High up in the Colorado Mountains, near McClure pass. lies a little town of about three hundred people. The town is the home of the Yule Marble Quarry where the pure fine grained stone has been quarried for over a hundred years.
The stone was used to build the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Lincoln Memorial, parts of the Washington Memorial, and is the source of the headstones used in the National Cemeteries. Today the mine is active with most of the stone being shipped to Italy and Asia.
Now we had come here to buy some stone ourselves and to fish the Crystal River. Driving through the small town we passed two art studios and of course we had to stop. Nestled among the pine trees stood stone carvings of big horn sheep, mountain lions, angels, and owls.
At the first studio we met a retired miner who was busy splitting a huge block into smaller pieces for table legs. He took a break from his strenuous work and proudly showed off his studio. He complained a bit about how his art was threatening to turn into a full time business, (something that is happening to us).
He also told us where we could access and fish the Crystal River, and after eating our lunch we donned our gear and headed down to the river. George decided to fish with his wet nymphs, while the three of us opted instead for royal wulf dries.
Wading upstream I missed several fish before landing a nice rainbow. I was feeling pretty good about it, until George reached me and told me of his success using a prince nymph and a copper john. I decided to go back downstream where I found Renita and Val. Both had set their poles aside and were rock hounding.
I cast into the first hole and caught a nice mountain whitefish. My next cast resulted in a rainbow and i knew I needed to head back upstream to watch George fish. I caught and missed more fish but George caught and released a fish in every hole.
Wading back downstream I rolled my ankle and the fishing for me anyway was done for the day. Renita had switched to nymphs but wasn't having any luck, and Val, well she was still picking up rocks!
It was time to head back to the ranch and the car seemed to groan a bit as we loaded more rock into the trunk. What a day of rock and art and fishing high up in the Colorado Rockies! Oh and just to be factual, George had caught and released fifteen fish including a seventeen inch Colorado Cut Throat!
Clear skies
The Long Long Trailer lives on.
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