How it All Started

They damn near ran out of rental cars in Bozeman because Obama was in town for an organized nationalized healthcare propaganda event. Obama was then to visit Old Faithful, of all places. Now the Chief knows why he was subjected to a rectal search at the University Park Airport. Then the damn questions…“Those stickers on your luggage…what’s that RBF stand for? You some kinda right wing domestic terrorist freako?” “No sir!” the Chief responded, “Soc un gran pescador!”

National Car upgraded the Chief into a brand new Chevy Suburban with leather seats, sonar back up alarm, XM satellite radio, power sun roof and an in dash expresso coffee maker. Well, not really, but it might as well had a coffee maker, it had everything else. The Chief applied the famous RBF Sticker to the rear window, dropped the back seats and loaded up six cases of Montana beer, six pounds of turkey pastrami, mustard, sweet onions and Kaiser rolls, four 14 oz. Montana rib eyes, two Montana T-bones, a sack of potatoes, a bottle of Jack Daniels, twenty four cans of assorted sardines, smoked oysters and anchovies, six bags of fig newtons and a can of Slim Fast Shake Mix to hold him for six days in Yellowstone. Then it was off to Livingston, MT to pick up his bear spray at the Yellowstone Exhibitions B&B.

Before fishing the Gardner River, the Chief first stopped at the K Bar Saloon in Gardiner, MT for pizza and beer. You don’t come to Montana for the pizza, but if you do, only eat it at the K Bar in Gardiner, Miners Saloon in Cooke City or Chico Hot Springs in Pray. After the pizza, the Chief went and bitched at Richard Parks for the actions of one of his guides a few years back when the young cowboy tried to evict the Chief from an ungodly hole on the Gardner River. The Chief just don’t tolerate rude behavior in a man or punk kid in this case. Parks somewhat apologized then tried to sell the Chief his book on the YNP. The Chief gave Richard an autographed copy of “Caddis and a Beadhead”.

The Gardner River has some ungodly remarkable features. Travertine ledges, mudslides, geothermal heated bathing pools and huge boulders. The Boiling River flows into the Gardner near the 45th Parallel forming an ungodly natural hot tub of sorts. The Chief had thoughts about bathing here but decided to wait until he got to Chico next week. Seems the hippie chicks frequent the Boiling River. The refined chicks favor Chico.

The beautiful Gardner River

Mudslide

Now that's just incredible!

One of the most ungodly places on Earth ...Yes, there are elk in the background.

After a long hike, the Chief found out that the mudslide of 2008 somewhat filled in that ungodly hole on the Gardner and found it devoid of the big browns, so the Chief started to fish his way back up to the footbridge with some RBF Rubber Legged Bugs. He was glad that he packed his 8 ½’ 3/4 wt for the trip. The rod was perfect for cutting through the gale force winds. Even with his sweet Streamborn in hand, the Chief managed only six trout in a couple of hours in the somewhat arduous conditions. It felt like November in PA.

After the long climb out of the canyon, the Chief adjusted the Suburban’s super climate controlled heating and ventilation system to thaw him out. The Chief stopped at the Food Farm for two bags of Oreo Cookies and a gallon of low fat chocolate milk for the long ride across YNP on his way to Cooke City, MT. There was elk shit on the sidewalk in front of the Food Farm. The cookies were gone before he got to Tower. It sure was good to see the Lamar Valley again. Little did he know that the fishing was to be ungodly.

The Lamar Valley