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Presidents Packby KEN MASEL 2009 President

observation [ob-zur-vey-shuhn] – noun 1. an act or instance of noticing or perceiving 2. an act or instance of regarding attentively or watching

Recently, while walking the shoreline of a lake on the third day of a four day trip in the Pasayten Wilderness, I was contemplating what to write for this column. As I watched the lake, I noticed an occasional dimple on the lake’s surface from feeding fish. A dragonfly flew across my view as I examined the shoreline for possible spawn-ing habitat for fish. Multiple nymphs of different sizes and shapes were dodging in an out of woody debris along the lake bottom. Soon, a small trout cruised by looking for a meal as a breeze created small ripples across the lake.

As these various activities took place within a few sec-onds of each other, it occurred to me how much more time I spend observing a lake then in years past. No lon-ger am I content with arriving at a lake and immediately wetting a line.

I find myself spending additional time looking for the small things that might affect fish growth and survival. Does a lake have shallower areas resulting in a higher in-sect population? Is spawning habitat visible either in the lake, an inlet, or the lake’s outlet? What type of insects and amphibians are in the lake? Does the lake level drop

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Volume 14—Issue 3 www.hilakers.org

D e d i c a t e d t o h i g h l a k e f i s h i n g a n d p r e s e r v i n g t h e m o u n t a i n e n v i r o n m e n t .

September 2009

HI-LAKERTH

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IN THIS ISSUE:

Presidents Pack ........................................................1

Old Goat....................................................................1

Better Bow Knot ........................................................5

Camp Hamilton Overnighter ....................................6

Survey Reporter .......................................................8

NCNP Fish Stocking Update .....................................9

Boots ..................................................................... 10

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Hi-Lakers Monthly Meeting ................................. 10/16 Mercer Island Fire Station

Camp Hamilton Overnighter ...................... 9/26–9/27 Lake Hannon

Old Goatby DON WICKLUND 2009 Survey Equipment Chairman

Introduction: I originally wrote the notes for this story some 14 sum-

mers ago as the events were unfolding. While recently writing this up for you to enjoy, I found some things that I did then that I wouldn’t do now, however, I will present this to you in the manner in which it was originally portrayed. The only changes are to clarify and add to the details from my original handwritten draft. Get ready to accompany me on this especially unique backpacking trip:

Wednesday, June 28, 1995. It’s a very pleasant afternoon at 4,931 feet and I thought it would be a good idea to write some notes about this trip for myself for future reference, as well as for your amusement! First I shall have to go and get a sleeping pad to sit on (because this rock is getting really hard) and rubber bands for my ankles to keep the ants from crawling up my pant legs. I am so very fortu-nate to be here now and more importantly, to be here comfortably. So many things could have happened differ-ently to alter the chain of events.

I’ve wanted to come back up here to my favorite lake “just after ice got off” for about 5 years. I’d always antici-pated that the fishing would be really good here this early in the summer. I tried in vain to find out exactly the cur-rent conditions at this lake high in the Cascades just east of Steven’s Pass. Some said all the snow was gone, others

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Presidents Pack continued.

significantly during the summer and fall months? Has there been some sort of recent change to the lake, like a landslide or a beaver dam built at the outlet?

So, why have my observation skills increased? I be-lieve it’s a direct result of the Hi-Lakers Survey Program which has made me more aware of a lake’s environment. While it’s quite easy to submit a survey and provide the minimum amount of required information, I find myself wanting to collect more and more information.

For example, compare this survey I submitted from 2005 to a more recent survey.

Crater Lake, Okanogan T32N-R20E-34M Lat 48.228 Long 120.3313. 07/01/2005 (Friday), 12 RB (5"-7" avg 6") Fair fishing, few fish rising, few fish cruising. Fish condi-tion: normal, Successful lures: spoons, Time: 2 days at lake, 1 hour fishing. 1 angler in party, 0 other anglers, 1 non-angler. Lake Condition: clear. Camp use heavy, 2 campsites. Weather: cloudy, windy, cold, Comments: Lots of little rainbows. It appears this lake may have been planted the previous year. Didn't see any larger fish.

