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Andy, JR, Greg, and Al meet at JR’s at 0535 to launch the latest expedition to the "Golden Ring of Rises" of which the epicenter is in Yellowstone National Park. The first thing we note is that we have too much stuff (again!) although with Andy’s new 2000 Chevy ¾ ton rig there is much space! Is 5 cases of Gatorade & 3 bricks of AA batteries for the Motorola Talk-About Radios the group is sporting this year too much?? After loading and complaining, filling up with French Roast from JR’s coffee maker, off we head to get some ice from Albertson’s and then begin the adventure! About 10 minutes later while cruising down Interstate 90, it was announced that JR left his wallet, money, ID, etc. back at home. The money we could take care of with our charge cards, but without the ID, Fishing Licenses would be too hard to get. Sooooo, back we go. After a reset of expectations, we again launch down I-90 and head eastward.

Reaching Ellensburg, we stop from breakfast (typical road side food) and launch onward toward Spokane where we will pick up the last amigo for the venture. Using Andy’s new rig, we are able to actually seat 4 of us for the run to Spokane where we will pick up another truck for the expedition. The new Pickups certainly are more luxurious and spacious than earlier models.

Using our truck CB’s we hone in on Mike’s location by the Freeway in Spokane and regrouping (AM with MS truck), we convoy through Spokane and see the sights that attracted such stellar citizens as Mr. Yates (13 victims and counting as we write this up); we can see the seamy beauty of Spokane through the billboards and neon stips. Gassed up at Post Falls in Idaho to save a few cents per gallon (these rigs do eat the fuel – no Nader supporters here!) and then off toward Montana.

Pulled over in St. Regis for a lunch break at the truck stop. Usual fare as one might expect although they have a huge gift shop (comes in segments) along with trucker re-equipping items, small bar with "casino" (which is an electronic slot machine essentially). Al won lunch money by playing the casino –wondered if he should wear a tux next time to fill out the James Bond Monte Carlo image? This certainly looks like easy money.  Fire Crews were ordering food in lots of boxed lunches and were putting them into the back of a Hummer.  Our first of many experiences associated with the fires of 2000.

In St Regis, we went over to look at where the St. Regis River enters the Clarke Fork. Looks like a pretty good spot with reasonable access although we noted that it was pretty hot and the water levels seem really low. A theme on both counts that would persist through the 2000 trip. There are a couple of fly shops in St. Regis which may have good info on fishing there but we didn’t go in this trip.

Passing through Missoula, we note the smoke from fires down the Bitterroot valley which is very pervasive. As we continued on, we watched fire fighters in their yellow jerseys working their way up a hill by the side of I90. Until you see people on the side of the hills, you don’t realize the size and steepness of the slopes on the hills. Those folks are really tough! Hot, hard, dirty work to fight fires. The fires we saw in the grass-like vegetation by the side of the road were burning and smoking. Fortunately, no real threat to the highway at that point and we moved onwards at a healthy 70+ mph.

Suddenly we possessed by some cosmic force making us pull off past Clinton into the Rock Creek Lodge, home of the annual Testicle Festival (see photo from our 1998 trip  Testicle Festival 98.jpg- no improvement in the scenery or clientele). While the signs certainly indicate a deficiency in good taste, the reality of going into the bar exceeds one’s wildest and most morbid expectations. The amazing thing is that this was the third year we stopped by here and we always seem to find a lot of folks inside. It is the kind of place you go into and want to shower afterwards when you walk out. Not a good place to breathe unless you really like cigarette smoke. Nice ambience of stale beer and male anatomical cartoons, signs, T-shirts, etc. I wonder what they do for family day at work? MS has beer; I drive next segment.

Onwards down I90 towards the Golden Circle of Rises! Driving past the infamous EPA Superfund Clean-Up site at Deer Lodge (huge fish in toxic waters! See our 1999 report for info Al EPA Fishing 99.jpg), we pass the metropoli of Butte and Bozeman, we reach the days destination of Livingston, MT. Stayed at Comfort Inn – rated it as so-so as a destination – nice folks though! Dinner at the Buffalo Jump Steakhouse. Al lost dinner money at the casino. Maybe the tux is premature? In any event, a good hearty carnivore based meal (except for AM – Veggies only – did not find any tofu on the menu – a recurring theme through Montana and Wyoming). However, JR starts the Chicken Fried Steak Reviews and Rating System (a max score of 2 beaks up!).  His Motto: "Wherever we go, they'd better have Chicken Fried Steak! Fortunately for him, this is much easier than finding tofu dishes in most of Wyoming and Montana! 

