Normally I'm not much an online poster, but being newer to the site and seeing Phil K's report of some nice alpine lakes, I figured I'd share a couple recent outings.
Earlier in the year I bought a Wilderness Lite float tube, so I've been trying it out in the mountains. A couple weeks ago, I decided it was time to try a bikepacking and fly fishing trip. It was a little interesting figuring out how to load it all up on the bike, but I managed to make it work! It would be funny to hear what people thought of me riding down the road with an "A" frame of fins on the back of my bike, haha.
Fully loaded bike, taking a quick break for lunch.
It was juuust windy enough to make everything a little tougher.
The standard fare at this lake... Was hoping for slightly bigger fish, but maybe I just wasn't finding them. Also, the rod visible in the picture is the first one I've made using an oak roadbuilding rack that I bought through the classifieds on this site (thanks Islander!).
Campsite. I could have struggled and pushed my bike up to the lake, but after riding uphill for 2 hours, I was OK with a roadside spot.
The ride down in the morning had some excellent views of Rainier. The entire loop was about 24 miles and 2,000 ft of elevation gain. A fun outing and a good "proof of concept"!
Last weekend I swapped out the bike for a backpack and went back into the mountains. I was a little worried about how much weight I would be packing, but it ended up being fairly reasonable. I never weighed my pack, but I'd guess it was around 35lbs.
Probably not many people get to fish out in the middle of this lake and get to enjoy this view!
A chunker in the making. This was about the upper limit of the size of fish I caught here.
Another campsite shot with the lake in the background.
The view on the way out. I could see an impending layer of smoke from the new fire by the Canadian border. This trip was about 13 miles and 2,300' of vert.
I've adopted a new habit of having 3-4 tabs open in my browser; one for Caltopo, 1-2 for WDFW alpine lakes map, and one with WA Trails trip reports... Anyone have any tips for analyzing WDFW's data for lakes? Seems like anything labeled 'Overabundant' will have a bunch of dinky fish, and 'Stocked' lakes are a bit of a mixed bag. Maybe aim for some lakes that aren't categorized on their site? I also stumbled upon https://www.hilakers.org today... Seems like a fun club to join.
Earlier in the year I bought a Wilderness Lite float tube, so I've been trying it out in the mountains. A couple weeks ago, I decided it was time to try a bikepacking and fly fishing trip. It was a little interesting figuring out how to load it all up on the bike, but I managed to make it work! It would be funny to hear what people thought of me riding down the road with an "A" frame of fins on the back of my bike, haha.
Fully loaded bike, taking a quick break for lunch.
It was juuust windy enough to make everything a little tougher.
The standard fare at this lake... Was hoping for slightly bigger fish, but maybe I just wasn't finding them. Also, the rod visible in the picture is the first one I've made using an oak roadbuilding rack that I bought through the classifieds on this site (thanks Islander!).
Campsite. I could have struggled and pushed my bike up to the lake, but after riding uphill for 2 hours, I was OK with a roadside spot.
The ride down in the morning had some excellent views of Rainier. The entire loop was about 24 miles and 2,000 ft of elevation gain. A fun outing and a good "proof of concept"!
Last weekend I swapped out the bike for a backpack and went back into the mountains. I was a little worried about how much weight I would be packing, but it ended up being fairly reasonable. I never weighed my pack, but I'd guess it was around 35lbs.
Probably not many people get to fish out in the middle of this lake and get to enjoy this view!
A chunker in the making. This was about the upper limit of the size of fish I caught here.
Another campsite shot with the lake in the background.
The view on the way out. I could see an impending layer of smoke from the new fire by the Canadian border. This trip was about 13 miles and 2,300' of vert.
I've adopted a new habit of having 3-4 tabs open in my browser; one for Caltopo, 1-2 for WDFW alpine lakes map, and one with WA Trails trip reports... Anyone have any tips for analyzing WDFW's data for lakes? Seems like anything labeled 'Overabundant' will have a bunch of dinky fish, and 'Stocked' lakes are a bit of a mixed bag. Maybe aim for some lakes that aren't categorized on their site? I also stumbled upon https://www.hilakers.org today... Seems like a fun club to join.
