screamer

high desert screamer today: gallup's squash blossom classic.

Should be a fast one- wish us luck!

Edit: Shredder wins age group + all of women cat 3. Moi? 1st in age 4th in all of cat 3. Missed 3rd by 3 secs darnit!

awesomeness

Now this is one cutthroat angler who gets it.

I mean really, really gets it! sniff ;-)



Oregon Coast Range Cutts from Sam Brost-turner on Vimeo.

HT: This Is Fly

sbt in pixels

What a great trip.  Gotta get back up there~

From South Boundary Trail 2012

ipad users click into embedded linkage- curse you google-apple wars! Can't we all just get along?

south boundary trail

heaven on earth

What with all the training, racing, shredding under our treads this summer, it seemed like a good idea to finally pull the trigger on one of the more renowned trails in this great state.  

new mexico high country

 

knobbies

 Yup, South Boundary Trail was marked into the calendar to coincide with the changing season in the high country above Taos, NM.

she wolf in her natural habitat

For the uninitiated, the SBT is a spectacular ride in any season.  You'll start by heading up in Angel Fire at around 9.5K, cresting at 10.8K over Osha Pass in the first 1.5 miles. Whew!  

there was much suffering here

Once peaked out, riders are then rewarded with a gradual descent thru mixed conifer forests, aspen groves, verdant meadows in and around Garcia Park.  In the last 3 miles closer to Taos, the forests transition to mixed oak, pinon, juniper, with plenty of babyhead-littered rock gardens and rockledge steps threatening an OTB round every turn.  Considering the shortest run drops 3500' in over 22 miles, the SBT has earned EPIC status from locals and traveling mountain bikers alike.

carving turns in the aspens

Sounds like just the challenge for our crew, no?  

Caroline, our twelve year old racer on a borrowed 29'r, 

10 yr old Will the Thrill on his 24" 36-pound (yes you read that right) Schwinn, 

Sweetness on her venerable 4" dualie, 

and this here blogger of indeterminate age and questionable judgement. 

Add to the mix, another gung-ho family of consummate shredders, now we have a par-TAY!

  

cast of characters

 So Sunday am has us huffing up that first ridge, leap-frogging each the other as we slowly gain first the aspen groves, then the pass itself.

But a moment atop Osha Pass, before the kids point their rigs downhill and the fun begins.  Dam, but those kids have some skilz!  

shredder

Caroline now drafts the wheels of passing pros, gives them a run for their money.  

getting his game face on

WTT, irregardless of hauling a veritable metric ton of weight in that Schwinn, can still outclimb a goat on the ups.

On the downs?

 he lets his visage do the talkin.

Ah, Mrs Wulff now, she channeled her inner she-wolf, gritted her teeth bared her fangs in the rock gardens and never looked back. 

descent

 Back at the parking lot, ride done, the kids all swap stories with some of their fellow veterans of the SBT, some 20 years their senior.  Cya on the trails Dude!  

el nogal plunge

 Gotta love it~

Hearty thanks to the Matlins for hosting and helping get the the SBT D-O-N-E, done.

trail's end

chicken and waffles

Had the whole fam damily out tonight, training up for a big weekend ride.

 Dad, I have a thorn in my chamois....

but that's allright....

'cause I get chicken and waffles tonight.

You want to have fun in life?  Hang out with a 10 and 12 year old.

Those kids crack me up!

Area 51: Shimazaki Dry Shake

Shimazaki Dry Shake- it's not just for breakfast any more!

Been a while since I added a product review to the Area 51 vault.  Also been meaning to get the Word out there on one of my favorite fly fishing products: Shimazaki Dry Shake.

What's the deal you ask?  Well for one, Shimazaki has been simply THE best dessicant + dry fly floatant on the market for years now.  

When you're trying to pick your way thru those pesky juvenile brookies to set up that one shot at that ginormous cutty working the head of the pool, Shimazaki's got yer back.  Fly all gummed up after repeated dunkings on brookie dinks, just pop the fly into the container, shake for 20 sec's, blow off excess, and get back into the fray. 

Shimazaki as a dessicant immediately removes all moisture from a soaked Royal Wulff, and that's sayin something if you've seen my ties.  Works so well, I often return with dry, cracked skin on my left hand from the blown excess and  repeated use over a day's fishing.

Shimazaki also coats your fly with a silica powder that repells water, keeps that Royal Wulff floating thru repeated casts, and on thru at least a coupla fish I kid you not.

