On Saturday, July 17th, I woke up and for some reason told myself I needed an Overnighter in the back country. I had in mind a couple of places I'd like to hike to and hopefully find solitude and great fly-fishing.
I decided on Mohawk Lake up in the Granddaddy Range. I started backpacking/day hiking last August and hadn't been to Mohawk since 1997. I had been there a couple of times with my church group and rememberd how much I loved. WHY it has taken me 13 years to decide to go back I'll never figure out.
I took off from my home in Sandy, Utah around 1PM and got to the Grandview TH around 3:35PM (after stopping in Park City for a big lunch).
The sign at the TH showed that Granddaddy Lake was 4 miles in. That meant Mohawk was approximately 5 miles in. I was hoping to get to Mohawk within 2 hours so I could set up camp and fish for 2 or 3 hours.
I had my GPS and based on it's calculations I averaged between 3 and 3.5 MPH hiking speed. I reached my Mohawk campsite around 5:25PM.....just under 2 hours.
BTW...my pack weight was around 25lbs. I know, a little heavy for one night, but I'm going back up there with 8 other guys in August for 3 nights so I used this as preparation. The hike was actually a little easier than I remember (prolly cuz I packed around 45lbs thirteen years ago). I'm still very new at this and I'm learning to cut weight.
After setting up camp I fished for dinner. Mosquitos were EVERYWHERE. All over me. I rolled up my shorts and walked out about 40 feet in the water and stood on a rock. My goal was to catch at least 2 fish for dinner. I tied on a #16 Yellow Stimulator and started casting. The fish weren't rising as much as I remember. HOwever, around 7:30PM the action picked. In all I landed 2 Brook Trout. 10 inches and 13 inches. The 13 incher scared the piss right out of me. My fly was a good 30 feet in front of my and the lake looked like glass....so I could see the fly quite easily. While I had my eyes focused and the scenerey and a little to the right of my fly, a HUGE explosion happened on the surface with my fly. I have fly-fished A LOT in the last 10 years all over the West and I'm will go on record that this 13-inch Brook Trout hit my #16 Yellow Stimi hard and with more power than ANY of the 5+lbs. Browns I've caught. It seriously scared the shiz out of me....mainly cuz he hit it so hard and I wasn't paying close attention.
These fish, pound for pound, fought as hard as anything I ever caught. It was great fun.
I cleaned the fish and brought them in after missing 3 other strikes. It was close 9PM. Cooked the fish over the fire on a stick and enjoyed some high mountain Brook Trout for dinner.
One thing I learned on this over-nighter is that I will never do it again by myself. Call me a wuss, pansie, whatever else you can think of. I was bored once the fishing was over. Nobody to talk to or B.S. with. Just me and the fire. It was definitely good to get away, but I will for sure be going with at least one other person next time.
I didn't sleep good at all. I took a sleeping pill around 10PM, put in my ear plugs and hit the bag around 11PM. I usually do really well with a sleeping pill, but subconsciously I believe my mind was aware that I was alone. I didn't feel vulnerable. My heart wasn't racing. I was hot....I slept in my underwear and think maybe I need a 20 or 30 degree bag instead of a zero. The reason I went with a zero degree bag is because last August 8th -10th I hiked up 13 miles into the Wind River Range and woke up on the last day to 4 FREAKING inches of snow!
I selpt for a total of MAYBE 2 hours.
I got up at 6am, ate breakfast, and headed for the lake to fish again. The morning was stunningly beautiful....great sunrise. I fished for 10 mins and then got the hell out of there. Why? The mosquitos were tremendous. I packed only a small personal repellent that had run out that morning after a few sprays....lesson learned. I'll pack a FULL can next time.
I packed everything up and headed back to the TH around 7:30am. Got back to my 4Runner around 915am and drove down to the river and fished it for a couple of hours. Very few mosquitos there. Had I carried a full can of spray I would have stayed up at the lake. Bugs don't bother me unless I'm unprepared.
All in all, a pretty good trip and very good learning experience. I definitely could have done away with packing a few things and could've packed some more important items. I'll be ready for the 3 nighter next month.
Some great pics, however, I'm NOT into buying/packing expensive cameras so you'll have to deal with my amateurismic photos.
Big gulps~