Fawn Lake, Okanogan T39N-R20E-12L Lat 48.8899 Long 120.29011. 08/10/2009 (Monday), 16 CT (13.5"-14.5" avg 14") Good fishing, few fish rising, few fish cruising. Fish condition: normal, thin, Successful lures: wet flies, All fish caught on the same six-pack using a very erratic retrieve. Stomach contents: Did not keep any fish. Small mayfly hatch took place in the afternoon. Sensitive species: large aquatic insects, Damsel nymphs spotted in the shallows. Time: 1 day at lake, 3 hours fishing. 1 angler in party, 0 other anglers, 0 non-anglers. Lake Condition: clear. Camp

use moderate, 4 campsites. Weather: partly cloudy, Com-ments: Beautiful westslopes from the 2005 plant. Lake is at least one or two years away from needing another plant. Density of fish seems a little high as the fish tended to be a little on the skinny side. There is no suitable spawning habitat in either the lake or the outlet stream. There is no inlet stream. Since the Farewell Fire in 2003 ran through this area, I believe the number of visitors has declined. Because of the trail conditions from Black Lake, horses cannot use the trail resulting in fewer visi-tors. There are quite a number of trees that were cut down near the outlet. My guess is that the trees were cut down so that helicopters could access the lake easier in order to fight the fire. The fire also burnt down to the waterline around the lake. Before the fires, this was probably a very scenic lake. Finally, I believe Ashnola Pass is misidentified on the USGS maps. The location on the maps is not the divide between the two drainages since Fawn Lake drains to Lake Creek. The true pass location is across the lake.

As can be seen, the detail on the miscellaneous infor-mation in the second report is much more concise. What took me a couple minutes of effort to note and record in the survey may help others down the road.

Lake surveys serve a tremendous benefit. Taking the time to collect additional information above and beyond the minimum increases the value of the survey. More valuable surveys result in better management of the fishery and prepare others for a visit to a particular lake. In other words, I don’t believe it’s possible to collect too much information. And I hope others will take the time to increase their observation skills.

Club ContactsIf you have dues ($10/year due January 1st) or other financial

matters, contact: Treasurer: Rex Johnson; rex1@u.washington.edu

3941 NE 158th Lane; Lake Forest Park, WA 98155 206-366-1629

Program Committee Chair: Dave Weyrick; drweyrick@comcast.netNewsletter

Editor: Jed Sires; jed@investsoundly.com Production: Eric Junes; dangerboy@comcast.netCover photo: Goat Lake panorama by Jed Sires

©2009 Washington State Hi-Lakers

Old Goat continued.

said there was lots of snow and the lake still frozen, oth-ers in-between. I think I hit it just about right! Although the ice has probably been off for two weeks, enough snow has melted that I was able to find pieces of the trail with-out having to use a compass. I sure had to be careful on the steep and very slippery down climb to the lake. Only slipped once, but I instantly rolled onto my homemade ice axe to stop. Fortunately, it worked great!

Rewinding a bit: On the way here yesterday I fished Naches Creek for a few hours with no luck and only saw 1 trout. After spending the night in the truck at the Mer-ritt Lake trailhead I headed up. It’s been 2 years since I was last here so I was quite uncertain about the condi-tion of my stashed gear (assuming I could even find it under the snow). Excuse me for a moment while I stand up to stretch and to check on my worms… Yes, I actually brought up worms this time and I’ve tied on a flasher, but

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I think it is too close to the worm. Anyway, I decided that if I couldn’t find my gear I’d only be here for 2–3 days. If it was all there I’d stay for up to 6 days. So I came up with-out a tent (only visqueen) no frying pan, no grate, shovel, spatula, etc. The list of most of the gear that I had stashed here is as follows; 12'x16' tarp, 6'x10' tarp, two-man raft with oars, air pump, soap, shovel, 150' twine, down sleep-ing bag, tape, fire grate, sitting pads, tent, frying and sauce pan, tennis shoes, garbage bags, spatula, coat, and lastly 7 oz. Vodka & Everclear as snakebite prevention. Lots of stuff! I did bring a sleeping bag and tennis shoes (just in case…) I yelled in jubilation when I found it all undisturbed and not covered by the snow. It was easy to tell that just a few days ago it was still buried!