But that's not all, oh no.  See, Shimazaki works equally well as a dessicant for Royal Wulffs and iPhones both.

Hypothetically speaking now:
Say you're in the midst of God's green acres, iPhone safely tucked away in your new waterproof wader pocket.  Say you bark the holy sh#t out of your shin, tripping over a submerged boulder while stalking said ginormous cutty, faceplant squarely into the tail of the pool.  Fast forward an hour later- cutties all safely released, the hatch died back down, you finally get to thinking about refueling on that PBJ.  Wondering just what time it is anyway, you unzip that new waterproof pocket only to find your iPhone swimming in an veritable liter of water.  For at least an hour, ferchrissakes.

Well should this happen to you (still speaking hypothetically now) simply dump your Shimazaki into that empty reel bag, toss that phone in there, wade back into the fray.

Once back home, first safely mediate your (hypothetical) long overdue phone call home, and use the land line to call off the sheriff dept's (hypothetical!) search for your vehicle initiated by your (not-hypothetical!) adoring wife as a consequence of your (again, hypothetical everyone!) long overdue phone call home.  Once you've made your (hypothetical sad face) bed on the couch, add some rice and another old canister of good ole Shimazaki to the mix, let that sit for a bit.

Come 48 hours, dust off the phone, plug the charger back in, and Voi LA!  Back to surfing your favorite college football sites in no time.

Epilogue:
6 weeks later, iPhone still functioning, Mrs Wulff is now also a big fan.  Of the Shimazaki that is, if not this particular Royal Wulff just yet.  Still a bit too early to joke about I guess, yeesh, some people are sooo sensitive.

So Shimazaki?  Give it a try!  On dry flies at least. ;-) 

soooo totally worth it.   just sayin~

EDIT: Mrs Wulff now advising I must come clean on this issue, sigh.  OK here goes:

• Yes, I faceplanted, tore a hole in my new waders for good measure.  I blame my laser-like focus in pursuit of worthy adversary!
• Yes I did soak the phone in the manner described above.  My PBJ too! (sad face)
• Yes my failure to call home triggered somewhat regrettable call to Sherrif's Dept to search me out, lo siento kindly deputy! 
• No, Mrs Wulff did not kick me to the couch. For the life of me, I don't know why not.
• Yes Shimzaki rescued a soaked phone, said phone still working as I write this.
• Yes, Shimazaki is awesome, and no, I was not paid to say that.
• Yes, I did bag that ginormous cutty
• And finally, yes, it was indeed all sooo totally worth it.  ;-)

healing

So what's a guy to do when his alma mater gets whacked on the gridiron to start the season?

Well you can ride.

Then ride some more.

If that doesn't work- ride some more. Yeah, that should do it.

Special thx to the Mathers & Matlins for facilitating the healing process! :-]

break glass in case of emergency

I'm thinking everyone has at least one, most likely several.

You know, those secret stashes you've accumulated over a lifetime of fly fishing.  They all have some basic criteria in common:  

1. fish well or even Xtremely well.
2. for big mountain trout or pure-bred cutthroats.
3. remain well off the beaten path, frequented by exactly no one.  But by yourself, that is.  Because who else is willing to risk the <choose one or more of the following as applies> rattlesnakes, sheer cliffs, box canyon, grizz, raging rapids, death march, cougars, snowfields, T-boomers....?

That right there is the definition of emergency secret stash, the glass to be broken only on rare occasions.  

 On an emergency basis only, if you get my meaning.

Such is the predicament I recently found myself in: the end of the season fast approaching, just a solitary day to fish, this trip needed to be beyond the 'ordinary'.

Casting about through the memory banks for a locale to fit the bill, I settled on one particular box canyon reach, first explored with my Dad- now there's an angler who appreciates the notion of secret stash!

That day proved most excellent, enough for the Return to always haunt the corners of the waking mind.



Yeah gotta get back up there.  

Oh ya Mon, secret stash.

But thinking backonit, I was astonished to remember it was the very weekend of Hurricane Katrina, what now, already seven years ago?  That fact alone sealed it, time to break the glass on this fly fishing emergency.

And yes, I found evidence that in the intervening years, exactly No One has risked the impassible cliffs, the perilous rock crawl, the dark box canyon.  Risked all to briefly connect with the pure-bred cutthroat trout that call this place, this pristine Place, home.

After all, that would just be plain crazy, am I right?