Two Year Anniversary

I still clearly remember loading all of my gear in my truck and heading north to Colorado, leaving my life in Dallas behind--or on hold--I wasn't sure which.  That was two years ago today.  Since then, I have been guiding for Dan's Fly Shop in Lake City, Colorado in the summers and teaching skiing at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah in the winters.   In the last two years, I've probably caught a few thousand fish, put thirty-something thousand miles on my truck, skied close to 275 days, and fished about 330 days.  I have made some great friends and have enjoyed (almost) every minute of this adventure!  I will try to do a better job of keeping this blog updated, but you can follow me on instagram @ellisoutdoors for more timely updates.

A nice rainbow on one of my few (hundred) days on the water

Early winter sunset at Deer Valley

Summer's Not Here Yet

After spending some time in 80 degree weather in the deserts and canyons of southern Utah, I got a couple more powder days at Snowbird before I had to head to Colorado for the summer.

Sundog at Snowbird

Mt. Superior from Snowbird

15 inches in a couple of days in later April?  I'll take it

Cleaning off the truck before leaving Park City for Little Cottonwood Canyon and Snowbird

Bluebird skies

Looking toward Salt Lake City from Hidden Peak

Mt. Superior

Still more powder to shred

May 8

Until next year

River X

After some more skiing at Snowbird, a buddy and I headed out from Park City for a secret river rumored to have nothing but giant brown trout.  We found the river, but the flows were low and the fish were very, very spooky.  We managed to get a few to the net--all really nice browns.  Though the fishing was tough, I vowed to come back a bit later in the spring.

River X

Slow, gin clear water on River X

The sky and golden grasses around the river were beautiful

A nice brown

Another nice brown

Sunset on our drive back into town

Another week or so later I made it back to River X.  Fishing was still tough, but I managed to get some more nice fish to the net.

Fishing the Lower Provo

After exploring the Middle Provo for an afternoon, I ventured down to the end of the Heber Valley into Provo Canyon to fish the Lower Provo River.  The river was fairly crowded, but I landed a bunch of nice fish.  And the views from the river were stunning!

Mount Timpanogos from Heber Valley

Mount Timpanogos from Deer Creek Reservoir

Time to get after it

The view from one of the parking lots along the Lower Provo

Looking downstream from the parking lot

My first fish on the Lower Provo: a really nice rainbow!

Another nice bow

A nice brown backlit by the late afternoon sun with Mount Timpanogos in the background 

Evening on the river: I was the last man standing

Timpanogos rising above Provo Canyon