Shenandoah Backcountry

I always feel sneaky when requesting a backcountry permit in Shenandoah National Park. Maybe it is because it feels like such a valuable thing given away freely, a free pass into a backcountry wonderland full of waterfalls and wild trout. Invaluable experiences awaiting.  

As I often do, I picked a location with no set plan other than exploring the water and spending the night. On this trip, I chose a stream I knew nothing about other than the fact that it had at least one waterfall, which seams to be a prerequisite for most streams in the park. Waterfalls mean steep terrain and steep terrain means pools in between waterfalls. Brook trout are known to frequent these pools.

The plan was to approach the trail from the top, where it intersects Skyline Drive and fish my way down with all my gear, set up a hammock to sleep, and then hike and fish my way out the same route in the morning. It happened to be ‘free entry’ day into the park and the trail head swarmed with people in almost intimidating numbers. From experience I guessed that most these people were not fishermen and would likely not make it much more than a mile down the trail. This assumption proved correct and most folks stopped hiking at the first flagship waterfall. I plucked a few trout from pools along the first mile of trail before hurrying further downstream away from the crowds.

Minimal gear and high calorie to weight foods made for a light pack that was surprisingly comfortable to hike and fish with, remaining nimble enough to rock hop along boulders and scramble under fallen logs. The camping gear I carried on my back. I had loaded a handful of dry flies, nymphs, and streamers in a beautiful leather and sheep wool fly wallet handmade by my cousin that I wore in a fanny pack around my waist along with my camera and other miscellaneous fly gear. This allowed quick access to switch out flies and re-apply floatant with minimal adjustment.

In the first pool I came to, I picked up three nice trout before switching out my ant fly to a more visible yellow sally. From then on, every pool I cast to yielded at least one strike. The sheer density of trout in the smallest of pools is astonishing, every fish immaculately colored and healthy.

I quickly lost count of trout landed and as the sun dipped behind the ridge, I began looking for a place to sleep. The terrain was steep, rocky, and heavily wooded; a nightmare for finding a spot to pitch a tent. Fortunately, I brought a hammock. I found a pair of trees far enough from the stream to honor the backcountry camping 100ft distance requirements, but still near enough to hear the endless churn of falling water. The sounds of the water were soothing, but more importantly they block out the sound of crackling twigs and rustling leaves in the night, enabling me to blissfully ignore the wild creatures sharing the forest. Just before dark, I finished my salami and cheese with crackers, filtered some water, and hung my food in a tree a good distance away. I had spotted a bear while driving to the trail head and the memory was stubbornly fresh in my mind. Even with the food hanged and the stream blaring and the hammock nestled around me, my nerves still kept me from peacefully drifting off to sleep. I foresaw this problem, for which I brought whiskey.

I am not a morning person, but when the sun pokes through the trees at 6am, there is little to do but roll out of bed. Down at the water, a few insects lazily rose from the stream slipping in an out of the morning beams broken by trees. I packed up camp and began rock hopping my way back upstream. Although insects were in the air, the trout hadn’t yet keyed in on the overhead feast. Even with no fish rising on their own accord, they kindly made an exception for my yellow sally. Just as the previous day, every pool of a relatively fishy look offered at least one rising trout. The highlight of the morning came back at the main waterfall attraction, fortunately before the days masses descended. As I hiked up the steep trail beside the falls, I noticed the distinctive outline of a seven inch trout in a small pool in the midst of the falls. The pool was no larger than a placemat and completely inaccessible from above or below. How the trout came to be in that pool is a mystery. Did it get swept over the falls or could it have grown from a fry in that tiny pool? Shenandoah National Park has a way of putting trout in the most stunning and unusual places and I hope to explore them all.

Pocosin Hollow

Spring rains have continued into June. It was hard to get out of bed on Sunday and overcast skies and a continual drumming of moderate to heavy rain slowed the whole process. I didn’t leave the house until 11:30am. I arrived at the Conway River expecting high flows, but I got flood conditions. The Conway was in no way fishable so I set my sights on one of its small feeder streams, Pocosin Hollow. I drove past a local clearing debris off the road with his tractor, parked my car on the empty dirt pull off, and began my hike. Pocosin, usually no more than a trickle, was raging. I hoped that I could hike up the ridge far enough to find fishable water. No Trespassing signs tried to discourage me from finding trailhead and if it weren’t for the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club app on my phone, they might have succeeded. A half mile on private roads (only open to public foot traffic) and I eventually found the trail. The stream flowed fast and clear and with enough force to make all crossings at least slightly hazardous. I rigged up my rod and nymphed one deep slow run. It seemed that any fish would have been too deep and spread out in the high flows, so I broke down my rod and shifted my mentality from fishing to hiking. With the goal of trout no longer hanging on my mind, I was fully able to appreciate the wild rainforest like setting. A heavy mist hung in the air suspended in the green branches overhead. The drumming static of the water lulled the mind like a white noise machine and I knew I was alone. I hiked up the three or so miles to the Pocosin fire road before turning around to begin back down.

