehole river and kept my fishing fly wet for a few hours. A fisherman who was there at the time, told me that he had caught a couple of fish earlier in the day but hasn’t had any luck since. Several other people tried but no one had any luck. I finally left and on my way back I saw a number of fishermen trying their luck on the Gibbon river, so whenI saw a ‘ pull out ‘ that was near the river and no people around, I stopped and quickly went down to the river ( in my motorcycle gear…that must have been a funny sight ) but when I reached the river, a car stopped and 3 fisherman got out and started fishing upstream of me. I tried for half an hour before I finally called it quits.

On my way back there was another bear sighting and although I didn’t stop, I caught a glimpse of his brown fur as he lumbered away.

I finally broke my piggy bank and paid for a shower and shave ( not that I needed one ? ) and then I went to the ‘Lake Lodge ‘ for a supper of prime rib.

Back at the camp, a couple told me that they were cleared from the trail they were on, by rangers, because a bear had attacked some hikers a little while earlier on the trail.

As it turned out, the weather stayed sunny and warm until 8 pm when it got overcast, windy and cold. The camp staff drove around the campsites at 10 pm and told us that 60 mph ( 100 kph ) winds were expected in the area within 15 minutes. Fortunately, that never occurred or I fell asleep and missed the excitement.