Backpacking Trip 2011

I would have written this a long time ago, but my internship was keeping me way too busy. I'm in blog-catch-up mode now!

Every summer, my friends and I go on a backpacking trip. Normally we'd go in August when the weather is better, but because of the late-summer arrival of many babies, we had to go early this year (for some reason the pregnant wives didn't want us leaving them alone at 8-9 months pregnant. Weird, I know!). With all the snowfall this Winter Spring Summer, we had to travel pretty far to avoid having to sleep in snow caves or navigating through treacherous raging rivers of death. We finally found a place called Fish Creek Reservoir down in the Dixie National Forest.

Based on our guidebook, the hike sounded easy. It was only 3 miles, but it turned out to be very steep. We had some huge hills to climb and it took us a good 3 hours to get up to the lake.

The lake was pretty, but finding camping spots around it wasn't easy. It was surrounded by pretty dense forest. After some intense searching, we finally found a spot that turned out to be great.

Not only was there enough space for our tents and a perfect place for a fire pit (two of the logs were already there, but we added two more to surround it with seats), but the bugs seemed to stay away from that spot much more than any of the other spots we considered. Thanks, bugs!

The backpacking itself is always a good experience, but I was in it for the fishing. I had been itching to get out fishing all year! I finally have all of my own gear, and was stoked to use it for the first time.

(I lost a lure I had just bought, and braved the lake to get it back. It was freezing,

and after all that work I couldn't get to it anyway!)

The fishing wasn't so hot at first; we fished for a few hours and none of us had much luck. Towards dusk we hoped they'd be biting better, and we went over to a different spot on the lake. It still took a while, but eventually I reeled one in. I ended up catching three more that night, and three more the following morning. I had a lot more success than my friends (sorry guys!)

The hike out, being very downhill, only took about half the time as the hike in. All in all, I thought it was a very successful trip, although I might not feel the same way if I didn't have any success fishing. But it was definitely good to spend some time with the guys, and always fun to get away for a weekend.