Blue Ridge Blue Lines

Thunder echoes in the distance like some great invisible engine while the rain comes down thick and steady overhead. The dense tree canopy intercepts the drops, combining them before sending them on to the forest floor to continue the journey towards the river. For weeks, the storms have moved through the mountain. Loose dirt and debris has been washed away and now the river flows full and fast, but the water is clear. In the deep pools and slow back eddies, wild brook trout keep free from the aggressive current. But above the surface, there is much activity, a flurry of new life, a hatch. The trout cannot resist the action for long.

The rain is my cover. Heavy drops silence my steps and disrupt the water surface, obscuring the trouts wary vision. The environment is working in my favor, but my own excitement betrays me. There is so much water to cover, new water that I have never seen before. Fly fishing rewards patient and thoughtful movement, but punishes quick careless motion. My mind is occupied with the mystery of what lies beyond the bend and it is reflected in my movements. Bumbled casts and slippery feet, I am fishing too fast, and it is painfully confirmed with single a missed step. Eyes locked on a seam, I shuffle my feet forward while adding line to my false cast when the left side of my body collapses into the water. It is as if someone pulled the riverbed from under my feet. In a split second moment, I know that I’m going into the knee deep water, I accept it, but I refuse to let my Winston rod suffer from my mistake. My right arm shoots towards the sky as far from the impact zone as my reach allows. My body can handle cuts and bruises, but the thought of crunching the emerald green rod, turning my four piece into a five piece, makes me sick to my stomach. The rod survives without a scratch and I with only a few bruises. My clothes are completely soaked but the river only finishes what the rain had started. I am fishing too fast, so I stop.

For a long time I stand still, letting the river flow through my legs. The rain continues to fall, adding weight to my body and saturating what is left of my dry clothes until the water drips back into the river. I become a silent feature of the landscape, a passive piece in an existing system. Around me things begin to move, no longer hesitant of the clumsy presence trudging upstream. A mayfly lands on my arm and a trout rises. I make a cast. The fly twirls between the raindrops, bobbing and spinning like a drunken dancer for only a moment before it plunges beneath the water fastened to the mouth of a wild trout. I set the hook and the trout clears half the pool in one terrific leap, landing in the swift current. For a moment the trout works the current pulling line, threatening to drop down a small waterfall into another pool, but gentle pressure from the tip of the rod guides the fish back to hand.

The rain breaks in the afternoon. The clouds part and timid beams of light stretch down to the river where steam rises from the wet stones. The rain has stopped but there is a steady drip off the wet leaves, a soft rhythmic sound. Now the real hatch begins. It is not overwhelmingly dense or even consistent, but utterly diverse. From the shallow river rises mayflies, caddis, midges, stones in all sizes and colors. Bright yellow mayflies lazily glide through the air and jet black caddis zig and zag above the water, golden stoneflies and gray stoneflies crawl on the rocks, ants and beetles adorn the banks. The menu has been set and it is a balanced meal. The trout gorge themselves. They launch attack after attack on my beetle pattern until the fly is shredded and soaked and no longer floats. To my left, a beam of sunlight illuminates a flat moss covered boulder like a spotlight does a stage. I sit down to replace my fly with another pattern that is durable and will float high and well, a Royal Trude. Before I return to my feet, I breathe in the setting and watch the rising fish at the head of the pool. I wonder what lies beyond the next bend. Maybe I will find out today and maybe not. There is no hurry and I won’t rush.

Backpacking the Blue Ridge Mountains

The air is warm and inviting and a pleasant stillness hangs over Washington, DC. It is a nice Saturday in the city, but it is always nicer in the mountains. A casual 3pm departure from the nation’s capitol and I head west. The sun, still high in the sky, begins to lose intensity when I arrive at the Dickie Ridge Visitor Center along the famed Skyline Drive. The ranger and I speak briefly.  He asks me about my proposed route, number of nights, and bear preparations before giving me a backcountry permit to attach to my pack. The sun is waning when I finally reach the trailhead. I adjust the straps of my pack and sling it onto my shoulders to begin my descent into the valley wilderness. The first step on to the dirt sends an intense freedom coursing through my body. It is a bizarre mix of adrenaline and peace, leaving man’s world behind to be left alone in the care of nature.

