3am gassing up the CRV in Anaheim, CA
6am outside of Lone Pine, CA - checking out the Charcoal kiln by the old Owens dry lakes
Shooting photos in the desert
wide awake with no sleep in the desert waiting for the sun to rise over the mountains
Gary gets his camera ready
the old kilns fenced up with bronze plaque missing
view of Mt. Whitney from the Alabama Hills in Lone Pine, CA
After gassing up and grabbing breakfast in Bishop, we finally made a fishing stop in the June Lake Loop at Rush Creek
Eugene and I put on waders before heading into the creek
Eugene is in the creek; after a couple hours, we left Rush Creek for ...
Glass Creek, where there were Trouts!
Little Brookies Trouts! Don't worry, we toss them back. Brookies don't get much bigger, they're basically stunted Trouts. I think it's legal to take more than five of these guys.
I've always wonder what these wooden structures (to hold back the snow drift from the highway) looked like close up ...
this is Deadman's Creek ... dead was right, not much fishing here either (on the way back to Mammoth Lakes).
Almost to Mammoth Lakes ...
We got our keys to the condo
Our unit was on the 2nd floor
heres the kitchen / dining area
the beds in the loft area
Heres my bedroom for the week (I won the coin toss)
Here's the fishes for cleaning on day one, afterwards we got dinner from John's Pizza Works, supplies from Von's and turned in for the night. The three of us didn't sleep for more than 24 hours!
Day Two - 9/7 "Labor Day" Monday
Shopped at one of the local fishing shops. I spent some $$$ on some new fishing clothes and breakfast at the Mammoth McDonald before heading out to our first fishing outing of the day.
We decided to try nearby Convict Lake / Creek
Eugene is thinking about all the little Brookies that he let go ...
Gary is patiencely fly fishing in Convict Lake Creek, he was able to see alot of them.
Not having any luck, I spent my time sightseeing and shooting photo of the beautiful lake.
Mister Chipmunk posed for me too!
Afterwards, Gary dropped Eugene and I off at Mammoth Creek in town.
Eugene demonstrated his talent at being able to catch keepable Rainbows in the creek, I didn't have any luck at all. I suck at creek fishing and was pretty much skunked today!
Afterwards, Eugene grilled up some huge Ribeye steaks at the condo for dinner.
Day Three - 9/8 Tuesday
We decided to go explore fishing locations south of Bishop, we stopped at Mac's Sporting goods to pick up bait and other supplies. I got talked into buy a basket of crickets which I barely used!
One of our first stop was Independence Creek (close to Independence, CA - north of hwy 395). We ended up doing a lot of off-roading to follow Gary's GPS coordinates!
I found this tiny fishing hole in the creek, and after three quick strikes; finally pulled out a very nice Rainbow Trout!
Eugene is check outing a spillway that we discovered by accident on the Independence Creek. Unfortunately, every public accessed spot seeemed to be "fished out"!
We spent time going thru alot of potiental DFG planting spots ..
Here's another camp ground we looked at as a potiential DFG planting site ..
I caught my last fish of the day under this bridge in another camp ground.
We grabbed dinner at the local favorite Mexican restaurant in Mammoth - Roberto's
Day Four - 9/9 Wednesday
meal at The Breakfast Club in Mammoth
on the way to Yosemite, we check out the SCE plant /outlet below the Tioga Pass (near Lee Vining) ... no fishes here!
The Western Gate / Tioga Pass entrance into Yosemite. It would be almost another 3 hours before we arrive in Yosemite Village / Valley!
Gary is shooting the top of Bridalveil Falls
DB is posing in front the Bridalveil Falls
Checking out El Capitan
"Red Bear" logo display at the Yosemite Store
taking it easy riding the free shuttle
The visitor center
Eugene enjoying the visitor center
Yosemite Museum - Ahwahnee Village
a Mule deer buck roaming Yosemite Village
view of Half Dome from inside the shuttle bus
DB in Yosemite Valley (plaque)
some of the burnt out area in Yosemite from recent forrest fires
while photographing the fire damage, we spotted a flared up fire and flagged down a fire crew!
nearby a doe wanders around the hill side.
heres one of the three tunnels we drove thru on the way back to Mammoth.
