Bikinis at Snow Lake

Alpental's Snow Lake

Snow Lake, at Snoqualmie Pass, is the one of most beautiful places you can see in an afternoon. The last time I'd been there was over ten years ago -- I had hiked to it before I got the fishing bug. Why hadn't I been back there in 10 years? Three reasons: One, its never been known as a good fishing lake. Two, due to its southern flank it stays frozen well into June (July, this year). And three, because of its moderate difficultly, the Snow Lake trail is extremely popular. Its still well worth the visit, just go on a weekday and avoid the worst of the crowds if you can.

Casey and I arrived at the parking lot at Alpental and started hiking at 11am on a Friday. I made a mistake and didn't bring proper footgear for Casey; he started out the hike in some old sketchers sandals. We had to apply band-aids to the blisters on his heels at the two mile mark; just when the trail starts climbing the Northern wall. The climb up the wall is quite easy, to our delight.

Snow Lake

As we topped the crest we were greeted by the beautiful sight of the largest alpine lake at the pass: Snow Lake. By now the old sandals had eaten through all four of the band-aids in my first aid kit and Casey elected to go barefoot the last mile to the lake. The descent takes longer than you'd think. We ate "Strawberry D" sandwiches (Grandpa Al's jam and peanut butter) on the lake shore. Casey chased a big frog while I threw flies at rising fish. A good sized trout (12") cruised up right in front me. I tossed my fly out to it and it rose up but then refused at the last second.

a trout passes by us

Around the shore from us, a dozen young people were frolicking in the water. Some of the girls were in bikinis and the others were just in their underwear. You don't see THAT at every alpine lake you go to! I'll take that over bears and dudes with guns any day!

Bikini Model

I caught a 6" trout from shore and I waded out to my waist trying to catch another but didn't get one. There was an honest-to-goodness bikini model posing in the water nearby and a photographer with a DSLR was snapping away. I later got my own picture (above); its from far away and its grainy but it proves what I was saying for the disbelievers.

Casey walked back to the trailhead ALL FOUR MILES in bare feet. Everyone we passed commented about how tough he was and he ate it up. I was proud of the guy and I've been telling him so ever since. This 8 miles hike is his longest so far, and 5 miles of that with no shoes! When we got home he had to take a bath and his blisters hurt so bad he cried. Poor guy.

If you've never been to Snow Lake, definitely DO go, don't miss this true gem. I recommend going on a weekday in September. The crowds will have thinned significantly, and the cooler weather will keep the aggressive deer flies at bay. Take exit 52 and go north into Alpental. Park at the large parking lot at the end of the road. Be sure that you have your North West Forest Pass, which you can get at any ranger station for $30. I plan to go back, so maybe I'll see you on the trail!

Northest Forest Pass

McLeod Lake

McLeod and backdrop

Some days it seems like all the bad luck comes at you at once. Friday, May 14th was one of those days. I've had some ill-fated trips but this one was so bad its almost funny. 

McLeod lake is only 20 minutes from my house, and its a 5 minute walk from the road through the woods in the Hancock Tree Farm.  Again, I decided to take a Float Tube, this time my largish Fat Cat 4, which had just come back from the repair shop.

The comedy of errors began immediately upon my arrival at the parking spot.

10:30am - I open the back of the truck only to find that I'd forgotten half my fishing gear. Fine, so I drive 20 minutes home, get the rest my stuff, stop for a smoothie, and I'm back to the parking spot at noon.
12:00pm - While pulling on my waders, something goes POP in my back.  I'm overcome with a paralyzing pain.  I can't breathe; I'm thinking "this is it, I'm dying in the bed of my pickup with my waders half on, just like I always knew I would."  Eventually the pain subsides enough for me to breathe and move, very, very slowly.  Should I go home?  No, Amy is having a girl party and I don't want to crash it.  Besides, I took the day off, and I figure, if I can get to the lake the water will support my weight and I'll be fine.  So I finish getting ready, very slowly, and proceed to walk to the lake.That 5 minute walk takes 35 minutes as I have to stop every few feet to rest my aching back.
1:35pm - At the lake now.  As I put my float tube down I hear a "POP-fssssssssssssssssss".  The float tube seam has popped (again) and air is rushing out.  I will not be floating in this float tube.   Look up the sky.  "God, am I not supposed to be fishing today?"  No answer.  Well, I did bring a spare tube, and I did take the day off.  So I begin the painful trudge BACK to the truck to get the spare tube.
2:30pm - The round-trip to the truck, which normally would have taken 10 minutes, took almost 60 because the wrenching pain.  I sit down and put a fin on my left boot.  SNAP, the strap that holds the fin onto my boot breaks.  That's never happened before.  I decide that if none of the above things was going to stop me, then a missing fin wouldn't either.  I'd kick around with NO fins if necessary at this point.

