FLY FISHING COLORADO | 3 DAY SOLO BACKCOUNTRY ADVENTURE | CAMP FISH & HIKE WEMINUCHE WILDERNESS

Well, this is where our trail starts. We have to cross the Rio Grande. Kind of why I've got my boots in hand and I'm wearing my sandals because I'm about to wake up the only way I know how. Getting those feet cold and wet. Oh, this is about to so, so suck. Oh, it sucks. That is just about the worst. Oh, my God. Those dry socks feel amazing. Behind me is the ute drainage. I don't know anything about it, truth be told. All I know is that there's a couple lakes at the top, a stream in between, and maybe some cutthroat. So, that's enough for me to say, alright, let's go there. But, I'm going to get my hike on really early this morning. So, it's time to get the boots on and just hoof it up this trail. And we are ten toes down on quite possibly the biggest adventure of the summer. I've got the backpack loaded down and we have made it. I'm officially in the great state of Colorado. Beautiful Colorado. Colorful, colorful Colorado. And, yeah, took us a while to get here last night. Let's roll some of that footage now. We've made it to the trailhead. I would say seeing that moose alone was well worth the drive. And that's a big shout out to my sister Caitlin because she's a big moose gal. Loves a good moose. So, that one's for you, Caters. And, yeah, we've got a lot of miles to go and a lot of boot leather to tear up. So, enough talking. Let's get on the trail. Let's get going. We are getting an altitude adjustment right now. It is rough, slow going. Heavy pack doesn't help. But I will say there was like eight or ten nasty log jams that you had to either go up and around or over. It was... That can make for some really sketchy, sketchy hiking. You know, you're shifting balances. That's where you're going to pull something. Just trying to catch my breath. Get my heart rate down a little bit. And I think our first official stop is close up the trail. We're almost there. Almost there. This is incredible. Oh, my God. We finally found our creek. It's time to take this backpack off and set up camp. Well, it would seem as though someone left us a nice camp. So, we might as well... Might as well reuse it since we got it. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Since we're so close to Black Lake, it's going to be a little bit buggy. That's the only problem with this campsite. Otherwise, it looks just about perfect. So, I'm going to get a little sheen on me here. Get all the deep going. Make sure they don't bother me. So, here are the basics with my tent set up. Got the blow-up pillow. Got to have the sleeping pad. I don't know if I'll use them, but I got my bear bell set. Those are always nice to have, but there's not enough trees to hang it around. So, I don't know. We'll see. Then, I've got a bit more robust tarp to put over the tent. And then, your standard issue REI tent. And that's home. Home on wheels. Well, the tarp's not really as big as I remember. It'll do the job for at least a few nights. So, I'm not really worried about that. It's if we get some wind at night, it might be a little bit chilly just because there's not all the protection that we're looking for. But I brought plenty of layers, and that's why we do what we do. Overpack. But yeah, it's time to get everything situated, get some lunch, hang the bear bag, and then we're going to be fishing. We're going to be fishing, folks. I cannot wait. I think I'm actually going to hang up the bear bells for this time. All righty, bear bells are up. And I know it might seem a little corny, but just having that sense of some sort of direction that something might be coming into camp, even if it never actually happens, it brings me the peace of mind that, you know, out here in the middle of flipping nowhere, it's nice to have comforts, be it real or perceived. Just had a message come in. Please be safe and catch a ton of fish. Thanks, Dad, I sure will. These Garmin inReach things, they're pretty nifty. I'll give them that. I'm thinking this is the perfect spot to rig up our rods, but also grab a bite to eat. I'm a little hungry after that hike, so let's enjoy this view. What do you say? Oh, my goodness. It's almost fitting that my first fish of the day is an eastern transplant, just like myself. That's a beautiful brook trout. Oh, my lanta. Yes. That is so sick. Look at him. Oh, dude. Oh, and just like that, he's off. Woo! The skunk is off. That's so cool. Pretty simple pattern we got that guy on. Just a pink ant. It's got a parachute on it, and it sits high, and it rides for days. And he loved, loved the looks of that. That is, oh, that's what you want, man. Check him out, y'all. He has gotten beat up on. His fin and back are messed up. What have you been tussling with there, buddy? Huh? That is just a gorgeous fish. Not native, but still so cool. Just a little guy. There we go. That's a better fish. Oh, man. That's a tank brook trout. Holy cow. Yeah, look at you, buddy. Now, even though this little trout's technically not supposed to be here, I can give a big round of applause for this wild trout getting to this size. This is a nice fish for high country. Holy cow. Can you guys see the dimensions on this thing? That is a beautiful brook trout. And much like all the rest, this is one plumpy boy. You have been eating so well, sir. The high country is treating him mighty fine. Let's send him back swimming. That was textbook high country stream. Right where he should have been, came up and just popped it, man. And you could tell almost immediately. You set that hook. A lot of the littler brookies, I mean, they're coming right in. That guy, he said, no, pause. I need to be here for a second. I'm going to hold on. And boy, did he hold on. That was so cool. That's such a good brookie. Now, if we can just