Mohawk Lake Overnighter

[bwrig09]

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~

[GO-DEEP]

Nice write up, thanks for sharing. Heading to Dead Horse Lake this weekend, this just gets me more excited.

[ibenick]

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'm right there with you on this. Something about being out there alone totally keeps me from sleeping. Last time I was solo I drank a half pint of scotch in the evening and still couldn't get to sleep well until close to 4am. And that restless sleep can really screw with your mind, especially when sleeping by a stream or something putting off a lot of white noise. Anyway, great trip report!

[accadacca]

[brookiekiller]

Sounds like a good time. I remember my first solo I had the same thoughts as you - now I love soloing. I just plan on hiking a lot everyday and taking a book so I am never bored. I also found that after a couple of solo trips I started sleeping better and getting more comfortable.