# China Meadows/Red Castle/East Fork Smith's Fork



## derekp1999

Anybody been up the trail from China Meadows to Red Castle?
I'm looking to make a trip up there and fish the steam heading up to Red Castle and just wondering what it looks like now (clear, off color, dirty). The USGS streamflow site shows it's flowing about 300fps.


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## wyogoob

derekp1999 said:


> Anybody been up the trail from China Meadows to Red Castle?
> I'm looking to make a trip up there and fish the steam heading up to Red Castle and just wondering what it looks like now (clear, off color, dirty). The USGS streamflow site shows it's flowing about 300fps.


Generally, the stream going up to Red Castle runs fast and hard through a lot of trees and brush until you get up to below the falls. There are a few pools here and there though with some pan-sized trout. The run-off is about over but the water will still be really high. It is still spring in the high country, not summer. Once you get past the quakies the stream will be the color white, as in white water rapids.

The first mile or so just above the trailhead is good fishing and doesn't get hit too hard. The trail there is far above the river keeping the tourists at bay.

I never hit the river anymore, the fishing is just too good up in the basin. If you get up to Upper Red Castle to fish, report back, I'm curious how the Tiger Trout are doing up there.

The basin holds many pleasant surprises other than Red Castle Lake and Upper Red Castle Lake. Find time to explore it.


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## wyogoob

The meadow at the bridge has some fish but the water will be pretty rough up there this time of year.


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## derekp1999

I've never made it all the way up to the lakes... would love to someday. I like to hike up about a mile then fish up the first footbridge or up to about the 4 mile mark and fish the meadow. Last year I went up about this same time and it was perfect (you know... one of those 100 fish days) but the USGS streamflow showed about half the flow last year at this time.


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## wyogoob

derekp1999 said:


> I've never made it all the way up to the lakes... would love to someday. I like to hike up about a mile then fish up the first footbridge or up to about the 4 mile mark and fish the meadow. Last year I went up about this same time and it was perfect (you know... one of those 100 fish days) but the USGS streamflow showed about half the flow last year at this time.


Yeah, I would think 300fps is about normal for this time of year.

It's a slog up to Red Castle Lake.


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## Packout

Spent Thursday and Friday in that drainage and the Henrys Fork. River was running fast, high and muddy. The Henry's was 2' over the bank and the Smiths was 1' over. Both were rolling. I knew it would be a little high, but no way for us to fish those conditions. I wouldn't waste the time going up there until we get a week of clear weather.
Edit- The rain has made it much higher than normal for this time of year. 

--


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## wyogoob




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## bow_dude

I haven't been up there since I was 14 or 15, that was nearly 50 years ago. We were young explorer scouts. We hiked in, fished a few hours and hiked back out the same day. It was early in the morning when we got back to camp at China Lake (2 or 3 a.m.). I can't remember anymore what the distance was, just know that I could not do it today. Seems it was over 20 miles round trip. Am I remembering it right? The fishing was good using spinners. Beautiful hike and I only remember 1 small portion of the hike that was very steep. Mostly it seems that it was just a long way in. How's my memory?


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## derekp1999

Both the Black's and the Bear appear to be running lower than the Smith's... 
I've never been over to the Black's before so I just might take this opportunity to check that one off my bucket list.


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## torowy

I was just up there over the weekend. The river is pretty high, but clear and fish-able for sure. We got into lots of tigers and cuts at the upper lake. Only fished the lower lake for a sec.


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## wyogoob

torowy said:


> I was just up there over the weekend. The river is pretty high, but clear and fish-able for sure. We got into lots of tigers and cuts at the upper lake. Only fished the lower lake for a sec.


Any pics?

How big are the Tigers? Cutts?

Were the goats there?

How much snow?

Were the mosquitoes bad?

Wildflowers blooming yet up in the Basin?

Did they move the trail around the switchbacks?

How tall is your sister?

.


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## Shunter

I'm interested in answers for Goobs questions too. Except for the sister one, (and not because I already know the answer to it) I'm heading up there this week for a few days. I'll post a report when I get back. 

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## DallanC

What, no posts asking about Ptarmigan numbers? 


-DallanC


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## Ifish

wyogoob said:


> Any pics?
> 
> How big are the Tigers? Cutts?
> 
> Were the goats there?
> 
> How much snow?
> 
> Were the mosquitoes bad?
> 
> Wildflowers blooming yet up in the Basin?
> 
> Did they move the trail around the switchbacks?
> 
> How tall is your sister?
> 
> .


This is my favorite thread.


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## gdog

Ok..fixed this for you Goob...



wyogoob said:


> How tall is your sister? Any pics?
> 
> How big are the Tigers? Cutts?
> 
> Were the goats there?
> 
> How much snow?
> 
> Were the mosquitoes bad?
> 
> Wildflowers blooming yet up in the Basin?
> 
> Did they move the trail around the switchbacks?
> 
> .


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## wyogoob

DallanC said:


> What, no posts asking about Ptarmigan numbers?
> 
> -DallanC


What's a Ptarmigan?

.


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## wyogoob

gdog said:


> Ok..fixed this for you Goob...


Geeze, thanks.

