Now that winter (meteorological winter) has passed it is time for a quick roundup of a few trips we were able to pull off in the last days of January and the month of February. It’s been a goal to get out winter camping and in fact we hope to get in camping trips all 12 months this year.
Ana Reservoir
We had quite a long stretch of sunny warm weather. Why not go fishing? We headed south and tried out our new packraft (more info on that in the future) and did a bit of prospecting for hybrid bass in the reservoir and trout in the river. Don’t worry, no fish were harmed during this trip, but we enjoyed getting out in the fresh air under the stars.
Fly fishing
Next up we headed to a local river to try some fly fishing and to gaze at the mountains. I actually hooked a fish which was quite a surprise for this river. In all the years of fishing this river I can still count on one hand how many I have hooked. We had a stellar camp to watch the sun drop behind the Cascades. I could have sat there for a week of sunsets.
Skiing the Methow
Well, it’s winter – we needed to get some sort of winter sport in, even if it seems like winter never came. We headed a few hours north to the Methow Valley for a long weekend ski trip. There was enough snow to ski on! The snowshoeing left a bit to be desired. Always a beautiful spot to spend time. We camped on the way there on the Deschutes and there were plenty of signs of spring on the river.
Pie Irons and Pine
The final trip of this winter was a trip to a place I’m calling Pine Ridge. It’s an isolated island of Ponderosa surrounded by a sagebrush sea, several miles from the forest. It was a cool spot to wander and spend a night with nobody around. We explored some abandoned homesteads, marveled at the trees in the desert and did some pie iron cooking on the campfire. It was everything you need for a great weekend trip.
Now it’s onward to spring. More fishing, camping and who knows what else are in our future. Thanks for following along on the journey!
