My dad took up fly fishing over the last year, so I decided to treat him to a trip out west to cultivate his hobby and target some cutthroat trout, which are not found in his locale. We agreed to meet up in Jackson, Wyoming mid-September and do a float trip on the Snake as well as some other sight-seeing. Given we live on opposite sides of the country, our time together is limited, so I was really looking forward to spending this time with him as an early birthday gift for both of us who are born early October. I was sure to reserve my seat on the right side of the plane so I could enjoy views of the Tetons on the flight in, and boy it did not disappoint, though there was quite a bit of turbulence that made photos difficult. As I sat waiting to de-plane, I looked at the next plane over and saw my dad walking down the stairs to the tarmac. I recognized his walk immediately, and a wave of anticipation hit me. The last father/daughter trip we did, just the two of us, was way back in July 2001 when we drove to NY to watch the Yankees beat the Tigers 6-5 on a wild pitch play at the plate to end the game. Why did we wait so long? Well there is a lot to that question, and that's for another day. I entered the baggage claim area and quickly found my dad. It immediately felt like no time had passed between visits. We had a big hug and then grabbed our bags to catch the shuttle to downtown Jackson to retrieve our rental car. From there, we headed to get some lunch and some groceries as neither of us had eaten, and we couldn't check into our place quite yet. My dad insisted on paying for lunch, and I knew it was something he wanted to do, so I obliged. I paid for groceries, as that was something I wanted to do. My dad worked hard to provide for us growing up and endured some tough times when he was laid off from his job. He took the job he could find and spent a lot of hours driving to do something I'm sure he didn't enjoy. I am fortunate to live a comfortable lifestyle now, and I wanted to make sure he wasn't worried about the cost of anything. Both of us are pretty simple, a loaf of bread and some peanut butter, and we had lunch for the week. Some mini bagels, cream cheese, milk, and eggs to boil, and we had breakfast as well. I can't handle eating all of my meals at restaurants, so we both agreed we would go light and easy for breakfast and lunch and get dinners out in town. Our float trip was the next day, so we headed to the fly shop in town to get my dad a fishing license (I held a Wyoming yearly license because we had already been out fishing for a couple of weeks earlier in the summer). I picked up a few flies for the day we would fish on our own. When I go into a shop and ask for their expertise regarding river conditions or access, I always try to buy something as an act of appreciation and support for local businesses. With all of our errands completed, we drove to our condo in Teton Village.
We unloaded the car and got settled. I gave dad the downstairs bedroom/bathroom and took the loft so he wouldn't have to climb stairs. Since we ate a late lunch, we grabbed a couple of deli sandwiches from the market and had those for dinner. We readied our gear for the morning, and I boiled some eggs for breakfast. Our meetup time was 8:00 am, and luckily we were less than 10 minutes from the rendezvous point. Our guide, Kevin from Worldcast Anglers, arrived right on time, and we had quick introduction before tossing our gear in his truck and heading for the launch point in the National Park. It was a crisp morning in the low 40's, but the forecast called for sunny skies and mid 70's temps, so I opted for shorts and upper body layers which I could unpeeled as the weather warmed. After getting our rigs set up with hopper-droppers, we launched and pulled up on the bank for a quick introduction on fishing from the boat. I sat in the back so dad could fish from the front, which is easier and gets first dibs on the fish. I probably could have just sat in the boat and watched him fish. He was so into it, focused. Of course he made some beginner mistakes, but Kevin was super patient and an excellent teacher. It wasn't long before dad caught his first cutthroat on the dropper, about a 15" fine spotted cutthroat which is actually a Yellowstone strain, but its color is adapted more for the environment of the Snake. He caught a few more trout and some whitefish. I caught a nice one under a cutbank on the dry. The scenery made it difficult to concentrate on fishing, and several times I just sat back with my rod stowed and enjoyed the view. I really appreciated Kevin because he understood this. I told him from the get-go that my priority was for my dad to learn and catch some fish and that if I took a break from fishing it wasn't because I wasn't enjoying myself, on the contrary, I wanted to soak it all in. He really got that.
