A puncture, a gash and giant brown trout - Rocky Mountain National Park

Soo after driving to Rocky Mountain national park I’ve accidentally booked a campsite in the wrong spot! We get a space at the expensive KOA site (ouch won't make that mistake again) and realise we have a huge piece of metal sticking in one of the tyres and have a puncture.

Thankful that we’re at a campsite and not quite as in the middle of nowhere as we usually are, we try to organise a recovery truck.  We have breakdown cover with our insurance but it seems a bit tricky for them to sort a trailer long enough to take Wendy as she can’t be towed due to the puncture. The company assures us we’ll have someone with us 7am the next day so we cycle down to grand lake village 3 miles just down the road and have a beer and some charcuterie overlooking the grand lake.  We’ve driven past a fly fishing store here and Alex is desperate to have a go - we’re not sure but think it would be nice to try once and they assure us there are good beginner spots and that we’ll all have fun so we book it.

After biking back to our site we have some corn on the cob and relax - it’s raining a little so we don’t see the sky which is a shame as we’re in the middle of a dark sky preserve.  

We awake early expecting a tow truck - the automated system states that there is no tow truck booked for us so after several calls and eventually getting through to a manager we realise they never ordered a truck for us.  We eventually get someone who can  help - Gary arrives in a small truck and pumps up the tire enough for us to move Wendy onto a bigger road as the actual tow truck is huge.

Gary returns and he and guy load it onto the monster to take Wendy 30 mins away to Granby town to try to repair or replace the tyre.

Alex and I cycle back into grand lake and spend a lovely few hours at the beach after grabbing some lunch  and watching hummingbird moths and policeman moths pollinating the hanging baskets.  

We like grand lake it has a similar relaxed vibe to home being close to the water and outdoorsy but not ruined by high end overly touristy stuff.  Alex makes friend building sandcastles and I have a little swim in the lake which is lovely.  

We’re expecting Guy to be quite some time and have no idea if the tyre will be repairable so we’re pleasantly surprised when a couple of hours later he's on his way back with Wendy, tyre repaired for the princely sun if $50! This softens the blow of us missing out on a full day in the park which was the only one we had as we plan to visit some new friends we met in Montana and have invited us to visit them at their ranch in Douglas Wyoming. 

We grab an ice cream and head to meet Ben who will take us on our late afternoon/evening fishing trip . We get kitted out in waterproof wading boots and gaiters and  then it's a short ride and a walk up the side of the Colorado river headwaters to our fishing spot number one where we will try to catch some “brookies”. There are colourful little brook trout that live in the very clear pure mountain streams - it seems fitting as this is the fish on Alex’s little fishing cap we picked up back in Canmore.  

We walk past the pretty river and through some muddy boggy areas, the bugs here are crazy and stupidly we hadn’t bug sprayed so I get absolutely eaten alive (the boys seem ok).  At our first spot Ben shows us the technique for casting fly rod and how to pick bends in the river where the water slows a little.

 I manage to catch 2 little brookies and poor Alex hasn’t yet caught anything and starts to get a little upset so Ben takes him further down river and I pull out another fish (and don’t tell Alex!) I walk down to find the boys as I’m desperate to see Alex catch his first brookie and soon he’s caught 2 and is delighted!

We’re so proud of how he’s picked up the technique - we thought fly fishing may be a little hard for him.  Guy catch’s one and loses one and we’re all having a lovely time in a stunning location. Ben teaches about how to pick the right fly to fish - “matching the hatch” and finding the right size and colour of fly the fish would naturally be going for in that location is key. I’m hating the bugs as I can literally see them taking lumps out of me - eeew!

Having happily all caught some brookies and started to get the hang of casting, we walk back to a special spot of Ben’s.  To get there we end up bouldering and climbing through trees - Guy slips and gashes his arm nastily and I patch him up with the help of Ben’s first aid kit.  It’s a nasty gash but soon stops bleeding and doesn’t need stitches to hold it so we decide to carry on.  We need to wade through deep river sections and Ben carries alex like he weighs nothing (that man is strong!) and us oldies tentatively follow the mountain goat that is Ben.  we’re soon perched on some giant boulders under a waterfall looking down on giant brown trout that are also leaping up the waterfall.  I’ve heard salmon do this to return to their spawning grounds from the ocean but I’ve never seen it and it’s astonishing watching their acrobatics trying to belly flop up the waterfall.  Sadly my phone died so we didn’t get any footage of this but guy did have his proper camera for a few fishy shots.  

Ben and Alex perch on a high boulder and Ben instructs Alex how to cast into the foamy water where the monster brown trout are.  Almost immediately Alex hooks one and I swap places with Ben on the boulder helping Alex with the fighting fish whilst Ben prepares to net it - Alex is amazing keeping his rod high and is over the moon with the big beautiful trout he’s caught.  We let the fishy go and Alex and Ben are back perched on the rock.  Amazingly they catch 2 more monsters and it’s so exciting and euphoric - Alex is just full of joy and it’s contagious - Ben is loving it too seeing his enthusiasm.  Apparently this is pretty rare to be able to get 3 biggies like this (it’s good/lucky to get one) so we’re all elated. We’re starting to lose the light and Ben has kindly overstayed his booked time with us significantly so it’s time to get back out of the canyoneering territory and back down the mountain to Wendy.  

Hungry and tired we grab some Vietnamese pho, a quick shower at the KOA (we had the code from the night before - naughty!) before boondocking just up the road.  What could have been a bad day has been rather magical.

We awake early to make the most of the morning in the park as we have a long drive to Douglas later in the day.  We see large deer as we enter the park and amazingly a mamma and baby moose ambling across the road in the dawn light.  We find it hilarious we spent 3 mths in Canada and no moose (well a little glimpse of an head for guy and Zara) and we’ve seen 3 in the states now!  We drive the ridge trail in the early morning light which is beautiful and grab breakfast at the alpine visitors centre and climb up the super steep hill to 1209 feet.  

This is the first time I’ve felt the effects of altitude and have a little nausea and dizziness.  Guy and Alex are fine.  

Wendy starts to struggle to pull on the last bit for the drive o t he summit so we decide to drop altitude to give the poor engine a chance! 

We take Alex for a quick stop back at the fishing shop as we’ve said we’ll get him a fly fishing rod to add to his normal fishing rod - he loves fishing so much and it’s a great thing for him to learn.  

It’s then a long drive to Douglas to reunite with the friends we made in Montana and visit them at their ranch.  

Emma