Two Logs

This is a post about some of the fishing that we have enjoyed in the Irwin, Idaho area this summer.  We start off with a very productive spot we named Two Logs.  This spot on the Snake River is about one mile from our campsite.  We call it that because a couple of large tree logs have fallen from the bank and lay out in the water providing some nice structure and a good eddy for fishing action.
There is Steve fishing atop the two logs.

Gari pulls a Whitefish ashore.  Those Whitefish are delicious.

Steve shows off the nice Cutthroat Trout... that Gari caught! Can't keep Cutthroat, so back he goes in to the river.

The Snake River fishing hole by the Rt 26 bridge that we haven't fished yet, but we scoped it out this day.

A nice Cutthroat caught on Bear Creek from the kayaks.

Kayak fishing on Bear Creek.

View from Bear Creek looking out onto Palisades Reservoir.

Steve trolling near the town Of Alpine, Wyoming.  We are actually in Idaho here consistent with our annual fishing licenses.

Gari relaxes in her kayak on on a calm day on Big Elk Creek.

Gari paddles near Two Rocks on Big Elk Creek.

This is a rare shot below.  The Palisades Dam workers left the gate to the road over the dam open one morning.  We had only been in the area a couple of days and thought driving over the dam was OK, so we pulled in and proceeded to cross the Snake River.  Right after we passed the hydroelectric output (seen below) we were met by several dam workers who had eyes as big as saucers.  Turns out we weren't supposed to drive on the dam.  We thought we better get a picture from up here since it looked like we would never be here again, so we stopped and snapped a few.

White American Pelicans frequent the dam area both in the reservoir and in the Snake River below the dam.

Steve finally caught a Brown Trout.  Too bad this one was too small and had to go back.  16" length is the size limit.  Released unharmed.

Same Brown being caught directly below the dam.

Steve has "Fish On" at Two Logs.

The only Lake Trout we caught this visit.  They call them Mackinaw here.  Released unharmed.

Steve is looking for the red markings under the gills to determine if this is a Cutthroat Trout.

The town of Alpine, Wyoming, taken from Idaho waters.

Gari kayak fishing near Alpine, WY.

Pelicans and Seagulls congregating at Alpine.

Gari pulls a Cutthroat onto the bank.

Nice Cutthroat Trout... gotta throw it back.

Gari has a Brown Trout on.

Gari plays the Brown up to the bank.

Steve shows Gari's nice Brown Trout.  This one is big enough to take home for dinner.

Steve ends the series with a nice Cutthroat Trout at Two Logs extended.  That's a short walk up river from Two logs proper.

Sky Lake Hike in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

We took our first expedition into the Jackson Hole, Wyoming area at the end of June.  We rode the Teton Pass Highway WY22 into Jackson.  We thought the scenery was excellent and we want to go back and get up north of Jackson and see Grand Teton Mountain and the other surrounding peaks.  This visit we undertook a 5 mile hike up to Sky Lake.  We got an early start and the weather was just right.  By the time we got up to the lake at 8800 ft it was plenty cool.

Steve stands off the Teton Pass Highway over looking Jackson, Wyoming.  We did go into Jackson and did a little shopping at the grocery and the variety store.  Jackson was very crowded and we were ready to get out of town and get back to quiet Irwin, Idaho!

An unobstructed view overlooking Jackson from Teton Pass Hwy.

We started up the trail to Sky Lake and less than a mile in the Philips Trail split off and we went left headed for Sky Lake.  Gari points the way.

We crossed a few meadows on the way up to the lake.  This one had some water in it.

The first snow we saw Gari made a B-line to play... er investigate the phenomena.

Gari:
a) sachets across the log bridge
b) practices her Electric Slide
c) walks like an Egyptian
d) thinks balance beam is child's play
e) All of the above

Gari finds an even larger patch of snow a little farther up the mountain.  Gari takes aim and... INCOMING!

This creek crossing has stepping stones that Gari tippy taps across.

Almost to Sky Lake; this is the creek effluent from the lake, it appears to drop right off the mountain.

 Nice view at the gnarly log

Sky Lake 8800 ft

Time for a hero shot!

