[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”26″ gal_title=”july11″]
July 11, 2016
Good afternoon everyone!! Out on the trail early this morning with a 6am start!! Just came back from doing a little fishing and have today’s river report, followed with an update on the current wildfire activity in the area and my latest picture gallery. Beginning with the current river flow, 223 (cfs) at the Cheesman Dam and a slightly higher flow in Trumbull at 294 (cfs). Not really any run-off to speak of from the feeder creeks, so Decker’s is looking to be right around 325 (cfs). I’ve noticed a little more moss in the last two mornings as I’ve been walking the river. I also just came back from a short trip out the back yard to “Hole in the Wall” and definitely saw an increase in the moss. Last night the BWO’s were hatching out of the grass along the banks as I threw a big grass hoppper, trailing a black, bead-headed pheasant tail nymph. After my hike this morning, I grabbed the waders, threw on the vest and off I went with the same rig from last night. I headed downstream from my yard and worked the banks close to the willows with the fore-mentioned buffet of flies I had chosen previously. While not having much success, I did manage to hook into three fish, however, I wasn’t able to set the hook soon enough to seal the deal! For some reason I seem to have an affection for throwing a streamer, so on my way back upstream to the yard, I decided to put on an Olive-Wooley- Bugger and was able to pull a nice 16″ brown trout off the banks on my second toss of the bugger. Evenings seem to be the best for rising fish. Tonight’s approach is going to be one of “stealth and silence, as I try to make my way to the deeper pools along the banks, located just upstream from my house on the river. Going to head out tonight around 6:30pm, armed with an arsenal of bwo’s, dry midges, some caddis and of course the wooley-bugger!! More on tonight’s attempt a catching fish, sometime tomorrow!!
As I promised all of you last week, my hiking buddy and I made the second trip up the mountain to the tree line, and burn scar area to southeast side of Trumbull/Decker’s. As you are probably already aware, livedeckerscololrado.com has not only become my full-time job, but it’s given me a platform to change my life-style and get into optimal shape without really even noticing. About 6 weeks ago, when the website was about to be launched, I realized that I was now going to have to, as they say, “put up or shut up.” Now that I have been blogging for about 31 days, I have lost about 28 pounds to date and feel amazing!! As I continue to work out, exercise and diet, I will post my daily weight as an added incentive for me to push forward with this health, diet and life-style change. As I get up each morning about 4:45, my friend and hiking buddy will usually have breakfast that usually consists of some fresh fruit, peanut butter on a gluten-free English muffin, perhaps an avocado with some tuna, sometimes a pancake or even a vegetable saute. Considering all the calories that we are burning on each of these incline hikes up the mountain and in the National Forest each day, we usually take some granola or other nuts and dried fruits to keep the energy up to climb. One of the reasons I have wanted to climb to this particular area was so that I could see for myself what a section of the forest looks like after being devastated by wildfire. After a relatively short, but steep climb up a forest road out of Trumbull, we made our way through the lodge pole pines and what seemed like at times, walking up a sand dune!! After making our way through the last wooded area toward the top, we took a few minutes to give the dogs a rest, hydrate ourselves and look around for some crystals and other geological gems that are plentiful in the Pikes Peak region. Flint, quartz, smokey quartz and even topaz can be found all up and down the front range of the Rocky Mountains. Not being much of a “rock hound” myself, but certainly interested in learning more, I hope to better educate myself on the crystals and minerals that are found in our region. I’ll let most of the pictures in the gallery tell the story, but I would like to point out that it only takes a small spark to ignite a wildfire. It’s extremely dry and with the high winds that we are having, it’s important to make sure you properly extinguish all campfires. As we were high on the ridge looking southwest, we could see the smoke from a small wildfire that had apparently started yesterday. It had been successfully extinguished, but we could still see the smoke settled in a valley to the southwest of where we were hiking this morning. By writing this blog each day, my hope is that I will continue on this path to fitness, possibly inspire someone to take control of their health, and provide all of you with interesting stories, pictures and content! Ultimately, I want to invite you to experience life with me, as I continue along this journey in the beautiful South Platte River Valley, Colorado!!
