First Fish

I woke up Saturday morning with the ich to get out on the water and try my skillz fly fishing. Well, I think that was what that ich was. Anyways, I headed up to Clear Creek in Golden, CO, home of the Coors factory. Much to my surprise, I caught my first trout using a fly rod. It was a beatiful little rainbow trout. I was hooping and hollering all by myself in the creek. As "they" say out here in CO regarding fly fishing, "the tug is the drug" (save your jokes). It may be true, because now I can't wait to get back out there and keep fishing.

Here are a few pics from my fishing spot.

 I was waist deep in that little hole when I caught my first rainbow trout.

 Oh, this picture here is the reason that I don't have a picture of the fish. By the time I scrambled to the bank to grab my phone and take a picture, the fish had slipped away. If I hadn't set up my camera to take this gooberish self photo, I would've been able to snap a photo of the rainbow before he jumped out of my hand. But I had no plans of catching a fish so I thought the only proof of me being out there would be this photo of myself. Yes, I am ashamed............

 And one more thing.............I ended my weekend out on the golf course. Pretty sure I'm going to whoop up on Matt and Anthony next time we play.

The new spot I stay at

Sorry to take a break from the great outdoors but I had to move this past weekend. Below is the new house. I'll post more pics once we get all set-up. Also, I've got a little landscaping project going on in the back yard. I'll keep you posted on that too.

 The place has a great cottage feel to the inside

 The kitchen could use some updating but I'll survive

 This is where "the magic happens" - MTV Cribs style

 The King's Throne....where the real magic happens

 Oh, I might have slipped out to play 18 at Overland on Sunday. Ooops

The lucky turn

This Saturday Kristie and I decided to head up to the Leadville area to do some exploring. When we rolled into town there was a storm brewing so we decided just to drive and enjoy the scenery.

It's a beautiful drive along the headwaters of the Arkansas River.

About 10 miles outside of town we decided to turn up Independence Pass and explore. After passing Twin Lakes and Mt. Elbert, we cruised several more miles up the pass where we saw a few cars pulled over on the side of the road. The bird dog inside of me knew something good must be up this way so we swirved in and hit the trail. Here are a few photos of the hike.

At this point (2 minutes into the hike) Kristie really had to use the bathroom. Unfortunately, I had to point out the sign that informed her that this was a "No P" area and she would have to hold it.

This is a great little waterfall that we just stumbled upon

That's Kristie up on the bridge. My guess is that she was peeing in the water as she is a convicted pool pee'er

Here's one of the bridges we had to take to get up the mountain. Looks like Matt built it if you ask me

After our hike we got back in the car and decided to drive up the service road just to see what was up ahead. Much to our surprise we discovered one of the coolest areas of the state that I've seen.

The road carried on along this river up into the valley and into the mountains

This is the campsite I've been dreaming about (below)

Can't ask for much better

The road continued up the valley into an aspen grove

Where we finally came to this old mining cabin that looks like its being used as a ski hut in the winter

Overall it was a great day with great views that we would have missed if it weren't for one lucky turn.