A Walk to Serene

The fishing was so satisfying. I mostly used a light color emerger pattern that really does not have a name. I just tied a pattern that I thought might work on the Owyhee River and it worked well last Friday. I caught six fish before a front begin to move in and the barometer fell. The first two fish were about 14-15 inches and the rest were about 10 inches. I tried to lift the second fish with my 7X tippet and the fish was too heavy for that. Nice fish. Cutthroat won't jump, but they do fight hard and, they are easier to fool and catch than rainbow. I kind of like fish that are easily fooled unlike those blankety, blank brown trout on the Owyhee River. Oh, well. Oh, yes. I use barbless hooks and properly release the fish safely back to the waters.

Ahh, the lake. Serene Lake is well named. I feel serene around this lake. Well the truth is I find serenity around all mountain lakes. Sometimes I just have to hike into a mountain lake and fish. It seems like something draws me there. Can't fight it. Problem is that I can't talk friends of my age group to go with me. Since my balance is not as great as it used to be and my legs are not as strong as they once were, these trips are getting more problematic, but I move along carefully and smartly. After all I have a lot of experience doing this. I have requested that my ashes be scattered along the Monumental Creek lakes out of Cougar Basin out of Big Creek Guard Station. It is in my will.

I don't know where these pictures will show up on this blog, but there is a picture looking back from near the lake to the ridge that must be crossed to get back to the trail head. There is about a 300 foot elevation gain in a rather short distance--translated as a steep climb, but there is a trail. I found two stout sticks and used them as walking sticks. That really helped with the climb---kind of like putting it in four wheel drive. Does cause some sore shoulders to go along with the sore legs the next day, though. I was surprised that I did not get leg cramps in bed that night, then remembered that I have been eating four or five tomatoes a day out of the garden along with an uncountable number of cherry tomatoes (I pop them like candy), so I think the potassium load is preventing cramps.

The trail sign for Serene Lake points the wrong way. That is because the tree that it was once attached fell down as a result of the tree. The sign was placed in a convenient spot. Because of the way it points, I never did find the trail last year when the ground was thoroughly trampled by the sheep.

These pictures show that a fire raged through the area some years past. Some years as in 17 years past. About 250,000 acres burned in 1992. McCall, Idaho's air quality was so bad that one could hardly stay in the town. See the trail marker on the tree? Ha, not much left. The tree did not fare much better than the trail marker. When I first started backpacking 43 years ago, all trails had blazed trees along the trail so the hunters could follow the trails when snow covered the ground. I wish the Forest Service continued to blaze trails in this matter because some trails are no longer well maintained (I guess we spent that money in Iraq) so the trails are sometimes only faint traces.

Sometimes a walk to a mountain lake means walking through a band of sheep and a sheep herders camp. The herders are friendly and usually one or more speaks passable English. If a fisherman catches fish in a mountain lake, the herders welcome having a few left in their camp. This time I was fishing a trophy classified lake which means the only fish that can be kept are those 20" are longer. I did not see any that big let alone catch such a big fish. The sheep are moved all summer along a designated stock driveway estblished by the U.S. Forest Service. So if one goes back to an area where one hiked the year, or years, previous; one will see the sheep again at the same time of the year. I did not get to see the herd dogs work on this trip, but that is a real treat. Those four or five little dogs work so hard moving a thousand or even two thousand sheep along according to the commands of their Peruvian herders. The commands are shouted in their native tongue and one can heard for a mile or more depending on the wind and lay of the land. Then there are the big Great Pyrennes for herd protection and, of course, four or five head of horses. The horses are hobbled and one wears a bell (the bell mare). The herders keep the horses about a quarter mile from their camp, I suppose so the bell doesn't keep them up all night long. Some years the owner of these particular bands reports losses of a hundred or more sheep due to wolf predation. There is now a hunting season on wolves in Idaho. The hunt is to last until 22o wolves have been killed. There is an estimated 800-1000 wolves in Idaho. The tags sold for $11 and over 11,000 tags have been sold. I would suspect that the owner of these sheep would welcome hunters who hold a wolf permit to hunt along the edges of his band of sheep. The Great Pyrennes are not especially welcoming to alien beings though, so beware.

Time to move on. Perry and I have been working for three days now building three seven feet tall by 30 inches wide five shelf book cases. These are for the Little Theater. We will propose that the bookshelves be sold at a silent auction during the seven night run of the play. This way the theater can recoup the expense of making the bookcases and possibly make some profit. We don't have the space to store props, so it would be better that some person made use of these evne if the theater does not recoup the cost because otherwise we would end up destroying the cases. Seems like a waste and they really are sturdy and well constructed.

Time to catch some ZZZZZ's because we are going to spend another day working on the bookcases.

Night, night.

Papa Coyote loves you all.