Part time FF@ lister Tim Pinnow and I went up to the second meadow
of Elk Creek for the long weekend. Here are some high/low lights of the weekend.
The Hike:
We went from the La Manga Trailhead, about 25 miles from both Antonito, CO and Chama, NM on CO 17. In retrospect, I probably should have done some training for this hike, but since ski season ended, the only thing I've done is watch my rear end get wider. Hike was about 7 miles to the base of the second meadow, and about 1800 ft in elevation gain. Total vertical was certainly more than that as you "give back" probably 400-500 ft during the hike. Second meadow sits somewhere between 10,200 and 10,500 ft. We were both hurting the evening we got there (Tim because of the elevation and me because I'm lazy), but the scenery (and some vitamin "I") helped to relieve the pain.
Conditions:
The water level was perfect, having just receded from runoff. Over the course of the weekend, it probably dropped another 6 inches in the second meadow. It was still a little higher than normal, but this actually helped us sneak up on some very spooky fish. Water was very clear. The only real problem was that because it was so close to runoff, the streamside ground was very mucky. My packing/fishing combo of lightweight hippers and sport sandals was not a very good choice for these conditions.
Fauna/Flora:
Of humans, we saw amazingly few for a holiday weekend. The second meadow is probably 1 1/2 miles long, and besides ourselves, there were only two other groups - both about a mile from where we camped. One group of spin fishers had a pointer with them that ran up and down the stream spooking fish - they asked me why I thought the fishing was so bad. Doh! We saw about a dozen people the whole weekend. Animal sightings included 1 fox (shedding its winter coat), several marmots, some northern shrikes, many bats, and about 3 trillion mosquitoes. I think I went through more deet in one weekend than in the previous 3 years combined. All the wildflowers were in full bloom making the entire valley extraordinarily pleasing to the eye. Wild roses lined the entire trail. There were also several varieties of pentstemon, columbine, irises, paintbrush, all in bloom.
The Fishing:
To say the least, fishing in the second meadow in extremely tough. Even though there were insects coming off the water all day long, there were very few fish rising. The water was very clear, and the fish very spooky. I spooked one fish by putting my fly line 5 feet to the side of him. We had the most luck at the very top and bottom of this meadow. The top is more gravelly, and offers better holding lies for fishing to. The middle section offers the fish very little cover and is a sand/muck bottom. Between us, we took less that a dozen fish out the second meadow over the weekend. I did however take one fat 16 rainbow on a red quill - the largest fish I've taken on a dry out here (well - other than on the San Juan). The insect activity was incredibly rich - there were several different mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies, and midges coming all coming off at all times during the day.
If you had to fish for food on this stream, you would want to fish the pocket water in the canyon sections. In contrast to their wealthy meadow brethren, these canyon fish were willing to jump at almost anything thrown at them. A bead head nymph thrown in the right place would often reward you with a fish in the 8 to 12 inch range.
On our way out on Sunday, we fished the first meadow. While still a meandering stream, as the second meadow is, the first meadow is definitely easier fishing. The fish were nowhere near as spooky, and there was plenty of instream cover. In about a half hour of fishing, I had landed 2 12" stocked rainbows, 1 small brown, and had lost 2 more rainbows, all on a bead head pheasant tail.
Final Point: If you are going to hike in as far as we did, go to the upstream end on the second meadow. The fishing was much better up there, and you would also have access to the canyon area between 2nd and 3rd meadows.
All in all, a fine way to spend an uncrowded holiday weekend.
