I met up with Scott at the Gill Trailhead at about 11 today. We took our time getting ready and drank some coffee before starting the hike down into the canyon. Not more than 20 minutes after I got in the water did I glance downstream to Scott to find 2 guys talking to him. I saw the handgun and then realized they were with the Division of Wildlife. I have NEVER been checked by DOW and to have them actually come down into the canyon was a surprise indeed. I'm an up and up guy but was actually a little stressed about where my license was so I thought I'd get out and find it while they checked Scott. One of them came over to me as I was looking and we small talked while I looked. I found Heathers license. I found my license from last year. I HAVE a current license. I told the officer it must be in my wallet. Right away he started in on me. I offered to hike out and come back down but he didn't like that idea. Now...each year you get the same number with the DOW so I asked him if he could just run the digits (even though I knew and understood what his response was gonna be). He chewed on me for a while and then told me he was gonna run it when he got back to his truck and if I didn't have a current one he'd come see me.
Well then I felt like shit so I told Scott I was gonna hike out, find it, and then hike back in so I could show him before he hiked out. I hauled ass out and the license was in my wallet. The DOW truck was no where in the lot. So when I got back down to the river Scott said they had just left but I hadn't passed them. Then I realized they had probably parked in the private camp just downstream and hopped the fence. So I went down there to see if I could find them. I wasn't able to find them and didn't feel like getting a ticket for trespassing so I just decided to leave it alone. The private club has a helo pad and it's rumored that Dick Cheney once fished there. They have a chain link fence going all the way across the river blocking it which I think is BS but oh well. They do stock some big ass Kamloops Rainbows in there though. I fished just on the legal side of the fence and got into a bow on the second drift.
After that the temps dropped probably 10 degrees and it was frigid. We fished for several more hours in the difficult conditions and then decided to hike out. Once in the lot, I started the van, changed and then we were gonna drink a beer. One turned into 2 and then I was outta there. However...6 miles outside of town, the van ran out of gas. Shoulda left after beer #1. No cell service left hoofing it until I could call Heather. What a day.
This is probably my favorite section of the river. There's always fish in this area.
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