Friday, August 19, 2016 - Fish?

In 2010, six years ago, when I first did the Sierra High Route, we hiked past Barrett Lakes on our traverse from Potluck Pass to Knapsack Pass. As we did, as is my habit, I cast my fishing lure into the waters a few times from the south bank. Nothing. Our route led around the north side of the lake. As I approached the north shore, we met two gentlemen coming the other direction. They said they had seen tons of trout along the shore and we should try fishing. I said we had but had no bites, but, without removing my pack I reached behind, grabbed my telescoping pole, extended it, and cast into the water. There was no wind rippling the surface so I could see my lure spinning its way toward me. As I watced a huge trout swam up and bit the lure. The ensuring battle ended with me landing a 21" trout. In six more casts I had 4 more fish, the smallest 14".  All of them fat. Because we were moving on I had to clean them,  put them in a bear can with some snow and pack the 5 miles to camp. 

As you can imagine, I was excited to return to Barrett Lake this year, hopefully camping at the lake, thereby getting to spend more time fishing, and eating the fish without having to pack them. 

We woke up at the usual 6:00 am and began our morning rituals. While laying under my quilt I opened my bear can, extracted powdered milk and nut based granola and ate breakfast. Dave was soon up cooking while Noah lounged in his sleeping bag in the Megamid tent. I was ready to go soon, so I again took the opportunity to write this blog while Dave and Noah finished up breakfast and packed. 

We were soon heading down the trail. In 1.2 miles we had passed Lower Palisades Lake. We left the JohnMuir Trail at this point and began climbing 1500' up over Cirque Pass. We had climbed about 500' in 20 minutes and had reached a fairly level spot where we stopped to rest. At this point Noah realized he no longer had his Fit Bit on his wrist and surmised he had taken it off the put sun screen on at the beginning of the climb. Without hesitating a second, he decided to run back down to get it. We decided to let him go, applauding his initiative it reminding him not to hurry too much for fear of falling on the steep terrain and hurting himself. 

After about ten minutes we looked over the rink of the hill and saw Noah disappear around a rock outcrop about 300 feet below us.  He still had a couple hundred feet to go. Dave and I returned to our packs and whiled away the time talking and eating a bit. 

After about 20 more minutes we began to worry a bit. Looking over the edge we did no see Noah return. We let a few more minutes pass, then Dave prepared a light fanny pack to take down the mountainside in search of Noah. He said his fatherly anxiety level was at a 3 of 10. Another hiker was ascending the slope, so we decided to wait until he reached us so we could ask if had seen Noah. When he reached our position he said he had talked to Noah and he was still headed down for his Fit Bit. 

Dave was just taking his first steps down the hill when Noah came into view about 300' below us. We both felt a sense of relief. Another ten minutes and Noah was back with, Fit Bit back on his wrist. 

We continued our ascent to Cirque Pass without incident, enjoying the slab climbing and sloping ramps that lead to the pass. 

Once at the pass we descended toward Glacier Lake 400' below us at 11,800'. I was searching for a vertical column of rock that looked very similar to the concrete column features on the cover of the "Who's Next" album. 

I found it. We recreated the Who's Next  album art by each taking a position similar to the band members on that album cover. 

We had lunch at the outlet of Glacier Lake. While eating we were joined by the hiker we had seen while waiting for Noah, Clutch. He asked if we had trail names. When Dave said no he suggested Noah become Fit Bit due to his extraordinary effort to recover his Fit Bit. 

We worked our way up the steep skree and ramps of Potluck Pass, then descended to Barrett Lake, arriving about 2:30 pm. Noah found a delightful camping area with a beautiful view of the lake in this treeless basin. After a few moments of rest I went down to fish. 

Nothing. Not a bite. Uncharacteristic for me, I fished for an hour with out a nibble, hoping the magic of six years ago would reappear. It did not. 

Dejected, I returned to camp and relaxed on my sleeping pad, enjoying the sun and wind while staring up at the 14,000' Palisades towering overhead. There were puffball clouds in the sky, occasionally blocking the sun and casting shadows across the face of the cliffs. Beautiful. 

After dinner of rice and chicken we headed to the lake again to try our luck. This time the magic was back. On the first cast I landed a fat 19" trout that looked like a land locked salmon. We traded the pole among the three of us, three casts each. We caught about 7 fish, returning all but the first big one and a ten incher that was so tightly hooked that we couldn't free it with out mortally harming it. We returned to camp successful fisherman, much animated by our accomplishment. We decided to wait until breakfast to eat our catch. 

It was a beautiful evening and night. We had about two hours of total darkness in which to see the stars before the nearly full moon rose and washed out all lesser stars.