After a week long visit from Billy....Zac dropped him off at the airport, I packed up and when Zac got home we were on the road again. This time we were on our way up to Challis for some salmon fishing!
Rio hanging out the window and Remmy in his favorite position in the car!
Rio finally curled up and took a nap!
Day 1--Friday: Sherry and I took the dogs for a 3 mile walk. We were hoping to get 4 miles in, but we got scared off and turned around after some mean looking cattle dogs greeted us on the road bearing their teeth. Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, and we really didn't get chased, but we weren't going to risk a dog fight or getting herded. Zac went fishing with his dad and uncle Roger. He caught his first salmon, but not his last. In fact, he had such a big salmon on...it snapped his pool in half. Bummer! Fortunately, Zac had fun hooking 3 salmon and boating one...not bad for his first day of fishing. I quickly learned a lot of salmon fishing terms from Kip through my million and one questions. So now I know what "hooked," "boated," and "landed" all mean. I also know that all fish weigh....twice as much as half of it and they all measure twice as many inches as half of it. (Duh!) Straight from Kip..."There are no stupid questions....just stupid people with questions." (haha! That's a knee slapper!) Kip is quite the smart ass and he truly makes you think before you open your mouth. After spending time with him and his dad, uncle Roger....now we all know where he gets his sense of humor!
As for my day, Sherry and I stayed back at the cabin with Jerry and Kathy and helped cut the grass. It was a beautiful day!
Zac's salmon on his first day of fishing! Not bad!
Day 2--Saturday: Sherry and I went for another walk...this time we took a different route to avoid the vicious cattle dogs and this time we were able to get 4 miles in. Zac caught up to us and walked with us for a couple of miles. At mile 3 Remmy was leaning against me as he walked and eventually he just plopped down in the middle of the road. He was tuckered out. After some coaxing he continued on, right at my side, avoiding roaming around and checking out everything....he was tired. In fact, at mile 3.5 he plopped down again, only this time he managed to find a patch of road that was getting hit by a sprinkler. He stayed there until the sprinkler hit him and with some more coaxing, he was on his way again. Zac went fishing again with his dad, grandpa, sister, Kip, Roger and Stacey. Kip, Kyle's cousin who is a fishing guide took Zac, Chelsea and Kyle in his boat, while Jerry, Stacey and Roger hung out in Roger's boat. Chelsea caught her fish and showed everyone up! Sherry headed off to work and it was just Kathy and I at the cabin. We visited, read, took a nap, played with the dogs, and got dinner ready all before everyone got back. It was a quiet and relaxing day at the cabin.
Uncle Roger steering the boat and fishing!
Saturday night, despite rain clouds moving in and strong winds we decided to have a fire. It ended up being a beautiful night with lots of pretty sky pictures. We made some smores on the fire...which were delicious after a long time in the making.....Zac and I have been talking about having smores up at Jonathan and Anna's cabin for the past couple of weekends and for a few nights at our house with Billy! But we never had any fires to make any smores. These smores were well worth the wait!
Kathy, Jerry and Roger sitting around the fire!
Kyle and Chelsea with Rue around the fire.
Remmy and Rio wet from some pond swimming!
The dogs were easy to keep track of when they left behind such a unique trail. These are the tracks of busy little Rio.
Zac and I around the fire.
Love the view!
Beautiful sky!
Sky reflection in the pond.
After some breathtaking views of the sky, sitting around the fire and roasting marsh mellows, we made our way into the cabin for a few rounds of "Things." Zac and I figured it would be a good game to play with everyone....after all there isn't any strategy or "thinking" to it. Needless to say, I have never laughed so hard in my life...after all, Kyle blew beer out his nose, Kip and Stacey had back spasms, Roger held his side with his broken ribs....and for the rest of us...we had tears streaming from our eyes, our stomachs ached from laughing so hard and our jaws were numb by night's end. It was a fun game....and it felt great to laugh that hard...what a good way to burn off stress and probably even some calories too!
Day 3--Sunday: Kip was kind enough to take Chelsea, Sherry and I in his boat to do some fishing. I decided not to fish at all this year (since during steelhead fishing I was busy studying, writing lesson plans, papers and doing projects for grad school....I didn't have time to fish and opted out of buying a license and tag for just a week of salmon fishing). Instead I went along for the ride. Zac and his dad went with Roger in his boat. Kathy, Jerry and Stacey all stayed back at the cabin. They took care of the dogs since both Zac and I were on the river. (Thank you for listening to Rio whine and keeping an extra close eye on Remmy for us!)
