Monday, November 15, 2010

Cow Creek- Gila National Forest, still continued


Quickly enough I saw trout, and not particularly small ones either, given the very tiny stature of this stream. The water was low. It's been a dry, warm fall. The oasis like creek bottom still had a bit of summer left in it: green grass and the streamside alders still leafy and green. I hobbled along downstream casting into the deepest pools.Unfortunately, the fish were only in these pools that were clear and still as glass. I've seen this before on other small streams during the fall and spring dry outs. The fish will not venture out of the deepest water. The approaches made me feel like some clumsy giant along a Lilliputian river. Somehow I managed a few hook-ups, and finally a healthy 8 or 9 inch trout. It looked much like the hybrids I've caught in Sapillo Creek: mostly like a rainbow, but with some Gila trout showing through. I didn't get very far when I realized I needed to pack out.I had fished for 2 hours that went by like 10 minutes. I had a long hike ahead and an even longer drive back to Las Cruces. I knew I couldn't go back up the ravine I'd come down( there were several pour offs that would be very difficult to climb up and around). Luckily, I found a deer path that led up the grassy ridge. It was steep, but I made great progress initially. As I looked back on the dry, dry juniper studded hillsides on one of my many air breaks, it seemed hard to believe that any kind of permanent stream exists in this corner of the Gila, let alone one with a trout population. That's what made Cow Creek a magical place. Despite the difficulty, I couldn't definitely say that I would never go back.

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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Cow Creek, Farm Flat-Gila National Forest, continued

Cow Creek
Farm Flat looking back to Tadpole Ridge
At least I remembered to bring a second pair of boots, knowing that the first pair would be soaked without time to dry for my second day's outing. But it would've been better if I had forgotten. My second pair, grayish green LL Beans that I'd picked up barely used at my mom's thrift store, had only been worn once or twice and not very happily at that. Still, I was wanting to believe I'd made a great deal picking up some 120 dollar boots for almost nothing, and was willing to give them another chance.They felt too tight from the get-go but I didn't want to entertain the idea of just wearing my liner socks without my thicker hiking socks(although that's eventually what I had to do) because I was worried about blisters. I didn't remove my liner socks either, which would've helped. I just thought they would stretch as I went on. Down I went on the Sheep Corral trail until I reached the junction with the Snow Canyon trail, where I continued east and uphill. I turned northeast on a old road on the mesa top which is called Farm Flat. When the road ran out I quickly decided to get down into the rocky, but relatively open arroyo,  which I think was a branch of West Canyon, rather than slog it out in the brush. Mistake. Now as I stumbled, hopped and stomped down the dry streambed the pain in my toes began, then increased, and then increased some more to the point where I was in moaning, swearing, nearly in tears agony with almost every step. But I wouldn't stop to rest or evaluate and attempt to fix my situation. " I'll stop when I get to the water" I thought. When I did reach the water I took off my boots, but not my socks. I didn't want to see how bad it was. I didn't need to. I could feel it.

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Monday, November 8, 2010

Cow Creek, Sheep Corral Canyon ( FT 231)-Gila National Forest







The first time I tried to venture down into Cow Creek, a small trout holding tributary to Sapillo Creek, I hadn't lived here very long and in naivete thought I could amble down one of the dry branches from FR 282( Sheep Corral Road) until I saw water and fish. I actually started out one fall morning too, stumbling steeply down into a dark pine forest, hoping to pick up some kind of trail. But then the clouds rolled in and the thunder started. The temperature dropped and I thought better of the whole idea and drove to Sapillo Creek, where I'd never fished, caught a couple of nice rainbows in the sunshine and found a mainstay of Fall fishing for the next 10 years. Now, why I would have picked Cow Creek, because truthfully most people wouldn't, first over a more obvious, accessible destination like Sapillo Creek, has everything to do with Rex Johnson Jr. and his book Fly Fishing Southern New Mexico. More on that later. Suffice it to say I put Cow Creek way on the back burner and I thought that only if I was ever camping nearby or staying in Silver City would attempting it even be feasible. No matter how I looked at it on the maps it was a 8 to 10 mile round trip hike just to access the stream for a few hours and that wouldn't be counting any miles hiking along while I was fishing. Well the opportunity arrived last week. This time I was prepared with waypoints downloaded from topo map software onto my GPS, a hearty breakfast from the Econolodge in Silver City and blissful ignorance of the exact nature of the terrain of the cross country segment of my hike. The Sheep Corral Road was crappier than I remember and I kept waiting for the low tire light, but luckily it never came on. I parked and headed down the trail. It was still pretty dark in the narrow section of Sheep Corral Canyon even at eight o'clock, which gave it a forbidding feeling.  Bright maples seemingly with their own light source alleviated this somewhat. I saw bear scat and perhaps lion or coyote scat which also added to my anxiety as I pressed jauntily on. But it was not bears or wolves or mountain lions that I needed to fear. It was my boots. More to come.

