A few weeks back, we marched our scout troop into the Uintahs. Destination: Ibantik Lake. Objective: The Fishing Merit Badge. For those unfamiliar with the area, the Uintahs are mountains, but the place is really all about the lakes. There are at least 43,000 of them. Some large, some just glorified ponds.
Inevitably, we got a late start leaving town, getting us off the trail and into camp well after dark. It was a fairly arduous hike... at least by "city" standards... some four miles each way, punctuated by a fairly steep climb over "The Notch". The youngest scouts didn't complain too much. The older ones did. "I'm never coming on another one of these" one would say. "Why can't we stop at this perfectly good lake?" another would logically offer. "This sucks" said Evan. While I harbored some of the same sentiments, I'm a leader and an adult... So I had to put on a better face.
A nearly full moon allowed us to sent up camp sans flashlight.... in what appeared to be a sandy spot right on the shore. Next came the campfire and foil dinners, always the highpoint. After inhaling sufficient smoke and molten cheddar, we turned in. (several hours too early). A piece of advice: When camping, resist the temptation to go to be before midnight. What seemed like exhaustion and soft sand turned out to be neither. I slept like crap. Turns out I like to sleep on my side. Apparently the folks who make Thermarest Pads have never met someone like me. I should send them an email. The only unexpected solace was the constantly looping "Stand by Me" coming from somewhere inside Evan's sleeping bag.
We rose early to a crystalline sunrise and the promise of fly fishing on a remote mountain lake. Early fall when the bugs have gone? On a lake everyone else is too lazy to hike in to? Paydirt. Unsurprisingly, the trout-stravaganza we'd hope to hit never quite materialized, leaving my string of fishing trips without fish completely in tact. To be fair, a few small fish were taken by others less eternally damned than ourselves.
11am: Back on the trail.
2pm: Gone Burgers at Hi-Mountain Drug in Kamas.
4pm: Throwing our backpacks on the living room floor.
It wasn't a bad time, the Uintahs are fairly breathtaking and I feel like we earned what we took. But in spite of all we told the kids, I'm not sure the ROI really works. Three hours driving + six hours hiking + zero hours sleeping = approximately zero fish. But his isn't a conversation we adults can have. Can we?
Not Ibantik
Ibantik
Evan at the top of The Notch
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