Knee held up pretty good. But I had a mondo brace on it. I still had to step down gingerly.
I set a new record for myself going to LPL. I know it's nothing for most people, but I made it there in 2 hours with a 24lb pack.
I'll tell you what though...it was cold as hell up there once the sun went down. From 8pm to midnight I could not get my toes or the backs of my legs warm. And this was with two pairs of socks, thermal underwear (or whatever they call them now, just bought them for this trip) and my down-like sweater. My torso was fine and my head was find (I love my balaclava). Oh, and I was in my +15 bag....but the three season tent sucked for temps in the teens.
LPL isn't frozen and won't be frozen for a couple of weeks. But....the fish were not biting. I had one grab and spit my fly. And another who checked out my fly three times and swam away. I think part of it is that the sun doesn't hit the lake until 9:45am (pdt).
It was definitely quiet up there. I ran into a few people hiking down yesterday afternoon. But nobody hiking up yesterday and none today.
I stopped in the WPS and had a nice talk with Doug. I may not have been the last customer of the year, but I was pretty close.
Except for the fact that I didn't catch any fish and I was cold for four hours, it was an uneventful but very pleasant trip. The only wildlife I saw were the giant ravens that hang out on the rocks at the south side of LPL. Those buggers make a hell of a racket.
