Great read. You don't write very often, but when you do... WOW! This past summer a road repair project closed the road just a few miles upstream from my home on the Little North Santiam. A detour routed traffic 10 miles east, greatly limiting the amount of traffic in the area (partiers and meth lab dumpers found other locations so they wouldn't have the extra drive time). Needless to say, the river downstream was much more pleasant. A huge reduction in trash was noted, along with the reduction in "passers by" on weekends. Since the road re-opened in October, I've visited several of the small parks and seen the same impact. Less trash & litter, less destruction of state and county facilities and overall "clean" enviroment along that section that was closed for a few short months. That all leads me to the conclusion that the more improved access that is provided to the public, the more the enviroment will suffer. Enviromental Impact Studies may do a good job of assessing the impacts of the construction, but they don't do a good job of asessing what people will destroy in the years to come.

Great read and excellent photos. Glad it all ended well!

Excellent post - well worth the wait.

Sometimes you just can't get folks to remember that 99.999% of fish are caught "IN" the water. About all you'll catch flinging flies around in the air are trees, the boat or your guide. C'mon people, leave Pat in the river! He'll be happier and you'll catch more fish.

I have to agree with you - Cutties are a special fish and my favortie as well. That's saying a lot considering I spend 70% of my fishing time pursuing Steelhead. Many times I've had my 8 wt. rod doubled over by a hard take, thinking I've struck steel, only to find a mean little 16-18" cutthroat come blasting out of the water with a #2 spey fly dangling from his jaw. They're mean, they're nasty and they are beautiful fish. A cutt was the first fish to take the experimental "Yak Caddis" fly down here on the Santiam, therefore I consider them to have discriminating taste as well..............

Part II: Returning home the next day, we stopped in Yakima at a tribe owned fruit stand to pick up some famous Washington apples. The elderly Indian gal behind the counter said "you're having a girl" - not so much as a question, but as a matter-of-fact statement. We told her that we weren't finding out until the baby arrived. She just smiled a funny little smile.

Upon returning home I sat down at the computer and posted a blog article about our trip : http://blog.riverwoodfliesonline.com/?p=622 . A couple days later, this fella named Derek Young posted a comment about the article and a new friendship started - one that will last a lifetime I'm sure. Derek and I have since colaborated on some new fly designs and consult with each other on a variety of topics aside from fishing. We actually got to fish together for the first time a few weeks back. I've shown him my river and look forward to getting back up to the Yak for a trip.

You just never know what a road trip will lead you to.

P.S. - The elderly Indian lady was right on the money - Hadlee Shay Carpenter entered our life on November 10th. A beautiful baby girl.

My last great road trip was last fall. After tying flies all day at the Gates Saturday Faire, Lori and I packed up and headed north. We had only two things planned - a one night stay at a B&B in Selah, Wa. and Tickets to the DMB concert in the Gorge (my birthday present from Lori).

The owners of the B&B were really nice folks, he being a phone guy like me, his wife being a retired Labor and Delivery nurse. Needless to say, there was no lack of conversation material. We mentioned that we ran a fly shop and guide business and they suggested we take the "canyon road" to Ellensburg instead of the interstate.

We followed their advice and took the road less traveled. We saw deer and big horn sheep as we traveled along a very pretty stretch of the Yakima river. Stopped in at Red's Fly Shop and picked up a new anchor rope for the Dutchman drift boat. We found a place to stay in Ellensburg and moved on up the road to the Gorge Ampetheatre, where Dave Matthews put on an incredible show.

End Part I