Each year around Labor Day we wrestle with where, if anywhere, to go for the unofficial last weekend of summer. This year we thought ahead enough that I took Friday off so Shaun and I could try to get a backpack in we'd been trying to do for a couple of years but that for whatever reason, weather, people, etc, it jus hadn't materialized. Luckily this year everything seemed to align for us. I had recently completed two two night backpack trips, one with a couple of friends and one with Shaun, and after a weekend in between it was time to hit the trail once again. The two backpacking trips both involved a lot of climbing and descending, the latter of which is murder on my knees. I was still dealing with quite a bit of soreness in my knees, so I was not completely confident in the off-trail portion of this trip, but I decided to at least start the trip. We could use the first lake as a decision point. We chose this trail because it's much less crowded than other trails in this region, though we knew we wouldn't have total solitude. We were hopeful that with a Friday start we could put some distance between us and the weekend crowd. We stayed the night before in a nearby town to allow us to get an early start without investing in a three hour drive. We were one of only a couple of cars at the trailhead, and we were on our way by 8 am or so. The beginning of this trail is a little boring unless you like wide meadows full of cow poop. There were some nice views of the peaks we would be climbing toward, but otherwise, it was underwhelming. After a couple of miles we entered the forest, climbing gently for a couple of miles, taking a short break to eat a slice of cold pizza from the night before. The last mile to the lake climbs more earnestly but via nice switchbacks with periodic views of neighboring peaks and a few berries leftover from hungry bears or hungry hikers or both. Along the way we passed a trail crew clearing some downed logs, so we chatted with them for a couple of minutes before ushering an increasingly irritated Birch on up the trail.
We had made excellent time except for one instance. About a half mile in, we both stopped to adjust some layers as we started at a chilly 38 degrees. My knee was really hurting, and Shaun admitted he wasn't really feeling it and didn't know if he had the motivation to do this trip. He was getting ready for the start of another school year, and things had been extremely busy for him. I was beginning to understand I hadn't given my body enough time to recover between trips. We started listing alternative scenarios that would be a little easier on the body and mind, but we kept coming back to one huge barrier- Labor Day weekend. We decided to push on to the first lake and then decide from there, as we had originally intended. We knew the first lake had decent fishing, so it seemed worth it. Well, it certainly was. We arrived just before 11 am and followed a trip report tip to skirt around the east side of the lake to find a more secluded campsite. We were also please to find there were no other suitable areas to camp, and we had easy access to the shore for fishing. We quickly set up our tent before enjoying another slice of cold pizza. Stomachs satisfied, it was time to string up the rods and go after the numerous rising fish. Of course Shaun caught multiple fish before I even had a hit, but what was most impressive was the size of these cutthroat. When I say the smaller fish we caught was 12", I'm not exaggerating, and most of them were more than 14". After catching my first, then I caught the biggest. It was a beautiful cutthroat, fat and colorful. Good pics were hard to come by in the backlit shade, but we did our best. After releasing it, I decided to sit along the bank with the dog and take in the surroundings for a while. Shaun continued to catch fish after fish after fish. The fly of the day was definitely a tan Chernobyl ant with a purple haze coming in second.
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| First glimpse from near our campsite |
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| A heckuva catch in an alpine lake |
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| They say pets and their owners start to look alike after a while |
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| Fading light |
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| Shaun definitely caught the most colorful fish |
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| Midday nap |
As we wound down our day we noticed more and more people ascending to the lake. So much for weekday hiking. Next time we'll go on a Tuesday, haha. We knew the next day they would all be going to the lake we planned to go to, and we also knew that area is quite small without a lot of room to spread out tents. We had seen trip reports of what that area is like when crowded, and it did not interest us. Couple that with my knee issues and what would be almost a 10 mile trip out on Sunday, we decided we would abandon our plan and be content with the great fishing and relative solitude we enjoyed Friday night. We were both frustrated to miss out on our goal but also both felt assured we would love to visit this area again with better planning and not anywhere near a holiday weekend.
We slept well that night despite our disappointment, and I woke early to watch the sunrise. The lake was mostly still though not as glassy as it was during the sunset the night before. The alpenglow on the peak, however, was A+. I suspect the fishing would also have been A+ as they were rising while it was still dark outside. After a leisurely breakfast, we packed up camp and headed down, my knee reminding me that I had made the right decision to not add more mileage and climbing. We passed so many people on our way out as well, and I fret over how the lake basins handled that many people. Hopefully everyone respected the land and we can venture back there next summer to complete our objective.
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