Another year, another camping trip in Bishop :) Dominic, Roxi and I were so eager to go that we ended up leaving last Wednesday, a day earlier than planned. On our drive up, we stopped at a Sport Chalet in Palmdale to buy me some waders since we'd be fishing, too. We arrived at the campground close to midnight, chose a campsite and busted our bums setting up camp. We were beat and passed out (in our awesome 4 season tent and super warm mummy bags on our self-inflating sleeping pads) around 2:30am.
It's Thursday and we're up early, not much sleep. We made some pretty delicious breakfast burritos, got ready and were about to head on over to a lake in Mammoth to meet up with Dom's sister and brother-in-law. They had been up in these neck of the woods camping/fishing for the past week! Well, one of the campground managers stopped by and informed us that our campsite had been reserved and that we needed to pack up EVERYTHING and move! We chose this site because there wasn't a "reserved" sign on it last night, but the campsite got word of the reservation this morning and they hadn't had a chance to put up the sign yet. We were both pissed about this, but for the most part, we kept it together. We quickly changed locations to a "non-reservable" site, which ended up being MUCH cooler than the first! Then we were off to Mammoth!
Dom and I rented a row boat for a few hours to fish out on the lake. Dom was designated rower...I tried at one point and we either spun in circles or we didn't move (since I was fighting the wind). The scenery was gorgeous here.
This was my first time fishing in a boat. The beautiful day and relaxing with my man made up for the crap we had to deal with in the morning. This was all worth the trouble :)
Dom caught a fish and released it. I didn't have any luck.
His sister, Lisa, is in the red floaty. Her husband, Stan, is in the green one. They were fly fishing and were catching fish left and right. Dom even gave fly fishing a try for a while.
When we got back to camp, I was pretty exhausted from setting up camp the night before, taking it down this morning, then putting it up again. I didn't drink any water all day and I was feeling the high altitude. I would have just passed out in the tent as soon as we got back, but Dom encouraged me to hang out with him by the fire, warm up, drink water and eat a good meal (cheeseburgers he made). He's so good to me, I felt so much better and we both enjoyed the night together.
It's Friday morning, and Dom is up and at 'em...already getting his fishing gear together to head over to the water on the campground to fish. It took me a little longer to get up, so I took my time and headed over to meet him. Well, I looked for him but couldn't find him so I fished on my own. Finally, he found ME..after he had already caught a fish and took it back to camp. He then gave me a little instruction and I caught my first fish...ever! At first I was so excited, but then felt bad for the fish so I released it. We went back to camp for a pancake breakfast.
Here's a view of our campsite. There's a little creek that ran through it. It was relaxing to hear the sound of running water all day and night. There's Dom's early morning catch.
He proceeded to gut the fish and was bummed to find out that it was a momma. Roxi enjoyed some caviar that afternoon.
We needed a few things from town so we drove into Bishop that afternoon and stopped by a few stores and did a bit of sight-seeing. On the way "home" we saw a beautiful yellow field on the side of the road and stopped to smell the flowers.
My sunshine ;)
Dom put together a beautiful "redneck" bouquet...even better than the one he made me last year :) It really is the little things that make me smile.
A short nap was in order before heading out to fish again. I like watching Roxi dig a hole in the dirt to make herself a bed.
We fished out of Dom's "secret spot" and pretty much hit the jackpot. We caught at least 15 fish between the two of us, and we kept 4. It was almost too easy, especially when they were fighting over the bait! Dom used crickets and worms, I used Power Bait. At the store, I picked the prettiest Power Bait I could find (silver balls with shiny silver glitter) and the fish took a liking to it, too :)
Mmmmm, onion and tomato stuffed Trout. It was pretty tasty. Dom taught me how to gut the fish. I did 2 of them :) This night, Dom didn't feel well. He had a bad headache and couldn't get warm. The weather was starting to get colder at night. He took a 30 min nap in the tent and I forced him out to have some hot tomato soup that I heated over the fire. I also helped with a head/neck massage. It was my turn to take care of him and he ended up feeling better, too.
It's Saturday....who's up for a hike? We originally wanted to get up early for this but we slept in a little. We also chatted for a while over a cereal and strawberry breakfast. We then packed our day packs and headed over to Tamarack Trail and around noon, we hiked almost 3 miles to Francis Lake. We IMMEDIATELY felt the struggle from the high altitude. We had to stop to catch our breath many times. The hike was mostly up hill, too. We gained a few thousand feet in elevation. The sign says "John Muir Wilderness."
We came upon the biggest mushroom I had ever seen. It's so pretty.
Here are some views of Francis Lake. It was small and peaceful, no one else was around. It was really windy at times and it was cold. At many points in our hike, little snow flurries came down! My back was sweaty and I put on my jacket (more like a rain shell) to get warm because the moisture and cold wind were giving me chills. I didn't pack my fleece jacket...mistake!
We traveled around the lake to get a better spot to fish and to make lunch. I was starving and couldn't wait for a warm meal. Well, the little propane "stove" we brought didn't work and we couldn't boil water to pour in our freeze-dried lunch. I was so bummed, all I had to eat was a granola bar or 2 and a small pack of salmon that we shared. I'm getting colder by the minute, my hands are frozen and Dom has already started fishing while I'm just trying to tie a hook to my line. I could barely move my frozen fingers and I was breathing loudly and heavily. I started feeling light-headed and a little dizzy, and then my nipples felt like they were burning and my feet were in pain. I started panicking and I cried. Dom knew something was wrong and that this was serious so he immediately put his beanie on my head, his fleece vest on me and some work gloves on my hands. He had me move, walk around in circles, warm up. He thinks I was starting to go into the beginning stages of hypothermia. We booked it out of there as fast as we could pack up and walk out. I slowly started feeling better the more we walked and the lower we got in elevation. We definitely had a scary and intense moment, but Dominic was there for me and kept his cool and pretty much helped save my life. Love him.
That night we had fish, grilled chicken, a baked potato, leftover baked beans and some veggies for dinner. We couldn't use the campfire to make any of this because the campground managers came by to tell everyone that due to the high winds, campfires were prohibited. LAME! It was early evening and we were not happy about not having a fire to keep us warm, or to sit around later. We went over our options and finally decided after dinner that we'd pack up that night, head into town and rent a hotel room. We worked well as a team getting everything together and in the truck. We stayed at Motel 6...SHOWERED...and relaxed. We even gave Roxi a shower, she was FILTHY.
Sunday morning, we ate breakfast at a little cafe in town and of course bought some bread from a famous bakery (it's tradition). We then drove over to another fishing spot that Dom likes and spent a little time there. He caught a few, of course :)
Roxi was nearby and on the look out, as usual. Have I ever mentioned how much I love this dog??? She's pretty special.
What's better than spending time doing something you love, in a place that you love? How about doing it WITH someone you love...creating lasting and loving memories together. That's pretty special, too.
We couldn't go without a family photo. I appreciate moments like this.
We stopped at South Lake for a few minutes. This is the trail head that we plan to begin our overnight (2 night) hike from.
South Lake is pretty spectacular.
We watched some random guy fly fish for a minute. BEAUTIFUL!
What an adventure :)
