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The road trip to end all road trips
Minnesota — Black Hills, South Dakota (Deadwood, fly fishing, etc.) — Cody, Wyoming (Buffalo Bill museum) — Yellowstone (O, Yellowstone) — Bozeman, Montana (friends and memories and mountains and rivers) — Missoula (never been, wonderful mountains and fishing history and opportunities) — Nez Perce National Historic Park, Idaho (that people’s story one that really moved me when I was a kid; also just for the general mountains, rivers and wilderness of northern Idaho) — Couer D’Alene — North Cascades National Park, Washington (Kerouac and breathtaking mountains) — Seattle – Mount Rainier — Portland, Oregon (been hearing so many good things about Portland) — Then straight back to Minnesota… maybe.
In a chat with a friend this morning, we decided it wasn’t actually the ultimate trip… The ultimate trip would have to include Glacier National Park — British Columbia (Vancouver), — and hell, while we’re at it, come back via Rocky Mountain National Park and Denver. –And San Francisco?
Say three weeks minimum, two months ideally. Camp and stay with friends and family. Maybe $2,000? Ideally $3K.
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NOLS/Orvis Wilderness Fly Fishing Course
An intensive two-day Orvis™ fly fishing seminar will help you get your cast down while learning to “match the hatch” and read the water. Then, you’ll shoulder your pack and head into the Wind River Mountains for a 20-day wilderness fishing expedition where cutthroat, brook, brown, golden and rainbow trout abound.
… The course will end on a world-renowned trout-fishing river with an Orvis™ certified guide for six days of personal instruction in drift boat handling, rowing techniques and big water fishing.
So, anyone have $6,000 laying around? I have a really good way to spend it. No? How about $2,875? For that I can get 14 days in the same mountains with a good deal of fishing as well…
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A warm spring day …
… on a particular stretch of a particular stream not 45 miles from where I sit inside this very moment, the temperature outside this morning -10° Farenheit. An orange and some bread and cheese in my vest, birds singing, bugs hatching…
[tags]travel, road trip, dreaming, fly fishing, mountains, the west[/tags]
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8 Comments
I am truly surprised you are by-passing Bend, Oregon and the beautiful Deschutes.
Don’t let Portlanders trick you into thinking it’s their river. It’s ours. (Well, actually it belongs to Maupin, but HEY… Maupin isn’t nearly as trendy and hip as Bend)
Snowbug… is that an invitation to crash on your couch while I further educate myself regarding the delights of Bend?
Yes, I have revealed myself with this itinerary as a somewhat sheltered Midwestern boy. I mentioned Portland only because one of my friends keeps talking about moving there from San Francisco (a trend I’m sure Portlanders are getting plenty sick of). My motivations for these destinations are obviously pretty random…
Anyway, I should have known what was left off the list would cause controversy. But, now that you’ve called my attention to your fair city, it does sound pretty enticing. You ever read David James Duncan’s “The River Why?”
Thanks for commenting!
Shhhhh… I don’t fish. Don’t tell anybody.
But I do make television about fishing. Which makes me a less-than-innocent bystander.
Snowbug - television about fishing? Sounds interesting… I would imagine it takes you to quite a lot of amazing places. And yet you lobby for your hometown as the one missing stop on my trip. Very cool.
My wife who also does not fly fish thoroughly enjoyed The River Why… it’s a beautiful and very funny book about happiness, spiritual fulfillment, the environment, family, etc. etc. It also happens to take place on Oregon’s steelhead rivers.
I’m kind of on a Duncan kick right now because I’m reading another of his novels (The Brothers K, about baseball rather than fishing) and he really is an incredible writer.
Thanks again for stopping by!
What about the Corn Palace?
Dammit! How did I forget the Corn Palace????
“In a chat with a friend this morning, we decided it wasn’t actually the ultimate trip… The ultimate trip would have to include Glacier National Park — British Columbia (Vancouver), — and hell, while we’re at it, come back via Rocky Mountain National Park and Denver. –And San Francisco?”
Good decision. Except I would pass on Rocky Mountain. It’s a beautiful Park, but after the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and Glacier it’s as impresive as if you came from the flatlands and saw it first. I’d throw in Badlands National Park or TRNP on the way back to Minnesota.
I took this road trip last summer, except I did not travel to Washington. I spent two months in Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Those are the most spectacular in the lower 48, IMHO - and also by far the best wildlife in terms of numbers and full compliment of native species. They are alos the wildest ecosystems with the largest amount of roadless land. We’re talking millions of connected acres of wilderness. Colorado is a real drop down from that. Once you have camped in wilderness areas of a solid million acres or more with grizzlies, you get kind of spoiled(especially on the same trip).
This summer hopefully I will be out there again for two months. But this time I will be swinging through Washington state for some camping/photo work, and defintiely checking out Rainier, Olympic and North Cascades. It’s not that far a drive from Glacier at all.
Mike - thanks for the input on that. Sounds like you’re well-qualified to do so! I’ve always been way more attracted to the northern Rockies… Montana and west, but I guess I’ve heard enough about Rocky Mountain that I felt like it would be worth a stop. Good to get the opposing opinion.
Look forward to hearing about your trip. If it was me going to North Cascades, the hike to the top of Desolation Peak would be requisite, but that’s just the Kerouac fan in me.
Thanks for stopping by!