This weekend was quite an experience to say the least. I am not sure where to start.
I suppose I will relate it back to baseball a bit as I begin. The last 4 years of my life have been ruled entirely by college baseball. Practices and school and games and social life would constantly fill my free time and leave me little to no opportunity to enjoy the beautiful natural surroundings that Santa Barbara has to offer. Growing up I was very into nature and camping and fishing and unfortunately I began to overlook how much I enjoyed being out in nature in the following years. This summer I realized that my off season would for once, include an extended period of time where I did not have as many obligations and I quickly began to salivate at the possibility for multiple camping and fishing trips with family and friends.
My uncle had been trying to get me up to Santa Cruz (where he lives) for the last few years to go fishing with him on his boat in the ocean, but the scheduling never worked. So we had finally worked out a trip that was to be this last weekend. I invited two of my best buddies up here to come with me and enjoy the experience. Patrick Rose, who plays for the Rockies, and Kyle Kaveny, who played soccer here in our great program and just got back from Germany where he played professionally with a team and upon returning worked out with the MLS team up in San Jose.
Upon inviting these two fellows, Kyle quickly found that he had a scheduling conflict. He said that he had been invited on a fly fishing trip to the Sierras for that same weekend by a good family friend, Bob Nunez, whom I also knew via Kyle. Somehow Bob learned of Kyle's predicament and generously told him to invite our whole party to join them! This was quite an offer, extremely thoughtful and generous of Bob and I told my uncle (who is a pretty avid fly fisherman) about the new opportunity. Uncle Dean had no problem pushing our plans aside to go stay at a cabin and fish about 3 miles of pristine, private property which the Owens river just so happens to run through.
On top of all of this, we learned that accompanying us on this trip would be the legendary fisherman Neal Taylor who is in the fishing hall of fame and is a 7 time casting world champion among a long list of other amazing accomplishments. He has been a good friend of Bob for many years and was kind enough to hang out with us novices.
After my Friday midterm at 1pm we packed up and headed out. We finally got on the road around 4 after picking up Kyle and trekked 6 hours past bishop and up into the high Sierras to the Arcularius Ranch where our cabin was tucked away (visit arculariusontheriver.com if you want to learn more about it this great place).
The drive was a lot of fun with a lot of ribbing going on between the guys and possibly some speeding involved when we got on the open road. I handled the entire drive up because I would need to study for a midterm on the return trip on Monday. Upon arriving at the ranch around 10pm we did some donuts in the open dirt road before we drove through the gate to our lit up cabin where the rest of our party was waiting for us and apparently watching in amusement as we celebrated our arrival Nascar style.
We parked and were greeted with a night sky that was exploding with stars, the milky way was clearly visible. The men came out and we said our hellos and promptly got us in out of the cold and warmed up what remained of their dinner which was an amazing denizen chili.
It was getting late and we had a long day of fishing ahead of us so after dinner we had a glass of wine and listened to Neal tell some stories of his past experiences. Listening to Neal was one of the many favorite parts of the trip, he has fished with 3 U.S. presidents on multiple occasions (Ike, Carter and Ford I believe) and pretty much seen and fished the whole world. What an amazing man. Getting to be around him and listen to him talk was truly a privilege.
On Saturday we leisurely woke up to a breathe taking day, not a cloud in the sky and a backdrop of majestic snow capped mountains which the night kept a secret from us. Neal prepared one of the most amazing omelets I have ever had and we went outside to rig up out rods and get some quick knot tying and casting lessons in from a legend. We got on the river around noon and the young guys spent a lot of time being tangled in their own lines and fighting the breeze while trying to hone our new casting skills. While we were up to all of this, my Uncle Dean and Bob were combing the river and pulling out a few really gorgeous fish. Dean pulled a 21 inch and a 19 inch German brown trout this day, both of which is excitedly exclaimed were easily the biggest and most gorgeous browns he'd ever caught (we promptly released these graceful fish as we practiced catch and release all weekend, partly because those are the rules and partly because it is much more ecologically responsible, I would recommend practicing this method when going fishing, it is very rewarding to fight a fish and catch it and then respectfully release it back into its environment so it can procreate and continue living).
We traversed the short trip over rugged terrain in our trucks, driving through a few cattle gate and shooing the cows away so they didn't escape through the gate when we opened it. When we got home, Neal was waiting for us with an amazing pasta dinner that he had spent most of the day preparing. Neal is getting up there in the age and experience categories so he picks and chooses the times he makes the trek out to the river and so he saved it all up for Sunday. Dinner was again of the highest quality food as was the company. Another evening capped off my Neal story telling (a real lost art I fee like) and some card playing. We retired to our quarters via flashlights and propane lamps (there was no electricity in the cabin, it was strictly propane fueled). Dean and I hit the river early to get a full day of fishing in and take in some of God's greatest creations on this gorgeous Sunday while Bob, Pat and Kyle went to Mass in a nearby town.
The second day proved much more fruitful for the younger guys in the fish catching department as we had gotten a better grasp on the art of the cast. I caught the most fish on the day topped off by a beautiful 13 inch rainbow trout. We got a full 12 hours of fishing in and were thoroughly exhausted when we got back to the cabin. To cap off the weekend of great eats, we had baked pheasant and game hen that Bob had hunted. It was my first experience eating this game and it was pretty darn good, well prepared too. We extracted a few more stories from Neal before we all hit the sack.
Monday morning was an early one as Pat, Kyle and I had to get up at 5 AM in order to get on the road and get back to Santa Barbara in time for my comparative literature midterm. I studied on the way home and we got back with about an hour and a half to spare even after stopping in at Denny's for some brunch. I took the test and really feel like I did well, especially given the circumstances of my only study time coming from the return leg of a road trip.
Quite a weekend indeed. I wish I could convey even further how much fun it was and what a once in a lifetime experience it truly was, but this elongated entry will have to do... Once Dean sends me our pictures of the fish we caught I will be sure to put them up.
