Fish love snow and they love flies, so................

[BradW]

Great job Mike! Congrats Justin and the fish!!!!

[fly addict]

There were no losers Frank--all you flyfishers are winners as far as I'm concerned. Look at the bright side, none of you have to shovel it, well except I'm sure Wildman, WanderingBlues, and a couple others probably have their own snow to move. But hey, the snow comes with our choices to live in the mountains, and I wouldn't live anywhere else in Southern California. My back might argue that point tonight, but it will be fine tomorrow.

I'll post some after storm shots tomorrow.

Mike,
Your not the only one that has to cleanup after the storms. I have to sweep up all the palm fronds that blew on to my driveway.
Great game!

Mark

[RatFaceMcD]

Mike - Snow, red wine and dark chocolate - brings back memories of living in the mountains west of Denver. I was going to send you an email to find out how much snow you had, and I found this thread. Thanks for posting all the photos. Deep Creek should be in good shape this Spring!

[Papasequoia]

For those of you that used to watch the show Frasier, imagine this next line done in the style of the character Bulldog:

"This stinks! This is total BS!! Stupid global warming, it's never around when you need it. All of us who guessed under 43 inches were robbed!"

Great distraction, Mike, thanks for the contest! I hope your wife can make it safely back up the hill today. Jon

[midger]

Sorry, but there are no fish pictures in this post. I'm too tired to snowshoe into any of the watersheds to try to catch one. Again, thanks to all who "played" the game.

Here are the final shots from after the storm. We received another 3-4 inches after the contest ended. Roads were R3 this morning--chains required on all vehicles, no exceptions. I guess some less than intelligent folks were causing the snow removal folks problems, so now it is restricted to residents only up the 18 and 330. That's okay, as it's going to take a couple of days to plow all the side streets and with the 18 closed to Big Bear, there was no where for the folks to go once they got up here other than to spin out and block the streets.

The wife got home at 9:00 this morning, and now we are shoveling our 1000+ feet of decking. Ya gotta love this snow.

Here's what it looks like today:

[darrin terry]

Wow, Mike. That could not have been fun to shovel, but it sure is beautiful to look at.

[midger]

Wow, Mike. That could not have been fun to shovel, but it sure is beautiful to look at.

I should try (ala Tom Sawyer and fence painting) and tell folks how much fun snow shoveling is, but I've found most flyfishers aren't all that stupid. If you pace yourself it isn't too bad.

[WanderingBlues]

[/quote]

If you pace yourself it isn't too bad. [/quote]

Man, I paced myself this morning for 3 hours, thanks to the plow guy and his amazing ability to throw a berm up and over the cars. I got nothing.........

[Rockstar Fisherman]

Mike this was one enjoyable post you started. Congrats Justin, and cool pics from everyone including the desert rats!!!!

[rkfiske]

Thanks Midger, that was a fun idea. And congrats to Justin and Benny! Sure looks beautiful up there, snow level around where I live was waaaaay low. It's almost all gone already but it was impressive to see on friday out near La Canada. If I had to make a guess, the fact that it was snow and not rain probably saved residents under the station burn area from some really serious mudslides. Wet season isn't over yet though

[Rob909]

Thanks for hosting this contest Mike. It was fun watching the progression with the photo updates.

And the post storm photos with the blue skies are awesome


Rob

[1mocast]

Those are some great pictures...Thanks for sharing your hospitality with us.

[buggravy]

Mike, thanks for hosting the contest, and even more for all the on-the-ground reporting. I was going to try to come up today and ride Snow Summit, but close monitoring of all the goings on up there had me think the better of getting in the middle of what sounds like bedlam on the roads up there. I've sort of been living vicariously through this post. Really beautiful shots!

[tree catcher]

Thanks for hosting this contest Mike. Really enjoyed the pics, How long is it going to take to dig the SUV out and even a better question.... How long will it take to dig the shovel out from pic 2. Thanks again for making the last week a heck a lot of fun for the rest of us that just had to deal with the deluge of rain. Most of us could still go to the store for supplies (alcohol of some sort) but you were stuck at home... Did the earthquake help shake some snow from the tree's and roads?

Sean

[flybob]

great work Mike!

Loved the blow by blow reports!

nothing like having the inside scoop!

bob

Hey Justin, congrats!