Boy's Trip March 2017: Camping, Fishing, & Hiking

I promised the boys a camping trip once I completed my Bachelor's in Nursing. It's been a long 18 months but I'm finally over that hurdle! My plan is to continue on to become a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner; but I'm looking forward to a summer without school to recharge my life. We had a haphazard plan to head due-south and end up camping somewhere near Lake Powell; I hoped to take the boys camping AND get some fishing in as a reward to myself. But I wasn't sure if we would actually make it to Lake Powell and even if we did Oakley (9 year old Golden Retriever) may keep us from fishing off the dock again.

So we stopped midway at one of our favorite camping/picnic sites and the boys swung on the tree swing while I flung some streamers in hopes of an eat. The water was perfect flow/clarity, I had some nice follows, and I connected on a scrappy brown.  

 I cast the fly across current, stripped twice, and let it soak. The brown slammed the streamer and the rest is history. I love the visual aspect of streamer fishing!

We hurried south after this intermission and ended up between Kanab and Lake Powell just as the sun was setting. Connor searched the area on Google-Earth and directed us to a great overlook and flat camping spot. The following morning we hiked down the hill from our camp and explored the wash, rocks, vegetation, and wildlife. We tried some prickly-pear innards and I ended up with prickly-lips (luckily the boys avoided this torture).

On the way home we witnessed a deer kamikaze into oncoming traffic. It was an unfortunate event for the deer and the girl driving her friend's parent's Mercedes-benz! Ouch! We stopped to help but I thought photo evidence would have been distasteful; in her defence, that phucking deer had a death wish...   

Bonus graduation trip...

I took off from work a little early this week and hit a local lake that just lost its ice. I spent more time driving then fishing but was rewarded with a nice chuncky Rainbow to knock the new off my graduation present to myself; a Loop Evotec X-grip 6 wt! The pictures are lacking but here's my best effort :)