The first two days I spent hiking around a couple spots. The first day I had planned to hike to Deseret Peak. But, as often is the case, Mother Nature had something else in mind for me. The road to the Deseret Peak trailhead was closed due to flash flooding and debris flows because the start of the spring melt of all the remaining snow in the mountains. Being necessarily flexible, I found another trailhead to get onto and had a nice hike. The Stansbury Front Trail led through some pretty dry terrain with a few views of snow at some of the higher elevations.
Day two I hiked a familiar friend, the Lake Blanche trail. I had originally planned to try and do some fly fishing in Lake Blanche. But, like the day before, the mammoth snow pack changed those plans. Lake Blanche was still locked up with ice and the majority of the hike to the top was snow covered. This made for a beautiful, but slightly more taxing hike. As compared to the hike from the previous day, the Lake Blanche trail was a winter wonderland!
I played around with the GoPro video camera in addition to taking some still shots while hiking the first two days. Here is a video I put together.
The next three days, I fished with Wasatch Guide Service at various spots around Utah. The first day I fished with Dusty Kenner at a stillwater lake in the high desert of the Uinta Basin. I can't divulge any more details about this location. But, suffice it to say it was a blast catching tiger trout and Colorado cutthroat trout.
On the second day, Dusty and I hit the Lower Provo River. What an incredible fishery the Provo River is! We landed somewhere around 15 beautiful brown and rainbow trout and hooked a good many more!
On the third day, I fished with Wasatch owner Jeremy Jones. We also hit the Lower Provo and had another great day. After a bit of a slow start, we ended the day on a high note with about 12 browns and rainbows in the net.
The following morning I got up well before daylight and and made the 3.5 hour drive from Orem south toward Moab. I arrived at Arches National Park at 7:30am, just as the gates opened. This is an area of Utah that I had not previously experienced. It is an entirely different type of beauty. The high, snowy mountains are replaced with towering sandstone pillars and slot canyons. I am currently reading The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey. The introduction to the novel includes a perfect quote from Abbey describing the desert landscape:
"There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount, the perfect ratio of water to rock, of water to sand, ensuring that wide, free, open, generous spacing among plants and animals, homes and towns and cities, which makes the arid west so different from any other part of the nation. There is no lack of water here, unless you try to establish a city where no city should be."
Here is another video from the three days fishing with Dusty and Jeremy as well as my time spent in Arches N.P. Utah is an amazing place that should be experienced by all. I'm already trying to plan my return trip!
