I have finally recovered from most of the mosquito and fly bites I received on the weekend of July 22-23, 2006. Or at least I have recovered enough to post this bit of commentary on a wonderful weekend at Cougar Lakes, just East of Mt. Rainier.
I was guided by two intrepid explorers from a place they called Walla Walla. Last I heard this was somewhere near Bugs Bunny's home and was full of sweet onions. Anyway, these two, 'Brielle and Beezer, we'll call them B+B for short led me into one of the horsiest, hottest, bug-infested wildernesses I have ever seen. I had a FANTASTIC time!!
Actually I was a little worried when I arrived at the trailhead on Friday evening and promptly was bitten by at least 5 skeeters before I had even opened my first beer! But I made it through that first hot and buggy night by convincing myself that if I turned off the lights the bugs couldn't see me and they would just go away. At some point during the middle of the night they did go away or at least take a short nap.
On Saturday we hiked up to Cougar Lakes and were pleasantly surprised to find slightly fewer bugs at the higher elevations. We did however meet several large stinky animals which carried some lazy wilderness visitors. When passing Swamp Lake on the way to our destination, the stinky animals became quite agitated at the sight of Mr. Beezer. I can only presume it was due to his fondness for trail apples. On several occassions he reminded us that the smell of horse excrement made him hungry! I was afraid to ask if eating the horseshit would satisfy his hunger.
We found a nice secluded camp near the beach at the larger of the two Cougar Lakes. From here we set about trying to catch the fabled wild mountain trout with our fly rods. That evening I caught one 6-7 inch Brookie and Beezer caught two large minnows (5-inchers) before it became too dark to fish. During the afternoon on Saturday, while my inexhaustible guides slept, I ran up to the top of the ridge near the lakes and got an awesome view of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. I nearly made it to the Pacific Crest Trail before I turned around so that I could make it back in time to wake up the guides for dinner.
On Sunday we spent a lot of time wading into the lake and swatting the air with our fly rods, but didn't have much luck with the fishing. We got a little sun and did a little bit of bathing or wading in the cool clear waters before heading back down the dusty stinky trail. I had a great time on this trip but am still wondering if the B+B guide service is not just a front for a minnow-poaching horseshit-eating couple of onion smugglers. I have posted some of the photos here. You be the judge.
1 comment:
Onion smugglers! Them are fightin' words. We demand an apology and a retraction. If we don't get both within 24 hours, we will publicly devulge on your blog that your camera belongs in the Smithsonian.
I don't mind you reporting on my fondness for the sweet scent of horse dung, but I do expect an equally accurate report of the size of the "minnows" that I caught. If you refer to 2- 22" brook trout (that, by the way, I fought for over 20 minutes each on 2 lb test...with the sun in my eyes) as "minnows" then I suppose your report was accurate.
Funny that you didn't mention the string of large and small game asphyxiation deaths immediately downwind from your tent!
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