Trail Lake: On Wednesday, July 16th, Kelly, Kasa, Skye & I hiked into Trail Lake up Trout Creek outside of Superior. It was a bit muggy on the hike as it had rained some yesterday. We made it to the lake fine with just Skye falling of the log and into the creek on our way there. We caught several Brook Trout of varying sizes but were a bit late in the morning so they quit biting. While we were there 3 women (Hayley, Sara & Germaine) arrived at the lake, of the 3, I already knew Hayley. Hayley & Germaine are with the Great Burn Conservation Alliance (GBCA). This is a good organization that completes a number of stewardship and trail work projects during the summer; and along with wilderness advocacy and education. On the hike out I climbed down to the falls (about 20 feet tall) along the trail. It is a literal climb down as there are 2 sections with 20 foot ropes to aid your descent and climb out. A slip and fall on these 2 sections would definitely hurt as the only thing stopping you is something bigger at the bottom. The pictures really don't do the climbs down justice. The bugs were light and not a bother; but the huckleberries are still green.
Mary Lake: For Friday's little adventure, Skye & I headed towards Ward Peak along the ID/MT stateline with the goal to hike down to Mary Lake. That's the little lake (fishless) directly below Ward Peak and above Hub Lake with an island in the center. It's been a couple years so a visit was in order. The route was to hike partway on the trail to Ward Peak, then leave the trail and head down the main ridge and eventually dropping off the ridge down to the lake; a steep climb down. I thought about a swim, but the bugs were so bad I was not going to expose any flesh foolishly. We stayed about an hour and ate lunch. I decided to not climb back out the way we came in, but rather take the primitive trail that connects with the trail coming out of Hub Lake to the saddle between Ward and Eagle Peaks. I didn't know anything about the trail; condition, length and where it began and ended. As it turns out I have been on far worse trails in the past few years so it wasn't a big event. The total distance for the day was about 4 miles, and it was hot.