find a real grand, that'd be mighty fine, too. Let's shake and bake and maybe pop back in there. That was the pool boss. He might have some friends. Who knows? Yes, dude. He came back and looked for it. That is another nice brook. He swiped at it, came back around, full 360 and slammed it. That was so cool. Another nice little brookie. We'll send him back. Well, that was perfect. Pulling two nice fish out of that run. I think we keep on moving up and see if there's some more good stuff. Fingers crossed for the real grand. Come on, baby. But again, can we quick talk about how chunky these fish are? This dude's belly's like popping out. Oh, well, he didn't like me insulting his weight. I'm sorry. It's a term of endearment. You're a chunky boy. You ever have one of those casts where you know it's like, man, there should be a fish right there, and there actually is? Oh, that's the best. That is seriously the best feeling ever. Bear's so floppy. He's gone. Back in the drink. That was so sick. That was awesome. I'll save the real grands for tomorrow. Today's all about brookies right now. This is incredible. Well, I think this was going to be our last brookie for the day. It's getting close to dinner time, and let me tell you, I am very hungry. We've got a lot to do, a lot to take care of before we can actually lay our head down tonight. So we can't spend too much time on these meadow brookies. We've got to be serious and actually take care of business back at camp. But, man, this fish is beautiful. Let's get another look at this guy. A wild Colorado brookie to rival the best right there, man. That's an excellent, excellent fish. All right, hook is out. Let's get this guy back. It is quite hard to describe the level of nostalgia that these brook trout are bringing me right now. I would say it's a 10 out of 10. I can think of so many trips, Dad and I running through little meadow streams like this, just bopping dry flies and catching chunky brook trout. Man, they might not be native, but they're wild, and they've done such an amazing job of adapting. I don't know, I think there's something to applaud. There's something to celebrate there that a wild trout fishery like this is still doing, I would say, pretty well. We're still looking for those Rio Grande, though. I think we're going to find some tomorrow. Knock on wood. But now we've got to switch gears. We've got to go from fish mode to camp mode. And I hiked down a nice collapsible jug. I think it holds like two, three gallons. I don't know. We're going to fill it up right now. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to drop my iodine pills in it so that it's D-bacteria, D-whatever, bad stuff, that might be in this water. It'll be sanitized and done by the time we get back to camp. And what I've done since I'm a dum-dum is I've actually put the correct tablet markings on my bag because I don't remember that stuff. It's easier to just look at this and think, oh, past Mike did this. He must be right. And it's worked out so far, I should say. So, yeah, eight tablets and we're down to drink, baby. One long hike later and we've made it back. As you can see, nothing is disturbed, which is good. Everything is right where we left it. And right now I'm going to go into probably dinner, change, eat, and then bed. If I'm being honest, I'm pretty whooped. So first things first, let's grab that bear bag right where we left it. I'm sitting right next to a fire pit that looks very recently used, but I didn't get a straight answer from the ranger department, and it changes all the time between moderate and high and very high. It's never usually low. So one of the best ways to, or, well, in my opinion, to make a backcountry meal is those propane burners. And I really like what's called a Jetboil. For those of you who don't know what that is, I mean, get out from under your rock. They are the best. But they make backcountry cooking so easy. And we're going to fire this up right now and get our main course going. And I think tonight we deserve home-style chicken and rice heavens to Betsy. That will send me straight to sleep. So, yeah, let's get this going. This is going to be my first time trying the Peak Refuel, so I'm really excited to see. Those mountain ops, man, they send my gut straight to the underworld. Something to be aware of as well, I guess because of altitude, things boil a lot faster. So keep that in mind. You don't got to watch this pot. It'll burn quick, especially with the Jetboil. I think we're already almost there. Now what we got to do, pour it in and let the magic happen. Let the Peak Refuel take over. I am going to give it a quick stir. Then all you got to do is, not spill it, seal this up. Give it about 10-15 minutes and it should rehydrate all that stuff and you're eating high. High on the hog. Okay, step one is well out of the way. Step two, clean clothes. I'm still wet and I'm still dirty. I don't know, I think it's a peace of mind thing, having nice dry clothes and maybe cleaning yourself up a little bit before you go to sleep. Call me a prima donna, but it sure is nice. That's what we're going to do right now. I'm going to wipe down, get my extra clothes on, bottle up real good. I think it's going to be a cold one. Yeah, dinner should be ready by then. Good, good, good, good. Alrighty, the obligatory camp chores are done. I'm clean, got dry, warm clothes on, and if you guys at home could queue up Spotify for me, Brooks and Dunn, brand new man, that is exactly how I'm feeling right now. I saw the light. I've been baptized, let me tell you. You can't put a value on after being wet and just nasty all day, being clean, dry, and warm. Oh, it's the pinnacle. But right now I think is a perfect time to grab our peak refuel, maybe a Clif Bar, maybe if I feel frisky, and go sit and watch this