Hello families!
It has been an incredible stretch of days here in Yellowstone, and we have a lot to catch you up on. The past several days have taken us deep into the backcountry — twice for some of the crew — and back out again, with outstanding fishing, unforgettable wildlife, and plenty of memories made along the way. Here's a full recap of what's been going on:
Day 10: Backcountry & Soda Butte
After a restful night of sleep following an evening of preparation for the backcountry, the first group of six boys alongside Gavin and William were fired up for the backcountry. The entire group took down some oatmeal breakfast in the morning, polished up their packing, and prepared for the day. We as a group all headed to the Slough Creek parking lot where half the crew unloaded their packs from the trailer, filled their water bottles to the brim, and did some stretches to get ready for the hike. After everything was organized, Gavin and William's group started their journey. Because this backcountry experience was split into two separate groups on different days, Charlie and his boys decided to spend the rest of their day fishing Soda Butte Creek. While the backcountry group was making their way to their site, Charlie's group absolutely tore it up! They were able to land a significant number of beautiful cutthroat including some very nice fish. The backcountry crew battled through the tough first stretch of the Slough Creek hike, continuing to bond and share laughs together on the trail to keep everyone motivated. Around 1:30, the backcountry group finally finished their 6.5 mile hike to their fantastic campsite on top of this mountain ridge where they were pleasantly surprised with an awesome elk dead head! The fellas gathered around the awesome dead head and took some great pictures, before unwinding and relaxing at the site eating lunch. After a quick reset and lunch, we set up our tents and began rigging up for an afternoon fishing Slough Creek. We split into two groups, where William took three of the boys, and Gavin took the other three. Let's just say the fishing was absolutely impeccable. We managed to land so many great sized trout ranging from 17-21 inches, due to some crazy good "honey holes" we located. The fish were munching on small dry flies and nymphs all afternoon, and after all the boys caught some nice fish, we called it a wrap on fishing for the day and hung around camp for the rest of the evening. The backcountry boys ate some buffalo mac and had a blast listening to tunes in the backcountry enjoying the scenery around them. The same thing was going on for the boys over at Soda Butte. It was an overall awesome day of fishing, where both groups caught tons of fish and plenty of good size as well. After Charlie's group wrapped up their afternoon of fishing, they headed back to the Crazy Creek campsite, and enjoyed the rest of their evening taking down some delicious camp burritos, preparing for their backcountry, and relaxing around the campfire.
Day 11: More Backcountry!
This was the first morning of the trip where things looked a little different for the two groups of boys. In the backcountry, we woke up on the earlier side to prepare for the hike back to the Slough trailhead. Over at Crazy Creek, the boys finished up their backcountry preparation and got ready to attack the day. The plan for both groups was to do a flip flop, so the backcountry group, once breakfast was taken care of, packed up their gear and headed down to the river. We spent the morning fishing around the second meadow of Slough along with taking a refreshing dip in the water. Although we didn't fish for that long before our hike back, we were able to still get some fish in the net, including some really, really nice ones! Once we got back on the trail to head back to the van, we quickly ran into the second backcountry group with Charlie, around 2.5 hours into their hike in. We exchanged advice, talked about some plans for the following days, and continued our separate ways. Around 12:30, Charlie's crew made it to the same campsite the first group stayed at in the backcountry, and settled in. Once camp was set up and the boys had lunch, they hit the water. Compared to the first group, the fishing was a little slower for their afternoon experience at Slough. The boys managed to continue grinding through the tough day of fishing, and not only catch a solid amount of fish, but also have an amazing time. Props to the entire group for maintaining a very, very good attitude throughout the entire trip. After a couple of hours of fishing, their group went back up to camp and had an early dinner. After their dinner, they hit the water again and continued to grind and land multiple nice fish, followed by a great evening of hanging out and enjoying each other's company. Once Gavin and William's group finally reached the end of their hike out of the backcountry, they were relieved to see the van and relax after their adventures. We got into the van after unloading our gear into the trailer, and went to Tower Village to re-fill water jugs and hit a general store where multiple boys devoured some amazing chili cheese dogs and a refreshing soft drink. We then headed back to Crazy Creek, where we cooked up some burritos and chilled around the campfire playing games and telling stories before hitting the hay.
