When I arrived at little boulder I heard campers at the far end, one of whom was fly fishing. I had been there maybe 40 minutes when I heard his friends holler to him, "we're gonna head up to the other lake", at which point I says to myself, "you're not gonna beat me there!". I reeled in and set off to a quick pace, lightly jogging in spots that were either level or barely uphill/downhill. I had to backtrack the trail to where it'd forked, then turned left and headed for big boulder lake. Surprisingly, it didn't even take that long to get there, undoubtedly much less time than it woulda taken if I'd tried going up and over the granite hill.
Once at the lake I had a decision to make: stay here and fish, or head up to tapie and found lakes and fish this on the way back through. I didn't know the other campers intentions, so I figured it wise to head to the upper lakes. I started down the trail below the lake, heading downhill and thought, "how the heck far dowhill is this gonna go before turning to go up to the lakes?!". After about 10 minutes I ran into a women who appeared to be solo hiking and asked her where she was headed and where she'd been. I asked her if she knew the way to tapie, to which she replied, "well sorta, you need to head back to big boulder and scramble up the hillside because there's no trail!". I thanked her and we set off together, but having no pack I quickly outpaced her and dissappeared from her sight.
I walked just past boulder and followed what I THOUGHT was the trail, which quickly dead ended. I couldn't quite remember where the other lakes were in relation to this one, and not having a map or compass just started following my instinct. I made the fairly grueling climb up the loose dirt/rocky hillside (I woulda died on the spot had I a pack) till I could see what appeared to be a small basin, at which point I thought, "there hasta be a pond there". I worked a bit farther up and came out directly above tapie lake. You can't imagine the feeling of satisfaction I felt coming out so close, having just followed my gut.
Lemme just say, if you wanna go up there to go fishing, DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!!! There were no fish, just a kinda scuzzy little pond with tons of frogs, water beatles and a couple salamanders. I worked my way around the pond but never saw one fish.
I once again set off blindly up the hillside, following a small ravine full of boulders up in the direction I'd expect to find water. Near where it platued I looked around and saw 2 places where I would expect to find water, so I set off for the higher of the two. Once again my guts were right, and I ended up coming in right by another pond. This one was pretty neat, but again had no signs of fish life, just the same old pond dwellers as before. I still fished around it, I didn't carry my rod up there to not atleast try.
After checking it out I headed off in a different direction than where I thought another pond might be, in search of a good pic of the valley. What I found was a great pic spot of a huge granite slide/wall, and I could even see another trail making it's way near the top. I shot that then set off in search of the last pond. Somehow I again came in directly to the pond, and once again fished in vain (sp).
Up until now I'd forgotten about an old problem. Having previously hurt my hips, my attention had been taken away from my knees, thought every step I took coming down brought back to memory old injuries. It wasn't terribly bad coming about half way down to tapie, but the closer I got the worse my left knee felt. By the time I again reached that little lake my knee was toast. I didn't look forward to making my way down the rock face I'd come up, and figured I may be able to find an easier route down the opposite side of the granite peak I'd come up. I was right, sorta. I found a wooded area heading down the mountain, and it had enough game trails lacing it to offer an easier descent in a way, but climbing over the downed trees and over the very loose soil proved difficult in it's own right. Despite that, I stil made it down in good time and fished my way along the backside of big boulder, but not much was biting.
I worked my way around the lake, fishing where I could and talking to the other campers who'd shown up while I was above. I then decided to make it back over to little boulder and try my hand there again before leaving. It was worth it, and I caught a few more fish and got hundreds of strikes. Never could catch the biggies that were jumping along the steep hillside of the lake, but atleast I fished around the entire lake. Lost one lure, but found 2 more and a casting bobber.
Once I hit the backside of the lake the smoke had rolled in, and it was again showering me ash and getting pretty windy. It was also getting later, and having been in there since the earlyish morning I figured it was time to leave. Hurt knee and all, it only took me a few minutes less to go out than it had to go in, so I was pretty happy with that. The downer is, I wanted to hike into the caribou basin the next day, 20 mile round trip, just to have a big finish to my vacation, but my knee didn't agree with my plans.
Either way, injuries, soreness and all, bear encounters included, it was still a great vacation and a far cry from my typical vacations. I fully intend to do more day hikes throughout the year, and hope to learn how to hike better so as not to constantly induce injury. I also learned a fair amount about high country endeavors, including that while a 7' light rod is great, the benefits it gives are outweighed by the loss of action when catching tiny alpine trout. I also learned that I had way too many lures initially, and you can pretty much get by with about a half dozen or so.
Sorry, I know I said I'd keep it short, but it's easier to get the story out at once rather than splitting it between pics.
