Had a great trip with my Dad. Needed to pick up a Pronghorn mount in NM anyways so we made an adventure out of it.

Here is Part 1- TX to Lagarita Creek Ranch Fly-In:

Departing TX, Davis Mountains


NM-TX border, Guadalupe Mountains

East of Ruidoso, NM

Fire near Santa Fe

Landed at Taos for fuel, Thermals were kickin n gusting to 35mph.

CO-NM border at San Antonio Mountain

Got to CO and the fire near Wolf Creek was blowin a little smoke


Landed in Monte Vista to assess things


Tried another attempt and turned around, but got a call from Matt n Alec. Matt met us in Monte Vista to lead the way


It was really quite beautiful in the smoke


Made it to the Lagarita fly-in

Great photos. Wish I could have made it.

Great pictures Skalywag. It was great to meet you and your Dad.

Until next time, fly safe my friend and enjoy that wonderful plane.

Great Pics. Nice TR!

Thanks guys

Part 2: La Garita to Navajo Reservoir/San Juan River

Rented a cabin last minute since it was available, pretty neat deal


Watched Matt n some of the others depart early morning





Had breakfast at the trading post with some nice folks from Grand Junction, Travis n Elizabeth, as well as Mike and his wife Collette and her grandson who was still beaming from his first airplane ride in Alec's 180...huge shit eating grin all morning!!! Breakfast was great


After the late breakfast headed back to ranch n packed up...that's Travis's Bearhawk in this pic, very cool plane


Headed to Monte Vista for fuel, great place to gas up, don't even have to touch pavement


Then on to Navajo Reservoir airport 1V0, and getting beat up south of the fire on Wolf Creek pass. My Dad was white knucklin the oh shit handle and V-brace pretty good haha, the updrafts were insane and pushed us alot higher than I cared to be




Arrived to Navajo and had about a 30mph direct crosswind and 2500fpm downdraft on short final, no big deal but wish there was better area to land in dirt, opted for pavement this time. There's a shuttle that will pick you up just call Abe's fly shop, that's where we stayed.



Got to Abe's and had some much needed dinner and beers. Dreamed of big fish for tomorrow, here's the one barnstormer caught last time he was here

Skalywag:

Hope part 3 includes some lunkers caught on the San Juan. Good pics, thanks!


Larry

Part 3: San Juan River and back to TX

Woke up at 6AM and ate breakfast over at Backcast Cafe, good food here and only in town worth mention. Met our guide and were on the water about 8:30AM


Unfortunately, they were letting alot of water out the Navajo, which made for more challenging fishing. Apparently, last year in the drought, the NM fish hatcheries had nowhere to go with their fish and way more than normal ended up in the San Juan. I won't complain about catching any fish, but the San Juan is known for the big fish, they're still there, but almost every fish we caught was 14-18"
No lunkers 88H, but we had a great time and caught lots of small fish.


Mostly rainbows but a couple browns, had to bust out the professional shot and hold the fish close to camera to make it look bigger




We fished all day till about 5PM then drank whiskey and had dinner at Backcast. Next morning met the shuttle dude at 8AM and headed to airport, bout 20 min ride up the hill



There was a lizard guarding the bushwheels, man he did not want to give up his guard either, Dad finally caught the shit


And of to Las Vegas, NM to pick up the Pronghorn I took in Springer last September



There was some guys posted up in Las Vegas fighting local fires, cool planes

With Pronghorn in tow and Waylon not so sure about the strange new passenger we headed home for Far West TX crossing the NM flats first

Back in TX




Home sweet home



What a great trip, hope y'all enjoyed the pics...Back to Work!!!

Great pictures Luke! Enjoyed the the trip report.