Part Of The Adventure

[hiketofish]

So last week managed to convince a few people to join me to try and get to a fairly remote lake in our National Parks. Research suggested that it had been stocked a long time ago but few reports ever made it out, so was worth a try to get to. By my estimation it would take two days to get to and big river crossings.

 

so up the river we went eventually finding a named lake that we were going to stop at but there was pretty poor camping in the area.

 

so we pushed on to an unnamed lake. Unfortunately getting there required some bushwhacking. Part of the adventure I suppose.

 

We passed the next lake, its un-named hoping to camp there but there was nothing to camp at. Surprisingly we didn't cross any creeks as expected as the next day we were to go up a side valley that was supposed to have a pretty good creek in it. Here's a look at this lake from above (next day's hiking)

 

So we continue bushwhacking and eventually find the last lake that is named and camp there. Here's the first view of it.

 

It is forest encircled so not great for flyfishing. I had a spinning reel and fly reel and used both. There's definitely closer spots to catch bigger brook trout, although still lots of fun.

 

Next day, decided to venture up to the goal lake. I decided to go up around the mountain instead of following the drainage straight up especially since the day before, we hadn't crossed any creeks, and I wanted to avoid some bushwhacking. We hiked from left to right above this cliff band.

 

There was great views up top. You can see a fairly well know pass....

 

Alas it wasn't without its challenges as we ran into this horrid kind of willow or alder that grew laterally that was very very tough to get through.

 

Here's a better view of how it grows laterally from the ground for a bit before growing up.

 

 

[maxwell]

looks like a dope adventure!

[hiketofish]

So we keep climbing and turn the corner of the mountain hoping we won't be cliffed out.

 

We decide to take some pretty sketchy ledges as not to lose any elevation

 

We weren't too happy about how exposed we were so we resolved to go back a different way. But the good news is that we could now see the waterfall coming out of the lake.

 

Finally we get to the lake. Its taken more than 5 hours to go 5km so it wasn't the easiest up.

 

I think its pretty beautiful but of course I've just invested 15 hours getting there. I fish (with spinning rod as its very windy) for 30 minutes. Its starting to sleet and its now 5:00 PM so we figure we better leave. A long way to go to not catch fish, maybe they are still there??

 

One last look of me fishing the outlet.

 

We head for home deciding to go down the drainage....big mistake. Here's our first cliff. There is a big cliff just after those rocks. We have to go way around.

 

Here's the same cliff from below, the previous one is from that little notch in the left middle of the cliff, notice the wonderful bushwhacking we had to go through to get to this picture point.

 

It was heinous. Steep thick willow and spruce, part of the adventure I guess.

 

We get to another cliff and have to go around, and then the stream canyons and we have down climb a dicey moss covered cliff. Its now dusk. We have mistakenly only brought one headlamp and have left the GPS back in the tent by mistake. We keep following the creek which is supposed to go to the un-named lake which is where I hope to find my bearings and go out the same way we did the day before. We decide to get on the right side of the creek and figure we will go until we hit the lake...it is now very low light and we are using our one headlight. I notice that it has a red light on at the back showing low battery. Excellent I think, part of the adventure. We have fresh batteries back at the tent. Soon we begin to go up which is not making any sense. I look at the map and note a height of land but it is way left of where the creek is on the map. We had been very conscious of staying right of the creek. Alas the creek disappears somewhere....and we have obviously crossed back over it unknowingly in the dark. So we aren't lost but we're not close to our tent either. An hour into darkness around 8:45 or so, our headlamp is gone and we are now bushwhacking by moonlight trying to get back to the river flats where the tent is. Bushwhacking is slow in the day time, you should try it at night without a light. So we finally stumble upon the un-named lake and make a beeline for where we know the river is. By beeline, I mean 500m in about an hour. We hit a beaver dam that we know is close to the river. Unfortunately we choose the right side of the beaver dam (small lake) and a small cliff blocks our path. So into the icy water we go (thankfully only waste deep) and trudge around the small lake. We come to the river and make a very dangerous cross, you can't judge where the shallow spots are at night... Now we are on the correct side of the river and need to just go up stream about a km and find our tent. Wouldn't you know it the river narrows into a small canyon. We could enter into the river and try to edge our way up or we could climb up over the canyon cliffs in the dark and endure more bushwhacking. We foolishly decide to stay in the river as we are already cold and soaked. All is going well until the rock juts out into the river and we have to go around it. We put our hands on the cliff face and literally pulled ourselves up inch by inch until we got around it. Funny how that was the most dangerous part of a long day. We slog into camp freezing cold and start heating up some water for soup and supper. It is now well after 11:00 at night but we do get to enjoy the stars... Here's one last look up the valley. Notice all the cliffs and headwalls. It also shows the higher route coming around the mountain on the left which is definitely the way to go.

