# Nature Hike



## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Well, the plan was to take a short hike into a lake that I've never fished nor heard a report from. It was close to Guardsman Pass between Midway and the Brighton/Solitude area. I'd seen a few lakes on Google Earth and was very interested since I'd never heard anything about them.

After some digging, I found out that there was a Girl Scout camp or something in the area, but the lake I was looking at was pretty far from that and very close to the trail head to Clayton Peak, at the pass.

Of course, there's plenty of water around and I had some backup plans in case something went wrong with the first lake.

I made my way up the dirt road and pulled over to see what Midway Reservoir looked like, just for fun:










Pretty, but it didn't appear to have fish and it looked quite shallow.

I made it to the pass and really started wondering if I would be able to fish this lake. Nice view though:










I tried to decipher the posted notice, but couldn't make out whether or not fishing was allowed in the watershed area.










I figured that I'd just go down to the lake and hope to avoid any trouble, since the sign was illegible. It's a quick hike, but it's pretty. The grass is green and wildflowers are everywhere:




























Good thing I had my tube inflated and I was all geared up for a long day of fishing. Then I came across an old barb wire fence that had been cut and spread open for the trail. I noticed a sign lying on the ground that said no this, no that, no, no, no and fishing was one of the NO's.

:x I was only about halfway there, so it wasn't a huge pain. I hiked back to the car wishing I could just peek at the lake to see if there was any surface action (which meant fish).

It looked like another backup plan would be the main attraction.

There's a lot of water that comes from the mountains above Brighton and I haven't spent much time there, so I decided to try Twin Lakes Reservoir. There's an access road that goes all the way up to the bottom of the dam and even higher to one of the ski lifts, but it gets a little steep and my car was conquered by gravity about halfway up. I parked and packed my stuff the rest of the way in.

Gorgeous place to be:



















It was pretty shallow from where I was, but the dam hinted that it was a pretty deep lake, so I shoved off on my tube to get some fishing done. Here are some gratuitous pics from the tube as I kicked all the way over to the inlet after trying the dam area for awhile with no bites:























































There was very little wind and the temperature was comfortably mild. Everything was great except the fact that I couldn't get any fish to bite...or show themselves for that matter. I had tried jigging, minnows, flies, hardware...I couldn't understand what was wrong, so I decided to beach my tube and fish near the inlet since there's always fish near fresh, oxygenated water, right?

Well true, but the only fish I had seen all day were shiner and sucker minnows. While I was trying to get out of my tube, the curious little shiners swarmed me. Check it out:



I continued to fish into the afternoon without a bite. Once I had resorted to using a worm, I noticed some chew marks on one when it was retrieved, but I never felt it.

I saw a few yearling cutts swimming amongst the minnows and a couple that might have hit 12 inches, but they wanted nothing to do with me or my tackle/bait. Never saw any big ones, but I saw some ripples early on that looked impressive.

I called a skunk a skunk and went back to my car. I thought about trying Silver Lake, down below, but the parking lot was overflowing and I had no interest with rubbing elbows today. Off I went.

Another shot of the pass without the morning haze:










On the way back, I stopped at the Charleston Bridge for a last ditch effort to score a fish or two, but I got no love. I _did_ see a helpless little bird that didn't pass its first flight test though:










It spooked and hopped into the tall grass next to the river. That's a goner for sure. Too bad.

So, log another skunk to my portfolio. :| At least I got to get out on the tube and get some good hiking in.

Happy Fishing, Humans.


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## cane2477 (Oct 24, 2007)

I'll take a skunk at a beautiful place like that anyday than sitting at home doing nothing. Glad you enjoyed the hike and i'm sure you will get 'em next time.


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## BRL1 (Sep 12, 2007)

Sounds like alot better day than home working on cars. But now that I have them running again maybe I can get the granddaughter out and get her hooked on the outdoors.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

LOAH that is way to many skunkings lately for you, is the world comming to an end? I have some open weekends in Aug maybe we need to get out again...


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## Greenguy88 (Sep 7, 2007)

Sorry about the skunkage bro, it beats workin all day though! Looks pretty up there, I wouldnt mind doin some explorin in those parts!


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## The Naturalist (Oct 13, 2007)

In the first picture you have Penstemon (vivid blue flowers), and a type of Groundsel (daisy like flowers). The pale blue flowers in the second picture are called Stickseed (sometimes ID as forget-me-nots).
Great pics as usual.


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

The reason's for the 'skunk' is, your spending _way _too much time taking them beautiful pictures !!


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

Sorry about the skunkage. Its a realization that I have had many times also. It was cool to see those pictures of the pass. A buddy of mine has a cabin in that area, and we snowmobile up there all the time. That area is beautiful, but restricted as hell. "No this, no that" is right!


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## mjschijf (Oct 1, 2007)

Sorry about the skunk, but as long as you are going to beautiful places like that I'm sure it is still well worth the trip. As far as fishing goes, I'm sure you'll break out of your dry spell soon enough. Thanks for another great report!


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## CaJones (Dec 19, 2007)

LOAH, 

Nice post. NICE PICS! Only recently have I come to enjoy pics of wildflowers, mountain ranges, lakeviews, etc. Those pics are brilliant! Thanks for the post. 

If anyone else has a similar interest in wildflowers and such, last weekend I went to strawberry for a morning trip. Getting skunked aside, on the road between the marina and the highway I noticed at least 7 different color of wildflowers. It was amazing stellar!


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Thanks for the compliments, even though the force was not with me for the fishing. Being up in the high country is reason enough to have a good time, regardless of how the fish are acting.

I'm still glad I went.

If I'm not too busy moving (still haven't nailed down a new place yet), next weekend should be fun for the whole family. The Uintas are calling and we're ready. :wink:

After work yesterday, I went to visit one of my lunch spots to harass a brown or two with my blue fox and chase the skunk off, but when I got to my hole, I was shocked/devastated that someone had taken some earth moving equipment and torn it all up. :shock: They really messed up that hole, so I guess I'll have to find them upstream from now on. :?


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## takemefishin (Sep 13, 2007)

At least I know Where my skunk smell went :mrgreen: 
b.l.n.t


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Okay, I'll bite.

What does b.l.n.t. stand for?


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

LOAH said:


> Okay, I'll bite.
> 
> What does b.l.n.t. stand for?


Better luck next time.....


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Aha! Yes, thanks.

Wow, I feel like a noob. :mrgreen:


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

LOAH said:


> Aha! Yes, thanks.
> 
> Wow, I feel like a noob. :mrgreen:


Old people rule !! 8)


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## stillhuntin (Feb 14, 2008)

Great report and pics. Thanks for sharing. The godess of angling will surely smile on you soon.


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## fishcarver (Sep 10, 2007)

Thanks for the report. It looks like a lot of fun.


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## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

That lake looks a heck of a lot like one of my favorite lakes I hike/backpack to.


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