Prelude -- My friend had fished the North Platte River in this area. Once when he was about 10 years old and
another time around 2023. So, he wanted me to experience it.
Sunday, July 19th --
We left Casper at noon. The temperature was hotter than usual recently, reaching nearly 100 degrees. While
leaving Casper, we tried to get ice at 3 places. We were unsuccessful. We learned that, at least for those
places, there was only one vendor who provided ice to them.
We arrived in Sloans at 2:00. We went there to get some of their famous ice cream and, hopefully, get some
ice. Woohoo, they had ice! Plus the ice cream. We arrived at the North Platte River and The Miracle Mile 1
hour and 15 minutes later.
Along both sides of the river, which is typically about 80 yards wide, there are places to turn off of the dirt
roads into campsites. The sites are "designated" by having both iron park benches and iron fire pits. Most
of the sites are a short walk to the river. We found a spot that was level for the trailer. We set up camp and
then fished at the river for about 45 minutes.
The river has a very good depth and speed for wading into it. (Unless you go beyond about 10 feet.) My friend
and I fished for about 30 minutes and he had to stop. The reason was that his foot was bothering him because
he had surgery on the ankle several months beforehand and, although it was recovering well, it wasn't
completely recovered. Nevertheless, he caught 2 trout whereas I was skunked. We were fly fishing with
nymphs, dropper flies that were also nymphs, weights, and strike indicators.
After relaxing for a little while, we ate hot dogs and chips for dinner. Since my friend's foot was hurting, we
didn't do any more fishing that night. That was okay, because we got to just relax, catch up on things, and
listen to the river in the background. At about 9:30, we crashed for the night in the trailer. (And we got to
listen to the river running in the background.)
We had a problem with my friend's generator. Among other things, it provided power to the trailer's air
conditioning system. Unfortunately, the generator wasn't working in regular running mode with the A/C
turned on with full power. So, it was necessary to run the generator on choke mode while the A/C was on low
power. My friend believed that the problem was the generator's regular running mode's jet was clogged. So,
this was something that we needed to solve when we returned to Casper.
Monday, July 20th --
We got up at 7:45. It was going to be another hot day, so we set things up so that they would be in the shade
during the first half of the day. We ate a breakfast of bagels. (I forgot to bring my "beloved" apple juice.)
After cleaning up, we put our fishing things into my friend's new Nissan Frontier pickup truck. (His previous
truck -- a 2023 Toyota Tacoma -- had been totaled when a woman rear ended it while my friend's wife was
driving it.) We went up the road until we nearly reached the dam for the Seminoe Reservoir. But a sign read
"No vehicles beyond this point." So, we turned around and drove back down the road.
We drove past our campsite and over a bridge that crossed the river. The plan was to find a place where we
could get connectivity with our phones. (My friend was receiving text messages on his phone via his Apple
Watch's ability to get a satellite connection, but he couldn't make phone calls. So, he needed to call the Toyota
dealership to have his 3-year old truck picked up within the next two days. So, we drove away from the river
and to a place that was high enough for him to make a phone call. He made the call and the arrangement to
have the truck picked up from his house in Casper within 24 hours.
Along the way, we drove through an area where there were several trailers and recreational vehicles, parked
around a collection of outhouses. It appeared that those people were going to stay there for quite a while. My
friend informed me that the maximum time that a person or persons can camp in one spot around the river is
14 days.
We drove back down to the river in about five minutes and quickly found a spot to continue fishing.
Fortunately, there were places along the edge where a person could fish from the shore and not have to wade
into the river. (This was good for my friend since wading risked hurting, and possibly injuring, his ankle and/or
foot.) We fished for about 15 minutes, didn't catch anything, and went looking for another place to fish.
We found another place, fished for another 15 minutes, and once again didn't catch anything. By the way, this
was a catch-and-release area. As such, most of the fish had been caught before and were "educated" about
being picky for not eating things that weren't natural. (I fished a similar place several times in a river below
Cheesman Reservoir in Colorado when I was growing up.) This type of fishing definitely tests your fishing skills.
