Sam and I had a great time on a two-day backpacking trip to Soldier Lakes in Idaho. There are two clusters of remote, small, but beautiful lakes in the area: Soldier Lakes and Cutthroat Lakes.
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The trail consists of a stem followed by a loop. Although our original intent was to do the whole loop, we decided to focus on exploring and fishing the numerous lakes. The Patrol Ridge part of the loop is supposed to provide stunning views down into a deep valley, but we saved that for another time. The trout were calling.
Hiking to Soldier Lakes
The trailhead to reach Soldier Lakes and Cutthroat Lakes starts at Josephus Lake. It took about four hours to drive there from Nampa, Idaho, including almost an hour on a gravel road that was at times steep and deeply rutted.
After parking and registering at the trailhead (where there's a restroom, by the way), we started a steep climb sharply above a picturesque portion of Josephus Lake that we couldn't see from the road. The view of the valley below is worth the work to get there, but you then re-enter the forest for another hour and a half or so, depending on your pace. There are steep climbs, followed by more level areas that occasionally give you a breather.
When you reemerge, it is to a view of Helldiver Lake. We didn't stop to fish there, because we were too interested in getting to our destination of the Soldier Lakes.
We eventually reached a fork in the trail that we thought was the beginning of the loop. It wasn't. From that point, the trail marker said it was two miles to Soldier Lakes. After a long incline followed by a steep descent, we reached the first Soldier Lake, called First Lieutenant, at around 11:00 (we left the trailhead about 8:15). The trout were hopping all over the place here, surface feeding on mosquitos. We caught a couple cutthroat trout there, but they were very small. I used a Kastmaster, and Sam used a rooster tail.
Then we hiked on to the next Soldier Lake, called Colonel Lake. It was very pretty, but the shoreline was pretty marshy and inaccessible to good fishing. It was also very shallow until the middle of the lake, and we didn't see any fish in the shallows. We were all about fishing at that point, so we moved on.
We were surprised how close we were to the next Soldier Lake, called General Lake. It was less than ten minutes from Colonel Lake, and turned out to provide a a bunch of promising strikes and a couple of small fish.
Our map seemed to show another Soldier Lake that we couldn't find, so on day two we actually tried going off trail briefly to find it. Starting at the mouth of a spring inlet to First Lieutenant (after a few good strikes and a couple fish there), we hiked up over a steep incline, reached a summit, then descended to find a promising lake. Unfortunately, we found ourselves on a shore of Colonel Lake that was opposite the trail we had been on the first day. We didn't find the hidden lake, but Colonel Lake was just as pretty from this view. It was also just as unfishable.
After taking a look at Google's satellite maps, I think I've spotted the missing lake just northwest of General Lake. (From right to left, here is Colonel Lake, General Lake, and the apparently unnamed "missing" one.)
New respect for lures
I gained a new respect for crankbait fishing on this trip, since I'd never had this much success with lures before. However, I also gained new respect for the skill required to land a fish caught on a lure. After they hit the lure, they almost immediately try to spit it out. If you let them have any slack at all, they're off the line instantly. We lost quite a few fish that way, but it was a fun experience.
At First Lieutenant, where the fish were boiling, I tried using a fly on the end of a bobber. I tried both a clear bobber and a standard red and white one, to no avail. They would have nothing to do with my fly. Amateur that I am, I even tried the infamous Powerbait salmon egg on the hook of a fly. No luck. You could clearly see them take note of my flies, examine them closer, then swim off thinking "what kind of idiot does this guy think I am?" It was back to crankbait.
The hike to Cutthroat Lakes
The cluster of lakes called Cutthroat Lakes consists of unnamed lakes, although the largest is often called Cutthroat Lake. We actually only made it to the first two, and only fished the second. I caught my largest cutthroat there (probably about 12 inches) off of a silver Kastmaster, but lost it right before landing it. Other than that, the fishing was pretty uneventful.
It was beautiful, however. We camped there on a point about 50 feet above the lake, overlooking a gorgeously serene vista. We saw no people on the trail there from the time we made camp until we packed it up in the morning on day two. It was amazing to wake up to that view.
Hiking out
We left First Lieutenant Lake to head back for the truck at about 3:00. What took nearly three hours going up, took just over two hours going down. There were some steep grades to climb as we got out of the basin we were in, but it was defininely faster going on the return hike. The downgrade was harder on the feet, of course, carrying 22 and 32 lb. packs on the steep sections of switchback trails.
Helldiver Lake was a welcome sight, as it made the truck (and the thought of getting our boots off) that much more real in our minds.
Life is ministry
As my motto goes, life truly is ministry. I was thrilled to get to use this time with my 14 year old son to have some good conversation with him about life, faith, growing up, etc. It reinforced to me the need to constantly talk to our kids to learn what they are thinking. Only then can we contribute something to their thinking as they mature into adulthood.
Just taking them to church and expecting them to learn the faith of their parents through osmosis doesn't go the full distance. We have to be more intentional in building the faith of our kids and imparting to them wisdom and a sense of mission that will allow them to be used by God for the rest of their lives.
Every kid has to go through a time where they are no longer living off the faith of Mom and Dad. It needs to become their own, and that's a process of learning, questioning, and figuring out. If we're not accessible and honest with them during that process, we're losing a great deal of opportunity. Trips like this present a lot of opportunities, and I'm sure I missed some of them.
Lessons learned for my next backpacking trip
I learned a few things on this trip that will help me on the next one:
- Pack a cooler of cold drinks in the truck for the end of the trip (if it's short enough). Boiled lake water only does so much for your thirst at the end of a long day of hiking, and driving two hours to buy cold drinks just wasn't real refreshing.
- Bring a powdered drink mix to improve the taste of the above-mentioned boiled lake water.
- A checklist only works if you check it. The hot chocolate would have been a lot easier to drink in mugs rather than Gatorade bottles.
- Pick a tent site with no protruding rocks. I spent the whole night trying to find the least painful sleeping position.
Video slide show of the trip
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Show/Hide commentswritten by Jason , January 16, 2008
I'll have to add it to my list. I plan on taking my 11 year old out on his first backpacking trip late this coming June. Only a two-nighter, but I hope to get him as interested in it as I am.
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