 

[bigbowtrout]

Great post and pics!!!!!!! Thanks

[Jayhad]

wow adventure is right thanks for the story

 

[duanec]

great post!

[adams]

You are one hard-core dude!

[bhurt]

Great story but I am a old and busted up football player, you would never catch me doing something like that. Good on you guys for doing that looked like aloty of fun.

[Heimdallr]

Awesome post and pics! Sounds like a great adventure!

[Gary]

Damn good story...best reading on here for a long time

[Guest girlsfishtoo]

Wow what an adventure! Great story and pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[Keith]

That's intense.

[sirocco]

Great photo story. Thanks for putting it up.

[reevesr1]

Damn good story...best reading on here for a long time

x2

 

[hiketofish]

I like reading about other people's fishing trips so its fun to post a fun trip. A lot of simple errors conspired to having us bushwhack in the dark, like forgetting my headlight in my clothes bag, my hiking partners' light needing fresh batteries that were also at the tent. Leaving a bit later in the morning (due to fishing!). Also it would seem that following an outlet creek would be considerably easier if it didn't disappear underground. Now if I had caught fish at the lake it would have really been a long night. When I first got there, I knew we only had a half hour to fish. The lake is really clear and there is extensive gravelly shallows and a short outlet. It is deep in the middle and off the cliffs. I fished close to the cliffs in this pic but didn't see any fish.

 

Here's another view of the lake.

 

The lake has the same name as my brother however I think it was more likely named after another famous explorer who plied this area hundreds of years ago. It would be a short scramble to get to the top of the mountain also bearing the same name should you make it to the lake. That should get you started if you were curious. I'm fine if someone wants to guess it or thinks they know it. You can likely do this trip early season (lake would be frozen though) or late in the Fall as the river crossing would be dangerous in the summer. Don't expect company or a trail although you might find numerous broken willows where we plowed through. I'd love to read your post if you go.

[zed]

pocaterra?

[hiketofish]

pocaterra?

 

That would be a funny name for my brother! Think first names.

[navigud]

Is there a prize for guessing the lake? Norman lake

[hiketofish]

Is there a prize for guessing the lake? Norman lake

 

 

Not Norman. The Norman Lake I've been to is on the way to Pinto Lake or going in the back way to Michelle Lakes via sunset pass. If it helps the lake is in the same big river drainage as Norman.

[snakeman]

Awesome post, got me thinking about adventures to plan for next summer

[Din]

Great story, thanks for sharing.

 

 

This looks like Glacier Lake...and Howse River. Sounds like a great hike from what I've read. Haven't been able to find the name of the actual lake.

[hiketofish]

Great story, thanks for sharing.

 

 

 

This looks like Glacier Lake...and Howse River. Sounds like a great hike from what I've read. Haven't been able to find the name of the actual lake.

 

 

Din is getting very close. Surely one can name the first name of a famous Explorer in the region. Its not "Joseph" Howse or "James" Outram.

 

 

[Taco]

Good old PP.... Peter Pond

 

Looks like you guys had a bit of an OH *hit!! moment on those ledges, reminds me a bit of my mountain huntin' days...too scary to go up and a BIG step down

[hiketofish]

Uhh no.

 

 

 

Good old PP.... Peter Pond

 

[Taco]

KELSEY, HENRY

MACKENZIE, ALEXANDER

THOMPSON, DAVID