There was a tinge of smoke in the air when we walked out of the Westin Monache Resort amid California’s Sierra Nevadas and jumped in guide Scott Flint’s SUV. The wildfires were several miles away from Mammoth Lakes. We were in no danger, but our experienced guide suggested we start our day a couple of canyons over from the one we had fished the previous day.
“The winds will be light today, and I checked the status of all the fires in a 50-mile radius of Mammoth,” Flint noted. “We shouldn’t have a problem in at least three of the five nearby canyons. But, rather than hike down 300 feet as we did yesterday, let’s start out on a small lake to the north that is full of brookies.”
He reasoned that if the creek’s water had turned roily overnight from fire impact to the headwaters some 15 miles to the west, we wouldn’t want to hike down the loose rock walls and then turn around to climb out of the canyon for nothing. For 60-somethings, such exercise without a fish-catching
