AM & JR spent the night at AB’s house (nearest to the airport). Our flight is early in the morning and getting the Gang together facilitates an early start. After a Mongolian Grill dinner and completing packing of the Trailblazer for the morning, we all went to bed full but anticipating great things to come!

Up at 0400, we get ready and arrive at the airport at 0450; through security by 0510, we arrive over an hour before the Delta flight leaves from the A Terminal at Sea-Tac airport for Salt Lake City. GM takes a flight from Medford, Oregon to SLC to meet us there. Since we will arrive before GK, upon our arrival, AM, JR & AB secure a rental van, head for Costco and Walmart to provision the trip with trail mix, beef jerky, Gatorade & water; pick up a cooler & ice, then return to the airport to pick up GK. Thanks to the nice folks with the pickup truck and empty bed for taking care of the cardboard boxes from the stuff we bought.

JR & AB had a special gift for the members to celebrate the 8^th anniversary of the YG trips. They had Columbia fly-fishing shirts embroidered with the YG logo and anglers name. We were now either an official fly-fishing group, or possibly a funky bowling team. The shirts looked great & all enjoyed the gift.

Past YG driving trips typically involved two vehicles, at least one a pickup truck, loaded with equipment. Flying to our destination caused the YG members to seriously restrict the amount of equipment taken to a minimum. For example, YG members were reduced to selecting two fly rods per angler, rather than the typical three to seven rods each that we usually pack. Nine-foot, 4-weight, 5weight & 6-weight rods by Orvis, Sage, Lamiglas, Loomis & LL Bean were the YG rods of choice. The 4-weight rods turned out to be optimum for the waters of this trip. One pair of boots instead of our usual three pair. (Orvis Pro-guide waders that can be worn chest high or folded down to waist high & Simms breathable waders were the YG dry-ware of choice). Orvis 24 inch "Catch & Release" nets are the overwhelming choice of YG members for their excellent size that accommodate large fish & their "fish-friendly" design features.

From Kemmerer we headed to Cokeville, Wyoming ( www.cokevillewy.com -Chamber of Commerce 307-279-3200) where our research indicated there were streams that held the Bonneville Cutthroat. Along the way we saw several majestic Sand Hill Cranes feeding in the hay fields. Upon arrival in Cokeville, the priority was finding lodging. We checked first at the Hideout Motel (245 S Highway 30 307/279-3281) but to our surprise they were fully booked due to a High School girl's volleyball tournament in town that weekend.

Now there are two motels in Cokeville and normally finding a couple rooms wouldn’t be a problem, but due to the aforesaid tournament, both were full up!! We checked with the lovely staff at the Red Dog Saloon but did not find any additional places to stay. (Although double bunking with the visiting volleyball teams had been suggested) Fortunately, the proprietor of the Valley Hi Motel (PO Box 280 307/279-3251) gave us a hand (as opposed to a finger). She was aware of a new bed & breakfast opening in town and called the owner (Bill Hammond 307-279-3332) to see if he had rooms available. He said he wasn’t really ready to open his business for full breakfasts etc., but if we just wanted rooms for the night he could accommodate us. His B&B on Pine Street was in a nearly 100 year old home in downtown Cokeville and provided three rooms with four beds, which suited our needs perfectly.

We quickly off-loaded our bags and headed out to search for a late lunch and the Bonneville Cutthoat. The "Flying J" truck stop (www.flyingj.com  Cokeville Flying J can be reached at 307-279-3050), the only eatery in town that we found, fulfilled the lunch requirement with hearty truck stop fare & gave us a chance to review our maps and G2 materials.

Highway 232 from Cokeville, follows the Smiths Fork River, a tributary in the Bear River drainage, to its headwaters in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The road was a good two-lane blacktop, at least for the first 15 miles or so, it then turned into a muddy (when raining), deep-rutted, dirt road (although the map indicated "gravel" - trust us, it is not gravel when it is wet!). We slowly and carefully traversed several miles of the road, past the Hobble Creek turnoff, to a section of the Smiths Fork on BLM land where we hiked down to the river for our first attempt at catching a Bonneville Cutt (about 7.2 miles past the end of the pavement). AM managed to catch a Brown Trout in the waning light, but the team had no success with the Cutts.

Leaving the area that evening we saw scores of mule deer & a few antelope moving from the high sagebrush country to the lowland alfalfa fields near the river. As we crossed the cattle guard from the dirt road to the blacktop, we noticed a small sign hanging at the gate of a ranch in the valley. The sign said; "Clark Country Bed & Breakfast" (307-279-3336). JR said, "Let’s check it out". We nearly drove by, but at the last minute decided to backup and see what it was about. We later commented on how lucky we were to make this last second decision. The ranch consisted of a bridge over the beautiful Smiths Fork River, a great looking log house with green metal roof surrounded with colorful flowers, several rustic ranch-looking out buildings, a bunkhouse and pastures full of sleek horses, surrounded by sagebrush mountains and grazing cattle.

AM walked up, knocked on the door and was greeted by Eva Clark. She said the bunkhouse was booked for the evening, but was available the next evening. We took a look at the bunkhouse, a great little, recently renovated, building that sported a queen bed, a hide-a-bed/couch, propane fireplace, kitchen, bathroom & loft with three beds. The entry to the bunkhouse was a greenhouse where Eva raised flowers & plants for her garden. The bunkhouse was $40 per night per person, included a ranch-style breakfast and the $10 charge for fishing the 10 miles of the Smiths Fork River on their property! That’s all we needed to hear; 10 miles of private fishing water and a great little cabin, we immediately booked it for the following evening. Driving back to town that evening, we were dodging deer running across the road the entire way. A stop at the "Flying J" for dinner and we settled into the Cokeville B&B for the evening.