After hauling it all down to camp, the first thing I did was to pump up the raft. It’s in good shape!!!!! I’m treating it very gently though because four years at this elevation have probably made it very fragile. Most everything was OK but the garbage sack with the tent and sleeping bag had been opened by varmints. They were soaked, and smelled very bad. Got ‘em pretty well dried out but my old sleeping bag, tennis shoes, gloves, old pack and coat are all unusable.

The temperature is 70°–75° with a hot sun, yet the breeze coming off the lake and surrounding snow is nicely cooling. It’s got to be close to 5:00 and I want to do some serious fishing this evening, but I still have the usual work cut out for me first. Set up the tent, gather firewood, re-build the fire pit, dig a latrine, make dinner and clean up. I’ve got crap spread all over the length of this peninsula.

Thursday, June 29, 2:00 p.m. Never a dull moment! Last night I caught one trout while trolling with a flasher trailed by a worm. I also brought in 2 more using eggs on the bottom at “the log”. All Cutthroat measuring 9", 10", and 12"; I kept one because he swallowed the hook. This morning I caught a couple more while fly fishing by the outlet. As I was paddling back to camp I had a passing thought about the odd, very weather worn “stump” barely floating at some 20 yards distance. After some yummy pancakes for breakfast, I cleaned up and went for a stroll around the peninsula. It was then that out of the corner of my eye I noticed that “stump” now floating very near the shore. But something wasn’t right!? Quickly taking a sec-ond look I was compelled to go and look even closer and I saw that it was actually a very large male Mountain Goat bobbing slowly and slightly in the small waves just as an iceberg would. Here it is floating right where I had been getting my water (Like—Gag me with a hairball!) and I was going to have to deal with this—Contamination. I got a rope to secure it from floating away, however I got quite a surprise when I grabbed onto his horn to pull it closer to shore. Making a gurgling/sucking sound the horn dis-lodged from his head and slowly oozed off leaving a 3"

pink stub underneath. I thought that was pretty cool; so I wrenched the other one off too. But STINK, Yikes! Eventu-ally I looped the rope around a portion of a leg that didn’t seem like it was going tear off and formed a tight knot. Yuck. Formulating my plan, I went and gathered all the twine in camp and got in the raft. Thus began the three hour ordeal that I just returned from.

Remember that scene in the movie “Dances with Wolves” where he had to use his horse to drag a dead horse out of his water supply? Well, I didn’t have a horse, or the tools, or help, or ability, or desire to actually get it out of the water (imagine 200 lbs. of bloated, soft, begin-ning to rot flesh of old goat). I decided the best I could do was to get it to the outlet where the natural current would carry the particulates downstream and thereby, hopefully, save this lakes water quality somewhat. I quickly found

that trying to tow it was impossibly slow due to its large mass deep in the water—versus me—sitting on the surface in my little raft and awk-wardly paddling with one oar and a stick. So on to plan B.

I tied the twine to the rope that was already attached to the goat and rowed away from it while playing out about 150' of braided yellow twine as I went. Then, I’d tie the front of the raft to a log, a tree, or whatever to hold myself in place while I proceeded to pull the heavy bloated bastard toward me, hand over hand. I would pull a few yards and wind up the slack. Pull, wind, pull, wind. Ever so slowly this was going to work, I surmised, because the shoreline between my camp and the outlet was a gentle arc so the goat would never get so close to shore that it would drag on the bottom. I was right about that part. However I quickly learned that I had to work fast. Very fast. If I let the line sink for just a few minutes; it would get looped under a snag in the shallow bottom. When that happened the only thing I could do was untie myself from the shore, wind myself back toward the goat to where I was above the snag, cut the line and then row whatever remained of the distance on towards the goat. Once there I would pull that line to the surface, tie the loose ends back together and start the procedure all over again. Three times I got snagged on the bottom when the line sunk. This drama would be hysterical to someone else, but to me it was a disgusting additional chore. In the end, I finally succeeded in getting this re-pulsive carcass tied off to a stationary log near the debris choked outlet. Feeling relieved that I had accomplished my intended goal I paddled back to camp for some lunch. Oh, and about those horns: I wanted to keep them; but they smelled up the area so bad that I took them back in the woods a short ways and put them on a stump to air out. I then planned to go after the large cutthroat I saw near the outlet for dinner.

Well that was fun! Landing two–15" cutthroat along

It was then that out of the corner of my eye I noticed that “stump”

now floating very near the shore. But something wasn’t right!?

