Well, well, well, Mount Elwell

For this day I had 3 concrete goals: Climb Mount Elwell, test my newly acquired trail running shoes and catch some fish for dinner. I didn't think that I would successfully be done with all of this shortly after 2 PM already...

Climbing Mount Elwell didn't seem like a big alpine challenge since there are easy accesses from the campground or the resort in this area close to the Gold Lake Highway.

I have heard that this area is known for pretty good fishing. Even though the biggest Lake in the vicinity is Gold Lake, after looking at map it was clear to me Gold Lake would only be my second choice for some fishing. The reason for this is because it has a boat ramp and various other very easy access possibilities for fishermen. In order to get to Long Lake, which is close by and not too small of a lake, you need to hike for at least 1 mile. Such a setup should probably guarantee that a lake attracts way less fishermen and enhance chances to catch something decent.

On the previous day I bought some Trail-Running shoes with a Vibram sole and since I have a project in mind which will require me to hike many many miles on a trail to approach an interesting mountain for me, I thought I'd finally buy some trail running shoes to ease lengthy approaches. The hike to Mount Elwell seemed like the perfect test for these shoes.

The Hike: Starting in the campground at the Grass Lake trailhead, I traverse to the entrance of the Elwell Lodge and along the concrete street to the main parking lot (which to my surprise was already quite full). From there I head up to the Lake and get a first glimpse of my goal and the beautiful lake and scenery here. Walking on the west side towards the dam and trying to fish here, no luck. The same result from the dam. I continue on the north side of the dam along the trail to where it meets the lake again and fish there again, with lots of success! (5 good-sized trout in less than an hour - Upper Boyscout Lake-like). After refrigerating the fresh fish in a close-by snow field, I hike to the top of Mount Elwell and enjoy the view and scenery there for a while (last 50m T3, rest T1+ ;-).

For the way back to the car, I first go pick up my fish "from the fridge" and from there on the trail via Mud- , Hellgrammite-, Silver- back to Long Lake and then the same way back to the car as on the way in.

PS: I'm impressed by these trail running shoes, basically no weight and with the vibram sole I feel very comfortable even on the rock & soft snow and of course on the trail.