Wow. Ghetto-C had this crazy idea to ride our mountain bikes up to Mystic Lake to do some fishing. Sounds good! Except that it's 10 miles each way, and since it's in the mountains...well...it hurt.
Here is the crew just on the beginning of our trek: Ghetto-C (Chris) in a very interesting outfit, and his co-worker and all around cool dude Matt-dog:
We were joined on our trek by Matt's really cool dog Honey, a half-husky half-lab mix. Honey shows Chris the way after we have finally gained the top of the first steep ridge:
The downhill parts of our ride were really cool and super fun, but the uphill parts were Hell on Earth. Here are Matt and I taking a break - our destination is...way out there:
Only several more miles to go! Chris, Matt, and Honey on another one of many breaks:
Eventually we finally reached Mystic Lake. First we checked out the Forest Service cabin, which you can rent for $30/night. Would make an excellent wintertime cross-country ski trip:
And then, finally, some fishin'! The water was cloudy from the week of rain we'd just had, but that helped conceal us from the fish. Chris caught 2 nice brookies, and finally I too scored with this nice 13" brook trout caught on a homemade wooly bugger:
The lake was very scenic and it was spring green all around. There were also tons of deer/elk prints in the mud, just as there had been tons of their scat along the bike trail. At last it was time for the long but relatively pleasant mostly-downhill 10 miles back down Sourdough Canyon back to my car (we left Matt's truck over at Moser Creek in Hyalite where we started). Too bad I got back to discover my rearview mirror busted. At least the girl left a note (hit it with a stick thrown for a dog....how does that happen??).
A parting shot of Mystic Lake:
