Miracle Mile below Kortes Dam
The Miracle Mile is the roughly 5.5 miles of tailwater between Kortes Dam, below Seminoe Reservoir, and the head of Pathfinder Reservoir, about 50 miles southwest of Casper at the end of a dirt road that turns to gumbo when wet. Engstrom on the east bank and Guthridge on the west are the two parking and camping areas, and almost all of the Mile is public wade water. Spring brings spawning rainbows up from Pathfinder and November brings the browns.
Flows here come from the Bureau of Reclamation, not the USGS; Casper shops call 400 to 800 cfs great wading and 800 to 1,200 cfs the sweet spot for wading and floating both. The Mile's big stonefly hatch is the golden stone from around Memorial Day into late June, not a salmonfly hatch.
Upper river: Routt to Treasure Island
Above Saratoga the North Platte is an undammed freestone that enters Wyoming from Colorado through Northgate Canyon. The Routt, Six Mile Gap and Pickaroon accesses sit in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, Bennett Peak is the BLM launch most summer floaters use, and Treasure Island, minutes off Highway 130 south of Saratoga, is the last public access before town with wade water on both sides of the island. Salmonflies hatch on this upper water during runoff from the state line down to about Prospect Creek.
Saratoga to Sinclair
Saratoga has wade access at the town bridges and parks, and the Treasure Island to Saratoga float is the most popular summer trip on the river. Below town the Foote and Pick Bridge accesses carry the fishery on toward Sinclair and the head of Seminoe Reservoir, where the USGS gauge this page reads sits. Hot springs keep the river near Saratoga open through winter, and the Encampment River joins from the Sierra Madre below town.
Brown trout
Browns are the majority fish on the upper freestone, which has not been stocked since the late 1970s, and they are the fall target everywhere on the river. Streamers along the cottonwood banks from Treasure Island to Pick Bridge in October, and egg patterns and big articulated flies on the Miracle Mile in November when Pathfinder browns run up to spawn, are the two classic trips.
Rainbow trout
Rainbows dominate the spring on the Miracle Mile, when fish from Pathfinder push upstream from March on, and they share the upper river with the browns, rising to caddis, PMDs and green drakes in early summer and to hoppers and Tricos in August. A few cutthroat show up in the upper river and its tributaries.
Season and regulations
The freestone fishes from the end of runoff in mid June through October and again on warm winter days near Saratoga. For the Saratoga reach the local guidance is 200 to 800 cfs for wading with 300 to 600 cfs ideal, and floatable up to about 2,900 cfs, so this page uses 300 to 800 cfs as the wading range at the Sinclair gauge. Summer base flows usually settle into the 200 to 500 cfs range by July.
For 2026 Wyoming Game and Fish requires single-point barbless hooks on the Miracle Mile, with a limit of 3 trout and no more than 1 over 16 inches, and artificial flies and lures only with spawning closures April 1 to May 15 on parts of Grey Reef. The upper river above the Saratoga Inn bridge is flies and lures only with a protective slot on mid-size trout. Confirm every section in the current WGFD regulations, which changed this year.