Another marshy meadow on the way back down

Beautiful flowers on a beautiful day.  Next stop in town Jackson then skedaddle back to Irwin, Idaho.

A New Kayak

When we first purchased our entry level kayaks two years ago, we didn't really know what style would suit us best.  We did know that we would like to fish as well as paddle tour.  So we ended up purchasing a Sit-On-Top model and a Sit-Inside model.  What we have discovered is that the Sit-On-Top model is more tippy, especially in wind and small waves.  We think the prime reason for this is that the paddler is actually sitting above the water in the Sit-On-Top boats and the paddler is actually sitting beneath the water surface in the Sit-Inside models.  The Sit-On-Top models also have scupper holes that let water in and out of the passenger area.  This makes it a bit colder when the temperatures are lower.  You tend to stay drier in a Sit-Inside model.  When it is very hot out, the Sit-On-Top models can help to cool the paddler off.

Gari has been using the red Old Town Vapor Angler 10' model and we noticed how effortlessly that kayak paddled; we think due to the nice V-hull design.  Old Town has been making kayaks and canoes for a long time and we think they must know what they are doing from all that experience.  The Sit-On-Top model we had, we noticed the bottom was more flat and was more difficult to paddle at any speed.  It was kind of like a barge.  One other effect that we noticed was that when reaching over the side to the water to retrieve a fish it felt like it would be very easy to tip right out of the platform seating of the Sit-On-Top kayak.

With this 2-years of experience we decided to replace the Sit-On-Top model with another Sit-Inside kayak.  We also thought it would be smart to stick with the Old Town brand because of the good experience that we have had with our Old Town 169 Canoe we used on the Shore for 20+ years and the similar good experience that we have had with the Vapor Angler 10' Kayak.  We purchased the same model from Old Town for our 2nd kayak.  We couldn't get the red color any longer, it seems that Old Town stopped producing the red color last year on that model.  The color choices were brown camo or urban camo, the later which turned out to be a light gray that closely matches the color of our truck Romeo.  So we went with the urban camo color.

We load our kayaks in the back of the truck when we are using them locally.  We have engineered a rope loop and bungee tie down system that allows for fast loading and unloading.  When we are traveling between destinations, we load the kayaks on the roof racks of the truck.  The picture below also shows our general cooking outdoor area in front of the trailer here at Buck's.  The large Spruce trees provide nice shade without being too invasive to the camper or truck.

A littler close view of the new kayak, which we shall call Vonnie (the Vapor) to go with our existing red kayak Ollie (the Old Town).  Ollie short for Oliver, and Vonnie short for Veronica.  Welcome to the family Vonnie, love Romeo, Penelope and Ollie.

Ready to go paddling.

Unloaded at Big Elk Creek finger of Palisades Reservoir.  

Steve is in the water in Vonnie and ready to go fishing!

Gari out in Ollie on the Big Elk Creek finger of Palisades Reservoir.

Vonnie appears to be a natural fishing craft as Steve prepares to land a Cutthroat Trout.  You can just see the fishes nose out of the water; follow the line down to the water.

Steve is seen nearing the head waters of the reservoir finger where Big Elk Creek enters the reservoir.  This time Steve has a paddle with blades on two ends! Looks like Steve is inspecting his spoon for debris.

If you're still reading, this is the story that started when I was about 12 years old... I have always dreamed about hunting and fishing.  When I was in grade school my folks bought me a subscription to Field and Stream magazine.  In about 5th or 6th grade, I remember satisfying an English Class requirement to write a paper by writing about stalking and catching an elusive Brown Trout lunker fish that I had read about in the magazine.  I have never caught a Brown Trout let alone a lunker (big 'un).  The picture below is also a story of the lunker that got away.  I hooked a magnificent Brown Trout specimen off the rock wall in about 25 feet of water on a nice juicy night-crawler.  The fight lasted for about 5 minutes, and in that eternity the large Brown Trout jumped fully out of the water no less than 3 times.  I finally had him next to the kayak (picture below).  I had the line with my hand and was positioning the Brown to grab and lift him into the kayak.  I had an excellent view of the fish at that time.  It was every bit of 20 inches or more.  The underside was a yellowish tint unlike the local Rainbow or Cutthroat.  The top sides were darker with magnificent colored spots.  It was gorgeous!  I could only think about fulfilling a dream since childhood as I prepared to boat the Brown... and it was then that the 4 lb test leader snapped....  Look how happy I was just seconds before!  lol

