The crew sat around the fire chatting and snacking while Master Chef Ben prepared dinner.
out the fly rod and started throwing flies with arrow-like precision into any seam, eddy or pool that could potentially hold those elusive trout that we all hoped to catch. Three-quarters of the way into our day, we rounded a corner and spotted a massive megalithic boul- der sitting at the water’s edge. In front of it was a deep eddy with a deep water channel flowing out around it. On the very top was a massive, 4-to-5-foot-diameter pon- derosa pine. As we approached it, Steven and Earl immediately and seemingly simultaneously decid- ed that they wanted to climb it and cliff jump off of it. I positioned the raft near a shelf that allowed them to hop off and begin climbing. What they initially thought was going to
be a 35-foot-tall jump ended up be- ing a 60-plus-foot jump. Mike, Ben, Taylor and I watched with great amusement as Steven and Earl took turns leaping off a ledge on the boulder into the frigid early spring waters. Luckily, the sun was out and it was “hot,” at least for that time of year. After another couple of bends in the river, the valley opened up and we came to our campsite for the night. It was a gorgeous cob- blestone and sand beach at the con- fluence where another large creek poured into our river. We pulled the rafts up on shore, tied them off to some large boulders and un- loaded our gear. We quickly set up tents and established our camp for the night right in front of one of
the best fishing spots on the river. Mike, Ben and Taylor prepared de- licious steak-kabobs for everyone. As darkness fell, we all sat around a large fire in the middle of camp discussing how incredible the day had been. We reminisced about how Ben, Taylor and Mike all caught nice trout out of the in- credible honey-hole right in front of camp. All afternoon we watched massive fish actively feed on a hatch of small bugs flying along the surface of the water. As is usual- ly the case, my feeble attempts at fly fishing resulted in one bite and exactly zero netted fish. Honestly though, I fly fish more for the scen - ery of the places I visit and the ca- maraderie with friends. In between shared stories we all stared into
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