Oops!

I know I've said this blog is about fly fishing travel and I don’t want to disappoint anyone who may be reading this expecting that fly fishing travel will be the subject of every post.  Here’s the thing – a lot of stuff can happen when you’re traveling, and it’s all good and worthy of writing about (except when it’s not).  Let’s get the fly fishing part out of the way first.  Yesterday I caught about twenty hefty trout – cutthroats, browns and a single long rainbow – on the Shoshone River.   In two or three earlier posts I’ve referred to blue-winged olive mayflies (BWOs).  About 3 pm yesterday, I saw more BWOs than I’ve previously witnessed in once place – thousands of them skittering in the surface film of the river.  It was fascinating and hypnotic to follow my little artificial fly drifting amidst dozens of real mayflies.  While my tiny poseur bobbed along dispassionately, the real BWOs were desperate to dry their gossamer wings, struggling to rise up before they were eaten.  A lot of them didn’t make it because trout were darting in and out of the river stones for a hundred yards in both directions, gorging themselves on the incredible bounty.  Nature is violent.  Many of us may wish it weren't, but it just is.  Gorgeous, innocent, newly-hatched, fairy-winged mayflies gobbled by ravenous predator fish.  That's violent, but beautiful all the same.  

Enough about fly fishing for today.  Last night it snowed high up in the Absaroka Mountains, so Chip and I decided to make the long jaunt up to Pahaska Teepee, which is within a rifle shot of the eastern border of Yellowstone Park.  There was fresh snow there and the cross-country ski trails were in excellent shape.  The vistas in that part of the country cannot be described in words.  I shot some video and took a few pictures that I’ll share later when I have time to process them.  “Spectacular” doesn’t begin to describe the scene.   Chip and I launched ourselves east on our skis toward the Sleeping Giant ski area, which was doing an active business with downhillers and snowboarders.  The moment we glided up to the lodge, Chip performed a major pratfall in the middle of a small crowd of skiers, landing on his back with his skis swinging above him.  Naturally I had some commentary for the assemblage about Chip’s qualities as a skier and as a human being in general.  Very amusing, I can assure you.

Now I have to tell you that Chip has insisted I should be “transparent” in my blog.  (I think he learned that term when he spent some time in bad-boy school not too long ago.)  Maybe he’s right.  So in the interest of full disclosure, I must inform you that I also had a minor mishap on my skis.  But I’m excused – it was the first time I’ve been on cross-country skis in over a year, I was unfamiliar with the skis, the curve at the bottom of the hill was tricky, and I was just getting my ski legs.  I have all the excuses.  The important point is that I remained upright the rest of the day whereas Chip did not.  Unfortunately, Chip has photographic evidence on me, while I can only summarize in mere words what happened to him.  Here’s his evidence: 

So there you go - transparency.  But don't get spoiled - I intend to make myself out to be more of a hero most of the time.