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with so many smaller ones that I lost count; only keeping two for eating. These all came out of the same area under the logs near the outlet. I’m excited about my big explor-atory hike up the mountain tomorrow.

Saturday, June 31, 5:00 p.m. (Nothing written on Friday)

Yesterday I climbed Mt. Mastiff (6,741'.) Then for the first time I traveled down the ridge and up to the top of Mt. Howard (7,063'). I was pleased to find my baggied sign in sheet was still on top of Mt. Mastiff. I started it in 1991 and now it’s full of names and comments from many different people. Someone else had just started one on Mt. Howard and I signed in on that one too. Then I had a fun time glissading parts of the way down to Lake Crescent where I caught and ate 2 trout for lunch. I have a simple recipe of mixing up thick slurry of Onion Soup Mix and enclosing some of that with the trout tightly wrapped in foil. I lay that right in the coals of a small fire. In a few minutes I’ve got a tasty meal. No dishes to wash either.

I’ve been pretty darn tired today. Lots of kickin’ back in the raft catching fish. I had one on (really!) that surely would have rivaled the 21'er of 1991. Ha—there I just now caught a fat 12"er from camp here, much to the dismay of

my “guests”. You see, when I got back from the hike there was a group of 3 tents at one spot and 2 in another across the 90 ft. of water from my peninsula to the peninsula on the other side. To complete your visualization of this lake; it is like a lopsided figure 8 with the two peninsulas nearer the smaller circular end. The outlet is at the far end of the smaller “bay” at about 100 yards from camp. There were kids running around in all directions. Later while crossing the outlet stream I saw that the first thing they had done after arriving was to completely tear up and destroy some of the trout’s hiding area there.

I have a bait report: The best are these ornery little creatures found under rocks and logs near shore. Kind of a cross between an earwig, crab, crawdad, etc… Then probably worms, eggs, maggots, and lures. (Although did catch 3 out of 3 presentations with maggots from near the destroyed fishing hole.)

Sunday July 1, late a.m.The wind blew so hard last night that I had to get up

and let the air out of the raft. I was afraid it would get damaged banging against the trees. Then later my tent collapsed on me. I went back to sleep until 5:30 a.m. when I awoke with a start to the sound of rain. I had to

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force myself to crawl out to cover everything. Since I was up I had some oatmeal while watching everyone else pack up and leave in a hurry. So I’m pleasantly alone again. After cleaning up their garbage strewn campsites I stood around for some time waiting for the weather to make up its mind. Eventually I decided to wait it out in my sleeping bag…(later)… Wow it’s still VERY windy out there but no rain. I can stay in this spot as long as it doesn’t rain and wind because it’s way too exposed to keep a tarp up. Oh geeze, now it’s starting to rain again!!!!

12:30 p.m. It’s been an hour now since it rained or blew very hard. I was fixing to crawl out of this mess to make some soup to quiet my growling stomach when, lo and behold, its drizzling and blowing again!! A far cry from record high temps yesterday. I can see my breath. Well, I’ve had enough of this sleeping, reading, listening to the radio (vainly searching for a weather report) and being hungry so, out I GO…

Monday July 2, 5:30 p.m. I am on my way home a day early and have just arrived at Merritt Lake to take a break and eat my last bits of food which is peanut butter and ham on Yukon Biscuits. Yesterday turned out to be quite an ordeal. With a report of continuing high winds and showers I had to move camp to the other side nearer the trailhead so I could build a fire and shelter if needed. Well, I didn’t want to slog through all the wet brush so I de-cided to ferry it across in the raft. However, the wind was blowing so hard that I ended up stringing a taught line between the points of the peninsulas so I could pull my-self, hand over hand, and ferry all the gear across. I’ll bet that was a sight too! I didn’t get done until 8:00 and still had to prepare dinner. By the way, yesterday at one point the wind calmed down enough for me to make it all the way to the inlet stream at the far end of the lake where I caught 8 cutts. I’m taking a few fish home so I’ve got them on snow in my pack. Of course I have all the accumulated garbage too so my pack is heavier now than on the way in. Cool, I just saw another hummingbird.

Well, I guess I’ve had enough of this sort of fun for now. This is the end of my 8th trip to Lost Lake. Although, I do enjoy my solitude here a lot; some of my fondest memo-ries are those activities involving friends that I’ve shared this place with. I will have to remember that for the next time I’ve got a hankerin’ to find my way back —to Lost Lake.

