Ham's Fork - Sportsmen’s Access Points

Along the Ham’s Fork River are several Sportsmen’s Access points.  The first evening we went to the one closest to town. 

We ended up catching a grand slam - Cutthroat, Rainbow, Brown trout and White Fish.  These fish weren’t very big but they sure were fun to catch. 

We caught these on either dry flies like the Adams or on small nymphs like Pheasant Tails.  There were Yellow Sally Stoneflies in the air but I had left my stonefly fly-box at home. 

I also found a few leopard frogs.  I haven’t seen these since I used to catch them as a kid.  The mosquito’s, however, were quite annoying.

Looking out over the valley in which the river flowed, we saw a few more moose. 

In fact, on this trip we saw over a dozen moose, several with babies. 

We also saw elk on the mountainside across the river from our camp and antelope along the roadside.  There were cattle along the roadside. 

One particular calf bull wouldn’t move out of the way even when I drove right up to it.  Not until we started to get out of the car did it move. Then when it did it changed directions, ran back right in front of us and ran off the opposite side of the road.

For dinner we had Breakfast Burritos.  Jennifer had cooked these up a few days before and we froze a couple in foil for the trip.  They warmed up easily on the grill and sure were good.  Even though this trip was in mid-June, it got below freezing the first couple of nights.

Something I brought on this trip was a marine battery and power inverter to charge our phones at night.  This worked out great.  The only problem was we could only get reception at the lower stretches of the river.  Our cell phones were charged for when we were able to use them.

Fly Fishing the Ham's Fork - Day 1: Teddy Bear Corner

Nick and I had a guide lined up for fishing the Green River below Fontenelle on Wednesday June 20^th.  Sara and Nick arrived from Cincinnati on Sunday the 17^th after a 26 hour car ride.  Monday evening our guide called and said that the Green River was blown out.  Apparently there was a larger snow pack in the Wind River Mountains than expected and maintenance was being performed on the dam, letting out more water than usual. 

This of course, put down the fish so they weren’t eating.  The guide let us know we could reschedule; or as an alternative, he could guide us on the Ham’s Fork.  He had reports of several fish over 20 inches being caught there.  Originally I agreed to this but after discussing it with Nick, we decided that we really didn’t need a guide to nymph fish a small stream like the Ham’s Fork.  We needed a guide to row the boat, show us the logistics of fishing the Green below Fontenelle and how best to fish it.  I called back the guide and let him know I’d like to reschedule in the Fall.

We drove up to the Ham’s fork and stopped at the BLM and DWR in Kemmerer to get directions and ideas on the best places to camp.  Originally we were planning on camping along the Green River where I had camped previously, but since the river was high, we decided to camp in the Bridger National Forest. 

The forest is a lot more scenic than the desert along the Green.  This ended up being a good decision.  We camped right along the river. 

That evening we even had a moose visit the river right in front of our camp. 

The road to the national forest is a gravel, dirt road (good by Wyoming standards) which was sprayed for dust control. 

This “dust control” red dirt was quickly making the car look two toned and I was sure it was going to take some high powered spraying to remove all the mud.  Around one particular bend in the road is what looks like Teddy Bear Corner. 

There was a pile of Teddy Bears around a pole cemented into the ground.  A stuffed banana had been thrown to the other side of the road the next day, so apparently this is exclusively for “Teddy Bears”.