Up at 7AM we reversed the process of loading all our gear out of the condo and into the trucks. Another couple of pots of Starbucks made the process go easier. AM’s hip boots had the felt soles delaminate so they went into the trash. We headed out of Fernie, east on Hwy. 3 at 9:05 and crossed Crowsnest Pass on the Continental Divide between British Columbia & Alberta at 9:30.

We drove thru the town of Crowsnest and Frank’s Slide (a huge landslide caused by an earthquake buried the road under many feet of rock & rubble in the 50’s or ‘60’s. Many people were killed when the entire side of the mountain collapsed.) Now some 822-miles from Seattle, we drove by highway 40 the southern terminus of the Forestry Trunk Road (we’d get to know that road pretty well before the trip ended).

We also found out that the entire southwest section of Alberta was closed to fishing due to high fire danger in the forests. We were given a number to check the status of the area closures; 1-866-394-3473 is the Forest Fire Service information number.

While MS bought new magnifying glasses, he’d broken his on last year’s trip. Owner Vic Bergman noticed AB’s "Mag-Eyes" magnifiers and liked the construction; made of stainless steel that clip on a ball cap. AB recommended them as more durable than the plastic version that he’d broken earlier. Vic took down the website info and may order some for the shop.

MS was chatting with Dan McKim in the flyshop – Dan owns the DU Hereford ranch and provides fishing access for 12-10inch rainbows in a pond on his ranch. See the photo for contact info!!

Meanwhile, AM was standing out at the highway interviewing bicyclists as they rode by. AM had just rode the "Seattle to Portland" (STP) ride in one day a few weeks earlier! 205 miles in one day! Awesome accomplishment….my butt’s sore just listening to the stories. The riders that AM was talking to were from Texas and riding from Missoula, Montana to Jasper, British Columbia…..Wow…now there’s some mountainous bike riding!

We headed north on Highway 2 to Calgary. Along the way, we saw a Rest Stop sign and decided to pull in. Taking the exit we were looking for the facilities when we spotted another Rest Stop sign point left. We followed the sign and ended up back on the highway going the opposite direction! After turning around, we finally got back on Hwy. 2 headed north again. Twenty miles down the road we saw another Rest Stop sign, this time we were a bit more cautious as we pulled off. Again, there were no facilities and the signs would have taken us around the cloverleaf and put us back on the highway headed the wrong direction. We did see one vehicle stopped under the highway bridge and the driver seemed to be "using the facilities". We left puzzled as to the intent of the Canadian Rest Stops?

We made a quick stop at the town of Highriver for lunch at the A&W Rootbeer stand and a load of fuel. (1PM –658 miles from Spokane) The plan was to fish Wedge Pond, west of Calgary and south of Seebe (Hwy. 40) for Grayling. AB had discovered the planted pond while doing research on fishing opportunities in Alberta. Then return to Calgary to fish the Bow River in the evening.

Upon entering the outskirts of Calgary with AB & JR leading the way in the Cherokee took a wrong turn off the freeway (the sign said: "To Hwy. 1 West") and we ended up on surface streets in the Calgary suburbs. A big mistake…the traffic was awful and the roads were all under construction. Had we continued straight thru Calgary on Hwy. 2 we’d have whizzed thru town and picked up Highway 1 west with no problem. But our little "side-trip" ended up costing us 2 hours of driving thru city traffic, road construction and detours. We did use the opportunity to stop at Wal-Mart to see if we could find AM a new pair of hip boots….but no luck, they didn’t carry boots with felt soles.

Finally reaching Canadian Highway 1 we turned west thru Cochrane and on to Seebe. We stopped again for fuel, not knowing exactly were we were going to end up on some mountain back road, it’s best to top off whenever you’ve got a chance.

Highway 40 South holds absolutely stunning views of the rugged Canadian Rockies near Banff National Park. The road is closed in the winter due to the high passes and extreme snowfall.

We found the sign pointing to Wedge Pond recreation area, pulled in and walked down a trail to the lake to check it out. The lake was about 30 acres and the wind was blowing a steady 15 – 20 mph with higher gusts. Not exactly conducive to easy fly fishing. The setting was absolutely stunning, high rugged, snow-capped mountains all around the forested lake.

Our research indicated that chironomids & nymphs would be the best approach, and not seeing any rising fish we all started out with strike indicators and a selection of nymphs. We did see fish, rather large fish, jumping and taking something off the surface but they were far off shore, impossible to reach with fly rods in the windy conditions. After a couple hours without success and hiking all round the lake to try different locations, AB found a spot where a fish was working near shore. He waded out as far as his hip boots would allow, avoiding the brushy back cast area and heaved out his nymph. JR asked if AB could wade out and cast his rod also as he wasn’t wearing boots. AB got the line out and a few minutes later there was a tremendous splash! At first we thought the fish had hit the rig so hard that the splash came from the strike indicator being violently pulled under the water. Later, we came to the conclusion that the fish likely had struck the red/yellow foam strike indicator! In any case, the fish wasn’t hooked. AB switched to a Red Carrie Special fly and made a couple casts. While stripping the fly, a fish came up and swirled on the fly, missing it, then almost turned himself inside out to try to catch the fly again. It was a large fish….but again, it missed the fly.

Several more hours of trying to catch a Grayling produce no results.  You know fishing is slow when guys resorting to shooting pictures of obscure flowers in the undergrowth!!