Morning Powder runs and Afternoon Ripples and Fins

It was Alright! 3 runs of first tracks and then the ants showed up. Made 10 runs had to wait in line 3 times. Legs noodled out on me and then knee started to be funky so I called it a day. Blue Bird and Fluff!!!!! It was Alright :)





The afternoon was absolutely great with sunny, blue skies. I had to get out and play a little more. Legs were still fried so I went to a close by stream and decided to go LOAH style. It worked tossed a couple blue fox's and caught a couple pretty little natives not too far from the front door.





It was a good day of vacation and a well needed one.  Blue Bird day with all the right components skiing and fishing.  til next time keep smilin'

Ski days of 2011-12

Day 4 - Sundance
A Blue Bird day again, both happy and sad to say those words right now.  We need snow badly!!  Went to Sundance in hopes of running into a good friend Mark Allen.  He posted a picture of fresh tracks on Wildflower and I thought alright Mark is on the mtn and they have had a freak storm roll through and dump a few inches.  Got dressed and loaded up and on the mtn in about 30 minutes from seeing the post.  Surprise no freak storm, but worse yet no Mark Allen called him and found out he was making reindeer food and spreading out in front of his house for Santa's reindeer, yep he is a good father.  Anyhow I put in few runs and decided skiing through man made ice crystals that kinda stung and all stuck to everything wasn't the same as the real stuff and headed to front mtn and seen Shan at the top of Ray's and talked to her for a bit then headed home.  Good day on the mtn just not OKAY.....lol.  til next time keep smiling.

Day 3 - Sundance
A Blue Bird day at Sundance!  It was cold and over cast to begin with but turned into a beautiful day at the Dance.  Still need tons of snow but for the groomers it was an okay day.  Just high speed cruising I was by myself.  Made for some fast loads and unloads.


Day 2 - Alta
Went up for a couple hours with Sally for our anniversary ski trip.  It was nice to have Sally with me on the slopes.  She is a trooper and puts up with me, has done so now for 27 married years.  The snow was not great and the off groomed trails were, in my book, unrunable at this point.  We desperately need some big dumpage. Just figures the year I get back on my boards it doesn't snow.  It was still nice to ride the man made stuff for little outside time with my love.


Day 1 - Alta
Well after a year off the slopes due to back surgery today went pretty good.  The back did very well.  The legs and feet did okay, the legs noodled on me after about 3 runs but pushed on and got in a few more.  The knee was tender but held up okay.  Didn't go anywhere out standing stayed on the groomers today to ensure all was working okay.  It started to snow as I pulled in the parking lot and snowed the rest of the time I was on the mtn.  I had a good time.  The new coat worked fabulously!  The meat chili at the lodge is good and they give free refills on your drinks which is a bonus.  So day 1 in the books.  Next season will buy pass to Alta and night pass to Sundance for weekly skiing times.  Til next time keep smilin' :)

A day of Hog hunting on Strawberry!

Craig and I met up early in the canyon, loaded up went to Heber and stopped for last minute supplies...donuts, chocolate milk you know, oh ya and caffeine.  We made it to Strawberry by 7:30 on the lake in his Rhino, yes I said Rhino it is the only way to go ice fishing!! It made life tons easier to move around and to get to areas others can't.  That is precisely what we did, went to areas other's couldn't access.  We got to our first area just North of Renegade and had holes cut and the first fish on the deck in 15 minutes, the second in 20 minutes.  The 2nd fish was the beginning of the hog hunt it was nice male cutt with great colors about 18 inches and 3 lbs.  We stayed and I got my first fish on the ice in about 30 minutes and it was a nice 2-3 lb bow.  We stayed for another hour or so and left for new ice.  We caught a good dozen at the spot and had a good start to the day.  We headed out of the bay to the old dam, set up camp there for an hour or so.  Within 10 minutes of cutting our first hole Craig landed the Hog of the day 20 inches of football size rainbow, it weighed in just under 4lbs but the scale was very sticky due to being cold ;)  We stayed there and caught another half dozen or so nice fish.  Loaded up and went back toward the marina on the way in we stopped to help out some other fishers and heard they were having a slow day, glad we were able to get away from the crowds in Craig's Rhino.
Great day on the hard deck! We caught 15 fish in the 3-4 lb range. Most were cuts so we returned them but Craig landed the Hog of the day. Rhino is definitley the way to travel on the ice. Thanks Craig for a great day on the ice!!

Chicken Creek East II

On the ice again at Chicken Creek East on Strawberry.  Today I was with Craig and Paul.  We headed up early in the morning and got on the lake by 7:30am.  The ice was clear and deadly slick!!!  I found out the hard way.  Heels above head and went down like a ton of bricks.  After the follies we made our way to a spot Craig fished earlier and had good success.  We fished there for probably 3 hours and didn't get a single fish a couple teasing hits but nothing else.  It was a cold and blustery day and Paul hadn't planned on the coldness so we packed up and went for home.  Paul and I went to lunch Momma Chris's at the mouth of the canyon.  It was good day of fishing just not catching.  til next time keep smilin'.

Last Fish(es) of the year

Went to Rockport again on Saturday with Mac, Gary and friends.  Had a great day.  It was amazing the night before we had gale force winds at our house and was very concerned about damage to our house and other things, actually had to strap our BBQ down so it didn't blow off the balcony.  I was very skeptical about even going with them the wind was still blowing hard at our place.  Texted Craig and said no thanks not interested in fishing in these conditions, he called a minute later saying it wasn't blowing that hard in AF and that I needed to come to just see what it was going to be like at the lake.  I agreed and met up with him and Gary and went to the lake.  It was blowing but not miserable.  We got on the ice around 7:30am and the wind wasn't bad and it was blue sky and the progressed to be a very nice day with a small breeze most of it but we didn't need to set up tents.  It turned into a great day for me got my first/last fish of the ice season for 2011 and proceeded to catch 6 more nice rainbows.  We all had a good day on the ice, shared stories and had fun watching each other try to catch more fish.  From losing an entire rig into one whole, and watching Gary about break his ankles saving another rig from going into the lake.  Yep we were watching one rig and there was one hit on it and gone straight down the hole, craziest thing I have seen on the ice.  Glad Mac was persistent in making me go.  Great way to finish off 2011 season and year glad it is over it has been a hell of a year at our house and with the family.  Here's to much better 2012 and looking forward to making the best of it with many trips to many places with friends and my fishing partners Jimmy and Parker, Parker comes home in 58 days!!!  til next time keep smilin'