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Thursday, November 4, 2010

West Fork Gila River- Gila Wilderness







I fished the West Fork of the Gila River,from the Cliff Dwellings bridge to about three or so miles upstream(just past the small alcove ruin on the south side of the stream).The West Fork may be better further upstream,but in the lower reaches I've had much better luck on the Middle Fork. Much of this section of the West Fork is wide and shallow and appears to be prone to frequent changes of course as evidenced by the many abandoned gravel and cobble channels along both sides of the river. Also, there are many beaver dams now in this section that have formed shallow silty ponds, which are not being frequented by fish of any kind as far as I could see.In the still pools at the bends, there were large suckers. It's always a bit startling to see these fish and think for a second that they're trout. Speaking of startling, I did startle a large bull elk who was relaxing on a sandy bank in the middle of day. I also saw deer, ducks, and javelinas, and of course once I was a couple of miles in, the scenery is spectacular.The numbers for the day: 3 decent sized rainbows, 1 small brown and one chub. Pretty slow I guess,but I was thinking this was going to be about the one that got away after I hooked, but lost what I was sure was a good sized brown on my way back downstream. Happily, within about 5 minutes I caught my best rainbow and began to think maybe the one that got away was a chub after all.





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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Black Canyon Revisited-Gila National Forest


IMPORTANT UPDATE (6/22): Much of this area is being burned by the Black Fire.
I went back to Black Canyon. The trail situation is still a little murky.The fence is cut now where it enters private property, and the gate is open on the other end where it exits. The "alternate" trails that went up the hillside don't appear used anymore, and yet there is nothing positively indicating, by way of sign, that this is indeed the right course of action(crossing the private section). It probably takes all of 2 minutes or less to cross and re-enter Forest Service land, and yet I'm watching the house, which appears now to be occupied as indicated by the smoke emitting from the chimney, and feeling a bit anxious as I imagine some potential confrontation for that entire 120 seconds. But onto better things. It was cold and very damp still at ten when I arrived. The water was low and the stream bed heavily silted with, I assume, ash from last years Aspen fire. The fish were still there, perhaps a little harder to catch, a dozen or so, all Gilas from about 7 to 10 inches , with one a bit larger and one a bit smaller. The amount of silt stirred up on each release was a bit disturbing. Only sporadic sunshine throughout the day kept it from ever getting warm , which was good and bad. The fall color was at its peak in the canyon with boxelder, oak, grapevine, willow, cottonwood and even a few aspens providing the display. The Gila trout seemed a little duller colored, but still wonderfully willing to take old fashioned dries.This stream is still too open and too wide for its own good in the lower reaches above the road. I walked about four miles in to perhaps a mile below the confluence with Aspen Canyon, but I'd really like to backpack in and see what the fishing is like further upstream.