I was pretty nervous going on the river, after all I haven't been on a river since we tacoed rafting and were thrown out. That was pretty traumatic for me. Needless to say, I went for it, faced my fear in the eyes and felt comfortable enough with Kip. I must be bad luck on the river though. We were putting the boat in at Ellis...which is a pretty steep boat ramp. To make a long story short, the back of the boat went in at such an angle that it just filled up with water. After trying to sink the boat and nearly losing it to the current of the river, Kip got it tied off around a tree with an anchor. Once the boat was secured, Kip started bailing the water out with a cooler. After he got enough water out, he used some sort of pump and pumped out the rest of the water. He took his hand off the pump for a split second (probably to swat a mosquito) and it shot off into the river and was long gone. Meanwhile, Chelsea and I just watched, helplessly. What were we going to do? Like we were going to save the day! Finally, after getting out all of the prefloat kinks we were on our way, dodging logs, driftwood, fishermen and other boats around the busiest corner of the river. If Kip could let go of the rope, jump in the boat and row us safely through and navigate the Ellis corner, which is full with hordes of people and boats, than I knew I was okay. I just closed my eyes through it all!!!!!
Everything ended up being just fine. Kip is a pro, loves what he does and is amazing at it. He'll even tell you that! It was a good day. I asked Kip A LOT of questions....what should one expect from a first grade teacher. I must get it from my kids! Sherry hooked 3 fish and Chelsea hooked 2, but unfortunately neither of them could keep them on. So five fish were hooked, but none boated (and thanks to Kip, I know exactly what that means!). It was fun to get into a hole and have one of them hook a fish and just watch the other fishermen look at us with disbelief. Pretty soon we had 2 or 3 boats following us.
Sunday night we pulled out Blongo. Zac and I teamed up and took on everyone else. After beating everyone two times through, finally Stacey and Kathy beat us. Regardless, I think Zac and I are the champions!
Day 4--Monday: After fishing everyday so far, Zac finally took a break. But not much of a break. He went on a motorcycle ride with his sister and dad. Since Zac sold his bike, it's been a while since he's been for a ride so he was excited to go. With a grin from ear to ear, dressed in his mom's helmet and pants, his dad's jersey (which I think used to be his) and his grandpa's boots he was on his way!
Once they got back we decided to go for a drive down the river to look for Debbie and Randy who were camping and fishing somewhere along the river. Just past Ellis we passed them driving, so we turned around, caught up to them, watched them gawk for a mile or so and then they finally noticed us and pulled over. We visited with them on the side of the highway for a little bit and then we were on our way again.....this time we headed to the Pshimeroi fish hatchery....we all know I have to make a stop there during any fishing season. We got the dogs out and watched the salmon jump the ladder. It was pretty neat. Remmy didn't care for it much...he had his tail tucked and Rio was so busy he didn't even notice the fish. The salmon are much bigger and much more active than the steelhead so it was fun watching them, plus it was warm enough to stick around, unlike steelhead season. On the way back to the cabin, we had to make an emergency stop....lucky for me, Kyle knew of a bathroom tucked along the river off the road. After a brief stop I was fine and we were ready to go. What's a road trip without an emergency pit stop....nonexistent when I'm in the car!
By the fourth day of going nonstop everyone, including the dogs were exhausted. By dark we all called it a night and were in bed.
Day 5--Tuesday: After taking a day off, Zac was ready for some more fishing. I'm pretty sure he caught a fish or two, but I wasn't there and honestly all of the days run together! I do know that he took Rio and somehow Rio was perfect, parked it under a tree in some shade and just "hung out." Kyle, Sherry, Chelsea, Stacey, Jerry and Roger all went. Kathy and I had another day at the cabin to ourselves. I started and finished my "Total Money Makeover" book which I learned a lot from and really enjoyed. It's been a solid two years (if not longer) since I've been able to read for pleasure so I took advantage of the situation. It was another great day!
Day 6--Wednesday: After finishing my book, I decided to drive my own car down the river to get in on some of the fishing action. Jerry and I dropped off Zac, Kyle and Roger at Deer Gulch and then drove down river a couple of miles to Colston where they would take out. Jerry threw a few casts, but apparently bank fishing for salmon just doesn't compare to fishing from a boat. So Jerry and I made our way to the shade and visited. I had no idea floating just a couple of miles could take so many hours! But apparently with a motor fishing a hole over and over and over again is very doable. Finally about 3 or 4 hours later...all the while Jerry and I enjoyed each other's company...the guys finally showed up. After a long float and coming up empty handed, they fished the hole at Colston, the take out and of course caught fish one after another! Are you kidding me! Oh well, it was fun to see them catch fish. The dogs enjoyed getting out and it was fun to people watch!
Zac and his dad.
Roger's fish...it was too heavy for him to hold after his 20 minute workout of reeling it in! Despite it putting out a big fight, Roger continued to crack jokes, make eye contact with us on the bank and carry on a full on conversation! He cracks me up!
