A Great Day on the Salt and Searching for Berry Patch Bears

Bob wanted to spend another day fishing and so we decided to float the Salt River. I had had good luck last year while floating in my pontoon and so the plan was for Bob to float and fish from the pontoon while I would fish from my kayak. Never mind that Bob had never floated a swift river in a pontoon, everything would be just fine.

Setting up the pontoon, I adjusted the oars for Bobs height, and I did it perfectly wrong! As soon as he took off he discovered that the oars weren’t short enough, and he couldn’t get a full stroke! Spinning like a whirling dervish he bounced along the bank but finally was able to reach shore.

Catching up to him we readjusted he oars and after practicing by floating around two more meanders he became adept at keeping the pontoon pointed in the right direction. We started to fish the river and before long we both had fish on!

They were hitting on the same fly we had used on another river, notice I am not saying what it was, and so we spent the next five hours laying out line as we spotted rising fish. Noon arrived, and the fish seemed to quit feeding. It had become still and so we stopped and drank some water before continuing our float.

The wind started to blow, and the fish started to feed. We took turns and caught and released four fish from one hole.  Bob had a huge fish on, but the fish pulled the hook free. You never forget the fight when you have a large fish on, nothing like a story of how a big one got away!

 It was a very good day on the Salt River and we ended up catching and releasing sixteen fish! The largest fish was fourteen inches, with most of the fish from twelve to eight inches in length. All the fish but one were Snake River Fine Spotted Cutthroats. We arrived at the takeout point and after a short portage we loaded the boats in the back end of the truck.

The next day found the four of us heading to Grand Teton National Park. A grizzly sow had been spotted along a road and the bears were feeding on berries. We had packed a lunch as we neared our road into the park saw a sign that the road had been closed to protect the bears!

Entering the park, the ranger told us that they had closed the road earlier in the morning and told us that we could drive in five miles. We decided to stop at the Granite Canyon trailhead and take a short hike.

Quite a few people had the same idea and so we started the hike with a gradual climb up a rocky hill. At first the trail went through an area of aspen, all broken from a severe storm two years ago. Last year a snow storm had generated winds that had toppled steel power lines and had caused the loss of power and the evacuation of nearby Teton Village.

Reaching the crest of the ridge we paused before heading down another gradual hill finally reaching a bridge crossing a fast-flowing mountain stream. We decide w should head back to the truck as we had not brought our lunch and so retracing our steps we had a nice easy three-mile hike.

Deciding to drive down the road we passed the Death Canyon trailhead and reached a hillside where we had watched bears last all. Stopping at a pull off we got out the chairs and unpacked dour lunch. I walked over to the hillside and it was obvious that it wasn’t a great berry year. The berries were few and far between and most were not yet ripe.

No bears ever appeared but that didn’t matter. It had been a nice easy day in the park and even though there was smoke from the forest fires it hadn’t caused us to cancel our hike. We had a nice picnic and it was time to head back to Star Valley.

It always fun when friends and family show up for a visit and it gives us a chance to share with them the beauty that surrounds us. We never planned on living here, but we said that someday we would find a beautiful part of the world and spend our summers there. Star Valley is the place. Thanks Bob and Nancy for the visit and of course, clear skies, (we do desperately need rain).