.


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## wyogoob

torowy said:


> I was just up there over the weekend. The river is pretty high, but clear and fish-able for sure. We got into lots of tigers and cuts at the upper lake. Only fished the lower lake for a sec.


How many Boy Scouts were up there?

You took yer cell phone up there, didn't ya?

Did you go barbless?

.


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## torowy

Any pics? yep

How big are the Tigers? Cutts? 
Most were in the 14-16 inch range. I saw a couple 20+ inchers cruising around. I think they were cuts.

Were the goats there? yep, saw about 10.

How much snow? Not much, a few drifts

Were the mosquitoes bad? Not up high. On the trail there were lots

Wildflowers blooming yet up in the Basin? tons

Did they move the trail around the switchbacks? Not sure what you mean, there is 1 section of switchbacks still

How tall is your sister? Don’t have one
How many Boy Scouts were up there? only 1 group

You took yer cell phone up there, didn't ya? Of course

Did you go barbless? Nope, we kept some to eat, save weight going in.


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## wyogoob

torowy said:


> Any pics? yep
> 
> How big are the Tigers? Cutts?
> Most were in the 14-16 inch range. I saw a couple 20+ inchers cruising around. I think they were cuts. Cool
> 
> Were the goats there? yep, saw about 10. Neato
> 
> How much snow? Not much, a few drifts Global Warming
> 
> Were the mosquitoes bad? Not up high. On the trail there were lots  They run the other way when they see me.
> 
> Wildflowers blooming yet up in the Basin? tons It's some of the best on the North Slope
> 
> Did they move the trail around the switchbacks? Not sure what you mean, there is 1 section of switchbacks still It was a joke. The switchbacks seem so out of place. Why don't they just cross the river with the trail.
> 
> How tall is your sister? Don't have one You sure?
> How many Boy Scouts were up there? only 1 group You sure?
> 
> You took yer cell phone up there, didn't ya? Of course Of course
> 
> Did you go barbless? Nope, we kept some to eat, save weight going in. Good on you.


 Man, what great pictures, thanks for posting. Those are big fish for the Upper.

Hey, uh, whatya doin' sneaking up around Wilson Pass? .....nevermind 

This is my favorite thread.

.


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## Dunkem

Sure is purty up there!!


Must be my day Top O The Page8)


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## derekp1999

I decided to try a a new stream and check one off the bucket list. I found good water on this north slope stream and lots of fish willing to take my offering.
Got a flat tire on the car so the 55 mile drive back to Evingston on a donut was "fun".


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## derekp1999

My phone wasn't working right to add additional pictures last night... so here's some more.

Water was clear and maybe just a touch high, but we were still able to wade anywhere we wanted without any trouble. I noticed some good sized stone flies in the grass early on and the closest thing that I had in my box was a smallish cicada pattern... well that did the trick and we caught fish all morning and well into the afternoon. I was impressed with the size of some of the cutts that we caught. They were larger than what I was expecting from my experience with other Uinta streams.

If the fishing wasn't so darn good I would have been ticked about getting a flat tire, but since the fishing was so good it just becomes part of the adventure. While waiting for the tire shop to repair the tire I was able to sneak over to Sports World and have a look around... I've always liked that little shop. Entered the drawing for the gun and cooler so Goob do me a favor and make sure they pull my name would ya?!?

Side note... where we finally stopped and got out of the river there was a dead cow elk in the river up against a log jam. She didn't look like she'd been there long.... wonder what happened to her to have her end up there.


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## Dunkem

Nice post Derek, beautiful country.


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## nickpan

Love that place. Those tigers are fun to catch!
































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## bow_dude

How far of a hike is it in and can a 62 year old man make the trip? My mind says yes, but I don't know if I am up for a strenuous hike any more? The pictures are gorgeous. It has been years since I have been in there.


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## Wasatch Wings

So these pictures have been haunting my dreams for the last week! This is definitely a new goal of mine to get here. Probably sooner than later. Funny that I've hiked around pretending like I'm any good of an archery elk hunter with all these beautiful streams and lakes (and ptarmigan) just waiting for me to get into them. 

I'm thinking I'll take a few days off of the north slope elk stalking and go visit red castle.


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## nickpan

bow_dude said:


> How far of a hike is it in and can a 62 year old man make the trip? My mind says yes, but I don't know if I am up for a strenuous hike any more? The pictures are gorgeous. It has been years since I have been in there.


It's about 11 miles from the China Meadows Trailhead to Lower Red Castle (the big lake), however, you only gain about 1500' elevation over the entire trail, and the majority of that is the last 1/2 or 3/4's of a mile to get up into the basin. It's a fairly easy hike as far as the Uintas go, but a long one.

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## derekp1999

bow_dude said:


> How far of a hike is it in and can a 62 year old man make the trip? My mind says yes, but I don't know if I am up for a strenuous hike any more? The pictures are gorgeous. It has been years since I have been in there.


The first 8 miles to the switchbacks looks pretty mild on the topo maps. 900ft in elevation over 8 miles is pretty easy. The last 4 up into the basin looks a bit steeper, 900 more feet in those 4 miles.
I've only ever been as far up as about 6 or 7 miles and that's because we hiked up about 4 miles to fish the stream and found a couple lost boy scouts so we helped reunite them with their troop a ways up the trail.

