The next morning after a continental breakfast at the Twin Pines Lodge, we took the Horse Creek Road north out of Dubois to the Double Cabin campground where Frontier Creek & Emerald Creek join to form the Wiggins Fork of the Wind River.  The drive was nearly 30 miles of mountain road with spectacular carved mountains all around us.

The dirt/gravel road took us to a valley where 11,000-foot mountains surrounded us with Frontier Creek emerging from one canyon & Emerald Creek from another green valley. The campground was full of horse trailers, horses & campers, one group preparing for a backcountry ride and others preparing for the coming deer and elk season.

It was a hard area to fish, the scenery was so spectacular that you found yourself looking at the beauty of the area rather than concentrating on the rising trout in every pool, so many trout that JR caught over a dozen beautiful trout from one pool.

AB was taking it easy this day, keeping walking to a minimum. While setting in the van with the door open, a Ranger approached. She said that she didn’t realize that anyone was in the van, and seeing the door left open was concerned that a Grizzly Bear might ransack the van looking for goodies to eat. According to the signage at the trailhead this was apparently a common occurrence in the area.

After fishing the area for a few hours, the YG decided that this area, with its amazing scenery and excellent fishing, definitely deserved a return trip. Smaller but eager fish. Very surface oriented. Typical high mountain streams but with lots of fish. Scenery not to be beat.

As we headed back to Dubois we stopped at Horse Creek Campground where we nailed a bunch more of the mountain stream fish!

As the rain clouds moved in, we decided not to be on the muddy clay slick roads if it shoud rain. Heading back to Dubois, we stopped by an elegant place with cabins and a restaurant, Edith's Fine Dining, in the middle of nowhere.  Apparently they are only open on weekends and are fully booked – must be a story here somewhere. Maybe we will explore on our next outing to this area.

Throughout the drive back we kept seeing striking beautiful scenery from the eroded rocks in the mountains and hillsides.  Striking color patterns were the norm.

Back in Dubois, we had lunch and checked out the Wind River fishing access just east of town.  Great access and bigger water than we were used to seeing - smaller than the Snake River but still pretty good sized. The mosquitoes were fierce and beat us back that afternoon.

We went back to Jakeys Creek to check out the fishing. We found an old road heading down to the stream and parked in a clearing which we were told was on State Schools land so was public access. GK, JR headed downstream, AM headed upstream & AB fished an area near the van. AB found many trout willing to hit a small Tent-winged Caddis pattern, while GK & JR reported on their radios that the fishing was difficult due to the thick brushy willows all along the stream. AM was catching fish upstream, but the thick brush lining the banks had forced him to stand in the stream to find marginally adequate casting room. Suddenly, AM heard a crashing noise in the brush downstream. Looking up, he was surprised to see a young moose coming upstream, right at him. As if that weren’t enough, the young moose was followed by an obviously irritated Mom Moose, then a big Bull Moose! Apparently, unknown to JR & GK they had spooked the Moose downstream and they were making their escape….right through AM’s fishing spot. Realize that Jakeys Creek is only 30 feet wide at this point with half that area over grown by hanging brush, so that didn’t leave AM much room as the trio of Moose charged by him! AM wasn’t sure if he should, 1. take a once in a lifetime picture of this unusual event or 2. stand very still and hope for the best! (Running in waders in the water was not a serious option!) Given that his exit from the stream was blocked by heavy brush, he stepped back as much as possible, let the Moose family pass, then snapped their photo as they ran up a hill – avoiding make his "once in a lifetime picture" the last picture in his lifetime! Later he said he didn’t think it would have been a good idea to flash a camera in the eyes of a charging Bull Moose! I’d think you could write that thought on the wall as Rule #1 for outdoor survival!

Returning to Dubois we had dinner at the highly recommended "Cowboy Café" and retired for the evening at the Twin Pines Lodge.