Day 12: Wrapping Up Backcountry & Reset
Charlie's group in the backcountry woke up bright and early to hit the water as much as they could before hiking back out, while Gavin and William's group got ready to fish Soda Butte Creek for the morning before we met up with everyone. The boys in the backcountry had a quick breakfast, packed up their gear, and hit the water. The fishing was so much better for them today compared to yesterday, and the boys had tons of fun. While the backcountry group was hiking out of Slough, Gavin and William took the other crew over to Soda Butte Creek to fish briefly before meeting the entire group back at the Slough trailhead. After hammering some sections of the creek, we were able to land a solid amount of fish including a really, really nice cutthroat. We then drove over to Slough and fished, swam, and hung out at the first meadow near the parking lot. Meeting the whole group was a very awesome moment, where the boys were able to exchange stories and memories they had from both of their backcountry experiences. We then all gathered our belongings and got the trailer and van organized before we departed to Canyon Village inside of the park for laundry and showers. The boys were fired up to take a shower and get some clean clothes before our final stretch of the trip. Following showers and laundry, we needed to get some grocery shopping done, and luckily there was a general store right down the road. While Charlie was kindly getting some shopping done, Gavin and William took the boys next door to a local pizza spot where many of the fellas devoured some delicious meat lovers' pizzas to celebrate the successful backcountry experiences from both groups. The laundry, shower, shopping, and pizza moment took a little bit of time, so around 7:30pm, we got back in the van and headed back to camp. We got back to camp on the later end, and boiled some water for some ramen while preparing a fire to relax around. We ended the night off with some "Imposter" and chill music before it was bed time.
Day 13: Round Two & Hanging Out
Before everyone went to bed that evening, five of the boys were so fired up about their first backcountry experience that they wanted round two! We came up with a plan, and early that morning Gavin and that crew prepared for Pebble Creek! This second backcountry looked a little different than the first, fishing a different section of Yellowstone National Park. We went over to Tower Village to secure our backcountry permits and fill up water bottles, and then split our groups once again. Because of water temps, the Park issued a ruling that the streams would be closed by 2pm, so the seven boys who weren't going into Pebble Creek had to audible to fishing Trout Lake for the remainder of the afternoon. Before going into the backcountry, Gavin took the five boys for an ice cream treat and spent time chilling out before heading to the trailhead in the late afternoon. They then began their hike to the campsite. The remainder of their evening was spent hanging out at camp and enjoying the backcountry setting. After fishing Trout Lake, Charlie and William's crew's time fishing was cut short due to some unexpected nasty weather that rolled through. For the remainder of the day, they explored around Cooke City and spent quality time around camp eating grilled cheese and tomato soup along with some tasty ramen bowls the boys picked up at the general store. Looking ahead, and because of the park-wide regulations due to water temps, we all went to bed at a reasonable hour to prepare for an early morning on the water in both the front country and backcountry.
Day 14: Pebble Creek & Lamar River
After an early wakeup, both groups were thrilled to get back on the water to target fish. The crew back over at Crazy Creek planned to take a look at multiple different streams in the Lamar Valley, and after seeing how well the Lamar River looked, we decided to give it a try for the first time this trip. It absolutely didn't disappoint! We maneuvered through a wide open pasture filled with bison before making it down to the river. We fished hard from around 11am-2pm, and over 50 fish were caught by the group as a whole! It was super exciting to see the boys roping fish after fish on both dry flies and nymphs, including some big ones. On the other hand, the backcountry group was fired up to finally fish Pebble Creek. It's crazy to wrap your head around, but each boy pulled in over 40 fish holding in the skinny water of Pebble Creek. They were on fire! With Charlie and William having the van, and Gavin's crew needing to hike out, the front country group headed over to Silver Gate for ice cream! We killed some time enjoying a sweet treat, and by the time we wrapped up, the backcountry group was almost finished with their hike out. We then picked them up and were all reunited. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening around camp, taking in our final night in Yellowstone. We had an awesome campfire where we reflected on the trip as a whole up to this point, and finished it off with some mind-boggling riddles that were very entertaining. The trip has been amazing. Every moment has been filled with fun memories that will be long-lasting. We can't wait to end the trip off on a great note.
Until next time,
The Guides and the Guys
