In the shadow of Mt. Conness
California's Sierra Nevada range has some places that will take your breath away, usually because the air is so thin over ten thousand feet. One such scenic area is the Saddlebag Lake loop trail, just northeast of Tioga Pass. The loop trail is about eight miles, an easy day hike. The trail passes one alpine lake after another. The lakes are very nice to look at, with jagged peaks and green meadows all around. To the south, 12,590 foot Mt. Conness and its glacier lord it over the lesser crags.
The area is not without its attractions for the angler. The lakes contain trout, including golden trout, California's state fish. This is because California is also known as the Golden State. Because gold was found here. Clever folk, the people who come up with this stuff.
The lakes have picturesque names like Shamrock Lake, Helen Lake, and Cascade Lake. I've often wondered how these lakes are named. After all, there are thousands of them in the Sierras. My visit two years ago disclosed that Shamrock Lake is not shaped like a cloverleaf, nobody named Helen was in evidence at said lake, and there may have been a cascade near Cascade Lake, but that is nothing remarkable in these mountains with water running all over the place.
The fish here seem to have some kind of arrangement with each other, which is that there is no feeding before four in the afternoon. This is smart of them, since it limits anglers to only a few hours of predation before dark, and makes it tough for day hikers to do much damage. The trout may also have noticed that fisherpersons also like to feed after four, which further limits time spent fishing.
My own experience of this was at Helen Lake. After fruitlessly looking for a Helen or a Ms. Lake to ask permission to camp there (maybe she was working at the visitor center in Lee Vining), we proceeded to put up the tent in the midafternoon. An hour later, the sky clouded over, and the mountains shook like a bunch of overloaded washing machines to the roar of thunder. Then it began to hail.
Sheltering in the tent, we two refugees from the enfeebling heat of a Southern California summer had to wrap up in layers of synthetic fibers and down to stay warm. It felt great. After the hail ended, we noticed rising trout in the little stream that flowed from Shamrock Lake past our campsite. These proved to be pretty little microtrout, but they were goldens. Any dry fly got their full attention. Aye, we be hungry trout.
There was a brief pause to cook a zesty freeze-dried dinner under a sky still muttering with the occasional roll of thunder. Then we headed to the lake to try our luck there. As daylight faded, we started catching more golden trout where the creek entered Helen Lake. These were larger fish. Rather chubby, in fact. Yet they were no choosier than their little streambound cousins about what sort of dry fly was presented to them. It was great fun, and then it got dark.
The loop trail can be reached by hiking around Saddlebag Lake from the parking lot by the resort. You can also pay a modest fee to the nice folks at the resort, who will take you to the trailhead in a boat, and pick you up again.
California's Sierra Nevada range has some places that will take your breath away, usually because the air is so thin over ten thousand feet. One such scenic area is the Saddlebag Lake loop trail, just northeast of Tioga Pass. The loop trail is about eight miles, an easy day hike. The trail passes one alpine lake after another. The lakes are very nice to look at, with jagged peaks and green meadows all around. To the south, 12,590 foot Mt. Conness and its glacier lord it over the lesser crags.
The area is not without its attractions for the angler. The lakes contain trout, including golden trout, California's state fish. This is because California is also known as the Golden State. Because gold was found here. Clever folk, the people who come up with this stuff.
The lakes have picturesque names like Shamrock Lake, Helen Lake, and Cascade Lake. I've often wondered how these lakes are named. After all, there are thousands of them in the Sierras. My visit two years ago disclosed that Shamrock Lake is not shaped like a cloverleaf, nobody named Helen was in evidence at said lake, and there may have been a cascade near Cascade Lake, but that is nothing remarkable in these mountains with water running all over the place.
The fish here seem to have some kind of arrangement with each other, which is that there is no feeding before four in the afternoon. This is smart of them, since it limits anglers to only a few hours of predation before dark, and makes it tough for day hikers to do much damage. The trout may also have noticed that fisherpersons also like to feed after four, which further limits time spent fishing.
My own experience of this was at Helen Lake. After fruitlessly looking for a Helen or a Ms. Lake to ask permission to camp there (maybe she was working at the visitor center in Lee Vining), we proceeded to put up the tent in the midafternoon. An hour later, the sky clouded over, and the mountains shook like a bunch of overloaded washing machines to the roar of thunder. Then it began to hail.
Sheltering in the tent, we two refugees from the enfeebling heat of a Southern California summer had to wrap up in layers of synthetic fibers and down to stay warm. It felt great. After the hail ended, we noticed rising trout in the little stream that flowed from Shamrock Lake past our campsite. These proved to be pretty little microtrout, but they were goldens. Any dry fly got their full attention. Aye, we be hungry trout.
There was a brief pause to cook a zesty freeze-dried dinner under a sky still muttering with the occasional roll of thunder. Then we headed to the lake to try our luck there. As daylight faded, we started catching more golden trout where the creek entered Helen Lake. These were larger fish. Rather chubby, in fact. Yet they were no choosier than their little streambound cousins about what sort of dry fly was presented to them. It was great fun, and then it got dark.
The loop trail can be reached by hiking around Saddlebag Lake from the parking lot by the resort. You can also pay a modest fee to the nice folks at the resort, who will take you to the trailhead in a boat, and pick you up again.