Tadpole Lake: Skye & I headed to Tadpole Lake (No Name Lake) along the stateline on Tuesday. I was hoping the brush from the rain from Sunday into Monday had dried out some, but that was wishful thinking. It was a wet bushwack down to the lake, but as the brush isn't that tall it wasn't to bad just wet to mid-thigh. There was still a lot of low clouds along the stateline and the fish didn't really bite well until the sun came out after about an hour after arriving at the lake. I caught about 6-7 fish but decided early on that I wasn't keeping any.
We stayed for a couple hours and had lunch on the big rock. I did some exploring for a trail that shows up on maps that comes down from the stateline on the far ridge to the outlet. I didn't find anything definite. On the way out we ran into a motorcyclist (Randy from Spokane Area) who was riding the trail. From what I know, that particular ridge trail is open to motorcycles. I used to ride motorcycles all across the stateline in the 70's and early 80's before closures were put in place, so I don't get upset about legal riding.
Ward Peak Lake: Since the weather was good, Skye & I hiked into Ward Peak Lake for a quick overnite trip on Thursday and Friday. I have been wanting to spend the night at the lake and was hoping for great sunset & sunrise. There are several sites to pitch a tent near the lake, but they are either rocky or brushy. I opted for the site near the overlook (great view) and beat down the low brush as much as possible. The sunset wasn't that great as the lake sits way down below Ward Peak. The basin the lake sits in faces east so the sunrise was spectacular. The moon was just a sliver but Venus was visible right above it so that was a cool scene. The night was very quiet with no visitors. We got up before first light and took a number of pictures as the sun came up. The lake was completely calm which lended to some great pictures. It's not a long hike with a short cross-country trek and navigating a primitive trail; it was and hour hike in and then 45 minutes out.