Idaho Falls, Idaho

We took a rainy day and rode into Idaho Falls for supplies, a little sight seeing and a special upgrade to our fishing outfit... a new kayak.  The new kayak is an Old Town 10 foot Vapor Angler model.  Then the sun came out and it turned into a lovely day in town.  I am sure this happened because we brought our rain gear and I wore my mud boots.

We made a selfie at the falls downtown in Idaho Falls.

First stop, State Trailer & Outdoor Supply.  Here we picked up a clear 8" sewer fitting that we have needed in a few locations where we have stayed.  It was a great supply store with lots of friendly and helpful workers.  We also found the elusive RV refrigerator condensation drain strainer plugs and a LED marker light that matches the style on Penelope.  It's the little things....

This fitting attaches directly to the trailer sewer output and then the corrugated sewer hose connects to this clear fitting.  We have a 5-inch, 45° clear fitting.  The clear is needed to see when the tank is finished emptying and when the back flush water is clean.  The straight works for certain ground slopes and sewer hook up directions.  Sometimes the 45° fitting just doesn't work/fit well.  Now we have another option, yay!

Next stop was Wild West Designs.  They sell all sorts of out west home furniture and decor.  We read that they have some incredible wood carvings so we stopped in to see for ourselves.  There sure was a lot of activity on the front porch.

Gari found herself in the middle of a bear fight!

Steve wants that big fish, the bigger bear says no way!  Grrrroarrrr!

Steve did make friends with Moose.

This smaller bear, Teddy, was made from tight wrapped barbed wire.  Pretty cool.

We stopped by the "Carved Wood Indian" by Peter Wolf Toth on the east side of Idaho Falls.  Toth was dedicated to recognizing indigenous people of North America.  He placed 73 carved statues across North America including at least one in every US state.  His statues range in height from 20 to 40 feet.  The Idaho Falls statue comes in around the middle at 27 feet.  It is carved out of Douglas Fir and was his 37th statue; it was placed in 1980.  Now Toth has expanded his horizons beyond North America and is now placing statues worldwide.  Romeo lurks in the background.

We stopped downtown at the river front (Snake River) to see the famous Idaho Falls waterfalls.  We got a great parking spot right by the waterfront and directly across the street from our new favorite Mexican Restaurant Jalisco's.  We passed this magnificent Thistle plant on the way to the water, you can see Romeo the Ram right there.

We were getting tired and hungry.  Gari found this Idaho bench made out of rock and tile work.  The sun made the stone bench very warm!

It occurred to us later that the bench look like an Idaho potato... maybe because the bench was so hot, or maybe we were just hungry.

Gari says Hi in front of the falls.  The falls go on for a couple of city blocks.  The rocks on shore are igneous or volcanic, and the rocks seen in the river appear similar,

We are guessing that the steeple in the distance is Mormon LDS.  Pretty setting for them.

Steve takes a break on the riverfront.  How about that large log stuck on the top section of the falls?!

After the falls our new favorite Mexican Restaurant was just a walk across the street from where Steve stands above at the falls. Below you can see why this is our new fav!

On the way over to the Sportsman's Warehouse to pick up the new Old Town kayak, we stopped at Eagle Rock Fountain which is in the middle of a roundabout that connects S Utah Ave with Bridgeport Dr.  This huge bronze not only has the two adult Eagles and two Eaglets in the nest, but there is also a Cougar in there.  The Cougar is hard to see in this picture, but it is below the left side Eagle in front of the water fall.

From this angle you can see the two eaglets in the nest.

This is a better angle for the Cougar.  We estimate this huge sculpture to be about 30 feet tall and 50 feet or more wide.

We left the traffic circle and went to pick up the Old Town kayak.  We hope to be using that very soon as the weather permits and we promise pictures of the new craft in a later post.