Up in the morning with breakfast (continental stuff plus french toast etc.) at the Comfort Inn Swung by Dan Bailey’s Fly Shop (http://www.dan-bailey.com/) (see photo from our 1998 expedition Dan Bailey's) to check the latest fishing rumors and pickup a few really cool flies (they always have the "hot" ones which we never seem to have enough of. They do ask what we have first I noted.) . Actually they had some really good closeouts on some steelhead flies (MS) and grasshoppers (all of us). So we bought a ton more flies again increasing the cash flow into the local economy. We found our "best place" in Livingstone for coffee at the Java Bean. Great coffee to go AND they had great veggie wraps to go! A godsend for AM who picked up two for lunch later that day. Pastries were pretty good also – blueberry scones  and apple cinnamon coffeecake when we were there.

Fully loaded with flies, pastries and java, we head onwards to Highway 72 cutoff and down through MT to Wyoming toward Cody our first fishing targeted area. The area from I90 to Cody is pretty open and shrub-like without large forested areas. We see rugged Beartooth Mountains (the Absaroka Range – is that Indian language for Beartooth?) and also heavy smoke trapped by the mountains from fires in the area. No snow on these mountains despite their peaks at about 10,000 feet. Since our rigs are air-conditioned, we don’t really notice the elevating temperatures until we get to Cody.

Arriving in Cody, we note that it is a little higher on the socio-economic class meter than West Yellowstone but below the chi-chi Jackson Hole. I actually think it is a pretty balanced little town although it is hot. Checked into our motel, The Skyline Motor Inn, 1919 17th Street, Cody,Wyoming,  1-800-834-8809.  We note some interesting ladies and their male accomplice leaving the hotel. I presume they are in show business, but a pretty flashy set of revealing clothes and jewelry all packed into a middle class Taurus. Something unusual about the image of them, their car, and being in Cody. Not a picture in harmony. But a pretty cool picture anyway (of the girls!).

Headed over to the Tim Wade's North Fork Anglers (Tim Wade proprietor, www.northforkanglers.com  307-527-7274) for local info and gossip. JR has been communicating with the Tim Wade and the folks over the winter and spring; they provided very good trip planning assistance to us - Thank you  to Tim and the Staff!!     Chip Andrews (Tim's brother) was in the shop most of the time we were there and was really quite helpful in giving us good advice for the tough hot and low water conditions we had in the summer of 2000.   (Special thanks to Jay Buckner for putting us onto these nice folks.  See our 1999 report for other assistance and direction Jay has provided to us.)  The North Fork Anglers is a nice little shop on the main drag with good selection of flies and doo-dads for fisherman (and women). They stocked (and we bought!) the latest and hottest patterns (is there something amiss in our psyche that causes us to do this repeatedly?) and they gave us great "where to go" info. JR has noted that if you don't know the water get to know the local shops and guides (including doing some business with them - they have to provide for their families too!)   Key patterns include Blue Winged Olives (#14), green drakes, stimulators, Turk Tarantulas, trudes (various flavors), humpies (blonde and chartreuse), caddis, nymphs (pheasant tail, prince, hare’s ear), and pale evening duns. Some good locations are noted on page 59 of the Wyoming Gazette for the North Fork of the Shoshone River.  Since we were going to be fishing in pretty hot weather with extreme low water conditions, Tim and Chip of the North Fork Anglers were very helpful in getting us headed toward the better waters for those conditions. 

Headed up the North Fork of the Shoshone (NFS) up in the National Forest Area about an hour out of town. On way out, we went around Buffalo Bill Reservoir, a huge impoundment. Saw sail boats on it. Looked intimidating to fish. At the outlet side by the dam, the Shoshone River comes out through town and onward. No real good access in the area since it is a minor Grand Canyon with steep cliff like walls for a couple of hundred feet elevation drop. Apparently there is OK fishing down there but you need a boat/raft to access it. On the way to the NFS we passed a huge road construction area where to widen the road and reroute it (from flooding we are guessing), they are literally blowing out sides of a mountain to make room for the road to move. This is a 24 hour a day type project it appears since the construction season is presumably short in this part of the world due to very cold winters.

Headed up to an area below Eagle Creek just by a Boy Scouts of America camp (naturally it is the Buffalo Bill BSA Camp).  Our group started tying into a number of 19 to 20 inch trout.