And your patience! After more unsuccessful fishing, we returned to our campsite.
My friend turned on the generator in order to run the trailer's A/C system so that we could take a siesta after
eating lunch. We had sandwiches and chips. Now, bring on the siesta! While napping, after about 20 minutes,
the generator stopped working. My friend tried to restart it, but it appeared to have overheated and wouldn't
restart. At about 2:15, it was too hot for me in the trailer. So, I got up and created these and Sunday's notes
about our trip to The Miracle Mile. (My friend continued napping.)
Funny things happen while camping and/or fishing. For example, when we were fishing in our first spot, I
couldn't find my hemostat and scissors. When putting on my waders, I noticed that the bottom of my right
foot felt strange. I thought that it was possible that my sock had slipped down under my foot. When we
finished fishing, I was pulling off my waders and realized that I had put my hemostat and scissors in my
waders. As Homer Simpson would put it -- "D'oh!"
The fish that my friend caught were 6 and 10 inches long. He called the first one "a whale."
Mosquitoes weren't a problem whereas gnats and deer flies were biting us. And especially my friend. He
sprayed on a dry mosquito repellent which worked okay but not great. I don't like the texture of repellents, so
I just toughed it out.
While returning from our last fishing location that afternoon, my friend spotted 2 antelope fawn standing in the
middle of the dirt road. He was concerned that the mother might have been killed and they were left to fend
for themselves. He stated that they might be okay if they have finished milking. Interesting.
It didn't rain during either Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. But it sprinkled enough to show the dust on my
friend's pickup truck.
The elevation at the river -- and our campsite -- was approximately 5,900 feet.
We planned our return to Casper on Tuesday so that the next afternoon -- Wednesday, they could go to Devil's
Tower and I could go to "the lake."
Hint: Don't leave open container drinks sitting outside for very long. Otherwise, flying things might go into the
drinks. Like I did when I got a mouthful of gnats when I drank from a water bottle that I had left sitting open
for a few hours. Bleh!
Multiple times, my friend mentioned how it was more humid than usual.
The outhouses are well built and well kept up.
After my friend, finished his nap at about 5:30, we went fishing up the road about 1/2 mile from our campsite.
Unfortunately, we didn't have any luck. But as we were getting ready to leave, my friend spotted a female deer.
I grabbed my phone to get a photograph, but it was so fast that I only got a picture of the tree that it passed in
front of.
We returned to our campsite and my friend cooked antelope burgers for dinner. Wow, they were great! We
hung out for about 30 minutes until 10 o'clock until we "hit the hay."
Tuesday, July 21st --
We left our campsite at 10:15. It was a mostly uneventful 2-1/2 hour drive back to Casper. In Casper on the
way to my friend’s place, he stopped to get gas while I went to a store to buy food and drinks for my
backpacking trip to "the lake." We arrived at my friend’s place at about 1 o’clock.
Epilogue
- All in all, the trip was great. A good thing was that each time that we worked with getting the trailer
into parking places, we improved. I hope that the trials and tribulations that we experienced will help my
friend and his wife avoid future difficulties while parking the trailer.
- A man named Ed was camping kitty corner across the road from us. He stopped to talk to us during our
second day while he was walking down the road to go fishing. The next night, my friend suggested that
we walk over to his camp and invite over for dinner and drinks. While talking to him, I discovered that
he, like me, is a St. Louis Cardinals fan. Amazing! -- I live in a city of about 2 million people, with few of
them being Cardinals fans, but during a fishing trip to a relatively remote place, I find a Cardinals fan.
- We learned one of the reasons why fishing wasn't successful. It was because authorities were releasing
more water than usual from Seminoe Reservoir. Apparently, they needed the water in Alcova. Another
reason was the heat -- it made the fish go deeper in the water. That means that they will probably be
hanging out near the middle of the river. And it's difficult, if not impossible, to get flies to them when fly
fishing.