Beach Party

Balmy temps during the day….freezing temps at night - mother nature is slowing ushering in spring. This is a favorite time for many travelers. Freezing temps at night are helping to maintain safe ice conditions on many lakes - while warm temps during the day provide locals and tourists with cabin fever a taste of what is to come!

On Friday, we drove to Lakes Entrance. We stopped a number of times to look at some of the sights - especially the little National Trust Town of Central Tilba. This is a very scenic town and has a great chees factory where we bought a Truckle of fine tasty cheese. There ae no towns (just lots of forest) in the area around Cann River and Orbost, so we drove for a few hours without any stops. On reaching Lakes Entrance, we surveyed the town and finally selected a new multi-storey hotel at the Melbourne end of the town as our place to stay for the night.

I also actually went on a hike for the first time in ages. Janece, Amira, Ris (Janece’s cousin’s wife) and I went on a hike Ris found in the Seattle Times’ Outdoors section. The hike was a “hike of the week” pick, and it’s to Lake Dorothy, the first lake in a series of lakes in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness near Stevens Pass. It’s a steep hike, but short – 800+ elevation gain in 1.5 miles. It’s a very well-kept trail with a lot of man-made steps and other pieces, as well as a bridge in the middle of the hike that lets you pause and enjoy the view of three streams running together to form the east fork of the Miller River. It was a cloudy/rainy day, but we hit the bridge right at a sunbreak which made the view even more beautiful. Lake Dorothy is also really picturesque, even in the rain, and we were up high enough that we were watching clouds drift past the peaks and right over the lake. We took the dogs – Tova and Ris’ two beagles – and they had a great time playing trail leaders.

I should really call refering to these lessons as ’swimming improvement lessons’ or something because whenever I mention it to other people, there seems to be this confusion about whether or not I can swim. Yes, I can swim in that I won’t drown in most any normal body of water including the ocean, lakes or a pool. I can tread water, move around and float (sort of). However, I can’t swim a lap across a pool. Once in Trebgast, Sara Lee, Amy and I decided to swim across the lake. I think they had already gone to other side...

Ever been outside when the temperature is -60 degrees F? Actual Temperature? How about a windchill of -65 degrees F or lower? If you think it's starting to sound like Antartica here then you'd have to stick around for our summers, where record highs are about 114 degrees. The heat wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have about 15,000 lakes the size of 2 city blocks or more each (some miles and miles long) heating up like giant humidifiers as well. The humidity here can easily reach 80% - and it's not raining. These same lakes freeze in the winter - sucking all moisture from the air.

My last flight was very smooth and suddenly the weather which was warm and sunny began to turn cold. My fellow passenger was a lady and she put on her jacket and asked me if i was flying to finland for the first time.The view was simply awesome, i was able to see the "Land of thousand lakes" and i could see water everywhere.Also there were lot of clouds around and i was feeling i was in heaven while sailing in the clouds.

We spent all day doing outdoor stuff, the walking in the area is amazing. The views are amazing and although the weather was a bit wet, the walking is great. We were hoping to do some sailing as well, but the weather proved a bit difficult in that area, but we did get in a motor boat hire and several trips across and around the lakes. We also went horse riding, which is something that I haven’t really done much of, but I enjoyed it immensely.

We did make a short stop about 5:45 for 10 minutes in San Pablo at a place looking out over a lake and some fish farms. The area does a lot of tourist business because of the seven lakes around the area and the tall, dormant volcanos to be climbed. Mt. Makiling has three peaks and Mt. Banahaw is supposed to have mystical healing powers in it’s springs and streams. The town was setting up for their annual celebration which starts on Monday.

Now the Missouri River is of special interest to me as I originally came from Missouri and spent a fair amount of time on it's banks and the many tributaries and lakes it fills. Certainly, the health of the river effects a lot of communities from Colorado (where it starts) to where it joins the Mississippi. It is the longest river in the United States. Word that it is drying up is a catastrophe as it provides drinking water for many communities, moves a lot of commerce, provides primary water supply for millions of acres of farmland, and then there...

So what to do? I don't know how other attorneys handle it, but I know that when this stuff starts getting to me, I need a break. It does not have to be a long one, but I need to get out and spend a day with a fly rod, going for large trout or silver salmon. Or maybe with a rifle trying to get a moose or a caribou. Unfortunately, trout season is closed (as is moose and caribou and the salmon are not running yet. We have not reached breakup yet (this is where the ice goes out of the lakes), although the rivers are fairly clear. I think this is proof that I need to get a good 4-weight rod and go after some grayling. A day on a river, smoke a cigar, drink some Scotch. Don't answer the phone and think about perfecting that backcast. Just don't know how likely it will be that happens anytime soon. What other coping strategies for the stress of this job does anybody out there use?

Salish aboriginal legends indicate that there has been a large sea creature living in south central British Columbia's Lake Okanagan long before the arrival of the white man. According to folklore, the lake monter was originally a demon possessed man who murdered a local man named Old Kan-He-K (who lent his name to Lake Okanagan). As punishment for the homicide, the gods turned the murderer into a sea serpent who would be stuck at the scene of the crime for all of eternity. Out of fear that the creature, known as N'ha-a-itk, would rise out of the...

The show was well attended but I thought there were fewer people than last year. Tackle manufacturers were also thinner on the ground than before. It was good to meet all the other coaches and a chance to do some valuable networking. As a result of a chat with Ian Welch of RMC Angling, I hope to be fishing for catfish on Split Lakes at Yateley this summer.

the lake was huge!! i couldnt believe it. the thing that sets this lake apart from other lakes, is that the local people here live on it. not near it, but on it in houses on stilts. there are several small villages in different parts of the lake where small communities of people live in these above water homes. everything they do is actually on the lake. even their gardening. they have these huge floating gardens where they grow tomatos, onions, flowers, and other crops. it’s amazing to see these gardens, rows and rows of different...