Kent is always looking for new places to explore. Having been to the Tushar Mountains on numerous outings, it's easy to think we've uncovered all the "secrets" such a special place has to offer. Usually, when this happens we turn to topo maps and begin to look for out-of-the-way places we might have overlooked. Such was the case with Iant Creek. Seeing the name on a topo map, Kent immediately began to wonder if it was large enough to be more than a seasonal stream. Google Earth (satellite imagery) confirmed, that even in mid-summer, this stream was flowing and might even be large enough to hold some small trout. Yes, indeed, it was time to go find out.
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Starting at Three Creeks Reservoir, we followed FR 147 to Strawberry Flat . . .
This beautiful wildflower filled meadow gave us nice views of Mt. Baldy (12,122') and Shelly Baldy Peak (11,321') |
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| Orange Sneezeweed |
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| As soon as we reached Iant Creek we could see trout scurrying away from us! |
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| It didn't take Kent long to drop his line in the cold clear stream . . . |
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. . . and it didn't take long to begin catching Brook trout . . .
Not big by any means, but still fun to catch and release these little beauties! |
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Iant Creek is easy to walk along and fish . . .
The stream isn't "choked" with brush and has many nice pools leading down into the canyon |
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| There were some interesting rock formations along the creek |
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| We each caught several trout |
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Iant Creek begins at Betenson Flat, 4½ miles to the southeast . . .
We're already making plans to come back and set up a car shuttle so we can walk this lush valley! |
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| This basalt column had some unique swirls |
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| We noticed Fireweed growing off the side of the road as we walked back to our truck |
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Three Creeks Reservoir . . . we're getting close to where we started
Last year this reservoir was completely empty . . . what a reminder of the winter we had!
Beyond the lake is Mt. Holly (center) and Lake Peak (to the right)
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Iant Creek ended up being so much more than we expected! If you have a side-by-side or a short wheel based 4x4 you could actually drive right to the creek. Not knowing what the narrow road was like, we chose to park and walk the last mile from the ridge to the creek. This ended up working out nicely, for us, as we were able to log about 2.5 miles of hiking to go along with our fishing.