The Buck stopped “Here”
camping, Fishing Conditions, fishing report, hiking[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”27″ gal_title=”july 12 buck stop”]
July 12, 2016
Top of the morning to you folks!!! It’s a beautiful morning up here in the most magnificent South Platte River Valley! Woke up today with some much cooler temperatures, as it was only 44 degrees when I left to hike at 5:30 this morning. Definitely layered up for the first 45 minutes of the hike. The flow at the Cheesman dam this morning was down from yesterday to 184 (cfs) and only 265 (cfs) at Trumbull. Last night the fishing action was pretty good!! The midge hatch wasn’t as strong, but I continue to see hatches of BWO’s along the banks and around protruding rocks close to the river’s edge. Just fooling around, I decided I was going to just throw the single grass-hopper to see if I could raise a suspecting Trout! Back to back times I simply threw the hopper up against the granite wall and allowed the bug to fall into the river. Wham! just like that a monster brown trout that I had seen rising a few moments earlier slammed my bug and headed right for the river bank with all intentions of ending our short relationship. My drag screaming and my heart pounding, I knew I was going to have to keep the fish off the bank if I was going to win the battle. Not being in my waders and having flip flops to negotiate the cavernous bottom, I was forced to sacrifice my left flop in an attempt to net the beast!!! Now, with one useless shoe barley dangling off my right foot and realizing I could go no further into the river, I tightened my drag and made one last attempt to keep the fish from running. With one quick snare, I attempted to set the hook properly as I was dealing with my “shoe issue.” The fish made one more aggressive move, wrapped my line around a few rocks and snapped me off!! Next time I will gear-up for sure!! After the fishing wardrobe malfunction, I noticed a large hatch BWO’s around a rock close to the bank. I immediately added a green-hackle to the hopper and pulled three fish on about a dozen or so drifts. If you’re interested in coming to Decker’s and fish, be sure to check out the full-service tackle and guide shop, Flies and Lies http://www.flies-n-lies.com.
This morning I hiked in the Pike National Forest, which is on the other side of the river from my house. I do this hike at least three times a week and branch off of it to explore different areas that are populated with Native American Artifacts, gem-stones, antler sheds, lots of wildlife and an abundance of cactus and wildflowers. Now that I’m about 6 weeks into training each day, I’m getting faster and faster at ascending the hills and traversing the landscape. I spoke the other day a little bit about my past medical history and revealed that I was an epileptic that doesn’t take medication to control my seizures. I want to be clear that I do not advise anyone that has been prescribed medication by their physician to not take their prescribed drugs. I was simply at an age in my life when I had started to explore for myself what my seizures were truly caused by and for some strange reason was able to do just that. When I was just ten years old, we moved away from the only home that I knew and moved in with my grandmother at the beach. Well, not realizing at the time what stress really was, I had managed to internalize all the turmoil of a divorce, the fear or moving away from all my friends, all I knew, all I was!! For a ten year old, this was obviously too much for me to handle on my own. This is when the seizure activity began and lasted for another 9 long and agonizing years through adolescence and into adulthood. I’ve chosen to share this with you, because now, as a 46 year-old adult who has manged to live seizure- free for most of my adult life without medication, I wan’t to try to explain to you how managing stress is monumental in handling any kind of neurological disorder. As I have mentioned previously, but my have not fully explained, I have recently left the food and beverage industry for the first time in almost thirty years!! As a Chef, the kitchen has always been a “safe place” or a place I could go to where all of my other troubles would go away for maybe just a few hours. But now, as I change and evolve, my comfort zone has shifted and I must follow my heart. Thing is folks, thirty years had gone by and I had spent the majority of it living a life that wasn’t worthy of the second and third chances I had been given. Growing up with this condition and figuring out how it can be better managed through better eating habits, stress management, exercise and good life choices, I felt it had to be shared, but it also meant it had to be lived! This is one of the main reasons I created livedeckerscolorado.com. There are so many kids out there that are stricken with neurological disorders, including Epilepsy, but don’t have near the freedom or the luxury of being able to walk outside knowing that they aren’t going to have a seizure. And after lots of hard work and belief in myself, I DO! and I will never take that for granted again. I also understand that every kid isn’t as lucky as me and many have been diagnosed with the exact reason why they have their seizures. At the time, I expected to be one of those that was told why. But when the Dr’s told me that they couldn’t find anything “really wrong” I was left to figure it out on my own. However, every human being has a seizure threshold and some of us just simply have one that’s just a little lower, and I happen to be one of those individuals. For a long time I have been thinking about how to share this information with the world, but wasn’t really sure what the message would be. I guess, that if just one kid that has this disease, or is going through something similar to what I went through as a child, can benefit from what I learned, I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. Have a great day my friends and thank you for taking some time out of your busy day to listen to what I’ve got to say and share and I’ll see you tomorrow!