Yosemite National Park provided many beautiful scenery.
We stopped at Whoa Nelly Deli in the Mobil Station in Lee Vining for dinner on the way back.
Day Five - 9/10 Thursday
We saw two pairs of deers on the way to a fishing spot in Lee Vining / Tioga Pass area.
Here's a big outlet that we found out about last year, it was still very good!
I did pretty good, I caught eight and kept four Trouts!
We went on a mini hike afterward in the Bridgeport area looking for an old sawmill. We met a park ranger who told us he was working with the visitors on "Bear" awareness and education! Thank goodness we didn't see any bears!
Here's Eugene checking out a small stream during our hike, that we temporarily lost track of Gary!
We checked out the Virgina Lakes resort areas too.
Here's one of the fishing spots that we tried last year on the West Walker River. I got skunked here last year.
Since we couldn't fished from the top of the bridge, we have to down under there bridge.
Eugene was having a great time catching Trout when Mister Beaver decided to pay him a visit! This was how close the beaver came up on him! We also saw a doe come down the nearby hill.
I ended up catching a few decent size ones this year on the Walker River! We ended up driving directly from the fishing spot to Lake Tahoe, NV that night. We got in about 9pm and checked into our room about an hour later after we grabbed a late night dinner in the food court at Harrah's Casino in Lake Tahoe. One of the guys was able to score a free night at the Casino so the three of us crashed there.
Day Six - 9/11 Friday
It was pretty different to be in a Casino after spending most of the week in a condo in Mammoth.
We had breakfast at Harvey's Cabo Wabo (also a Harrah's owned property).
After breakfast, we checked out and did some sightseeing around Lake Tahoe which took about less than an hour an half.
We drove east thru Carson City (the state capital of Nevada). Gas was really cheap there!
We drove thru the Casino area in Reno and shopped at Sierra Trading Post before heading back to Mammoth.
On the way back, we stopped off in Bridgeport to get our dipped iced cream cones! We tried to go to Bodie, the old ghost town but it was almost closing time and also found out that they now charge admission to tour the town!
We decide to go by both Dogtown and the Aspen Camp ground for fishing.
Here's is Gary (on the left) trying to photograph the deers in the meadows at the Aspen Camp ground.
After shoot photos of the deers, Gary put on his fishing gear and spent the rest of the daylight time flyfishing.
On the way to the Condo, we grabbed dinner at the Mammoth Subway.
I had two days worth of Trout to clean (remember, we went straight to Lake Tahoe after catching trout in the West Walker River).
Day Seven - 9/12 Saturday
We went up the Tioga Pass to fish at Saddlebag Lake
I fished near the dam and was lucky enough to catch a couple sizable ones!
We just missed the big thunderstorm that came thru and decided to break for lunch at Givanni's Pizza in Mammoth.
I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning my trouts, watching college football games and taking a nap; while Eugene went back to the local Mammoth Creek to continue fishing for the rest of the day.
Afterward, the three of us had dinner at Burger's Restaurant in Mammoth.
Day Eight - 9/13 Sunday
We packed up, cleaned the Condo, and loaded the CRV before heading out at 9:30am.
Since I've never been to the Hatchery, Eugene and Gary thought it would be nice to show me where some of the DFG Trout Plants raised. It was an interesting experience!
After our visit to the hatchery, we tried fishing at the nearby Owen River, I managed to catch only one medium size trout. We spent like three or more hours out there with no cover.
We kept hearing about this "marker" on the Owen river, so I took a photo of it (it marks the boundry between the Upper Owen River and the Lower portion.
We saw these riders and their livestock riding along the highway while leaving the Owen River area.
The stop in Bishop for Schat Bakkery!
I drove the last 315 mile leg from Bishop back to Anaheim. It was a loooong but fun week!
-DB-
