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Decided to stay in Idaho and head north rather than head over to the Madison River up by Ennis. Got up to rain this morning! Kind of cold. This place is about 11 miles from Grand Targhee ski area. Real Estate prices were quite high according to the local ads; must be due to the ski resort. We think this area may be heading to being another Sun Valley (or wannabe).

Drove out of town and found Bitch Creek (from Biche – French for doe – just like the song made famous by Julie Andrews…."Bitch, a Bitch , a female dog…"). Access to the stream is through private land with uninviting signage. We elected not to challenge that problem this rainy morning. Driving on we found a sign pointing behind a house indicating we had found "Roger’s Custom Meats" [PO Box 704 3973 Highway #32 Ashton, Idaho 83420-0704 www.srv.net/~rogjerky email: rogjerky@srv.net Tel: 2008-652-7683 Fax: 208-652-7609]. To be fair, on my own, I probably would not have stopped but we did. Guy made jerky (beef, buffalo, hippo, whatever…). He said he would mail order stuff. Interesting place, which is located just behind his house. He has 7 employees and quite a going concern!! What a great cottage industry. Compadres bought teriyaki and regular jerky (cow and bison; no hippo today). They said it tasted great.

Headed on to Ashton and followed directions we got from the guide in West Yellowstone and headed toward Mesa Falls area. Found it way up high! Quite some falls of the river – very high. Local custodian showed us how the guides drag their rafts down a very steep section of cliff to the River ¼ mile below to take the clients fishing. Two guides were already there so the place appeared popular. Looks you get a several mile float on the Henry’s Fork without any roads or bank access by folks. Sounded kind of cool to try although my notes indicate that some people call it Cardiac Canyon. Having no suitable floating equipment, we headed back down the road to the Warm River where we flung some flies. Then moved downstream a mile or so to the junction of the Warm River with the Henry’s Fork (which came from the Mesa Falls area). Very pretty and large water although very wadeable along the edges. A fair number of fishers were in place although it was easy to find your own water. Nice rainbow in these waters.

Off we headed northbound, stopping by Mike Lawson’s fly shop (Henry’s Fork Anglers) in the Harriman Ranch and Railroad Sections of the Snake. JR bought the last teal flyfishing shirt they had. Apparently it will become a collector’s item and an item of some dispute for years to come!.

Decided to head back into Yellowstone Park on way to Gardiner, MT to stay at the Yellowstone River Motel so we could fish the northern section of the Park again. On the way north, we saw antelope on the side of the road. Picked up coffee at Cappy’s on way through West Yellowstone. Noted a lot of RV’s cruising through the Park with the logo for the Internet address for info at www.cruiseamerica.com. Need to check out the rates. Lots of elk along the roads on the way to Mammoth including a fair number of bulls with large racks.

Got to Mammoth in time to be caught up in a huge hail and lightning squall. Had dinner at the restaurant in Mammoth – pretty nice place I thought for the prices. Waiter told us he did lots of local hiking but no fishing. Staff is seasonal from different parts of US. Apparently working in the Park for the concessionaire includes room/board as well as some sort of salary and the opportunity to play in Yellowstone. Suspect most of the folks are retired (2^nd job) or teachers/students. In the evening after dinner (and after the hail/lightning show) we headed down to the Gardner River for a post feast fly fling. Fished by the access road entrance below Mammoth right below a bridge overpass. Plenty of fish right by the road!! Fished until after dark and the rangers were closing the parking lot. Off to the Yellowstone River Motel [Robert & Gayle Phillips Betty DeWeese 14 Park Street Gardiner, MT 59030 Tel: 888-79-RIVER or 406-848-7303 Fax: 406-848-7304]. Pretty nice new section. For reference, Unit #109 (not the one we had but a room in the older section) has a pretty cool view of the Yellowstone River.

Went late night shopping in Gardiner and found some cool T-shirts and a Yellowstone fleece vest for my wife. Should score good points for those finds! [Great choice! She said.]

Got up and headed for breakfast at the Bear Country Café (coffee was usual stuff in restaurants). Drove back into the Park and dropped off some post cards at the Yellowstone Post Office. Had to duck around a herd of elk that was milling by the Post Office. Seems like the Park rangers ought to do something about those pesky elk – kind of like a persistent vermin! Saw lots of Buffalo (bison) by the Lamar River Bridge. Hiked in to see Trout Lake (1/2 mile); beautiful little lake. Kind of eerie to hike in alone and know you’re not the top of the food chain. Adds a little spice to the hike!

Fished Soda Butte again although there were a lot more people on the creek than earlier in the week when we had been there. Maybe related to the weekend. Stream fished well again to Chernobyl hoppers(or stimulator) with a bead head pheasant tail dropper; also a drake with a black ant dropper; also a royal coachman; also a stimulator with a chironomid dropper (there are few or no chironomid in that kind of water!); also a cinnamon ant; also a bare hook (actually I didn’t try that but would like to with some of the color anodized Gamakatsu hooks). While there was some selectivity from the fish, by and large, when something was in the water they would check it out with their mouths. Cool fishing.

Storm kept coming our way; we could see and hear it coming over the hills around us. Lots of thunder. Finally got to us with a real serious deluge of big hailstones. You know the lightning is close when you see and hear it at the same time. We did; it was time to stop waving graphite rods in the air as we stand in the water. Huddled under cover; fishing was done for a while. Those with appropriate rain gear enjoyed the show; others endured the experience. These hailstones can sting when they hit you! 

Headed back to Gardiner although the darn pesky buffalo kept blocking the road for a while. Fortunately none decided to scratch their heads against the minivan!

Stopped by Parks Fly Shop in Gardiner. They didn’t have the hat Mike Shaunnessy wanted. Picked up a copy of Park’s book on where to fish in Yellowstone (he autographed it!); pretty good book. Reading it after we had fished the various waters, we noted that he seemed to have called the fishing and the patterns pretty much right on. Headed down the road northward through Paradise Valley up to I-90 and then headed east and stopped at Deer Lodge. Got a room at Sharf’s in town. Dinner at the Broken Arrow Casino and Restaurant. Kind of a wild western weekend party with the county fair and 4H activities all going on. Noisy bar; didn’t want to stand out from the crowd. As we walked around town after dinner, all the local bars had live entertainment and were full of raucous fun loving cowboys and cowgirls. Also the locals were having their Jr. High and Sr. High dances that night downtown. Passed on those as well as the bars. Missed Chet and Mike as I am sure this night would have been more memorable with their presence.