The Loss of Another Legend... A.K. Best

 We have lost another one of the fly tying legends, A.K. Best. A.K. was in his early 90s. I learned a lot from his fly tying techniques and especially his design of several flies. A.K loved tying with natural materials. His books were an incredible reference as well. AK Best and John Gierach were good friends and often they fly fished together. We will still be able to use A.K.'s books as a references. Below is a link to a Fly Tyer Magazine article about A.K.'s best flies:

 https://www.flytyer.com/fly-tyer-exclusive-k-s-favorite-flies/

Backcountry Camping, Hiking and Fly Fishing in Banff National Park

 Hiking, fly fishing, backcountry camping and exploring with my grandkids and their parents is something that Karen and I have been looking forward to for a long time. We shouldered our packs and headed into the Egypt Lake area in Banff National Park. We climbed up over Healy Pass and once at Egypt Lake we set up camp for 4 days. We loved fly fishing creeks and lakes in the area for brook trout and cutthroat trout as well as climbing Pharoah Peak and just enjoying the spectacular scenery! It was great fun fly fishing and hiking with our grandkids. Their parents have had them in the backcountry a lot! They love the outdoors that includes picking up a fly rod! There are 5 or 6 lakes in the Egypt Lake area that have trout! It is a fun place to explore. It was also cool to run into a student I taught in the 1980s out hiking with his daughter! yes, they were fly fishing too!

We had weather of all sorts. Thunderstorms, heavy wind, frost on day 3 and showers as we hiked out! Being well prepared is important! Lots of warm layers and decent rain gear is a necessity!

For Karen and I, it is the best of times. We are lucky we still love climbing over high mountain passes with a full pack of camping and fly fishing gear. We hope to get our other grandkids out there soon! One thing I have learned, 70 is just a number!

Pharoah Peak

Cutthroat Trout

Yep, caught on chernobyls!

Way up there!

From the Summit of Pharoah Peak!

Brookies

We love walking through the tamarack

Top of Healy Pass

 

Perfect Day in the Backcountry in Banff National Park

What a day! Close to perfect weather, hungry brookies caught just on chernobyls and our hiking legs did us well! The 22 km of hiking was the tax we had to pay to enjoy brook trout fly fishing at it's best! We left the house at 5 am and by 8 am we were hiking to our destination. It is a hike we love. Some of the hike is a bit of grind but we were ready! After 2 hours of hiking we topped out over a mountain pass and there was our destination. We were greeted by marmots, pikas, loons, osprey, tamarack and a lake teaming with brookies. We were fly fishing by 10:30 am. We both tied on a chernobyl and the beautifully coloured brookies slammed our offering. 

Karen and I layered up after being sweaty from the trip up the mountain pass. It was a cool 5C when we left the car and I suspect the mercury climbed to about 18C during the day! The wind even behaved itself! We talked to some hikers who were in the valley the day before. They had experienced severe thunderstorms and it was not a very pleasant day! Mountain weather can be quite nasty at times.

Well after close to 6 hours of excellent fly fishing, we headed back to the car! Our feet felt a bit heavier but the 11km hike back to the car was all downhill. We grabbed a bit to eat in Canmore. Our trip home included dodging a severe thunderstorm that was rolling off of the eastern slopes. We used weather radar to skirt the storm. We were rewarded with an amazing display of rainbows and lightening. We got home at 10 ish. What a fabulous day. The sweat equity was well worth it!