I spent Friday afternoon hiking up a mountainside to reach a gorgeous little sub alpine lake. I rolled out my sleeping bag there and slept beside a big fire; the weather was fairly mild at this altitude, and didn't drop below freezing all night. My little key-chain thermometer told me it was about 4 degrees Celsius up there, so I was able to get away with this pretty comfortably.
Saturday morning I packed my stuff up and began hiking again, this time going right over a mountain north of the lake I had spent the night at. I saw a bit of snow, but most of it had already melted this time of year, so it wasn't too bad. I got over the mountain and headed down into a river valley and then into some marshy flats. A little while later, after getting lost in the myriad of streams and creeks snaking through these flats, I saw a break in the distant trees. A sure sign I had reached my destination.
I emerged from the forest and looked out at the huge lake in front of me, noting that the trout were out jumping at full force. It's a good thing I brought a fly rod! I set up my tent this time, because the weather looked like it was going to turn for the worse. I then hacked up enough firewood to last me well into the night, courtesy of my Gransfors Bruks SFA. Just in time, too, because freezing rain and hail started coming down HARD. I got a fire burning and set up an emergency blanket as a make shift tarp for me to sit under, then headed down to the lake with my rod. It was dinner time.
A few casts later, and I had my first bit of food, a nice little 10" rainbow trout. One more of these and I'd be set. Sure enough, it didn't take long at all to catch a second, similarly sized fish. I cooked them on skewers over my fire, then hid beside it, under the emergency blanket. I stayed there trying to keep warm until about midnight, before heading into my tent for the night. It dropped below freezing and rained / hailed out all night. It was pretty unpleasant, as I had only brought my -7 bag which really isn't all that warm.
I hiked out the next morning, passing loads of day hikers with fishing rods, no doubt heading up to the second lake. It seems I had beat the crowds by heading in on Friday, despite the weather forecast calling for a thunderstorm in that area! It was turning into a Zoo for Sunday-Monday, it looked like. All in all, a good trip. No pictures, though, because my camera exploded during a wind storm on another mountain camp out a few weeks ago.
I keep it pretty simple when I go hiking, heh.