Halfway through the float, we pulled over for lunch where we enjoyed some tasty sandwiches on fresh bread. This was one of the rare spots where we stayed anchored to fish. There was a nice bucket below a drop in the river and dad cleaned up there, catching probably 6 or 7 fish. Before long, we were off again. I don't remember much about the fish I caught, I know I caught a lot, but it was really just such a pleasant day. Perfect temps, perfect views, and my dad was having a good time. I was happy. Kevin pointed out some famous peoples' homes along some of the private stretches of river as we exited the National Park- Yvon Chouinard, Jimmy Chin, and he also told us Jimmy Kimmel had a sizable ranch nearby. We saw some eagles and osprey, and around 5 pm, we made or way to the bustling take-out point. With the boat loaded, we headed back to the park where our car was located. We thanked Kevin verbally and monetarily, before saying our goodbyes and heading our separate ways. After unpacking our things back at the condo, I was content to grab some take-out, but my dad likes to sit down at a restaurant and eat, so that is what we did. We both enjoyed a burger and fries before making a lap around the neighborhood to see if we could spot any wildlife. A young bull moose had just bedded down in front of an apartment complex, probably 30 feet from the porch, and we noticed a couple standing at the door watching in amazement as this massive creature made his home for the night as dusk gave way to nighttime.
Our plan for the next day was to rise early the next morning to search for wildlife before fishing on our own on the Gros Ventre in the afternoon. We were on the road by 6:30, passing numerous elk shrouded in fog as we drove the back way to the park. Just after entering the park as the sun began to was over the valley, we spied a large bull elk trotting through a wide open field. We exited the road and moved into a pull-out, rolling down the windows to enjoy his bugles as he searched frantically for a mate. I snapped a few photos including one of him with steamy air rising from his flared nostrils. He moved out of view eventually, and we continued our drive, skipping Jenny Lake for the day, instead opting to drive around Signal Mountain Campground, a known hotspot for bears. Stopping for a few minutes to enjoy the scenery at Oxbow Bend, we had to decide what we wanted to do next. We elected to drive up Togwotee Pass for scenery, foliage, and maybe some grizzly bears. We had to settle for two out of three, as we did not see any grizzlies, though we saw plenty of suitable habitat and very few people. We stopped for a bit at a few spots including Wind River Lake where we got an up close look at the Pinnacles behind the lake. After lunch, we drove over to the Gros Ventre to do some fishing, finding a suitable spot to wade across one of the many threads to a gravel bar where we could traverse up and downstream easily. It's amazing how much better dad's casting got just from the float trip. He was putting some nice casts out there. After fishing some decent water, I found a great spot and almost immediately saw a fish rise. I cast into the pool with a pink chubby, and a massive cutthroat rose from the depths and smashed it. I set the hook and felt two strong head shakes, and it was off. I cried out in anguish- I had just lost the biggest fish I've ever seen on the Gros Ventre. Pain. It was still a really cool experience, but dang. I called my dad over, and he waded across a wide but shallow section and joined me. After letting the spot sit for a few minutes, I had him cast in there, and he had a hit almost immediately, but it didn't stick. He had a couple of more chances, but to no avail. Still, he was happy to have had some action, and I was happy to have put him on some fish. We decided it was time to make our way back to the car so we could take advantage of the evening hours to look for wildlife as my dad really wanted to see a moose in a more natural setting than the yard of an apartment complex. We found a gentler place to cross than our entry point and spotted some moose tracks. I am always wary of moose, especially as we move toward rut time. We had our bear spray ready and made plenty of noise. Our gear put away, we drove toward the campground and saw a few people pulled over at a place where I have seen many moose. Sure enough, there were two cows and a bull moving among the willows. They were so close to where we had been fishing! Everyone enjoyed watching them until some touron with a camera walked too close and the moose moved further into the willows to rid themselves of the idiots. We decided to do the same and kept driving. We drove past Mormon Row and decided to circle back across Jackson Lake Dam back toward Jenny Lake. We drove up to Signal Mountain this time, which took forever, but it was a nice view from the top, and we spotted a lonely bison in the valley below. After descending and passing Jenny Lake a second time without stopping, we pulled over to view a group of pronghorn that were near the road. Just past the junction with the National Park, we continued down Moose-Wilson Road back toward Teton Village. We pulled over at one of the beaver ponds where some others were gathered and saw a moose cow in the small pond, and to our surprise, her calves were bedded down on the banks, mostly obscured from view. We admired her for a bit, but as the crowd started to stack up, we decided to give her space and move along. Everyone was pretty respectful, but as she began to look upward, surveying the crowd, I felt people should have left so as to not cause her to alter her behavior. This time I convinced dad to let me pick up a pizza, which we picked up around 7:30 pm, 13 hours after we left our place. Not bad for an almost 76 year old guy. Gobbling up the pizza, we decided to go for another early morning and see Jenny Lake before doing some more fishing on our own on the Hoback in the afternoon and finishing our trip off in style with dinner at the Million Dollar Cowboy Steakhouse.
