TR Carson Iceberg 8/24-8/28
Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 2:44 pm
Ventured into Carson Iceberg for the first time with my annual hiking group this year for three nights/four days of exploring. We loaded two cars in Petaluma at 10:00 AM Wednesday, and headed over Echo Summit to Markleeville and got into town at around 2:30 or so. We made a bit of conversation with the owner of the only gas station in town and he was pretty open about some of the large fish in the nearby stream. After hearing him speak of recent 10# fish being pulled out I thought, "That stream can't possibly hold fish of that size." Well, of course within five minutes of my utterances a guy drives up to the Markleeville General Store in a 'Benz station wagon and unloads two huge fish he'd just caught in said stream.
The one picture I took was just as he was lifting it up to be weighed inside, and my foot's on the left of the picture to give it some scale. We estimated the fish to be in the 6-8# range, and it resembled a salmon! Truly amazing... We got to the Silver Creek campground at about 3:30 and were set upon almost immediately by mosquitos, however they dissipated as the evening wore on and it was nice enough for me to sleep outside in the back of one of the trucks.
At 9:00 Thursday we headed to the Ebbett's Pass TH to begin the hike. Some nice folks from the Sun City- Lincoln Hiking Group were nice enough to take a "before" shot of the group. From Ebbett's we headed towards our first day's target, Asa Lake. The flowers seemed to be in spring bloom, the temperature was great given that it was late August, and the breeze was a welcome friend. After stopping for lunch at Noble we headed over the pass to the left of Tryon Peak, I believe. Highland Lakes were in the distance, clear and blue and appealing. The wind was howling as we decended back into the trees towards Asa Lake, our first night's destination. Unfortunately, this lake was far less appealing that we'd thought: green with tons of mosquitos that had plenty of tree protection from the wind, and thus would be a bane of our night-time existence. We huddled up and decided to walk an additional 1.8 miles to Highland Lakes, which we'd seen from the pass. We knew prior that it was car accessible, and were a bit disappointed to see so many in the parking lot as we walked in with backpacks to find a place to bed down for the evening.
We found an area suitable for camping, although there were dried cow patties everywhere, the black ants were a constant, irritating presence, and the mosquitos were something out of the Book of Revelations. I fished that evening at the closest of the lakes, but only had one strike.
The following day we hiked down the Arnot Creek trail a few miles and one of our group hooked into a few brookies.
Saturday morning we packed up all our stuff and headed back towards Asa, then took the Wolf Creek trail down into the valley. It was a stunning section of trail, with no one else out there, Aspens shimmering and several creeks and springs to make crossings interesting. After crossing Bull Creek we missed the trail junction due to a lack of visible signage, but ran into some nice folks with horses and mules heading the same direction as us, so they gave us a clue as to where the junction was/is.
We then headed up, up and up a bit further. When I thought I'd just about had more than I could possibly take I found myself at a beautiful lake. I was exhausted and didn't have the energy to do anything more than unpack and set up my tent.
My buds had all congregated near the water to wash up and as I approached I saw a few rises, and went back and got my gear. What followed over the next 1.5 hours is without a doubt the best trout fishing I have ever experienced. I landed somewhere between 20-30 fish, missed a few more when they came off the barbless hooks and I avoided several hook ups by reeling fast when I saw a smaller sized fish going after my lure. Most were Lahontan Cutthroats in the 10"-12" range, with a few outliers of 14". Awesome way to end a gruelling and energy sapping day. (It appears this TR has exceeded the allotment of pictures so I'll post some of the pictures in the Fishing Hole section.) Dinner, sleep by 9:30 and dreams of tight lines.
We headed out by 8:00 Sunday on the same trail, opposite direction to head back in the direction of Noble Lake and within one mile the trail disappeared in a marsh area. What happened after that was an hour or so of bushwacking thru steep scree, high bushes and angled hillsides trying in vain to find the trail. Finally, the more fit of our group found the trail and we all made it over the top of the trail summit, where we could immediately see Noble Lake about 1 mile in the distance. The hike out from that point on was pretty uneventful, although it seemed to me to be much longer than I'd anticipated.
