Made it out this weekend for another trip down to the closed gravel roads in the Daniel Boone National Forest. My plan was to take the drone out to Chimney Top and get some footage of the rock structures in that area. Being that the road is closed, I figured I’d have the place to myself, and I did. One problem though, I forgot a critical piece of equipment that my drone needs to fly. I carted that backpack all the way down there for no reason. At least the skies were blue, the air was warm and the sun was shining. Also, I brought my tenkara rod and a small box of flies, so the day was not a total loss. I rode the bike back to the truck and made my way down to Swift Camp Creek. I’m volunteering next week to stock trout at that same trailhead, so I thought I’d scout upriver a little to see if there were any good deep pools with cover for the little guys. This same trail goes to Castle Arch Overlook, and along the way I saw amazing ice formations both on the trail and in the creek. There is a bend in the stream there that had massive columns of ice along the rock overhang but I wasn’t able to get back close enough for photos. There is almost no shoreline and the water had a fragile layer of ice on it that I in no way trusted. I will definitely be back in a pair of waders both for trout and then later for smallmouth. I had no idea the water looked so fishable in this area. I can only imagine that further upstream, it’s more of the same.