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Forest Road 150,Gila National Forest

Forest Road 150, the North Star Mesa Road is in better shape than I've ever seen it.The section through Rocky Canyon( the worst segment) has been plowed of rocks and the surface leveled.Road work is on going, and the worst section right now is up on the Meason Flat( the mesa between Rocky and Black Canyons) where the crew is working putting in culverts. This part was pretty muddy after the previous night's rain(Oct.21),but still easily passable. I drove as far as Black Canyon in my 2 wheel drive,not particularly high clearance pick-up and was fine. It will still take 50 -70 minutes to drive to Black Canyon from the paved NM 35 depending on your vehicle and your degree of caution.Beyond Black Canyon I don't know what the conditions are. NOTE:The crews are working Monday through Thursday right now, and you could encounter a long delay during daylight hours.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Horse Mountain Wilderness Study Area


Pine "park" at the top of our hike

                       

On our third day we decided to check out the BLM's Horse Mountain Wilderness Study Area. The mountain seems to be really three separate peaks of nearly equal elevation, rising very steeply from the plains of San Agustin about 25 miles southwest of Datil. The turnoff is at the remains of the town of Horse Springs. There are many rugged canyons and lesser summits radiating out from the central high points in a roughly circular pattern. The middle mountaintop is named Horse Peak. The others are nameless.The only "trail" in the range is an old east-west running road.The eastern entrance appears to be blocked by private property. We started on the west side where the BLM has a sign. The road follows a dry stream the entire way until it reaches a large ponderosa pine "park" at a saddle.From there it continues east down another dry stream. We walked down a little ways, but decided we didn't want an uphill both ways hike, and returned to the grassy saddle to enjoy distant views of the Sawtooths and close views of the three high peaks. Since this trail is on the north side of the mountain it had much more diverse vegetation than we'd been seeing, including Douglas Fir and Gambel Oak which had already started to change color. I even spied a few aspen high on a cliff face. We saw fresh bear scat, mountain lion scat, a huge bull elk, several deer and flocks of jays.This is a wild and beautiful place and was the highlight hike of this trip.







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Sawtooth Mountains - Cibola National Forest

The Tower





Our second day out I wanted to explore the western arm of the Sawtooth Range. Here there several detached mountains with rounded peaks, unremarkable if it weren't for the myriad of erosional forms sculpted in their volcanic tuff. Pinnacles, towers, fins and hoodoos all occur in the bare tan and pink cliffs. We drove down Forest Road 6A this time, and turned off at FR 325 heading east and parked just north of Monument Rock at a fork in the road. Choosing the left fork we hiked toward an amazing tower that must be at least 500 feet high. Later we drove west from FR 6A on very primitive road that took us closer to Castle Dome, Lone Mountain and other formations. It was already pretty warm and we decided that further hiking in this open terrain would be downright hot, so we picnicked under some piñon trees and then headed out to Pie Town. Our last day I wanted to do a drive on Forest Road 66 which connects Highways 25 and 60 and would have made a nice loop through the forest. On the west side the road initially goes through some subdivisions and then enters the forest with great views of the very steep Anderson and East Sugarloaf Peaks that are part of the Crosby Mountains.Unfortunately the road is blocked by a gate just a few miles in. From the east side, the same road becomes very rough and uninviting after only a mile or so.


Monument Rock in the background






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Datil and Pie Town

Datil has a gas station/grocery/restaurant.There was a vegetable stand outside when we visited. The meat case had some great looking T- Bones, but they don't cut steaks on Sunday.There's another restaurant further east. On US 60 north of town there is the Baldwin Cabin public library-an unusual amenity for such a tiny town. Pie Town has the Pie-O-Neer restaurant and the Daily Pie Cafe. We enjoyed a piece of of chocolate cream and a piece of blueberry a la mode on the porch of the Pie-O-Neer on a Saturday.The latter day hippie clientele and ambiance of this spot is in marked contrast to the prevailing cowboy culture of the region.

