My Perfect Day: Dream Lake

This past week we went on our fly fishing trip to Estes Park, Colorado…and on Saturday we went to a place up in the Rocky Mountain National Park called Dream Lake. And Saturday was not a dream, even though it felt like one. I told Cory and Xan at the end of the day: “That might have been the best day of my life!”

The 4 of us guys, Xan, Cory, and our guides Ron, Tim, and Andy headed out to Rocky Mountain National Park on Saturday morning (the last full day of our fly fishing trip) with our sights set on reaching a glacier lake at the elevation of over 10,000 ft. called: Dream Lake…We ran into a full parking lot at the trail head and we ended up turning around and loading onto a tour bus (with a crowd of tourist) at the bottom of the mountain in order to get to the trail head. (this is a story in itself that ill write about in a future blog).

Finally, reaching the trail head we strapped on all of our fly fishing gear including a float tube and flippers and we head up the trail towards Dream Lake. After a mile hike up the trail and through a little snow we cross a creek and I see the lake…it’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. The water was like glass and you could see straight to the bottom, two massive peaks rising into the sky behind the lake, pines all around it and boulders surrounding the banks. We were fishing for a rare trout called the “green back cut throat,” and we could see them swimming everywhere because the water was so clear. By this point my was pumping with excitement and anticipation, I was ready to catch some fish!

Ron said “Campbell, follow me! Let’s go to the other side and get out on the boulders in the middle of the lake!” So I followed him on a side trail through more snow and down to the opposite bank. We waded through the icy water out to a rock where I tied on an ant fly that I had tied the night before.

This is what made the day so special for me…the night before Ron and Tim showed Xan, Cory, and me how to tie flies. I asked him to show me how to tie a fly that would work well at Dream Lake and Tim showed me how to tie an ant.

So I’m out in the middle of this gorgeous heaven like lake and I’m sitting on a rock trying to decide what to tie on first, and I thought “when would be a better time to catch a trout on a fly that I tied myself?” so I chose my ant. After a few casts I landed my first trout of the day! It was a spiritual experience to be taught the art of fly fishing then the art of tying flies from older men who have gone before me. Their was more to it than just catching the fish. I had been shown the way and directed, and through humbly seeking the instruction from our guides I had accomplished something that not many men can say they have done. I had caught a green back cut throat trout at Dream Lake on a fly that I tied the night before, in the company of the men who had shown and taught me the way.

I stayed on that rock the rest of the day catching fish after fish, often I was mesmerized by the world around me, I would be distracted by the mountains and just stand there in awe of what I had entered into… I was standing in a post card! I would focus on fishing for a while then take a moment to soak it all in. The beauty around me was magnificent, and I felt close to God. His glory was all around me and as I continued to catch fish my heart began to feel a part of this beautiful picture. “I was made for this!”

I will never forget the end of the day though. The sun was getting low and about to go down behind the mountains and I had caught 9 fish and I wanted 10 sooo bad (I felt like I was 9 under going into 18 wanting just one more birdie!). The afternoon sun was shining on the lake and a fly hatch was starting to hover over the water. I had about 30 feet of line out and I was whipping it through the air trying to get my fly deep into the center of the lake where a school of fish was. I felt uplifted by Ron and Tim’s words of affirmation as they expressed their delight in my form. It was the point that I truly came into my form and felt confident with my casting…I felt a peace, and a sense of belonging among all that was wild surrounding me.

When I was out on that rock in the afternoon sun Ron yelled from another rock “You look like that guy from A River Runs Through It!” Ron was talking about Paul…I was shocked that he had said that. It was a reconfirmation from God that I am becoming the man that I am meant to be. The reason this was so significant to me was because while we were on our backpacking trip in Wyoming the first week of Training Ground Xan and Cory gave us all characters from movies that depicted our personalities and stories…They gave me Paul that week. Im seeing Paul come out in me more and more, to the point that Ron saw him in me.

On that perfect Saturday I came close to catching #10 but it wasn’t meant to be, and it left me wanting more. Not just more fish, but more peace among the wild, more exploration of the unknown, more men to show me the way, and more delight from the Father.