Silver Fork this weekend

[neil]

edit - See post #10 for the report...
_________________________________

I've got a hall pass for this weekend, and need to make it count.

Any advice on access and optimal stretches of water along Silver Fork and Caples Creek? Not looking to raid anybody's honey hole, just general advice is fine, and PMs are of course welcome.

Logistics dictate one night, and if I'm solo I'll probably stay at the Silver Fork campground and hike from there. If I can wrangle my bro-in-law into coming along, we'd like to do a short backpacking trip, no more than 2-3 miles from Silver Fork Road.

Any advice on...

- camping (can I get a walk-up spot at Silver Fork on the weekend?)

- primo backpacking camping spots in the area?

- and of course tactics.

...would be greatly appreciated!

In return, I promise to repay the forums with a trip report and pics as appropriate.

[Scott V]

Honestly, just park any where and start hiking up stream. I was there last Thursday evening and will be there again this evening. I throw nothing but dries and caught more than enough last week and expect the same this week.

What I do is park, then fish up stream until dark. Then just hike up the canyon side to the road and walk the road back to my car.

[terdog]

Camping can be a bear, especially with the "2 car lengths" rule. The further you get from the water, the easier it is.

Good Luck.

[neil]

Scott V, thanks for the advice. Looking at the map, your plan looks to be the simplest.

Terdog, what do you mean by the '2 car lengths' rule?

Thx,

Neil

[Scott V]

Neil I will be on the silverfork Saturday afternoon if you want company. PM me if interested and I will take you on one of my favorite stretches.

[westslope]

Neil,
I replied to your email with some beta. Hope you have a great trip and please do give a report.

[DV8]

The camping on weekends is nutz up there, often all the sites are taken by thurs. evening. Plan on doing a bit of hiking in the canyon as others have said, the obvious holes by the road/campground have lots of people usually. Two options I like,
1. Stay @ Ice house and drive over to fish.
2. Backpack up caples cr. and sleep under the stars. And bring bear mace.

[neil]

Yeah, I was thinking the camping might be swamped, considering how easy the access is. I'll just see how it goes.

The camping on weekends is nutz up there, often all the sites are taken by thurs. evening. Plan on doing a bit of hiking in the canyon as others have said, the obvious holes by the road/campground have lots of people usually. Two options I like,
1. Stay @ Ice house and drive over to fish.
2. Backpack up caples cr. and sleep under the stars. And bring bear mace.

[terdog]

Th Eldorado has had a rule in effect for the last couple of yrs, were you may not pull off more than 2 car lengths of the road for camping. The LEO's are getting real aggressive about enforcement. I have been getting "warning tickets" for other "infractions" that they have not even witnessed.

With thier budget issues, I'd expect a zero tolerance for anything.

As for Ice House, don't even try.

My son and I just got back today from an overnighter to Junctin Resv. On our way out, I had someone stop me and ask about any possible camping on that side of Union Valley. Everything else was full. We saw people setting up camp on an active logging road that was below Union Valley dam.

I hope that it wasn't as bad as he made it out.

[neil]

Big thanks to Scott V. and kokaneejr for meeting me up there, after they had already put in float tube time on Woods Lake. Much appreciated guys!

It was great getting an introduction to new water from Scott, and watching him work the river. Sounds like fishing was a little slow compared to recent history, but I got plenty of action from enthusiastic trout. Now if only I could set the hook a little quicker...

Overall, fishing Saturday afternoon and a couple of hours Sunday AM, I had a whopping five fish to hand. This count would have increased three-fold had I been able to set the hook on all the rest. That river is fishy as h-e-double hockey sticks. I'm stoked to have such great water relatively close to home!

Also, camping was a breeze...stayed at Silver Fork, and several sites were open. A very nice night under the stars.

Here's the obligatory 'trophy' pic...