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Show Outdoor Wisdom from Hartt Wixom As the year draws tight, I have to think back on many pleasant experiences in '81 enjoyed in Summit, Morgan and Wasatch Counties. I recall unexpectedly getting get-ting into a batch of big brown trout on East Canyon Creek, and running out of my favorite Mepps spinners. I found some No. 3 brass types I liked at a hardware store in ark City, returned and mticed two very nice trout vith them. Ditto on little Stoddard Slough near town jf the same name. I also had to convince the proprietor of a general store-service station sta-tion manager along the Weber that my check was equal payment for the retread tire I needed. north of Trial Lake. On that trip, my children saw their first pine marten. Waters in this general area have provided fine fly fishing over the years. Where else, too, in the West can you catch grayling, cutts, brook trout in one lake as you can in Wier east of Crystal Lake? While Trial Lake is far too crowded for me, "jump-off lakes are some of the most beautiful and attractive in Utah. The Weber River near Peterson has been a long time haunt of mine for winter fly fishing, mostly white fish, but also a few browns and rainbows near the old Como Springs above Morgan. Check the proclamation, for in many of these streams, you can (as per 1981) keep been worth it all without seeing any shootable game. I sat spellbound for some time watching a badger poke his nose in every opening, log, cave or clump of boulders. That is one naturally curious critter. I think he was looking for food primarily, yet, they eat about anything. If he can sniff anything out at all, we humans would watch in astonishment as the stout digger claws go to work. This particular badger couldn't find anything he liked, but that was the amusing thing. He reminded me of some eople I know. He didn't stay ong enough in any one etting to really get a eading. It was perpetual notion, everything looked at, nothing approved. But, he left with an air of satisfaction, seemingly happv with what he did not find." The three counties are bonus rich in wildlife and other natural resources. Much of it, especially the big game ajnimals, can be viewed year around but never better than now. Yet, if 1 never catch another fish, or see another deer in this sector of Utah, I have been already sufficiently rewarded for one lifetime. I trust he was as satisfied with the exchange as I. But, some of my happiest moments this year, or any other, have been up the Uinta Mountains from Ka-mas. Ka-mas. The community itself has been such a jump-off to adventuring in the nearby mountains that I considered naming my son, yup, Ka-mas. Ka-mas. It got altered just a little to Kamron. But the town of Kamas inspired a name for the lad. When I call him, I think of hundreds of trips (some more like expeditions expedi-tions of a week or more) into the Uintas. This past year, I didn't get in there to Hidden Lake on the North Fork of the Provo like I promised myself, but I did get on some overnights two trout a day. Yet, what I like best, from Peoa (memories of seeing my first antlered deer many years ago) to Peterson are the pastoral and peaceful scenes, winter or summer, resembling those on the picturesque calendars. It is, in my opinion, the heart of rural Utah, a splendor which could not be worth more or perhaps as much decked out in oil wells. - One of my favorite treks in '81 was to explore the wild country between Wolf Creek Pass and Strawberry, east of Heber. I saw some nice buckskins in there I might "return to in deer seasons hence. But, it would have |