amazing sunset over quite the incredible valley. Enough talking, let's get to eating. As the sun is setting on our mountain valley paradise, I've got to do two things. One, I'm going to keep an eye out for critters because this is prime time. Two, I think it's time to do an official peak refuel review. This is my first time ever trying out peak refuel. For those of you who don't know, the whole backpack meal scene is quite competitive. I'll give you that. So far, the ones that I've tried just are what they are. They're quick calories, high sodium, but on the backside of things, they leave you feeling like garbage, let's just say. So by high, high, high recommendation, I was told to get peak. Shout out to my boy, Nick. You're the real one. So this is, they say it's kind of a different, it's a different freeze dried meal. A little bit better quality, better, let's just say, ingredients. Oh, heavens to Betsy. Holy shnikes. This looks so flipping good. Oh yeah, baby. That is, that is home style if I've ever seen it right there. Looks like we got some carrots, chicken, mushrooms, rice. This is, this is incredible. This is living large. Dude, that's stupid good. Oh my gosh. This is freeze dried? Oh my gosh. The rice isn't even crunchy. That's insane. I feel like every one of these rice dishes I get, no matter how long I let it sit, that rice is like, it's like pop rocks. Mmm. Wow. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. This is 10 out of 10. Well, this is going to be my, this is going to be my view for the rest of the night. I can honestly say that I don't think there's a restaurant in the world that has a view this nice. If you do, I'd like to shake your hand and say, wow, you done did it, but boy howdy. I don't think that's happening. This valley's incredible. Everything about it is just stunning. It's picture perfect and, you know, getting here today was not easy. Probably about halfway through the trek up, I was sucking wind so bad, I had to stop a couple, couple times, really gather myself, because between the altitude and the weight, I packed too much. It's clear to see I've got everything in the kitchen sink. But, you know, when you're fishing, filming, and then semi-novice to backpacking, it's, I don't know, hard to calibrate. And I, I'm a dumb-dumb. I packed too many clothes. I packed the wrong tent. It's, it's a learning curve, you know. But getting here and putting my toes down in this creek, I think it's, it's one of the forks of the Ute or the main Ute. I can't quite tell. But it's the Ute drainage that we're in, so it's one of the creeks, Ute Creek. I was, I was coming, originally expecting Rio Grande cutthroat. That's kind of what I thought they were known for. Unfortunately, all we found were brookies. And I say unfortunately like it's a bad thing, and it's not. The, I was chewing all, you know, in my, in my noggin. I was chewing over it today, just the giddy excitement and the, the nostalgia. It was hitting, it was hitting so hard. And I guess the best way I could describe it, it'd be like the, the innocence or the, the beauty of a first kiss, not to get too romantic or sentimental. But when I was first developing my love of fishing, it was through meadow brook trout, mostly in Essex Park. But nonetheless, it was ripping rooster tails or, you know, as I got older, throwing flies, just shadowing my dad. And, you know, we, we, we had a great time. And it, a stream like this in a place like this just hits me perfect, right? Right where, right where I was. And I was like, 10, I don't know. It's, it's hard to explain. Maybe I'm getting too romantic about it. The valley's bringing it out of me, but, oh man. But yeah, this valley, it's truly incredible. I, I would have to say it's well worth the hike up, no matter how grueling, how many log jams you got to go by. I've heard a lot about the Wimminooch. And from all accounts, it's like one of the last wild places in Colorado that doesn't get smoked by crowds and doesn't really have that touristy, candy vibe to it. And I, hand to God, witness, saw one person today. He was backpacking all the way to Ute Lake and then doing some hellish pass, I don't know. That was the only person I've seen. And I've seen sign of people, but otherwise, no. Just, just solo. I think it's a rare commodity to find solitude. And even, even rarer, I would say, in a place like this. This is, you're just adding extra elements to it where you are truly humbled by what you see. So I implore you to get out and see this kind of stuff while you still can, if you can. Because you never know, you never know when it can all get taken away. I don't want to get too down. This is incredible. We've got a big day tomorrow. The day. Tomorrow is the day. So, folks, those of you out there that have stuck around for this entire, whatever this is. Trip, vlog, fishing day, I don't know. Watching Mike suck air. I appreciate it, I do. This channel is growing really, really quick and it's starting to get to the point where I'm, I don't know, it'd be really cool to do this a lot more. And the more you guys that support, the more you guys that, you know, like, comment, subscribe. It seems like I'm hauling myself out, but that's the YouTube algorithm. It's, I don't know, the more that stuff gets smashed, the more it gets recommended, the more you can build an audience and then sustain yourself. I don't know. But it's amazing to me how quick this channel is growing. And it's because of you, you OGs especially. I appreciate it. So, I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, on top of the Wimanooge Wilderness, thank you. Thank you so much. And whenever you're making your way, well, hopefully out west very soon, because the good days are coming. I sure hope you keep your feet in the water. And until next time, tight lines.