Colorado Adventures 2010: Part IV

After our two days of roughing it in the canyon, Corey and I were looking forward to the last leg of our trip. For the first time in nearly a week, we would soon be sleeping in real beds...


We began our trip back by passing through Gunnison and taking some much needed showers at the rec center. Once we were looking a little more civilized, we headed to our traditional post-canyon lunch at Mario's Pizza. From there, we started the drive towards Buena Vista, where my family has a cabin. After calling my wife to check stream flows in the area (she's my smartphone) we decided to shoot past the cabin and fish in South Park for the afternoon, since we'd had so much success last year. We were pleasantly surprised at the number of large fish we saw... although we weren't able to land any of them. This fishing is really tough, but we did land a couple nice browns and get some exciting chases from some huge trout.



It was dark by the time we were done for the day, which made for an interesting walk back to the car while we listened to coyotes howl in surround sound. Upon our arrival at the cabin, we got a chance to see my cousin and some of her friends, which was a special treat as I don't get to see the family much these days. We stayed up and ate some of their delicious left-overs, then got a great night sleep before a breakfast of banana pancakes. After breakfast we said our goodbyes and headed back to South Park for a little more fishing, but it had really turned off from the day before. We stopped by the Dinky Dairy in Fairplay for lunch. For anyone traveling along US 285, I highly recommend this stop. Their cheesesteaks (I think) are better than Pat's or Geno's, their fries are outstanding, and if you're in the mood for a shake they'll set you up right.


That was about all she wrote, as we finished the drive to Denver and hit the rack so Corey could get me to my early flight the next morning. It was a truly great trip, we covered so much territory and had solid experiences all around, and we made a loop around a big hunk of Colorado without any backtracking, which we've never done before. Hopefully this was enough to scratch my fishing itch, because it may be awhile before I get back.

Some funny memories

• Double rainbows, bunnies, haul, and everything else
• More splash fishing
• The streamer that got out of hand
• The breakdown of the "1-2-3 cast" system
• Rock-paper-scissors for the big brown
• The little kid who beat Corey in a race at the Aspen rec center
• The unparalleled grace of steelheading for trout