We’ve all done some questionable things for fish. We’ve toted float-tubes into the backcountry on the word of a Google maps photo, only the find the “lake” choked with lily pads and all of three feet deep. We’ve wandered up blue line in the Gazeteer only to realize, after too many miles to turn back, that the creek is only seasonal.
When a handful of guys put their mountain bikes to the trail in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado enroute to a high-mountain lake, more than one of them was surely wondering, “Why on earth are we doing this?” Upon arrival, when a storm moved and the rain and the cold put any hopes of good fishing out the window, the solution was obvious: Whiskey.
But these are the stories fishing is made of. If we didn’t have bad days on the water, after miles of blood sacrifice at times, we likely wouldn’t know exactly what good fishing is, would we?
The film above from Yeti chronicles that questionable decision to “ride” into the backcountry in search of trout. And the while the fishing wasn’t great, the living was.
— Chris Hunt