ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK — The evening sun hung low on the horizon as we passed through the western portal to Rocky Mountain National Park at Grand Lake.
There would be no time for fishing tonight, although the dusky shadows still offered opportunity to fulfill another objective. It would only take a moment to spot the first bull among a harem of elk cows.
Soon there was another — herd that is. The rutting elk were spread across the Kawuneeche Valley of the upper Colorado River as thick as ponderosa pines, bugling through the night alongside the camp at Timber Creek.
“It was unbelievable,” said Tom Davis, on an overnight visit from New Bern, N.C. “I’d never seen an elk before, and here they were right in the middle of our camp. It was just incredible.”
In the traditional sense, hunting is not allowed in Rocky Mountain National Park. But autumn’s peak offers plenty of alternative “hunts” in the form of wildlife watching, leaf-peeping safaris and pursuit of the park’s less-renowned prey.
It has been said by many an angler that the most compelling reason for chasing trout is that they live in such beautiful places. The same might be said of the majestic Rocky Mountain elk, although in the case of RMNP, the hunt for fish is not only legal but vastly more sporting.
With some 147 streams and 56 lakes spanning 400,000 acres, access and opportunity are widely varied within the park’s boundaries, ranging from drive-up pocket water to multiday backcountry expeditions. All four species of local trout — browns, brooks, rainbows and native greenback cutthroats — abound throughout.
“If you’re making the effort to come and fish Rocky Mountain National Park, the backcountry trips are the way to do it. They’re second to none,” said Mike Sisung, fishing guide manager for Wellington-based Atkinson Expeditions (970-568-9667). “At the same time, there’s all this super-accessible water where you can still experience all the majesty of the park. And, as you can see, there are plenty of fish.”
A Michigan native, Sisung launched the fishing program as a complement to Wes and Rachelle Atkinson’s reputable hunting guide service last spring and continues to conduct trips into fall. While Atkinson holds leases to acres of private fishing property, the gregarious guide spent a good portion of the past summer sniffing out the most serene lakes in the public park, trading comfortable chairs for leather saddles and a backcountry bedroll as he chased high-country trout.
“Pear Lake is my main destination,” Sisung said of his favored spot along the St. Vrain headwaters in the park’s remote southern quadrant near Allenspark. “You take horses up to this lake, and half of it is in the woods and the other half is just this skyrocket canyon wall that goes straight up the side of the lake. That’s the bank, a 200-foot cliff. People almost forget about the fishing altogether because they are so overwhelmed by the view.”
That wouldn’t be the case the morning Davis broke camp and joined the young guide. Returning to Rocky after a hiatus of more than 30 years, the retired marine and budding fly-fisherman with skill enough to land a jet on an aircraft carrier left his backpack behind to focus on the fall fishing.
Rather than the Poudre River headwaters he explored those years ago, this time it would be the upper Big Thompson at Moraine Park and the smaller Glacier Creek tumbling beneath Longs Peak and the Continental Divide through a series of alpine pools with names like Dream Lake, Sky Pond and Lake of Glass.
With spooky fish as wild as the surrounding countryside, only a few small brown trout were brought to hand, although lunkers spotted in the 15-20-inch range warranted several attempts. When the frustrations of failure took their toll, all one had to do was lift his head to the nearby hills and herds for a change of focus.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Davis said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Scott Willoughby: 303-954-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com
