Summer Mornings

Sunrise

There is something about the sun slowly rising in the sky out in the desert. The cactus seem to catch the light and then each needle seems to glow. The rocks have not yet been heated in the furnace so the temperature feels tolerable. Birds begin to move from their roosts and search for breakfast before seeking midday shade. This makes for the best time to be out here year round, especially in the summer.

For many summers now, trips out to the Usery Pass archery range have become the norm. The time spent with bow in hand tossing arrows is always relaxing. The facilities are great with several walking courses, including a 3D target course. There is also the important covered canopy range with target's starting at 15 yards and going out to 100 yards. It wouldn't feel like summer without a few trips out here to keep the shooting skills at peak level. If you go during the morning you get double the pleasure.

Having Fun

Long Hot Summer

The month of July has been a long hot month here in the desert. I have not spent much time blogging either. Work hours have changed and I have been adapting to a new schedule, hopefully things will settle down now. During the month of July I have managed to escape to the rim country a few times. Much of the Tonto forest section of the rim is currently closed for fire hazard, a rough year for Arizona. I was forced to explore some new country, so I went with a friend and visited East Clear Creek and tossed some flies. Followed the next day by some fishing at Blue Ridge Reservoir. Did not catch a lot of fish that trip and took even less photos. That is a lesson for blogging learned, caught two nice fish in the first 15 minutes and that there would be plenty of photo ops, but that was pretty much it for the day.


East Clear Creek

Blue Ridge Blue Gill

 

 

The Blue



Two weeks later took my kids back up to East Clear Creek to camp and fish. Watched my 16 year old son land his first redside on a dry fly, thanks to the mini-hopper an Arizona must have dry. My daughter also landed a nice fish which got away as we prepared to take a picture. The twins did their best to dent the crawdad population that is out of control on the creek. That evening we were able to see the forest get a lot of much needed rain, about 7 hours worth. As we packed up and left that evening the lighting put on a show the whole 2 hour drive home.



Dry flies in the morning



Storm cloud seeds




Crawdad Kings



Now that August is approaching, we start in to my favorite time of year. Just got a new fall catalog to remind me of all the gear I need. Days will shorten and the morning temps will dip back into the 70's. Bird hunting can then only be right around the corner. Time to prepare for a great fall of hunting, fly fishing, and biking.

Fathers Day Weekend



Semi Seal Leech

 This was the weekend for fathers, so I spent some father time. Started Saturday morning with a quick and uneventful (ie no fish on the line) fly toss at the Salt River with some friends. Followed that up with a tour of sports retail stores to see if I needed anything. Cabela's, Bass Pro Shop's and Sportsman's Warehouse were all busy, but they still managed to get a few bucks out of me. Picked up some new Rio sinking fly line for my fathers day fishing trip coming up, look for a review. Then I purchased this cool blood red semi seal and tied some of my favorite flies for this weeks fishing trip. On a more somber note, the forests in our state continue to burn. I got word this morning of a new fire, the Willow fire that started north of Bear Canyon Lake, this could jeopardize the Mogollon Rim section of Arizona's fisheries. If you have extra rain send it our way.

Getting Older

I had a chance to break out and ride the mountain bike again. After the last ride in the desert I felt older and slower, neither of which is a good thing.  So as I planned my ride I knew I had to push myself a lot more.  I set my goals on riding the larger loop (not sure the name of it) that includes one real large hill climb.  I figured this should really be a test of will power and conditioning.  I left the parking lot and started the gradual climb up the trail.  The start was later than I had hoped and the desert sun was already in full force.  Thirty minutes after starting out I arrived at the base of the aforementioned hill and still felt pretty good about the ride.  It was further out there than I remembered it being and also bigger and steeper.

The Climb

I rested at the bottom for a few minutes and then decided to turn around, ride back down, and finish with the short loop from the week before.  I now knew the top part of the trail for the down hill and there are some great sections of single track.  Upon reaching them I decided to forgo the use of my brakes and get some good speed going.  The first stretch was a dream of fast corners, wind in the face, extra adrenaline and the memories of times gone past.  Further down as I approached a corner with some good speed I could not stick the bike where I wanted too.  This resulted in near disaster in the desert, something I don't need again, involving heavy breaking, swerving, and mild cursing.

 I thought to myself "I can't be getting this old and tired that steering through these corners is such a chore".  Working my way back to the parking lot proved different, each corner I had to take a little slower, every obstacle more tentative.  My age was really showing now, 10 years ago this would have been nothing for me to peddle through.  Today, it became a display of how not to ride the desert.

Eventually I hit the parking lot threw my bike in the car and headed home.  Starting up the trail I had high expectations that were realized on the start of the decent, but as I got lower down the reality of the aging process took hold.  I felt as if I had taken a big step backwards and needed to go ride some dirt roads to get back with it.  Arriving home and feeling down I took the bike out of the car and placed it in the garage.  As I cleaned out the rest of the gear I thought how did all these rocks get in the back of the car.  Upon closer inspection it was actually chunks of rubber.  I imediatly went to the bike to inspect it and to my shock most of the knobbies on the tires were now missing; quite a few removed down to the core wraps.

They weren't like this when I prepeared to leave the night before.  Then it became clear I didn't get any older at all, it was the tires that got older.  Needless to say riding is now on hold till I can throw a new set of knobbies on the bike.

Working On My Casting

Spent memorial day morning at the Salt river with my fly rod in hand.  I saw this video series on MidCurrent, "The Five Essentials of Casting" and I thought this would be a good opportunity to work on my casting.
 

The Salt river is only a 20 minute drive from my house so with easy access I spend time here quite often.  The fishing there is always a challenge, and at this time of year the summer tubers make it worse.  It does have what I needed to work on my casting though, current and wind.  I made it there before sunrise and the crowds; Bulldog Canyon is always a beautiful place in the early morning.

I spent about an hour on the river and was able to throw some pretty loops.  As always the time spent outdoors was both relaxing and enjoyable.  Unfortunately the fish never showed up to play.  I am looking forward to the next fishing trip to implement some improved casting knowledge I have gained.