They make their own environment which is also great trout habitat. I was to see lots of these in the coming days.

Today is Friday and a full day drift on the Stillwater, an untamed natural river with no dams. While the level was low, the flow was fast, with lots of braids and rapids, much as nature intended.

Typical of all the rivers here, there was a big population of 10” rainbows and I caught several before my first respectable brownie, about a pound.

The water is fast and they slash at the hopper as it drifts past, often missing the fly. They fight like hell jumping all over the place. I missed a large one that rolled over on my fly. He looked to be a brownie about 3lb. There were a few cottonwood trees along the bank but very little cover by comparison with the Goulburn. The lower section had good grassy banks with tussocks trailing in the water.

Toward the end of the drift we came to a huge beaver dammed section that spread the river out to about five times its normal width. Great complex water with still patches and braids and log structure – the hopper accounted for about five small

brownies. We had drifted eight miles and the car was at the take out point. We passed Mel Gibson’s ranch and saw some bald eagles nest, as well as a big diamond back rattle snake.

Saturday I was up early to explore the Rock Creek Valley, up the Bear Tooth Pass road to follow the valley into the gorge. The size of the river became smaller as I traveled further up until it was about the size of the Rubicon.

Cascading waterfalls and plunge pools set in pine and spruce forest surrounded by sheet rock cliffs and crags. The jagged

peaks seemed to lean over the narrow valley. All the classic landforms were there, cirques, glacial valleys, ice patches in the shadows, massive scree and rock falls. I fished my way up the valley where a narrow walking track lead to the head of the valley, where two glacial lakes were the start of the river.

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