In January, 2013, Pop had major back surgery. He's 75 years old. His goal, even in the hospital room, was to go fly fishing with his son. 5 months later, he achieved that goal. Pop, Gary and I went to Loa in south/central Utah. This is a beautiful view, but I wasn't sure about how the fishing would turn out.
Monday was our travel day into Loa, Utah. Loa is a little town at the junctions of highways 24 & 72. It's about a 1/2 hour west and a bit north of Capitol Reef National Park. It's in a 7000' high valley surrounded on all sides by mountains. Lots of farming in the valley and several neat little towns.
We scheduled The Quiet Fly Fisher as a guide for Tuesday and Wednesday. Mike is very personable and an excellent guide. He knows the surrounding area quite well.
Tuesday, we hit two different spots - the middle stretch of UM Creek and a stretch of Upper UM Creek over 9000' in elevation. UM stands for United Moroni Order,
a group Mormon stockman that worked the area.
Wednesday, Mike took us to Blue Lake. Almost due south on Boulder Mountain, it is over 10000' up. The scenery all around was pretty spectacular and the fishing was pretty good - grayling and brook trout. The drive was interesting, to say the least. The last part of the drive to the lake the "road" was a dry creek bed. It worked, though.
Thursday was Capitol Reef Park day. This Park needs to be on your bucket list! Truly spectacular! I didn't name most of these pics, but enjoy anyway.
Friday, we fished on our own and went up to Upper UM Creek. As it turned out, Pop was in quite a bit of pain and we decided to go home.
I took most of the pics, but Gary supplied many, as well. The time-lapse videos are from Gary.....and way cool.
Monday/Tuesday Pics Wednesday Pics Thursday - Capitol Reef Pics Friday Pics
I could devote several pages just to Capitol Reef National Park, but instead, I'll just include a few in the page.