Back in the USSA

As the Beatles would put it. 

Today I ended up in Twin Bridges, MT. But first lets back up to where I left off in Babine Lake. 

This is one of two counting stations where they visually count the Reds getting past the gate from Babine Lake to the mouth of the Fulton river. Above this point are two huge man made spawning beds. The first, constructed in 1965, has about 1/4 mile of switch back beds that they divert the Fulton River through for the spawning season. After the season, when the smolts have moved out to the lake, they shut off the flow and rake in with bulldozers to prevent alge growth and make it perfect for next season. There is a newer, bigger section just above the gate with concrete bottom covered with perfect sized river rock for spawning. Here's a link to a PDF complete with pictures (since I have none):

http://www.stateofthesalmon.org/pdfs/Riddel_1_FINAL.pdf

Anyway, after the escapement is assured, they shut the gates. This traps a ton of Salmon in Babine Lake so........ They put two seiners in the lake to clear them out. Again pictures in the PDF. 

They have improved the run from less than a million to over three million. This is the run that has to get past Prince Rupert to get here. 

On to the Jasper Provincial Pakr via the Stellako River which runs from Francois River to Fraser Lake, a short but nice river. 

I caught one small brown, not photo worthy, so I did a short line release. 

Right before Jasper Park was this mountain. 

Mt Robson, complete with a glacier running from the peak to the right.

Then the smoke began. The Rockies were all in smoke from fires all the way into Montana. I finally saw the last one just north of Lincoln, MT. Photos of that later. First, here are a few of the mountains on the East side of the valley from Jasper to Banff. All the glaciers (and there were tons) were on the West side of the valley. 

Moose lake, crystal clear in foreground, blue green from glacial silt in deeper parts. 

East side mountains. 

Glacial flow right up to roadside 

Columbia ice fields

I thought of Troy DeJean and free climbing

And then there were these overpasses

Finally dawned on me, why they looked so different. They are not for people. The road south out of Jasper has game fence on both sides and these overpasses to facilitate east-west travel for the wild life. I will say, I didn't see any road kill in these parts.

Went to drive through the Glacier National Park west of Great Falls but smoke was bad. I ended up in Lincoln, MT and saw the last of the fires. From here south, no smoke 

Basically, I can't stand the heat. Been pushing 100 since I crossed the border. Lincoln is right near the continental divide (around 5100 ft) so a little better.

Too hot for me in Craig, MT so I mover on to Twin Bridges, MT. Still hot but forecasted cooler tomorrow. The water upstream from Craig is low and that combined with the heat has resulted in a fishing ban from 2:00 PM to midnight on most streams. Going to try my luck early tomorrow. I've been spoiled with most starts around the crack of 9:00 or 10:00. Hope to try the Gallatin River after my early start. 

Planning on Bozeman by the 16th to see Bill and Jake before heading for Denver and a rest. 

Mileage total passed 6500 today. 

Stay cool.