I am on my annual birthday week expedition in search of wild trout. Sadly, most of my pet streams near Salida and Gunnison are blown out, and the 4WD trails I navigate into some of my favorite backcountry creeks are washed out from the several weeks of monsoon rains.
So I am heading south towards Del Norte in southern Colorado where the streams appear to be in better shape according to the Colorado Division of Water Resources water talk website.
Pass Creek is a little gem with some big fish, overlooked by anglers whizzing by to more famous waters like the Rio Grande and the Piedra. Next morning at a. The peaks above the town are shrouded in low-hanging clouds and the temperature is a chilly 45 degrees. I mush on undeterred. The last thing I want to have to do is dodge tourists with spin rods throwing garden hackle at stocked trout.
The turn-off on Colorado to Pass Creek is about fourteen miles up the winding highway from South Fork and a few miles past CO , the well-signed road to the popular Big Meadows Reservoir and Campground. I catch sight of the creek and breathe a little sigh of relief. I decide to drive up all the way to Turner Ponds, another three miles up the road.
The road is already pocked with puddles of water, but easy going in my 4WD Xterra. On the way, I see a half-dozen or so travel trailers and tent camps pitched on primitive sites above the river which is in a canyon most of the time, offering only occasional glimpses. Just beyond the Turner Ponds, the creek narrows and becomes heavily overgrown.