Another hard boiled egg and bagel breakfast down, and we were off, driving Moose-Wilson road toward the park. It's a narrow, winding road with many pull-offs for wildlife viewing and some areas that are closed to parking to prevent bottlenecks. We saw a few wildlife tour groups pulled over looking through binoculars at either a moose or elk, but we elected to keep going. As we got closer to the pond where we saw the moose the night before, the road narrowed considerably, just wide enough for two cars and lined on both sides by a berry producing plant I have not been able to identify. A car in front of us was stopped, so we waited, and as they pulled forward, the driver of the oncoming car stuck his arm out the window and pointed upward to his side of the road. Just over our heads was a brown black bear just absolutely smashing berries, perched precariously on branches that seemed wholly overmatched by the bear's weight. Despite the laws of physics, the bear remained steadily in the bush in the throes of hyperphagia ahead of a long winter. We took some photos and videos before moving ahead, leaving the bear to do its bear things. We were both still buzzing when we pulled into a mostly empty Jenny Lake parking lot. Even though it gets crazy crowded, it really is a beautiful spot to stop for a bit, and on this morning, the lake was calm and glassy. We walked the trail for a little ways taking some photos before perusing the gift shop for a few minutes. I had wanted to take my dad to try the Hoback for a little fishing, so we headed out of town and toward Hoback Junction stopping first at a day use area to eat our leftover pizza. I knew a couple of good spots, but I didn't want to push my dad too much as he was a little sore after wading the day prior, so we headed to an easy pullout with quick access. The water was a bit lower than I had hoped, but we gave it a go in the first couple of runs. Dad's casting continued to improve, though we had no luck in our first spots. Walking under the bridge, we decided to try the next run before heading back so we could make our reservation. Dad was a little tired, so he sat on the bank while I cast in the shadow of the bridge to a deep back eddy. I had seen a fish rise just prior, so I put an accurate cast over and had an immediate hit, but it didn't get hooked. Then another and another, same thing. I was getting a little frustrated, so I moved just slightly upstream to change the approach angle. Another cast in, and finally! I had a nice size, glittering golden cutthroat on and in the net. Seeing me land one gave dad a little extra motivation, so we tried one more hole nearby where he had a hit but didn't hook the fish. He was happy with his improvement and was ready to go. I think he was really excited about the steak.
For our last dinner, I had planned to really treat dad at the steakhouse and was kind of disappointed when he insisted on paying, but I decided to let him do so. I think he was a little uncomfortable with me paying for everything. Anyhow, the steaks and sides were amazing, so amazing, we didn't leave room for dessert. It was a great way to top off the trip, and we headed back to the condo to pack up and get ready to fly out early the next morning. It was a quick three days, but we really made the most of it and created lifelong memories. Hopefully we don't go 22 years between trips again.
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