8 miles of hiking • 1000' elevation gain • 1 night
Took my pops on his first backpacking trip ever on an easy jaunt on the old abandoned Cascade Crest Trail over to Bear Lake from the Thomas Lake trailhead. Some huckleberries were around for the first mile or so, but none of the bushes higher up have berries yet, let alone ripe ones.
I caught eight cut throat trout out of Bear Lake, including a few impressively large 11-12" guys with a caddis fly.
The mosquitoes were horrendous, and I am tore up from the floor up. Wait a couple weeks for a cold snap or bring lots of 100% DEET.