Four hours into the trip and I'm just getting wet!

The good news is that once in the water, I felt no pain. The water suspended me and I forgot all about my back. Fishing was extremely slow, though. I caught one fish, on a large snowcone about 12' under and indicator. In fact, it was very nice fish, one of the largest I've ever caught in the tree farm. McLeod can make them bigger than most of the lakes up there for some reason.

I took a picture of the fish.

But I lost my camera somewhere on the way home.

Of course. What a trip!

Spring Break Day 2: Quincy Lake & Rocky Ford

Before I continue with the trip report, let me acknowledge that this spring break trip has nothing to do with the Snoqualmie Valley.  Truth be told, there's not a ton of good fishing in the valley right now for the following reasons:

1. The mainstem of the Snoqualmie is closed (as are most salmon and steelhead rivers this time of year).
   
2. The forks of the river don't fish well until late summer, in my experience.
   
3. The valley lakes are either still closed or haven't been planted.
   
4. The Hancock Tree farm passes have sold out already (whoops! should have got mine!)
   

So for our spring fishing trip we went east out to the Columbia Basin.  I love fishing the desert!  Living in Snoqualmie, you can be at the basin in just 2 hours, which is yet another advantage to our little town.

Anyway, On with the report!

After breakfasting in Ellensburg, we hit the road for Quincy, just on the other side of the Columbia river. Quincy Lake is a beautiful desert lake that receives generous plants of rainbow trout early in the year.  It being a weekday, there were only a few other fisherman plunking away from shore as we motored by in our jon boat.  Amy immediately started getting strikes on her black woolly bugger.

Over the next four hours or so, she received strike after strike, ultimately catching 10 fish, which is a lot for her.  None of them were larger than the one in the picture but that's okay, she had a great time.  The lake was quite windy and by the end of our time there my face felt somewhat blasted by all the cold air. Somehow I caught only 2 fish at Quincy Lake, which seemed strange because the water was clearly teaming with trout.
 

We left the Quincy Wildlife area and drove down to the still-sleeping resort town of Crescent Bar looking for ice cream but everything was closed.  We settled for Mexican food in the town of Quincy proper and then headed to Rocky Ford, one of Amy's favorite fishing spots.

If you've never been to Rocky Ford its worth going.  Its a desert spring creek with a hatchery right on it.  The water is loaded with giant trout who are just milling around feasting on bugs all day.  The trout get quite smart so catching them can be challenging.  We usually just fish from the dock.  Amy can cast farther than I can now I noticed.  Of course, she immediately hooked up with a couple of big trout.
 

I caught only one trout, which happened to be the largest one.  Please ignore my funny Elmer-Fudd hat -- it was cold at the end of the day and I appreciated warm ears.

Finally tally for the day: Amy = 12 Fish.  David = 3 fish.

Day 2: Dinner and Lodging

We fished until dark and then drove down to the motel cluster at Moses Lake (all the way back to I-90).  We stayed at the Ramada Inn and ate fast food in our room.   I'd stay at the Ramada again, it was nice and reasonably priced.

Secret Lake with Rex Takasugi

Me, wet, at the Secret Lake, photo by Rex Takasugi

Took Thursday off to guide my friend, Rex Takasugi, to the Secret Lake that I had such a good time at last summer. We met up at the North Bend Bar and Grill for a yummy, heavy breakfast before driving up near a mountain pass to hike to the lake. Rex hiked in his waders with his 15lb Fish Cat 4 strapped to his back, looking for all the world like a giant, 8' tall beetle. To his credit, we made great time on the hike; from the cars to the lake in only 75 minutes. My new GPS says the elevation gain is 1000 feet, which is more than I thought it was.

Photo by Rex Takasugi

As for the fishing; Rex's amazingly detailed fishing report describes it better than I will, but let me summarize for you. We fished for six hours, but really only caught fish in a 30 minute window when suddenly all the fish in the lake went wild. Rex netted three fish, though he had hooked many more. All his rainbows in the 13-16" range. Above is a beautiful picture of one of them.

I caught two fish, about 17" each, on a mayfly imitation that I tie with just peacock herl and grizzly hackle (when I got home I tied 6 more of them!). Each fish was dark with spawning colors. This was my second trip with my Sevylor Trail Boat and I accidentally "popped it" by beaching it on some sharp rocks. My friend Vlad will show me how to repair it I hope!

Rex Takasugi

To me, the Secret Lake was nice, but the day was really about Fishing with Rex. The day is coming when his name will jump to your mind when you think "modern PNW fly-fishing masters." I am lucky to have fished with him a few times. He is a graceful, delightful gentleman.