Emily is scuba certified!

This is older news, but in March during our trip to the Cayman Islands, Emily finished her open water scuba certification. She and her friend Mindi finished the course and did a great job. I am prould of Emily because she was scared to do several of the tests(like removing you mask when you are 60 feet down and putting it back on and clearing it) and etc..

Backpacking Trip

Emily and her friends spent part of the weekend in Breckenridge, Colorado so that left me alone with the kids. Because of the unusually warm weather I decided to take the kids backpacking. I wanted to get away from the crowds of people and the high mountains are still covered in snow, so I settled on Laramie Peak. I spent a lot of time hiking there 2 years ago during an elk hunt and enjoyed the topography and scenery. The drive took 40 miles of dirt road, so even though the hike in was short, it was still remote. We had a great, warm evening together and no bears bothered us(I saw 2 during my hunting trip in this area). Jecca was with us, but doesn't bark, so she would not scare off any bears. The next morning we enjoyed a hike down the canyon and caught many fish in the stream. We even found an old cabin that hadn't seen any use for 100 years. The kids enjoyed it and I think we'll do some more trips this summer.

Spring Adventures

I haven't written for a while. I have had an exciting Spring so far. Rock climbing in February at Joshua Tree, rock climbing in Zion National park in March, scuba diving in Grand Cayman in March, fly fishing with my dad on the Green River, fly fishing with friends on the North Platte, fly fishing the Big Horn River in Montana. Now that I write all this down, it does seem like quite a lot. It has been great now that I think about it. We have had a dry and warm Spring here in Wyoming and I have taken advantage of this. I will try and keep up on adventures from now on. (I know there is 3 pictures of me with fish, but they are all different rivers)

Alaska 2011

Had another great trip to Alaska over labor day weekend this year. My friend Aaron joined me and we stayed with Andy.
We were able to fly over to the Italio River again and stay in Bob's fishing shack for 2 nights. It was quite the adventure. We had a lot of rain, but did catch lots of big silvers. The bad weather did limit our ability to fish on the ocean, so we only caught one halibut.
It was great to see Andy, Trace, and Cherie. I cannot wait to go back.

Snake River

Dad, Adam, and I fished the snake river in August. I took my drift boat when I went to climb the Grand Teton and planned on floating the Snake River and flyfishing.
The first day we floated through Teton National Park. You cannot beat the scenery during this float with the Tetons towering behind you, and we also caught native cutthroat trout. The weather was in the 80s, which is hot for that area.
The second day we floated below Jackson. The float was in a canyon with faster water. Still beautiful, but closer to roads and fishing was not as good.
We enjoyed this so much we will try and make it an annual trip.

Twin's backpack trip

Savannah, Sohpia, and I had our own short overnight backpack trip this summer. We didn't hike very far into the forest, but had a pleasant evening. They are very cute.
I bought them each a harmonica and they had a great time around the campfire.

Wind Rivers 2011

I am attempting to catch up on some of my adventures this summer and fall.
The first is the backpacking trip to the wind rivers. Danny and his son Luke, joined Isaac and me for a 3 night backpack trip into Smith Lake basin. I had been in there before with Gordon and others and we did a gear drop for that trip.
This time we carried all our gear. The weather was good, but the bugs were the worst I've ever had in my life. There was some bug that landed on you and crawled up your arms or legs, (even if they were covered), and bite you many times that left huge marks. Don't know what it was, but it made the trip almost unbearable.
We did catch lots of fish and had a great time.
Jecca had a terrible time with the bugs. Her whole body had bites after the trip and due to her age she was exhausted by the time it was over. I included a picture with her on the way out. Her eye got infected and she laid right in the dusty trail, too tired to care.