I always have an adventure when I head to the Uintas!


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## Trigger

Can you get horses up there?


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## Shunter

Trigger said:


> Can you get horses up there?


Yes. We passed a couple horse camps on the way up and had a group of riders go past us all the way up to the upper lakes this weekend.


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## Shunter

Here's a couple pictures from my trip to add to this thread, the area is amazing and it is some great fishing:


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## wyogoob

Trigger said:


> Can you get horses up there?


It's difficult to get them to the lake. The established trail ends at the northwest corner of Red Castle Lake in some boulders, but there is a way to go up and around them. The lake sits up in a bench protected by a cliff on the north side and then more boulders on the northeast corner of the lake. There are falls on the outlet of the lake (north middle). Just a little north and west of the falls there's some places to camp in the trees with limited horse food, an old sheepherder camp.

Most park their horses a mile or so back down the trail around Lower Red Castle and just day pack into the lake. Setting up camp down where the trail splits gives easy access to the left hand fork and Smith's Fork Pass.

I don't care much for returning back to the truck on the trail I hiked in on, especially the Smith's Fork to Red Castle. You can make a loop hike instead: China Meadows to Red Castle, bushwhack up to Wilson Pass then down to the Highline Trail, over Porcupine Pass, fish Garfield Basin, then over Tungsten Pass across the Yellowstone to Anderson Pass, (might as well climb King's Peak while you're there), then over to Gunsight Pass and down the Henry's Fork. fish as many lakes in the Henry's and then go up and over Dahlgren Ridge to Hessie Lake and then down the hill to the Smith's Fork and back to the China Meadows trailhead. If you have horses make the same loop but go over the Smith's Fork Pass instead of Wilson Pass. I've made the loop a number of times. It's 48 miles or so, depending on how many lakes you hit and if you climb King's Peak. On foot it takes 3 or 4 days, minimum.


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## wyogoob

Shunter said:


> Here's a couple pictures from my trip to add to this thread, the area is amazing and it is some great fishing:


Beautiful pictures, thanks for putting them up.

.


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## gitterdone81

I love this place. I first went first as a 9 year old with my Dad some of his brothers and Grandpa. Have been back a few times over the years with a scout troop, family trip etc. But it has been 15 years now...but scheduled to go up the week of the 24th with my 9 year old, my dad and my brothers. Wanting to get pops up one last time before he gets too old. Super excited, been looking forward to it all summer and seeing this post and these pictures have gotten me super amped. Typically we have used Jake's lures and some flies, any other suggestions?


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## CPAjeff

I spent some time in this area over the weekend fishing with some family members and my new fishing buddy (my 3 year old son)! It was so cool to see him get so excited about a pan size brook trout! Trout wrapped in tin foil and cooked in the fire is a delicacy.


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## Dunkem

My favorite meal!! We always have foil and a small pack of butter fishing, nothing better than a fresh trout right out of the water and into the fire!! Oh ya the Dew is a must also,:mrgreen:


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## Dunkem

Like a portrait, beautiful gdog


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## gdog




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## gdog

Dunkem said:


> Like a portrait, beautiful.
> 
> What happened gdog now my post does not make sense


Sorry...had to fix something on the post...back up again.


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## bekins24

CPAjeff said:


> I spent some time in this area over the weekend fishing with some family members and my new fishing buddy (my 3 year old son)! It was so cool to see him get so excited about a pan size brook trout! Trout wrapped in tin foil and cooked in the fire is a delicacy.


Definitely looks like a great time. Only problem is the the word 'diet' on the can


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## wyogoob

gdog said:


>


I'll trump ya and raise ya the same view with no haze from forest fires:


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## sawsman

My kind of country. This is close to my most favorite thread.

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## wyogoob

When yer old, and walk into Red Castle in one hot day, this is how you fly cast:


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## CPAjeff

I made one last trip up there for the year and the fishing did not disappoint. Caught plenty of little ones, nothing monstrous, but it sure was a good time!


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## derekp1999

Awesome pics guys, thanks for sharing!

I took my 9 year old son on his inaugural fly fishing trip up to the Black's Fork last Thursday. We had a blast and he was able to catch a bunch of fish. We brought a couple home to throw on the smoker with some of mom's salmon. Stopped on the way home at the Arby's there in Evanston and I beheld him throw down a loaded curly fry in what has to be a new world record time for his age class.

As we were fishing along early in the afternoon for some reason I kept checking my watch and right about 2:30 I had the overwhelming urge to get out of there. When we climbed out from the creek bottom we saw a small column of smoke just to our north. We hurried back to the car, changed, and headed for home driving up the road toward the smoke. As we changed and began to drive the column of smoke grew dramatically and as we neared the Tokewanna Estates where the fire started flames were feet to yards from the road and black smoke temporarily obscured my view for several hundred yards. We were the last vehicle past the fire before roads were closed and we passed dozens of emergency vehicles as we made our way towards I-80.

My condolences to those who have lost their home or cabin in that fire.


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