Day 5, Sunday, August 26, 2007 (Nordegg & the Blackstone River)
We left Red Deer at 11AM after sleeping in….we were all extremely tired after the previous days adventures. (905-miles from Spokane – 1219-miles from Seattle) We topped off fuel, aired up MS’s truck tires, he’d just had the tires rotated before we left on the trip and they didn’t look or feel right, AB added 10-lbs. per tire, then we made the mandatory Starbuck’s stop.
We headed west to Rocky Mountain House and eventually Nordegg on Highway 11. A stop at "Burger Barron" in RMH at 1PM. Mike’s truck was still handling strangely, so AB checked the air pressure in his newly installed rear air bags. Turns out that one bag had 20 psi of air in it the other was 0 psi. Letting the air out of the left bag improved the ride substantially.
Arriving at Nordegg and the Nordegg Lodge (38 rooms, www.nordegglodge.com , 403-721-3757, 1-800-408-3294, email: info@nordegglodge.com , Box 36, Nordegg, Alberta T0M 2H0) at 3PM we checked in. JR had made reservations before the trip…..good thing; the resort was full up the week before when there was a big Indian ceremony taking place in the town. Nordegg is a small town, a gas station, general store, motel & mining tour, but it’s in a great setting in the Canadian wilderness.
We noted that the motel restaurant closed at 9PM as we took off to the Blackstone River at 3:45PM.
47-degrees. Twenty-five miles up the gravel Forestry Trunk Road (FTR) (#734) we came to the bridge over the Blackstone, it was still raining so we geared up with breathable waders and rain coats. MS hooked up on a nice Bull Trout, AB caught a nice Cutthroat, AM caught 6 small cuttbows & 1 mountain whitefish, JR picked up a few strikes but they turned into LDR’s. AB was using a crystal-green, barbell-head wooly bugger tied by Roy Nakano, MS was using a white wooly bugger & AM/JR were using BWO’s and stimulators.
We were off the Blackstone at 8:05PM and back in Nordegg at by 8:30. A big horned owl flew in front of the truck on the way out.
We had dinner at the Nordegg Inn and ordered sandwiches for tomorrow’s lunch. Meeting held in AM’s room to share a glass of Scotch, or a Screwdriver and discussed the day’s fishing and tomorrow’s opportunities.
Sleep came quickly.