Every year my dad and his wife, Janice, go on a week long vacation to a small mountain lake in Utah. Lake Navajo, as it’s called, sits at about 9,200′ elevation in the Dixie National Forest. There are a dozen or so rental cabins, and a small “lodge” that carries a few groceries, ice, and fishing gear – plus an assortment of your favorite souvenirs: coffee cups, T-shirts and sweatshirts. The cabins are small by today’s standards, but they are simple and clean – quite a statement for real log cabins that are nearing 100 years old. It’s a beautiful place, that seems removed from the rest of the world. I can see why dad and Janice have only missed a single year in the last two decades.
This year, I was lucky enough to get to go with them. It seems crazy that it was my first time going, but getting far enough ahead of my chores at home *AND* at my day job, plus finding someone willing to water plants, watch 3 dogs and 14 chickens isn’t easy. (A massive thank you is owed to my mom for tackling that this year!) With a day of driving each way, we had five full days on the lake. All three of us have inflatable pontoon boats, so fishing was our first order of business. I had a few slow days of fishing in the beginning, and on our final day Dad and I found “the hole” – the sweet spot where a lot of fish were hanging out this year. All told I caught something like a dozen fish – but I think dad still out fished me. Two of my fish were caught on a fly rod, which made even the slowest days of fishing well worth it. It’s been far too long since I’ve been able to put any of my fly fishing gear to use. Those two tiger trout were caught on my smallest rod, a 7’6″ 3-wt.
Since Dad, Janice and I are the only three in the family that have these boats, no one else gets to experience them first hand. I took a video out on the water as a tour of my boat:
These videos were taken on our last day before coming home. It was dad’s first day using his trolling motor, which was his Birthday present from us kids last year. After this trip, I think it turned out to be a big success! With our boats, we found it best to basically ignore the motor while you’re fishing & drifting. It’s more intuitive to use the oars, as normal. The trolling motor shines at the end of the day, when you’re done fishing, and all you want to do is head back to the beach. Knowing we didn’t have to row all the way home, let us drift further away from the cabins on the 3 mile long lake. Dad said he thought it was the furthest away from the cabins he’d ever fished… and that’s exactly where the fish were biting. This is what it looks like heading back to the dock:
It was a great vacation, and a great way to spend a week away from my work computer, and my phone! We’ve already booked a couple of cabins for next year, since the fill up so fast. Hoping next time that more of the family will come with us. 🙂
For now, it’s back to work for me.