Be Deliberate—Be Safe—Keep Moving On…Don

Better Bow Knotby ERIC JUNES 2009 Vice President

Tired of your shoelaces working loose? Double knots can help but are a pain to untie. I use this this variation on the standard bow knot: It stays tight, yet unties just like the bow knot. Thanks to Ian Fieggen for the great in-structions and illustrations. To see more knot and lacing ideas than you knew existed, check Ian’s Shoelace Site at www.fieggen.com/shoelace/

Are you still receiving the paper version of this newsletter? Did you know that you can receive this newsletter electronically? Just send an email to the Editor and ask to switch to the eNewsletter. Each edition will be posted on the Hi-Lakers website as a PDF, viewable with the free Adobe Reader

software (http://get.adobe.com/reader/). This means you can download the newsletter the moment it’s published and save the club from the time and expense of printing and mailing the paper version. Plus it’s good for the environment. Give it a try, won’t you?

C

Step 1:

Tie a Starting Knot as shown, then make the right (blue) lace into a "loop" by simply doubling it back onto itself

Step 3:

Continue the left (yellow) lace around the right loop to end up in front. Up to this point, the knot is exactly the same as the Standard Shoelace Knot.

Step 5:

Continue the left (yellow) lace around the right loop to end up in front for the second time.

Step 7:

Keep feeding the left (yellow) lace through until a loop emerges on the right side.

Step 2:

Take the left (yellow) lace and pass it around to the right, going behind the right loop.

Step 4:

Unlike the Standard Shoelace Knot, pass the left (yellow) lace around the back of the right (blue) loop for the second time.

Step 6:

The tricky part is to now feed the left (yellow) lace through the loop thus made.

Step 8:

Now, simply pull the loops to tighten the knot. The whole twisted mess of the previous drawing will rearrange itself into a neat finished knot.

© Ian W. Fieggen. Used with permission.

Camp Hamilton Fall Overnighterby RICH O’CONNELL 2009 New Member Chairman

The club has approved a repeat of our annual fall overnighter at Lake Hannon/Camp Hamilton on Satur-day 9/26 10am–Sunday 9/27 3pm. This is a family event where kids and spouses are welcome.

Lake Hannon is a private 80 acre lake near Duvall that holds brook and cutthroat trout. Camp Hamilton is a youth camp run by the Seattle Archdiocese on Lake Han-non. They allow other non-profit groups to rent out the facilities when the camp is not in session. By staying at the camp, we’ll have access to the otherwise private lake.

The camp has a series of villages which are clusters of cabins with a common lodge and cooking area. We will have our own village and thus a private section of the camp to ourselves. There are 4 cabins in the village and each cabin sleeps 10 people. There is also space to pitch a tent (or hammock) if you feel more comfortable sleeping on your own. There is a central cooking facility available to us as well and a common area for hanging out.

There are many other good fishing lakes in the area if you get bored with Hannon—Fontal is close by and has large rainbow. There are also many beaver ponds in the area which will be open that time of year.

In addition to the fishing, there is a nice swimming beach and mountain bike trails nearby. We also have ac-cess to the canoes and kayaks owned by the camp. You're welcome to come for the day if you can’t get away for the whole weekend but you will still be required to pay for the whole time period.

The individual costs are $25/person. Kids 5 and under are free. The club will provide dinner on Saturday night and breakfast on Sunday morning. All other meals are on your own.

The ‘No” list:- No pets

- No firearms

- No alcohol

- No boats with motors

- No taking of fish in Hannon—catch and release only

Please RSVP to rich_oconnell@hotmail.com

Checks are the preferred form of payment and should be made out to “Washington Hi-Lakers”. You can pay at the September meeting or at Camp Hamilton.

Directions to Camp Hamilton are as follows:Camp Hamilton

25405 Lake Fontal RoadMonroe, WA 98272

Please use the following directions to reach Camp Ham-ilton, several mapping programs available on the internet are not giving accurate directions.

Camp Hamilton is between Monroe and Duvall off of Hwy 203, approx. 1hour from Seattle. Please allow extra time for construction.

From I-5 Seattle• TakeI-520EpastI-405towardRedmondtotheend.