Datil Mountains - Cibola National Forest


Datil Mountains
East side of the Sawtooth Mountains

Hay Canyon

Our first day out I had intended to explore Thompson Canyon, known for its rock climbing area, and maybe climb Madre Mountain, the tallest and only named peak in the Datil Range. Unfortunately, the entrance is on private land and when we drove to the locked gate, the message seemed to be keep out. Since there was no one at  home at the nearby ranch house, we headed out for other options. I later learned that the gate may have been just dummy locked, but that it was still necessary to make arrangements with the land owners. We drove on Forest Road 6 first to the turn off for the Davenport lookout. That road, at least on the map, appeared to be a back way into Thompson Canyon. On the ground though, it didn't look like a good option. We continued on FR 6 over Monument Saddle down into Ox Spring Canyon. We parked and hiked to a clearing which had beautiful views of the sheer cliffs on the north side of Madre Mountain and the east side of the Sawtooths. Later, we backtracked on FR 6 to Hay Canyon and did and pleasant but, unremarkable hike down its road without seeing another soul.








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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Datil Well Campground


This is very nice BLM campground a few miles outside of the small town of Datil. It has a campground host, pit toilets, water from hand pumps and five dollar fee. The sites are well wooded with piñon and juniper, and spacious. On our visit, there were never more than five of the twenty-two spaces occupied. We used it as our base to explore the Datil, Crosby and Sawtooth Mountains of the Cibola National Forest and the BLM's Horse Mountain Wilderness Study Area. An easy three mile loop trail that starts in the campground took us to several nice viewpoints of the San Agustin Plains and the Crosby Mountains.We discovered many potential dispersed sites nearby, but since our camper is very small (no bathroom, limited water storage), we couldn't really beat this place for convenience.

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Confessions of a Fly Fisher


I've never seen my backing since I tied it on.
I've never fished a 2 fly set-up.
I tie flies because it's part of the sport,but I rarely enjoy it. My tying table is an old desk and it's absolute mess when I'm tying flies.I'm constantly searching for whatever tool or material that I need, instead of actually tying the fly. I'm not sure why this is because I don't tolerate a lot of chaos in other aspects of my life.
Rather than the Zen-like experience I perhaps yearn for, many of my days on the water are a comedy of frustration infused incompetence.
I hate tying on tippet.
Much of the time I omit the final loop threading on my improved clinch knot; it still holds 99% of the time with the size of fish I'm catching.
I'm not always diligent about making sure my clipped ends end up in my backpack.
I've never really successfully fished a hatch of any sort, and I've only witnessed, maybe, three or four hatches where fish were actively feeding.
I've only fished with a friend once. I have 2 Redington rods and reels. 2 no-name fiberglass rods from the seventies, and my original fly/spin combo from Academy, plus two Shakespeare 1094 reels. I got a fly vest at a junk shop.
All, all of my fishing junk probably cost less than 800 dollars.
I've only used my waders twice. I can't tie a whip finish, lord knows how I've tried, but I can't. I've used a strike indicator once, I mean for one cast. The second cast, it came off and that was that. I have a nice net, but I've never used it.Most of my fishing trips involve a lot of hiking, and I already feel like a Yankee Peddler with all the junk I've got on my back, so the net stays home. Rarely have I felt that it would have been an asset. I like fly fishing, but I'm not trout addicted. Sometimes, I long for the slow moving sandy bottomed Texas creek, where I started using a fly rod, catching bluegill all day- but hoping for, and sometimes getting a jolt from a largemouth. I've never been guided and probably never will be, unless I win a guided trip in a raffle. Sometimes I count those self releases and quick releases. I'm so worried about others getting the perception that I'm exaggerating that I tend to underestimate the size of fish when I tell a tale. Sometimes after 5 or sometimes after 10, I stop counting, but I've had many less than 5 fish days. I've had a few 20 plus days too. At the beginning of a new year, I look in my fly box and usually find several flies that I tied so poorly I can't believe I left them in there. I know I didn't use them. I guess they're absolute emergency flies. I'm very self conscious about my casting technique (which may explain some of these other confessions) because I usually fish such small streams where there's not much opportunity to really cast. Still I like to air it out once in awhile in a slightly bigger stream (as long as no one is watching). I'll add more as they come to me. NOTE: Fellow flyfishers this is not a cry for help. I'm pretty happy with how I've arrived to where I am with only the help of a few books and few conversations.If you have any of your confessions, feel free to litter the comment box, I'd love to hear them.Photo is an Apache Trout caught in KP Creek in Arizona.

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