We thought better than heading up too soon after we arrived - best get our systems used to the elevation first. The recent weather patterns had clear mornings and hot by noon with clouds building and thunderstorms in the evening.
We decided to make an attempt yesterday after I finished up at the conference. We drove up Ute Pass to the entrance road but by the time we took the turn off Highway 24 the rain began turning to hail.
We pulled into a parking lot and the hail got worse to the point where we decided to try to head back to town.
Marbles from the Sky
Coming down the hill with marble-sized hail peppering the rental vehicle was no fun and Tracy mentioned a fly shop along the way so we decided to seek shelter there. By the time we made the parking lot of the Angler's Covey, it was really coming down and accumulating in the bed of the pickup and on the windshield. A young lady pulled up next to us in a VW Jetta and decided to pull up on the porch to try to get her car out of the hail. She came pretty close to running into the side of the store before she finally stopped.
Parking Lot Accumulation
We got hailed on for 30 minutes and finally made it inside amazed that there was no damage to the vehicle.
Welcome to Sunny Colorado
Hail in the Pickup Bed
I purchased a license for Friday & Saturday as we have plans to head north to Estes Park after the conference closes on Friday. In retrospect, I should have included today as well....
I needed to get on a conference call this morning at 9AM so we decided once again to head to the top of the big hill - this time early to beat the weather.
We made it up to the first of three reservoirs and that's when I realized that fishing was allowed.
Crystal Reservoir Hiker
I watched brookies frolicking in the shallows and rainbows sipping newly hatched mayflies from the surface of a crystal clear, calm, alpine lake all the while with two fly rods, an ultralight, and enough flies and spinners to last a week sitting idle in the truck.
There is a peacefulness in knowing that you did the right thing by not fishing without a license but I have to admit I sure was tempted.
Damselfly Nymph
We had to come down to civilization for me to get enough signal to take the call and by the time it was over it was nearly lunchtime so we grabbed a Subway and headed back up with intentions of reaching the summit for lunch and being back down in time for me to catch some of the afternoon sessions.
Framing the Peak
Friendly Visitor
There was quite a bit of roadwork going on and it took longer to ascend than normal and on the descent we were delayed by a stalled construction vehicle and I ended up taking another call instead of sitting through a conference session.
Alpine Scene
Watchful Eye - Nest Nearby?
Storm Brewing
Above the Clouds
Even without wetting a line it was a great day to be outside.
"Pikes Peak or Bust!"
2 comments:
It must have been hard but you did the right thing. You didnt want any of those fish anyway, they were probably full of little green worms.
Great cloud shots. Looks like Tracy was busy with the camera!
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