It was cold when we got up this morning and we had to break out heavy jackets. Not so cold that we had to turn on Speedy's furnace, but we had noticed that people were wearing jackets and long pants when we arrived yesterday morning—now we know why.
Today was a day for a hike. The choices included Lower Quartz Lake, six miles R/T, but a 1000' climb each way; Numa Ridge Lookout, 11 miles R/T, 2930' up; Quartz Lake, 12 miles R/T, 1800' climb out, 1600' climb back; Akokala Lake, 11.4 miles R/T, 800' gain out; and Bowman Lake Head, 14.2 miles R/T, rolling along the lake side. Guess which we chose....yup, Bowman Lake Head, saving Akokala Lake for tomorrow.
After breakfast we headed to the Bowman Lake trail, bringing along, for the first time, my collapsible fishing rod, strapped onto the daypack. The trail winds along west side of the lake, mostly above it, but going close to the shore in places with some side paths to the water. We walked out to one where we could see fish, probably bull trout, about 18" long in the crystal clear water. Along the trail, there were quite a few signs of horse activity, hoof-prints and droppings, making it less than pleasant walking in spots, as the trail was rather narrow and bushy. We hiked about halfway to the head of the lake before deciding to turn around and head back to a nice lakeside spot we'd seen on the way out to have lunch.
As we passed by it the first time, I predicted that it was going to be crowded when we got back. Sure enough, just as we settled on a log and got out our lunch, two kayakers cruised by and a couple of hikers decided to stop and sit around on the trail above us. We persevered and they were all soon gone and we enjoyed a quiet lunch.
After lunch, I decided it was time to try out the pole. The lake contains four types of trout and two types of whitefish, only two of them, the Lake Trout and one of the Whitefish can be kept. I'm not sure which Whitefish, but both it and the Lake Trout have a deeply forked tail fins...not that it made any difference in my case. All I caught was a tree.
We headed further back along the trail to a spot where we actually had seen large fish on the way out. We should have heeded the maxim of "fish where they are" and tried then, as they were no where to be seen on our return trip. After a few more unsuccessful casts, it was time to collapse the rod and head back to camp for a couple of cold ones, Limonata, in my case, seltzer for Ellen.
No fish for dinner tonight.
After dinner, we made another attempt at fishing, heading up the lake to where we were earlier. On the way we met a young woman with a radio, who asked if we were the campground hosts (Do we already look like campground hosts?). She was coming down from the Numa Lookout where she is the lookout ranger. Ten days on and four days off, she is up on the Numa Ridge alone (except for the occasional hikers), looking for forest fires—not a bad summer job.
The log where I had hoped to drop a line was already occupied by three young men fishing, so we went on to the next spot. After a few casts, three strands of line wound of the reel at once, totally snarling everything—including me, who became very snarly.
Photos
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