Chris
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Reaching the top!
camping, Fishing Conditions, fishing report, hiking[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”26″ gal_title=”july11″]
July 11, 2016
Good afternoon everyone!! Out on the trail early this morning with a 6am start!! Just came back from doing a little fishing and have today’s river report, followed with an update on the current wildfire activity in the area and my latest picture gallery. Beginning with the current river flow, 223 (cfs) at the Cheesman Dam and a slightly higher flow in Trumbull at 294 (cfs). Not really any run-off to speak of from the feeder creeks, so Decker’s is looking to be right around 325 (cfs). I’ve noticed a little more moss in the last two mornings as I’ve been walking the river. I also just came back from a short trip out the back yard to “Hole in the Wall” and definitely saw an increase in the moss. Last night the BWO’s were hatching out of the grass along the banks as I threw a big grass hoppper, trailing a black, bead-headed pheasant tail nymph. After my hike this morning, I grabbed the waders, threw on the vest and off I went with the same rig from last night. I headed downstream from my yard and worked the banks close to the willows with the fore-mentioned buffet of flies I had chosen previously. While not having much success, I did manage to hook into three fish, however, I wasn’t able to set the hook soon enough to seal the deal! For some reason I seem to have an affection for throwing a streamer, so on my way back upstream to the yard, I decided to put on an Olive-Wooley- Bugger and was able to pull a nice 16″ brown trout off the banks on my second toss of the bugger. Evenings seem to be the best for rising fish. Tonight’s approach is going to be one of “stealth and silence, as I try to make my way to the deeper pools along the banks, located just upstream from my house on the river. Going to head out tonight around 6:30pm, armed with an arsenal of bwo’s, dry midges, some caddis and of course the wooley-bugger!! More on tonight’s attempt a catching fish, sometime tomorrow!!
As I promised all of you last week, my hiking buddy and I made the second trip up the mountain to the tree line, and burn scar area to southeast side of Trumbull/Decker’s. As you are probably already aware, livedeckerscololrado.com has not only become my full-time job, but it’s given me a platform to change my life-style and get into optimal shape without really even noticing. About 6 weeks ago, when the website was about to be launched, I realized that I was now going to have to, as they say, “put up or shut up.” Now that I have been blogging for about 31 days, I have lost about 28 pounds to date and feel amazing!! As I continue to work out, exercise and diet, I will post my daily weight as an added incentive for me to push forward with this health, diet and life-style change. As I get up each morning about 4:45, my friend and hiking buddy will usually have breakfast that usually consists of some fresh fruit, peanut butter on a gluten-free English muffin, perhaps an avocado with some tuna, sometimes a pancake or even a vegetable saute. Considering all the calories that we are burning on each of these incline hikes up the mountain and in the National Forest each day, we usually take some granola or other nuts and dried fruits to keep the energy up to climb. One of the reasons I have wanted to climb to this particular area was so that I could see for myself what a section of the forest looks like after being devastated by wildfire. After a relatively short, but steep climb up a forest road out of Trumbull, we made our way through the lodge pole pines and what seemed like at times, walking up a sand dune!! After making our way through the last wooded area toward the top, we took a few minutes to give the dogs a rest, hydrate ourselves and look around for some crystals and other geological gems that are plentiful in the Pikes Peak region. Flint, quartz, smokey quartz and even topaz can be found all up and down the front range of the Rocky Mountains. Not being much of a “rock hound” myself, but certainly interested in learning more, I hope to better educate myself on the crystals and minerals that are found in our region. I’ll let most of the pictures in the gallery tell the story, but I would like to point out that it only takes a small spark to ignite a wildfire. It’s extremely dry and with the high winds that we are having, it’s important to make sure you properly extinguish all campfires. As we were high on the ridge looking southwest, we could see the smoke from a small wildfire that had apparently started yesterday. It had been successfully extinguished, but we could still see the smoke settled in a valley to the southwest of where we were hiking this morning. By writing this blog each day, my hope is that I will continue on this path to fitness, possibly inspire someone to take control of their health, and provide all of you with interesting stories, pictures and content! Ultimately, I want to invite you to experience life with me, as I continue along this journey in the beautiful South Platte River Valley, Colorado!!
