Backcountry Lake

What is this?  A blog post?  With pictures?!?!  Life has gotten in the way of having fun recently.  Britt and I went for an overnight backpacking trip.  We didn't expect perfect weather or solitude, but we were hoping for a little.  Unfortunately, the lake was crowded and the weather on Saturday was miserable.  Seeing how it snowed there the night before, it could have been much worse.  Sunday morning was beautiful.  The lake was calm, the sun was out and we got a great view of Three Fingered Jack.  I managed to catch some fish (and get a little too much sun).    I'm feeling a little sore today, but am looking forward to the next adventure.

Brook Trout

While the changing seasons do mean that the summer fishing days are coming to a close, there are some positives. One of them being beautiful brook trout getting even more colorful.

Bobby Lake

Since classes start back up this week, Britt and I made one last backpacking trip. Headed to Bobby Lake for what was supposed to be good fishing for brook and rainbow trout. That may be the case, but all I ended up catching was one tiny rainbow. Granted it was very fat for a 4" fish, but that isn't enough to make me think it'd be a good option for a return trip.

Britt did make a friend who seemed to be rather hungry.

The Joys of Sleeping in a Tent

Britt and I hiked into a couple lakes over the weekend. It was a nice, short hike. Even the off trail hike was easy. Some fish were caught on the lakes and fish was had for dinner. It was shaping up to be a really good trip....then the fun happened.

Let me set the mood. It was a full moon and it looked almost like a flashlight was being shined on the tent. Very eerie stuff. Then around 10 that night Britt heard something. I wasn't sure what it was. It slowly and quietly walked beside the tent (on the opposite side from the moon, so there was no shadow). It went away for about an hour. When it came back again it walked by the tent, trying to figure out just what it was and what was inside it. It came back a few more times that night. We could hear it sniffing at the bottom of tent. Needless to say, it was not a very good night of sleep. Unfortunately, there was no place by the tent where tracks could have been left, so I guess we'll never know who it was.






"I swear the map says the lake should be right here! Why is it just a pile of rocks?"

Backcountry

Made another trip into the backcountry. Here are a couple quotes:

"I always think those ultralight backpackers are crazy until I put my pack on."

"It's too bad it's so pretty up here."

Those sum up my feelings for hiking pretty well. It was a good trip despite having to cross over decent amounts of snow and Britt being trapped in the tent trying to avoid mosquitoes. In one lake the fish were small and in the other they were bigger, but in neither lake were they numerous. However, the views and solitude on 4th of July weekend made things just about perfect.

First Backcountry Outing of the Season

I hiked the float tube into Marion Lake for some early backcountry fishing. When we got to the parking lot it was overflowing with vehicles. I spotted the hatchery truck and breathed a sigh of relief. Just volunteers hiking in fish I thought. We passed several people walking down the trail. One boy told us we had good timing, we would have the lake to ourselves. I got excited. Then he finished off his comment, "Yeah, everyone is in their tents right now because of the rain." Oh, that's not what I was hoping he meant by you'll have the lake to yourselves. When we got to the lake there must have been more than 15 tents set up at the first camping area. Not what I wanted to see.

Did I mention it was raining. Rained all day Saturday and didn't stop until we were hiking out. Fish were caught and I saw few other people fishing. However, once I got out on the lake it was like it was just me, the ospreys and the fish (and the rain).

It was a good start to the backpacking season and I am anxious to hike into other places. Now that the snow is melting I am hoping more places will be open soon. (Pictures tomorrow if I remember to bring my camera in.)

Backcountry Lake Outing

After a change in plans I headed to Linton Lake for a day trip. In between periods of sunshine and downpour the fish were pretty active. I was able to get this little brook trout (I had heard they were in there, but had never seen any evidence until this guy) and a nice male brown trout around 15". Pretty nice way to spend one of my last free days before my life is taken over by economics again.