After Zac and Roger got their fish, it was Kyle's turn!
Day 7--Thursday: Originally Zac and I had planned on leaving Challis Thursday to head to McCall for a 3 day weekend and round out our vacation. But once we heard Cam, Mom and Jonathan weren't heading up until after work and in no hurry and definitely once we found out Kip had Thursday off, we had to stay just one more day! And good thing we did! Kip was able to take Zac, Kyle and I out in his boat. This was the only day I was able to go in the same boat as Zac and it was also the only day Zac and his dad "limited" out. For those of you wondering, that means they caught their quota of fish for the day....3 each.
Kip was "exploring" the river, which did make me a little nervous, but being assured by Kip and Jerry we would see no white water, I went along for the ride. We put in at Deer Gulch and floated down to Killpatrick. The first hole we went through, Zac caught a native fish, which he had to throw back. Kyle caught the next fish, a keeper and not long after Zac caught another fish! At this rate the guys could have limited out in the first hole, but we decided to leave some fish for the other fishermen, after all we had to float the 7 or 8 miles down to where Kip's truck was, so we were floating regardless! At the next hole, Zac caught his second fish. We passed Jerry and Roger who were fishing the hole at Colston. They hadn't had any luck yet! Not far past them, Kyle caught his second fish. And soon after Zac caught his third, limiting out, and Kyle wasn't far behind him.
This stretch of the river was beautiful, calm, (although there were a few sections I was white knuckling it) and it was hot! For those of you who know me well, know I don't get hot easily, nor do I sweat much! But I was hot! Finally, I had to take off my t-shirt, and dunk it in the river to cool off.
I had fun saying "oooohh" everytime one of fishing poles bent over, reguardless if it was a fish or the current....I couldn't tell the difference. I was simply amazed at Kip's knowledge of the river, of his guiding and fishing expertise and of course his sarcasm. He keeps you on his toes.
Zac with his second fish and Kip...we couldn't get a picture of the first fish since it was a native.
One of Kyle's fish!
Zac's monster. He couldn't have caught it without our fishing guide....Kip you rock...Thanks!
Another one of Kyle's fish. This one is big! And it weighs twice as much as half of it! Hahaha! I picked up a few of Kip's jokes.
Day 8--Friday: Friday morning we got up and planned on heading out pretty early. We got a little later start than we had hoped, but it felt good to sleep in and drink some coffee. All along we planned on driving up to McCall to meet up with my parents and brother and see them for the weekend. It's been awhile since we've seen them and they stopped by one day at the cabin while on a motorcycle trip...but both Zac and I were on the river, so we missed them. They did however, have a nice visit with Jerry and Kathy and were able to enjoy some freshly smoked salmon!
Anyway, we finally got out around 10:30, which theorhetically should have put us getting into McCall around 3:30. Do you see where this is going? Apparently, I need to clean my ears or listen a little better next time. Cam told me we could take a dirt road at Bear Valley, just outside of Stanley and end up in Cascade. He told me John and Steve took their Mercedes over it, so we would be just fine in my Escape. Unfortunately, I didn't listen and instead heard Garden Valley. So at Crouch, we were making pretty good time, we thought we would try the cut off for some different scenery.
We made it all the way to Silver Creek Plunge, and the redneck inside gave some crappy directions to Zac like take this road, go right, go left. They were useless directions. We made a loop back, almost got pancaked by a dump truck going at least 50mph on the single lane dirt road, took the Escape on some old jeep trails that would have been better on a 4-wheeler and 2 hours later made it back to Crouch. We did find some good camping spots...I guess.
At that point, we were both tired of driving and riding, the dogs were restless, it was after 4:00 and we still had at least an hour and a half to McCall. It was a long day in the car. We had to conserve on gas so we turned off the AC for a while....it was brutally hot. And then just when we finally got back on the highway heading towards Banks, Rio threw up! Really...what next?! We pulled over, got it cleaned up, took a stretch break and were back on the road. We needed to get into cell phone range as quickly as possible. We figured everyone would be wondering where we were and possibly be even a bit worried! Fortunately, we were safe, our parents were somewhat worried, but relieved when they finally heard from us and we pulled into McCall just after 6:00pm. It was a long day! But we finished it off with a glass of wine, some beer and pizza at Toll Station!
There you go...a book later, you know the major details of our week long fishing trip. We had a good time! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the hospitality. Thank you Roger for all of the good laughs and thank you Kip for being such an amazing fishing guide, doing what you love and being good at it! Hopefully next summer I can catch one!
We look forward to our next trip up to Challis for Reckless Kelly and Muzzy and Braun Brother's concert reunion. From Challis we'll be heading up to McCall again, but this time we'll turn off at Bear Valley, not Garden Valley! For now....another good trip in the books!