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Sunday Recap
camping, Fishing Conditions, fishing report, hiking[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”25″ gal_title=”first sunday wrap up pics”]
July 10, 2016
Good morning everyone and welcome back!!! Just returned from a big hike this morning! Climbed about 1500 feet and took some amazing pictures that I’ll be posting a little later. Keeping with tradition, I would like to give you the daily river report before going any further with today’s “thoughts” At 5:40 this morning it was already 57 degrees and it’s going to be in the upper 80’s today! Plenty of morning sunshine and great hiking weather! The South Platte river flow out of Cheesman Dam this morning at 8:45 was 234 (cfs) and the Trumbull station measured 311 (cfs) . The midges continue to be strong in the morning and the evenings and the hoppers are working well. Yesterday, I walked the river from Trumbull to Decker’s and saw large number of tubers and fisherman between the two bridges in Decker’s. This is a common occurrence this time of year, so be prepared to share the river no matter the reason you decided to visit our area. I will say that the tubing is much better from “Bridge Crossing” which is about 5 miles downstream from Decker’s. I’m working on putting together another picture gallery of hikes and adventures from the last week and I will post them later this evening. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy your Sunday and have a fabulous day!
Chris
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Saturday Review!
fishing report[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”24″ gal_title=”saturday review july 9″]
July 9, 2016
Good morning everyone!! Welcome to my daily river conditions report and weekend review!! The South Platte River was 249 (cfs) at Cheesman dam this morning and just a little higher at Trumbull, measuring 314 (cfs). Clarity continues to improve, but right now I don’t think it get’s any clearer than what we’ve got! I also like this time of year because you don’t have to deal with much moss or other debris as the spring run-off comes to a close. I spent most of this morning sitting by the river enjoying some time with the new lady in my life, Bailey, who happens to be a 18 month Golden Retriever that I share a home with here in Trumbull. We’ve become great friends and you will most likely be seeing her in most of the “fish” pictures I take around the river. Turning our attention back to the fishing action lately, the midges have been thick, but the fish have been selective, and in my opinion, way too picky! Along the banks there were several small individual hatches of BWO’s, however I didn’t see much rising to take the easy meal. It seems that with the high sun and heat, we’ve still had the most success by going deep with a few midges below a hopper. Be sure to stop in and see the friendly folks at Flies and Lies http://www.flies-n-lies.com to pick up everything you need for a day on the river. They also offer rental gear for a very reasonable price if you just want to try your hand at fly-fishing!