I-520 turns into Avondale Rd.

• ProceedNorthapproximately1_MilestoNoveltyHillRd.

• TurnRightonNoveltyHill,goapprox.6milesuntilWestSnoqualmie Valley Road.

• TurnLeftonWestSnoqualmieValleyRd,goapprox.4Miles.

• TurnRightonWoodinville-DuvallRd(toDuvall).TurnLeft on SR 203 go for 3.5 miles- (1 mile N of Snohomish county line).

• TurnRightonCherryValleyRd(uphill).(Pleasenotethat there are 2 Cherry Valley roads—you will want to turn onto the Cherry Valley road that is in Snohomish County, NOT the Cherry Valley right outside of Duvall.)

• SoftRightontoLakeFontalRd.(asCherryValleymeetsLake Fontal Rd).

• LeftatcurveasFontalRdturnsintoKayakLakeRd.(Stay on Fontal Rd.) Follow road for about a mile.

• Countyroadturnstodirt.(.3mi)Continuepastyellowgate. (.5mi)

• TurnsoftleftatforkandlookforCampHamiltonsigns(.3mi)

• Gothroughbrowngatesandfollowsignstomaincamp.

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Photo by Patrick White

Dick Olmestead and friend at Lake Hannon/Camp Hamilton.

From I-90 Seattle (If Highway 520 is bad due to traffic)

• ExitatPreston.

• FollowthesignsthroughPrestontoFallCity.

• AtthestopsigninFallCity,turnright,continuingnorth.

• AsyoucrossovertheSnoqualmieRiverBridgegetintothe left turn lane and turn onto Highway 203 (Fall City-Carnation Road).

• StayonHighway203throughDuvall.

• Gofor3.5miles(1mileNofSnohomishcountyline).

• TurnRightonCherryValleyRd(uphill).(Pleasenotethat there are 2 Cherry Valley roads—you will want to turn onto the Cherry Valley road that is in Snohomish County, NOT the Cherry Valley right outside of Duvall.)

• SoftRightontoLakeFontalRd.(asCherryValleymeetsLake Fontal Rd).

• LeftatcurveasFontalRdturnsintoKayakLakeRd.(Stay on Fontal Rd.) Follow road for about a mile.

• Countyroadturnstodirt.(.3mi)Continuepastyellowgate. (.5mi)

• TurnsoftleftatforkandlookforCampHamiltonsigns(.3mi)

• Gothroughbrowngatesandfollowsignstomaincamp.

From the North

• TakeI-5SouthtoHWY2.HeadeastuntilyoureachHWY 203.

• TakeHighway203SouthinMonroe,approximately3miles.

• ProceedpastCadmanGravelandturnleftontoHighRock Road (Do not turn on North High Rock Road).

• Proceeduphill,attopturnleftontoLakeFontalRoad.

• LeftatcurveasFontalRdturnsintoKayakLakeRd.(Stay on Fontal Rd.) Follow road for about a mile.

• Countyroadturnstodirt.(.3mi)Continuepastyellowgate. (.5mi)

• TurnsoftleftatforkandlookforCampHamiltonsigns(.3mi)

• Gothroughbrowngatesandfollowsignstomaincamp.

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Photo by Jed Sires

Susan Sires on the way to Glacier Lake.

EST. 1952 EST. 1952

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Survey Reporter by BILL HENKEL 2009 Survey Program Chairman

2009 LONESOME LAKESTwo lakes make the Lonesome Lakes Route publication

this year. Both Opal and Swamp lakes were first listed in the Checkout Lakes List in 2005. Both were put on notice in last year’s Survey Reporter, not surveyed, so both get published this year. This Reporter article is the work of three writers. George Bucher wrote up Opal Lake. I (Bill Henkel) wrote up Swamp Lake, but because my route memory is dim, Kathy Cropp helped by filling in the route information. Kathy did visit Swamp this year, but because she only caught two small rainbows, I know the biologist, Eric Anderson, will want more surveys.

