Friday, July 11th --
My friend and I left his house at 3:30am. Along the way, we saw one deer
and four bull
moose (refer to picture). We arrived at the
backpacking trail head at 6:30. We
noticed that there was more snow
than usual on the mountain tops as we neared the trail
head. We
arrived at the lake at about 10:45. It took longer to arrive there than
expected because my friend, again, experienced physical problems along the
way. It
included muscle cramps in both legs and also in one of his
shoulders.
When we arrived at the lake, two people were there. They were camped out
in the
"Old Camp Site" which was marked by a "Revegetation Site.
Please Keep Off" sign.
They left the lake at about noon.
At the top of the glacier, there was the typical amount of snow. However,
on the side of
the mountain next to the glacier, there was much more snow
than usual. The probable
reason was because there was a series of
late-season snow storms in June, one month
before our trip.
As well as there being more snow than usual, he weather was warmer than usual.
As a
result, there were hatches of 3/4-inch to 1-inch long miller
moths in the pine trees and
wherever else they could find cool places to
rest. (It included inside our clothes,
waders, etc., that we hung
on our clothesline.) The fish were feeding on these moths.
So the
most productive flies that we used while fishing were the largest flies that we
had
with us.
An afternoon rainstorm or thunderstorm typically rolls through the lake area,
lasting
between 15 minutes and 1 hour, starting between 1 o'clock and 5
o'clock. However, no
storm occurred that afternoon.
Nevertheless, fishing was good, especially when doing it
from the belly
boats that we took with us. That day, my friend and I caught
approximately 28 fish -- my friend caught 17 or 18 and I caught 10. (By
the way, all of
the fish are cutthroat trout.) I caught two of mine
in the morning, from the shore, using
red-and-white daredevils. I
caught the remaining eight fish in the afternoon, from my
belly boat, using
a bubble-and-fly setup and a size 10 Green Drake dry fly. Most of the
fish were between 12 and 13 inches long and the largest fish that I caught
was 16 inches
long.
Due to the elevation -- exactly 10,000 feet -- it is easy to get fatigued.
On top of that, my
friend had a sinus infection. He ended up
taking a 2-hour nap starting at about 2
o'clock that afternoon.
Later, I took a half-hour nap. Soon afterwards, two couples
arrived
at the lake and camped at the designated spot next to us. ("Couldn't you
camp at one of the three other spots, not the one right next to us?")
It is so peaceful and quiet at the lake that I notice, and count, airplanes as
they fly
overhead. That day, I counted about 67 of them. The
airplane included commercial
jets and personal prop planes.
We had dinner -- beef jerky -- at about 7:30. I stayed up until about
9:30, watching the
moon light the hill of the other side of the lake and
also spotting stars between the
clouds. Because of the near full-
moonlight, I could only see the brightest of stars and constellations such as Arcturus,
Polaris, and the Big Dipper.
Saturday, July 12th --
My friend and I got up at about 7:30. After eating breakfast -- instant
breakfasts in
water that we got from the spring coming from the side of the
glacier -- we started
fishing at about 8 o'clock.
While my friend was taking another nap, I decided to fish the creek that is fed
from the
adjacent hills and runs behind the camp sites. I started
fishing near the bridge that is
part of the trail. In the first
hole, I had a 6-inch Brookie on the line but lost it. I had
another
hit in the same hole and then decided to move up the creek towards the lake.
I
fished several holes (refer to picture) but never had any other
bites/hits on the size 14
Green Trude that I had on the fly rod.
But who cares? It was a great time just
walking along the creek,
seeing how it changed at every bend.
I returned to camp and my friend was awake from his nap. While we sat
there talking,
"Camp Robbers" -- birds related to the blue jay family --
visited us, looking for food.
Other, more bothersome creatures that visited
us, were mosquitoes and flies. It seemed
like there were more
mosquitoes than usual, probably because of the late-season
precipitation
that occurred that year. The only way to evade them was to go out on the
lake in our belly boats.
As was the case the previous day, there was no afternoon rainstorm or
thunderstorm.
Although the lake is in a wilderness area, it seemed like
the people who stayed there did
not treat it as such. For example,
there were fire pits located in every camp site. Also,
the people
camping next to us had a fire going both Friday night and Saturday night.
That day, my friend and I caught approximately 19 fish -- my friend caught 3 or
4 and I
caught 15. I caught two of them in the morning from shore
using a red-and-white
daredevil. I caught one in the afternoon using
a Rainbow Trout streamer and the rest
of them in the late afternoon and
early evening (until I could not see the bubble on the
water any more) on a
yellow Woolly Worm. The largest fish was 13 inches long.
Regarding my daily count of airplanes, there were approximately 58 that flew
overhead.
I missed counting a lot of them because of the time because of
the time that I spent
fishing the creek.
Occasionally while sleeping at night, one can hear animals walking around the
tent.
During this trip, I did not hear anything at night.
Sunday, July 13th --
My friend and I got up at 6:55. I walked down to the lake and saw an
eagle (or hawk?)
flying over the other side of the lake. I ran back
to the camp, grabbed my camera, ran
back to the lake, and took a couple of
pictures of it. Unfortunately, my camera could
not zoom in enough to
capture it. My friend and I ate breakfast afterwards. We
packed up and were going to go over to the other side of the lake to fill up the
water jug
one more time when two volunteers with the forest service arrived
at our camp. We
talked for a while and they informed me that the
lake could soon change from a
Wilderness Area to an Exclusionary Area -- a
place where people could not camp at
sites located around the lake.
The reason was because people were not following the
wilderness area rules.
I told him that it would be unfortunate, but if it would save the
integrity of the lake, I would understand the decision.
After our conversation, we started walking around the lake. Along the
way, we passed
a couple that was fly-fishing. (That made a total of
10 people that we saw at the lake.)
After getting the water (that I was
taking to my dad in Denver because he could
not make the trip), we returned
to camp and left the lake at 12:10. We arrived at the
trail head at
about 2:50. Along the trail, we passed five people. Overall, it
was another
successful trip.
Prologue: After returning to Denver, I learned that some campers had been
attacked by
a black bear. They were located only a few mountain
ranges from us. The bear tore
open their tents and clawed and bit
them in the heads. It was the first time that a bear
had done that
in that area in over 30 years!