Labor Day 2013
This year the Hermansens celebrated the American laborer by
hiking up to Lake Isabelle in the Brainard Lake region and fishing the Middle
Fork of the St. Vrain.
Lake Isabelle
It turns out if you show up at 8:30 am on Labor Day, you
will not get a spot at the Long Lake Trailhead (40° 4.674'N 105° 35.077'W).
Instead we parked at the Brainard Lake day use parking area. It was about a
mile walk around the lake to the trailhead. When we talked to one of the
Rangers he said that 80% of the spots were filled for the weekend with people
who hiked in and camped – so even arriving earlier might not have assured us a
spot.
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| Bella finds hiking very tiring |
We went with my friend Justin and his family. They have two
kids and so we took a leisurely pace. We heard rumors that the lake was
half-drained, but we decided we were committed at that point. We had briefly
discussed hiking up Niwort Ridge for the views but it was too late at that
point. However, when we arrived we were pleased to see that the upper half of
the lake was still filled and beautiful. The low water level actually made for
a great beach. We really should have brought some towels. Of course, the water
was fed from the Isabelle Glacier, so swimming would have been brief.
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| Lake Isabelle has a beech! |
We had a picnic lunch and then made our way back. As our
friend said, Lake Isabelle has a high reward to hiking effort ratio. I would
recommend it to anyone looking for a quick beautiful hike or an easy hike with
the family.
Middle Fork of the St. Vrain
After the hike, Justin and I parted ways with our families
and went fishing on the Middle Fork of the St. Vrain. We drove down the paved
part until we got to the 4-wheel drive section of the road at the Camp Dick
Campground (40°
7.796’N 105° 31.447’W).
This section starts off with an obstacle that is designed to make anyone who
does not have a 4-wheel drive vehicle realize that parking would be a fine
idea.
This was my first foray into real 4-wheel driving. I learned
that:
·
My truck is a lot tougher
than I thought it was.
·
Four-wheeling is not any faster than walking.
·
It’s only really worth it
if you’re going to camp (and want to haul a lot of gear) or just like
off-roading.
We eventually came to an obstacle about a mile in that we
decided was not worth crossing, so went down to the stream and rigged up.
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| Justin casting for fish beneath some falls |
Both of us brought our dogs. This was the first time that I
had taken Bella. She was a champ, exhibiting all the best characteristics that
you wanting a fishing dog: she sat quietly by the bank, did not wander off and
did not try to help me land any of the fish.
 |
| Bella proving her mettle as a fishing dog |
I fished most of the day with large (size 12) parachute
adams with a copper dropper. I got slightly more fish on the dry. The fish were
mostly brookies in the 8-inch range. I got one cutthroat that was probably
around 12-inches. The middle fork has beautiful pools and nice trails on either
side that make for easy jumping to the good fishing holes. We ended our trip at
a nice waterfall. I switched to a double nymph rig (size 10 stonefly, size 16
copper john) and landed a nice 13” brookie on the copper john to end the day.
We left the river around 5pm and amazingly enough got the
truck out in one piece. It was great way to celebrate the working man and women
with good fishing, hiking and friends.
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