OPAL LAKE: Wolcott’s, Volume II, Kittitas County, pg. 252. T23N,

R14E, 27F/L, 5990, 1.1 acre, on north side of Davis Peak.This nice little lake had fish in the 1990’s when I visited

it. They were rainbows in the 6–8" range, though cutthroat have also been reported. The Trailblazers last stocked

Opal Lake in 2007 with 70 Mt. Whitney rainbows.To get to Opal Lake, look up Davis Peak in several of the

“Hikes” books. After “attaining” the peak, with its wonder-ful views “down” Cle Elum Lake (about 6 miles), the “fun” is about to begin. Walk over to the “edge” away from the Cle Elum Lake view and look over. You could miss it if you were not looking, but there is a little lake down there. The question immediately comes up “Can I get down there and does it have fish?”. Well, yes, you can if you are willing to scramble and the last Trailblazer plant of fish has not been fished out or died of old age.

Anyway, go to your left and look for “scramable” rocks and soon you will be at the lake. I don’t remember seeing a campsite, but there may be several. They would not be the best because people could always look down on you.

The “flat” that the lake is on has a couple of other lakes, but they are very small. Anything that has a decent trail in this area is visited by horses and they and their riders are often not “kind” to lakes. Horse tracks into, or through

lakes are common. This little lake is just enough of a “Go” to be interesting and could hold that “big one” that you have been looking for. So give this lonesome lake a try and file a “new” report.

SWAMP LAKE:Swamp Lake has been planted with rainbows a number

of times over the years, most recently in 2007. But despite the fact I did reasonably well in 2002 (Survey below), Eric Anderson keeps on getting reports that there are no fish in this 50.3 acre lake. Personally, I don’t think one can do very well unless one fly fishes from flotation. Interesting is that there is no record of brook trout being planted, but they’re there. I camped right next to the lake on the flat spot on the west side of the outlet.

Swamp Lake is reached by taking the Bumping River Road off of Hwy 410. (If coming from the westside, it is a spectacular drive over Chinook Pass on 410). Upon first reaching Bumping Lake there will be a signed in-tersection. Two routes are possible from here both of approximately the same length:

1) Continue straight on Rd 1800 towards the old Swamp Lake Trailhead #970. This road is washed out at mile post 13.7—where Rd 1800 crosses Deep Creek shortly after the junction with Rd 1808 (Mt. Aix trailhead). You will now have ~3.25 mile walk to the original trailhead, plus an additional 4.7 miles on Trail #970 to get to the lake. A crossing of the Bumping River is required on this route, which can be dicey during high water.

2) Alternatively, turn right at the intersection & drive over the dam. This road will veer to the left along the lake—follow to its end and the trailhead for Bumping Lake Trail #971. This is the route I chose. It is a pleasant, shaded walk—the first ~2.5 miles of which are directly along Bumping Lake. Some campsites are available on the lakeshore right before the trail heads into the woods. And there are skeeters, and giant anthills. This trail #971 then meets up with the Swamp Lake Trail #970 above the Bumping River, thus avoiding the river crossing.

08/27/2002 (Tuesday), William Henkel 6 EB (8"-10" avg 0") 10 RB (6"-12" avg 0”) Good fishing, few fish rising. Fish condition: normal, fry observed. Stomach contents: 14 (5/8" long) caddis flies in 12". Sensitive species: Osprey, Great Blue Heron. Time: 5.25 hours fishing. Lake Condi-tion: clear. Crystal clear, PM 64 F, AM 62 F. Comments: Plenty of fry seen. Tuesday evening, 3.5 hours fishing surface released 14, killed 12". Wednesday morning 1.75 hours fishing deep, released one. I had hoped that Swamp Lake would be like Leech Lake, but no luck. The fish pop-ulation seemed definitely lower, and the bottom was flat silt with no weeds compared to Leech Lake’s heavy weed beds. The fish are not stunted, but the size distribution indicates that they are slow growing. I suspect that the 12 incher is 5 years old.

North Cascades National Park Fish Stocking Updateby KEN MASEL 2009 President

Earlier this year, Congressman Doc Hastings of Wash-ington’s 4th Congressional District introduced legislation (H.R. 2430) in the House of Representatives that granted the National Park Service (NPS) permission to continue to stock lakes within the North Cascades National Park Complex (NCNP). H.R. 2430 allows the implementation of the recommendations from the National Park Service’s 2008 final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on mountain lakes fishery management in the NCNP where the preferred alternative is to allow fish stocking utilizing low densities of non-reproducing fish in up to 42 lakes. The NPS believes they cannot implement this choice without permission from Congress

Shortly after H.R. 2430 was introduced, leaders within the House of Representatives determined that the bill would be moved to the House floor for a vote. H.R. 2430 was passed by the House on June 2, 2009 and forwarded to the Senate for consideration.