As I continue on this “blogging” journey that I’ve created for myself, I am continuously trying to find ways to improve the functionality of the blog as well as the quality and frequency of the content. So, after blogging for about sixteen to eighteen days in row, all while moving to my new residence, I believe I’ve found a good formula that will allow me to continue to write to you daily during the weekdays, with a weekend focus on photographing all of the visitors, tourist, and residents living life to the fullest in the South Platte River Valley. Another reason I started livedeckerscolorado.com was for health and lifestyle reasons. When I was ten years old, living in the small coastal resort community of Bethany Beach Delaware, I was unfortunately stricken with a neurological disorder, Epilepsy, that caused me to suffer Gran mal seizures from the ages of 10 to about 19. In the early 80’s, I was blessed to be under the care of some of the best Pediatric Neurologist teams in the United States, at Johns Hopkins Hospital and University. Ironically, this was the time period in which Dr. Ben Carson, former potential Presidential Candidate, was practicing at Hopkins and most likely would have been the lead surgeon had I undergone the procedure that was an option for me in 1987. After further testing and determining that I was not going to qualify for a surgical procedure to potentially “fix” my seizure disorder, I was left with option of either having additional seizures by not taking the medications, or taking anti-convulsion drugs for the remainder of my life, which at the time was for the most part, controlling my seizures. Well, I decided that the anti-convulsion drugs that I had been on since the age of ten had been potentially causing me liver damage and making me extremely lethargic, lazy and unmotivated, so I knew that is was going to be up to me to figure out what my “triggers” were, and stop the seizures on my own. What I’m ultimately getting at folks, is that through all these years, even though I was extremely active in sports and participated in all the usual outdoor activities, I continued to struggle with my weight as a young man and into adulthood. Therefore, one of the major reasons I have created this platform to “blog” each day, is so that I will have an obligation to get up each day and exercise, eat healthy, and share with you my journey back to optimal health and internal happiness!! I hope you enjoy the pictures I’ve selected from the last five or six days!! Have a great Saturday and remember to have fun today!!
Chris
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Evening Dry Flies
camping, Fishing Conditions, fishing report, hikingJuly 8, 2016
Good morning folks! Absolutely fantastic doesn’t even come close to describing the current conditions here in the S. Platte River valley! Currently, we are at a very comfortable 70 degrees, but it’s warming up quickly and we could see temperatures in the upper 90’s. At 8:45 this morning, the S. Platte at Cheesman was flowing at 227 (cfs) and Trumbull measured 332 (cfs). The river is running almost “Gin” clear, which has been great for watching trout annihilate hoppers and ant’s over the last two evenings. Last night and the night before, the evening dry-fly hatches have been spectacular! Midges, caddis, PMD’s, all thick from the “Wire” down through Trumbull. I spoke with Rob at Flies-n-Lies http://www.flies-n-lies.com and he told me that the tricos were beginning to show up in numbers and that the “terrestrial” bugs become too irresistible to a hungry fish when they are already rising up for fish. The fishing pressure and number of anglers picks up around the Decker’s Bridge area and up toward the YMCA camp on the weekends, but there is plenty of good fishing all the way downstream to the confluence and beyond. Keep in mind that the fish in the immediate Decker’s area see lots of presentations, so test your skills on some of the unsuspecting fish downstream! Just look for the “P” parking sign anywhere along the river and find yourself a place to spend some quality time with us here in the Decker’s/Trumbull communities.
For those of you that have been following my blog daily and those that are joining me for the first time, I would like thank you for your interest in my daily river reports, photographs, and hiking blogs as I make the personal transition away from a 25 year career in the food and beverage industry. Recognizing I didn’t mention what I was transitioning to or towards, it would be only fair to mention that after two heart attacks, a broken neck, four cardiac procedures and a couple of rounds of congestive heart failure, I’ve decided that I’ve spent way too much of my life trying to figure out why I’m still here and start focusing on what I’ve learned from these experiences and what I can take forward and share with others. As I continue to blog daily about the Gold Medal fishing conditions and my adventures in the valley, I also hope to continue to share with you some of the personal growth lessons I’ve learned as I’ve made my way through this complicated, beautiful, awe inspiring planet we call home! If you’re in the Decker’s area and would like to say hello, please stop in to the Decker’s Country Store and do so! Keep in mind, you can make all your vacation plans to Decker’s right here. Visit http://www.southplatterivercabins.com or http://www.flies-n-lies.com to make your cabin reservations. Have a tremendous day folks!!!
Chris
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