Slough Creek - Second Meadow Hike

This is a picture that Doug took at Slough Creek in 2008.  I have had this on my computer screen at work for a long time.  We also had this picture put onto a canvas and hung it in our living room.  This place looked so picture perfect that I was always wishing that I could go to that spot someday.  It is an all day hike since it is 5 miles just to get to this spot.  Well, I finally made it!

The location has changed a little bit but it is still a beautiful spot!

 The Second Meadow at Slough Creek is a magnificent spot!  It is a long hike in - about 5 miles -  with much of it uphill.  We started the trek in at 6:30 am.  The moon followed us in for most of the morning.

After reaching second meadow and the "picture spot", we rigged up and started to fish.  We worked our way around to this canyon that had many boulders.  Doug had me rock hopping to get to many small pools.  Yes, we worked our way right down the stretch in the picture standing on rocks to fish.  The fish were not interested in dry flies at all and it was probably because the water was very cold.  We were there early in the morning and we could still see frost on the plants.  Not only that but when you are rock hopping, you are almost guaranteed to be in the water at some point!   We know first hand just how cold that water is!

Here are some bear tracks that we found on a small island in one part of the creek.  We were happy to see the tracks with no bear in them.

We had almost no luck catching fish until we moved to another part of Slough Creek.  Once Doug figured out what to use to catch these stubborn fish, we had a ball!  We caught several large cutthroats that were at least 15 inches and so colorful.

Doug netting one of his fish.

My biggest fish so far and he put up a fun fight.

Then we caught a monster fish!  This cutthroat was 20 inches long and had such a big head and mouth.  It was so much fun to net this fish for Doug and see the smile on his face!  We moved on to another location after having some lunch in this sweet spot.  We had a great fishing day as you can see!

Who's smile is bigger??  A 20 inch cutthroat is a giant in YNP.

We walked out of Second Meadow starting at about 3:00 with tired feet but some great memories.  Along the 2 hour walk out we again took notice of the scenery around us.  We both feel so blessed to be able to experience the magnificent beauty and majesty of YNP.  Here are a few pictures that we took along the way of the natural beauty of Slough Creek.

See the buffalo lying down in the bottom left corner?  He was right near our path so we decided to take a detour.  I don't think that even our bear spray would phase these giants.

This could be our next picture on the wall at home.  For this one, I don't have to wish that I could go there - I already did!