Saturday, June 20, 2009

Jedediah Smith Wilderness Area

Floyd and I had Saturday morning free while staying at the Grand Targhee resort and decided to explore the nearby Jedediah Smith Wilderness Area as there is a beautiful creek that runs out of here into the local valley. On the way there, we spotted a nice cinnamon colored black bear. It was clear and strong and seemed to be perfect for trout. We could not find any present though and hiked our way in about 2.5 miles trying different water and enjoying the canyon. There were waterfalls on both sides of the canyon and at one point, you could see seven different falls from standing in a single place. We crossed several fresh avalanche paths from this winter that has taken out trees with snow still insulated under some of the debris. As we hiked in the wilderness manager was on his way out from doing some work on the trails and mentioned he had never caught any fish here or heard of anyone doing well fishing the creek. At least it was a nice day out and the hiking in the canyon was beautiful. I had never been here before and I am glad I got the time to stop and enjoy this wonderful place.

2 comments:

Gary said...

I know that stream!!! I have found that it does better in the fall. Brookies low down and the cutties still have a hold on the upper watershed... Sorry to hear you did have any luck, great post though.

wyoflyfish said...

Gary, I am so glad to hear there are trout to be found. Not sure if it was the higher water or what was going on but the lies in that creek are beautiful and should hold some nice fish. We didn't even spook a fish out at all. That is nice to hear you have had success there before. If I am back in that area, I will certainly take the time to prospect there again.