Thanks in part to numerous e-mail messages, phone calls and letters from members of the Hi-Lakers, Trail Blazers, and other numerous individuals and groups within the state, a hearing on H.R. 2430 was held before the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks.

During this hearing on July 22, Senator Maria Cantwell attended even though she was not a member of the sub-committee. Testimony from the NPS was provided by Daniel Wenk, Acting Director of the National Park Service. During the hearing, Mr. Wenk was asked if the NPS supports H.R. 2430. His response was that the Park Service “does not oppose the bill” but would like to work with Congress on some amendments to the legislation. In addition, Mr. Wenk commented that the Park Service supports Alternative B of the EIS, which calls for the continued stocking of fish with Congressional approval. These comments are completely op-posite from the NPS’s position in 2008 when they stated they did not support the bill that al-lowed the continued stocking of fish.

At this point, Senator Cantwell has not taken an of-ficial position. Both Sandy McKean and I have been in

contact with staff members in the Senator’s office in order to provide both support and facts related to this issue. Sandy has strongly suggested to various individu-als within the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife that they need to involve Governor Gregoire. At this point, club members are encouraged to continue to contact Senator Cantwell’s office either via telephone, e-mail, fax or mail and encourage the Senator to support the continued stocking of fish within the NCNP.

Senator Cantwell Contact Information: Telephone: 202-224-3441 Fax: 202-228-0514 E-mail: http://cantwell.senate.gov/contact/

(This is an electronic form on Senator Cantwell’s website, not an actual e-mail address)

Mail: Office of Senator Cantwell 511 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510Because Senator Cantwell is a member of the Senate

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, she is a key player in getting the legislation passed. If Senator Cantwell supports the legislation, H.R. 2430 has a good chance of Senate approval.

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The Washington State Hi-Lakersc/o Ken Masel125 118th Drive NELake Stevens, WA 98258

Bootsby PETE SMITH 2009 Survey Contest Chairman

What’s the most important piece of gear you have? Tent? Pack? Nope! Heels look like raw hamburger at the end of a hike? Toes so sore you want to hike out in your socks? If you can’t walk, the rest of the gear is unimportant. Boots, or more accurately, a good boot fit, has the biggest impact on your hiking enjoyment.

Most folks tend to focus on length and width when buy-ing new boots, but these pale in comparison to volume. I’m referring to the actual volume inside the boot versus the volume of your foot. If we made a mold of your foot and then filled it up with beans and then we filled your boot with beans we would want them to be as close as possible to each other. If it takes a lot more beans to fill your boot than your foot, your foot will likely fit too loose-ly in the boot and the results would be heel blisters and black toenails. If you consistently have these problems on your heels and toes then you have been buying boots that are too high in volume for your feet.

Do not make the same mistake that a lot of people make; It’s very common to assume that if your heels are slip-ping you need a boot with a narrower heel. Heel width has

nothing to do with the slipping. The laces over the top of your foot (your instep) are controlling the heels. The laces also are what hold you back when your go downhill. Laces, plus low volume equals minimum motion in the heels.

Foot beds can also have a major impact on fit. The foam insoles that come in all boots have zero support and

allow the foot to flatten out when you put weight on it. Some peoples’ feet do this more than others. The more your foot flattens out the more you will benefit from a rigid foot bed like Superfeet, Sole or

prescribed orthotics.Biomechanically speaking, when the foot is weighted

and the ankle rolls inwardly (pronates) too much, the arch flattens out. Simply called overpronation, rigid foot beds are designed to control this inward rolling of the foot. This in turn keeps the foot from flattening out. A foot that isn’t flattened out fills the boot better and gets better contact over the instep where the laces are. And, as men-tioned earlier, the lace contact over the top of the foot is what controls those heels. In addition, a foot that is sta-bilized helps to keep the knees aligned properly. This can have a very positive impact on whether or not you have sore knees from hiking downhill.

Happy feet and knees equal happy hikers. Now all you have to worry about is the fish!

Pete Smith is a boot specialist at the REI in Seattle.