Wait, it's almost the end of July and I haven't been on an overnight hike yet? ( I won't get into why.) That calls for drastic action, and my wife suggested a lake that when we'd visited years ago held lots of plump, willing rainbows. And it's "only" 4.5 miles with 3100' of gain, including some rugged cross country... sure, why not?
The NFS road description was not encouraging, and I'm a big chicken when it comes to 4WD adventures, but we made it to the trailhead, loaded up, and got to work. You follow and old logging/mine road and eventually break out into a sea of bracken in the upper valley. We kept our energy up eating ripe thimbleberries along the trail.
From there it's onward and upward past the old mine works where the real fun begins.
Four hours of labor got us to Ursus Lake where we stopped for a well earned rest, and I settled into a high perch to scan for fish. It's been kind of a theme with me lately; looking for fish in cool places and coming up short. This lake was last reported stocked in 2016 and I saw nothing. Well, other than some beautiful backcountry.
From there, it's another 400+' up to a lovely camp spot with ledges, slabs, water, and sunset views to make it all worthwhile.
The next day was HOT, and we were tired, but found the energy to wander over the ridge above Ursus Lake and take in the views N to Lennox Mtn. There's a really beautiful lake basin on the other side, but it takes a bunch of rock hopping and maybe a bit of fourth class scrambling to cross that ridge. Not this time....
We found some shade and cool running water, and lounged about before heading back to camp. For variety's sake, and to avoid some steep descending we opted to hike out the next day by traversing rock and heather to the Bare Mtn. trail and out. The bushwacking wasn't Too bad, and the blueberries on the col were superb. We crossed above another set of lakes to which I've never been. How hard could it be getting there?
Again, it was a hot day, and a long way out, and I had that washout section of road to worry about. Oh, and Thai dinner in N Bend.
I'm usually more coy than this about locations, but- knock yourself out...
The NFS road description was not encouraging, and I'm a big chicken when it comes to 4WD adventures, but we made it to the trailhead, loaded up, and got to work. You follow and old logging/mine road and eventually break out into a sea of bracken in the upper valley. We kept our energy up eating ripe thimbleberries along the trail.
From there it's onward and upward past the old mine works where the real fun begins.
Four hours of labor got us to Ursus Lake where we stopped for a well earned rest, and I settled into a high perch to scan for fish. It's been kind of a theme with me lately; looking for fish in cool places and coming up short. This lake was last reported stocked in 2016 and I saw nothing. Well, other than some beautiful backcountry.
From there, it's another 400+' up to a lovely camp spot with ledges, slabs, water, and sunset views to make it all worthwhile.
The next day was HOT, and we were tired, but found the energy to wander over the ridge above Ursus Lake and take in the views N to Lennox Mtn. There's a really beautiful lake basin on the other side, but it takes a bunch of rock hopping and maybe a bit of fourth class scrambling to cross that ridge. Not this time....
We found some shade and cool running water, and lounged about before heading back to camp. For variety's sake, and to avoid some steep descending we opted to hike out the next day by traversing rock and heather to the Bare Mtn. trail and out. The bushwacking wasn't Too bad, and the blueberries on the col were superb. We crossed above another set of lakes to which I've never been. How hard could it be getting there?
Again, it was a hot day, and a long way out, and I had that washout section of road to worry about. Oh, and Thai dinner in N Bend.
I'm usually more coy than this about locations, but- knock yourself out...
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