The way up to Scout Lake starts off a well used logging road not far from Snoqualmie Pass. You can see the three victims of the rather rough but short trail. Myself, Dad, and Erik the chow thought we did quite well to make the lake in an hour and a half, with nobody outrageously out of breath or energy. We saw one couple and their two dogs, on their way down, a short distance from the lake, but otherwise had the entire place to ourself! The weather was perfect, just the right temperature and almost no clouds.



Though sparse, the heather blooms were quite photogenic, as was the bear grass, which was flourishing everywhere! We checked out all the available camp spots, nearly walking the entire way around the lake, before settling on what was the only viable camp. We set up the tent while Erik collapsed in the bear grass and nearly fell asleep in the lake. The only downside to our camp was that the prime fishing spot was on the opposite shore of the lake. However, it was not too far or too difficult a trek, to what became known as 'Fish Point'.



Here you can just make out our tent across the lake, nestled between the base of a large talus slope and two big fir trees right on the shore. The first two and last two pictures in this group are taken from Fish Point, while the others are along the shore just slightly west of the point. Dad got the fishing pole ready with a sinker and bait, and handed it to me. On the first cast, I casually asked how long I should leave the line in. Right at that moment, no more than half a minute after the bait plunked into the clear water, I felt a strong jerk on the line that could only be a fish! We were both amazed, to say the least, on the very first cast of the day and less than a minute in the water! Well, it apparently was my day for fishing. I ended up catching a total of five nice trout that day, three at Fish Point, and two along the shore further west. Erik was happy to stand watch and silently critique our fishing technique. Dad didn't catch anything, but I bet he would if he had kept at it a little longer. We finally headed back to camp, burrying the fish bag in a patch of snow for the night.



Fish Point is lit in the evening sun here, seen from our camp site. You will notice there are several large flat rocks at the site which were very convenient for eating and sitting around. I was happy to discover that my new backpacking stove is efficient and super easy to use. Sweet and sour pork, triscuits, and oreos, tasted great after our day of scrambling around the lake! Just up the rock pile behind our tent stood a monster patch of trilliums. Erik continued his vigilant guarding of the camp. We finally crawled into the tent for what turned out to be a fairly decent night's sleep. My new Thermarest Z-rest egg-crate foam pad seemed to work well enough to justify it's value over my two pound heavier inflatable Thermarest.



Somewhat surprisingly, it didn't seem to get very cold at all overnight, though due to the lake's location, it did take the sun quite some time to make it onto our camp. After a hearty breakfast of oatmeal and hot chocolate, I headed around the lake to Fish Point to catch the sixth fish, grabbing the prior day's catch from our snow cache on the way. We had to have six, so that each of us would be able to eat two when we got home, you see. They were all about the same size, which is to say small. The fish weren't nearly as hungry the second day, as it took me about an hour and a half to catch just one more fish, though I did have one steal the bait earlier on. I stuffed the bag with snow and headed back to camp, which Dad had cleaned and packed. Dad was kind enough to carry the seven pound tent on the way down, while I carried the several pound bag of fish. It took us less than an hour to get back to the car, and we were home within about two, with some snow still left on the fish. After a quick barbeque, they were mighty tasty!