#radicalsabbatical

Potts, Dan & myself arrived in Calgary early Saturday morning and began our drive West, out the Trans-Canada Highway, up to the Bow Valley where our ski adventure began. Views in the Canadian Rockies were absolutely spectacular as we made our way through Banff, a touristy town where we spent night one, en route to our first ski resort, Lake Louise. The snow was good and wintery, but not super fresh. Terrain off the back-side was fun and steep, but the jagged rocky peaks and buttes were the main attraction and just spectacular. At the end of a fun day, we hit the road to continue the travel further West, over the Continental Divide, to the amazing resort of Kicking Horse – where I find myself now. We skied today, and will hang here for another day before we mosey down the road for a few days of heli then jump a bit further West to meet with the larger crew for our final destination of Revelstoke.

While snow conditions were similar here in Kicking Horse (wintery but not fresh), the day was pretty awesome. Last night in the hot tub we were lucky enough to meet a super fun, nice & ripping local couple (Mike & Kirstin) who showed us around this amazing resort all day today. Our arrival here was followed by a rather big night of drinking complete with human sized Jenga, so joining them for full throttle skiing was a bit of a shock to the system this AM, but after we quasi-kicked the hangovers we got with the program and didn’t make them wait around (as much) – a huge thanks to Mike & Kirstin for showing us an epic day here at Kicking Horse. We, no doubt, would never have found such great snow and terrain without them. This resort is just amazing and definitely will need a repeat visit when conditions are good.

Hopefully we can take it a little easier this evening, but who knows, Jenga is calling our names…

Views of The Rockies out of the town of Banff

Some time for shopping in the touristy town of Banff

We three gents do not pack light

In Canada, dudes walk the streets with hockey sticks, and there are ice climbing walls in-town

Views out of the town of Banff down The Bow river

Rocky Mountain views from the ski resort Lake Louise

Dan-eyed view of some fresh at Lake Louise

A look at some of the fun terrain on the backside of Lake Louise

On the drive up the Bow Valley we passed through several National Parks – views were stunning the whole way

Wildlife was just on the side of the road – I think we counted over 14 Elk in all

We arrived in Kicking Horse for evening light – This view is down valley, down the Columbia which eventually makes its way South into The States to become The Mighty Columbia, the final river that Louis & Clark navigated in the early 1800's – Amazing to see it's 'headwaters'

Life sized Jenga is pretty serious & all time fun

The group made some questionable decisions when we stacked two giant Jenga sets up to form a super-sized Jenga tower – picture one is me pulling what turned out to be the last brick – picture two is me getting completely covered up by probably 60+ falling 2x4's

Dan & I before the descent of Consequence

Ants-eyed view of me at the entrance of the chute

Dan making some tight turns down Consequence

Dan with our new friends Kirstin & Mike at the top of T1 at Kicking Horse

The Trinity River is a pretty special place for me up in Northern California. It is the rivershed where, five years ago, I caught and landed my first Chromer and was forever hooked to chasing the elusive Steelhead. It is definitely the place I spend most river days per year fishing for these big fish, and most likely the place I spend most days out of my entire year with a rod in hand. Funny thing is that in all those days I don’t catch but a small percentage of the total fish per year. But, the ones I do get are monsters.

Steelhead are an anadromous species of Rainbow Trout which means while the are born in and spawn in fresh water rivers, and in between spend most of their adult life in the salt water oceans. The food sources they have out there in the deep blue are much larger and more abundant than what they could find in the rivers – In non-fishy terms, it means they are essentially trout on steroids, often exceeding 30” in length.

The season for these winter river monsters in Northern California is roughly October – March, so this trip will likely be the last until the fall rolls around.

My dad and I got up here for three days this go around for our chance at sticking one or two of these beasts. The winter months can definitely be on the cold side, but we were pretty lucky this trip – with the exception of a bit of snow in town, and our boots being frozen solid this AM.

Stats are as follows:

• Total Steelhead brought to hand: 3:1 (Ed:Jonathan)

• Doms games 4:2 (Jonathan:Ed)

Experience trumps with Angling, but luck is king with Doms.

Was a great few days with my Dad & the Pup & already looking forward to fall 2013 for some more Chrome action. No true trophies this trip, but with every cast up here, you might just hook the biggest freshwater fish of your life.