I have seen over a dozen bears in these Blue Ridge Mountains, but the bears have seen many people and pay little attention to our presence. I once turned a corner to find a bear 30 feet away. It looked lazily at me for half a second and went back to grubbing. Still, it is safer to avoid spooking the wildlife so now I make up songs, singing them aloud to nature and to anything that I don’t want to sneak up on. The songs are mostly observational nonsense fixating on tree bark, unravelling ferns, or whatever passes my vision. It is a liberating form of self expression. By most standards I am a terrible singer, but nature doesn’t seem to mind my off key half rhyming gibberish, or at least it can’t vocalize its disapproval. Carefree and singing, I cheerily bounce along the trail doing my best Tom Bombadil. It is just me and the trees and trickling water flowing towards a central point on the valley floor. Time is measured by nothing more than light and shadow.

When the sun finally dips behind the ridge the temperature also drops and the blue evening glow deepens. I hastily set up camp hoping to find hatching insects dancing in pools in the mountain creek before darkness takes away my vision. Camp is nothing more than a sack of food strung high up in a tree and a hammock a safe distance away. The few preparations are made and my focus shifts to the water. It is the native brook trout that lead me to this spot and I am anxious to meet my hosts.

The insects are active but no specific hatch dominates. Large black stoneflies mingle with creme colored mayflies and near transparent midges. A stealthy approach with a #16 Royal Wulff and the welcoming party greets me in the most spectacular way. Wild 4-8” trout launch out of the dark water one after the other. Pools the size of coffee tables yield a dozen strikes. Most of these little trout miss the fly completely and only few stay on the hook long enough to come to hand but it matters not at all. I am completely in the moment, focused on my surroundings, on the fly rod, on the fish. The light is gone so I cast with familiar motion into pools unable to see my fly, listening for the unsubtle rise to set the hook. The evening is black and quiet and it feels like it could be the middle night, but it is only 8pm. I turn in early, drifting off to sleep with the comforting knowledge that the trout will be hungry again tomorrow.

Rapidancer

There is an air of exclusivity surrounding dirt roads. The best kind of exclusivity. They are the road less traveled and lead places few visit, at least to the extent where paving the way would be a waste of time and money. I am drawn to their rugged authenticity. Even if the destination is known, the road is unpredictable. Downed trees and eroded banks are wary reminders. But if the journey is made, and the road is travelled, the reward can be immense. If you are lucky, you will find untamed wilderness and if you are very lucky, you might even find a river.

Within 100 miles of DC, at least 2600ft above sea level, and next to an excellent trout stream, President Hoover established the Rapidan Camp. That was his criteria (exactly as I listed it); proximity, elevation (mosquito related), and trout. The Rapidan River met the requirements.

From presidential retreat to boy scout summer camp to national historic landmark, much has changed for the Rapidan Camp. Fortunately, the fishing has remained the same. The same river that captivated Hoover is still entertaining anglers today.

This story begins on a dirt road.

A recent storm left the already pothole riddled road muddy and slick. I would say that it is only navigable by a four wheel drive vehicle, but a baby blue Honda Civic hybrid would have made me a liar. Still, a sedan on this road cannot be recommended and I’m sure the driver of that Civic bottomed out on a few rocks along the way.

Miles of road paralleling miles of trout filled river leave no wrong spot to start fishing. Wracked with options my friend, Charlie, and I picked a dirt pull-off at random and began our day. I tied on a #16 Royal Wulff as I often do when targeting small water brook trout. In addition to being a great fly for imitating a number of hatches, there is a classic appeal to the pattern, which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful trout flies. Catching trout for nearly 100 years is another good reason to trust this fly.

With trout willing to rise on the Royal Wulff, I found little motivation to alter my rig. The routine was repetitive and anything but mundane. I cast at a pool until the fish stopped rising then rock-hopped my way to the next pool. Soon I began targeting the most isolated seams between rocks or rapids. It continued to surprise me when a trout would swipe at the fly in the most obscure holding water: hanging pools between waterfalls, tiny back eddies, pockets no more than a square foot in size, etc. There are trout everywhere in this river and you needn’t look far to find them.

The air and water is still cool in the mountains and the fish are slowly waking up to spring. For the moment they are sipping dry flies in the most aggressive sense of the word, a subtlety for brook trout. Soon warmth will infiltrate the river and one can expect full aerial displays of trout leaping after flies. Until then, keep on fishing.

Photo: Charlie Church

Photo: Charlie Church

Look at the bend in the rod! It is almost as if the fly is caught in a tree behind me. Wink. Photo: Charlie Church

Endless pools like this, one after the other. Photo: Charlie Church

Trying to set the hook without launching the fish. Photo: Charlie Church

More pockets than a pair of cargo pants. Photo: Charlie Church

Photo: Charlie Church

Photo: Charlie Church