Driving through the plains west of Laramie heading south I start to see the snow capped rock peaks of the Snowys. I have been there twice, once just driving through and once at hogs park reservoir. As I'm driving through farm after farm the mountains start rising higher and higher.
Before I know it, I'm climbing and climbing in the Medicine Bow National Forest. The pines and adjoining areas are green and there are runoff streams everywhere. I decided to start stopping and taking pictures at pull offs.
Half of the pull offs had feet of snow still so you have to be careful to pick the correct ones. The first one was for Mirror Lake. I walk up to the lake's edge and saw it was still capped, with the exception of one little spot by the handicap pier. On that pier were four members of the university of Wyoming football team and a photographer. They were taking pictures for their advertising and schedules and such. Very cool experience to see (like a sneak peak). I proceded up the pass to another lake that was still frozen with 4 plus feet of snow all around it.
After passing some sort of huge rodent or badger I stoped a mile or so along to let the dogs run and jump on so snow melt off. After the dogs were happy and I took a lot of pictures of the snow and Snowys we turned around before heading down the other side of the pass. The last stop was at the top where I turned around. It was miles and miles of flats. I have never seen flats on top of a pass before!
Now it was time to head turpin lake down near the bottom of the pass. After dodgeing rocks and trees I ended up at the dam of the lake with one other car. The car was packed full of camping stuff. The guy was fly fishing right there and catching lots of brook trout.
First I tried a rainbow kasty but only managed one and missed 10. So I changed it up to a pink tax, much smaller, and moved down to where the water flows out of the lake and proceeds to catch personal best brokies, 12" and 13". Also landed plenty of 6-10" ones. The sun kept getting lower and lower and I kept saying one more fish. I waited as long as I could to leave. I knew there were some tricky spots on the road with rocks and trees that would be harder at night. On the way out I seen a huge cow moose and a few deer.
I can't wait to get back there to explore the othere side of the pass!