After a Double-Double animal style/fries animal style outside Placerville, got back to the 'Luma by 7:30 with over 40 mosquito bites, 34 miles on the trail, and the best fishing day to date in my hiking career. A good time with good people.
Happy trails everyone!
Al
The one picture I took was just as he was lifting it up to be weighed inside, and my foot's on the left of the picture to give it some scale. We estimated the fish to be in the 6-8# range, and it resembled a salmon! Truly amazing... We got to the Silver Creek campground at about 3:30 and were set upon almost immediately by mosquitos, however they dissipated as the evening wore on and it was nice enough for me to sleep outside in the back of one of the trucks.
At 9:00 Thursday we headed to the Ebbett's Pass TH to begin the hike. Some nice folks from the Sun City- Lincoln Hiking Group were nice enough to take a "before" shot of the group. From Ebbett's we headed towards our first day's target, Asa Lake. The flowers seemed to be in spring bloom, the temperature was great given that it was late August, and the breeze was a welcome friend. After stopping for lunch at Noble we headed over the pass to the left of Tryon Peak, I believe. Highland Lakes were in the distance, clear and blue and appealing. The wind was howling as we decended back into the trees towards Asa Lake, our first night's destination. Unfortunately, this lake was far less appealing that we'd thought: green with tons of mosquitos that had plenty of tree protection from the wind, and thus would be a bane of our night-time existence. We huddled up and decided to walk an additional 1.8 miles to Highland Lakes, which we'd seen from the pass. We knew prior that it was car accessible, and were a bit disappointed to see so many in the parking lot as we walked in with backpacks to find a place to bed down for the evening.
We found an area suitable for camping, although there were dried cow patties everywhere, the black ants were a constant, irritating presence, and the mosquitos were something out of the Book of Revelations. I fished that evening at the closest of the lakes, but only had one strike.
The following day we hiked down the Arnot Creek trail a few miles and one of our group hooked into a few brookies.
Saturday morning we packed up all our stuff and headed back towards Asa, then took the Wolf Creek trail down into the valley. It was a stunning section of trail, with no one else out there, Aspens shimmering and several creeks and springs to make crossings interesting. After crossing Bull Creek we missed the trail junction due to a lack of visible signage, but ran into some nice folks with horses and mules heading the same direction as us, so they gave us a clue as to where the junction was/is.
We then headed up, up and up a bit further. When I thought I'd just about had more than I could possibly take I found myself at a beautiful lake. I was exhausted and didn't have the energy to do anything more than unpack and set up my tent.
My buds had all congregated near the water to wash up and as I approached I saw a few rises, and went back and got my gear. What followed over the next 1.5 hours is without a doubt the best trout fishing I have ever experienced. I landed somewhere between 20-30 fish, missed a few more when they came off the barbless hooks and I avoided several hook ups by reeling fast when I saw a smaller sized fish going after my lure. Most were Lahontan Cutthroats in the 10"-12" range, with a few outliers of 14". Awesome way to end a gruelling and energy sapping day. (It appears this TR has exceeded the allotment of pictures so I'll post some of the pictures in the Fishing Hole section.) Dinner, sleep by 9:30 and dreams of tight lines.
We headed out by 8:00 Sunday on the same trail, opposite direction to head back in the direction of Noble Lake and within one mile the trail disappeared in a marsh area. What happened after that was an hour or so of bushwacking thru steep scree, high bushes and angled hillsides trying in vain to find the trail. Finally, the more fit of our group found the trail and we all made it over the top of the trail summit, where we could immediately see Noble Lake about 1 mile in the distance. The hike out from that point on was pretty uneventful, although it seemed to me to be much longer than I'd anticipated.
After a Double-Double animal style/fries animal style outside Placerville, got back to the 'Luma by 7:30 with over 40 mosquito bites, 34 miles on the trail, and the best fishing day to date in my hiking career. A good time with good people.
Happy trails everyone!
Al