Thursday, July 24, 2008

Sacred Place

I backpacked into Deep Creek last weekend and had a freakin blast. It was a bit nerve racking sneaking in. This year they have new big shinny yellow KEEP THE HELL OUT signs and it appeared that every damn land owner was up there enjoying their undeserved private land. I got to the starting point and turned my truck around so it was facing the right direction for a quick getaway the next morning but before I could even shoulder my pack a truck came cruising out of the old man's property. I had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide so I stood tall and tried to pretend like I was not going do to exactly what the signs said I couldnt do. Apperently I looked legit because the couple didnt stop to question my motives. They did look at me like they would send a posse down later to beat my ass and burn my camp but they didn't stop to chit chat so as soon as they went around the corner I grabed my gear , jumped the fence and headed for the cover of the forrest. I could not have asked for better weather. I had complete cloud cover the entire trip so the temp was perfect and no sunburn. I got down to the bottom kind of late, probably around 8 oclock. After coming to the bank of Deep Creek and taking a knee out of respect to the river itself and the Gods who let me get here I headed up O'Niel and found a place to camp just up stream that had a nice view but kept me hidden as well. Wich was comforting since I was alone and the owners new I was here allready. I made camp quick and stashed my pack inside the tent to keep it dry before grabing my fly rod and heading up stream to try and catch a few before it got dark. I didn't catch a fish the first few holes and was starting to wonder if it wasn't going to be as hot as usual. As soon as that thought went through my mind I caught my first. He was nice to. A 12 incher missing one eye and had some other battle wounds on his mouth. After that it never stoped. I caught 11 or 12 more in the next 20 minutes before heading back to camp to enjoy the night. The next morning I got up at first light, made a quick breaky ,packed up camp and stashed my pack in the brush before heading up stream one more time. I fished hard for at least two hours. Going up O"Niel further than I ever have before and catching more fish than I ever have before. It was freaking insane. Their was a good hour, probably around 7 to 8 oclock where I was catching fish on every single half way decent cast. I would unhook a fish, dry my fly, step a couple feet up stream and cast again straight into the waiting mouth of another. It was incredible. I was enjoying myself so much that thought of my truck sitting up top with it's tires slashed or maybe a tresspasing ticket waiting for me when I climbed out didn't matter a bit. I was just damn thankfull to have the privalge of being in Deep Creek.