Airplane Lake 2015

I have wrote about Airplane Lake before in this blog and have gone numerous times throughout the years but it always leaves me wanting more. Something about this lake that keeps drawing me back to it even after I just get skunked and cant catch and see a single thing. And this year has been one of those years that the lake won more battles then I could manage to win. This year alone I went to Airplane Lake four times, thats more then some people would go in their lifetime but I was determined to catch a big golden trout and I did just that.

The first trip was in mid June and on the hike up to the lake I could see that there was just way too much snow for the lake to be open and sure enough it was completely frozen. Two weeks later I tried again and this time there was less snow but still too much to even really fish as much as I wanted. Luckily we were seeing a few trout cruising the edges of the lake and I was able to hook into one of the biggest golden trout that I have ever caught.

Mid June

Two Weeks Later

The next few trips were complete failures, I went once in July and once again in the fall but still no trout and no sighting of trout. I think this next year I will try to plan a overnighter up there and really try and get a state record golden.

River of No Return 50K: June 21st, 2015

Another year doing the RONR 50K, last year was the first year of the race and I wanted to do the race every year that they held it so this year I signed up again. I've noticed that signing up for doing ultra marathons keeps me motivated to stay fit and to continue to go out and run in the winter season. I feel like this year for the race I was better prepared and had the advantage of knowing what to expect since I ran it last year.

The race went really well and I seemed to pace myself much better then last year. I actually surprised myself and was running up some of the hills as well as finished really strong at the end which I seem to not do so well at many races but nonetheless I finished in a time of 6 hours and 16 minutes which is 35 minutes faster then last year. I also placed 50 overall. Another RONR and another ultra is in the books.

My watched died just before I finished the race

Dry Creek: June 6th, 2015

Alone on my own, for some reason its really hard for me to get my friends to come to the mountains with me but with them or without them you know Im going to hit the mountains. This trip was up Dry Creek where Swauger Lake sits and another little lake that is unnamed that I have been wanting to check out for awhile now.
I always seem to hit Swauger Lake at the first of the year because it sits at a lower elevation and gets quite a bit of sun light since it faces south. Last year we hit it pretty early and found a lot of snow with a lake that was frozen but this year has been a lot different, less snow and warmer weather made this lake open relatively early. On the drive in I could tell that the lake would be unthawed but the question would be how much of it. On the hike up I was reassured that the lake was going to open. The huge snow bank that we ran into last year was completely gone and sure enough the lake was ice free and the water was extremely clear compared to previous years.
Fishing was great! It seemed like I timed it just perfectly to where the fish were on the hunt for food. Catch rates were good and got to the point where unhooking the fish took longer than catching them. There was this one spot where all the fish where concentrated and looking for food. They didn't care that I was standing over them so I threw my Gopro to see if I could get some good footage and sure enough they weren't scared of that either. After seeing the video some people said that it looks like I put my Gopro in a raceway at a hatchery and not a mountain lake.

After fishing for a bout an hour a headed to that other lake that I wanted to check out. Curiosity was killing my cat so I had to go check it out and I'm glad that I did. This lake doesn't have any fish in it but it has some killer views. The mountains just tower over the lake with a few waterfalls dropping into the lake. I'm glad that I brought my Gopro because I don't think my other camera would be able to catch the mountains and the lake all in the same photo. The only thing that would have made this trip better was if there were trout in the lake.