Temps above 9000' this weekend?

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windknot
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Re: Temps above 9000' this weekend?

Post by windknot »

By the way, I've been in Dinkey a few times over Labor Day weekend and have always encountered great weather and no mosquitoes. The forecast looks to be the same for this weekend so far. Hope you have a great trip!

Matt
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fyton2v
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Re: Temps above 9000' this weekend?

Post by fyton2v »

Man. I didn't think that a permit might be hard to get in a wilderness area. Know of any spots that would make a good plan "B" from the Prather ranger station if Dinkey is booked?
windknot wrote:Yeah, I usually pick them up at the ranger station in Prather or the USFS center in Clovis. Believe you can get one as much as 24 hours in advance for the walk-ups, so it might be smart to get one today if you're going in tomorrow (going to be busy up there).

Matt
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AlmostThere
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Re: Temps above 9000' this weekend?

Post by AlmostThere »

There are two main trailheads - Cliff Lake and Willow Meadow. If there aren't enough for one, try for the other. Another local wilderness area - Kaiser Wilderness, from Upper Billy Creek (Nellie Lake trailhead) or Potter Pass (takes you out to Twin/George Lakes, good overnight as well). From the Kaiser lakes you can summit Kaiser Peak.
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fyton2v
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Re: Temps above 9000' this weekend?

Post by fyton2v »

Hi everyone.

We made it up to Dinkey Wilderness this weekend and the trip was great. Amazing weather, beautiful spot and great fishing. My 6 year old daughter landed a 15" brown. Brat.

We did some primitive camping a couple miles before the trial-head on Saturday night and hiked in to Swede Lake on Sunday. Good call on the wilderness permit. As we were setting up camp on Sunday a nice forest ranger stopped by to check if we were legit. I was pretty surprised to see her. BTW... she lost her GPS somewhere along the Mystery Lake/Swede Lake trail... just in case someone here stumbled across it.

I think there was only one or two other people at Swede Lake by Sunday night. It was very pleasant and quiet.

Thanks all!
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AlmostThere
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Re: Temps above 9000' this weekend?

Post by AlmostThere »

I probably passed you on the trail - we were going out from Swede/Mystery on Sunday. It was a gorgeous weekend.

Where did you catch the brown? We were catching rainbows all weekend in both lakes. I've never seen a brown in the lakes.... Only brook, bow and golden.
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fyton2v
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Re: Temps above 9000' this weekend?

Post by fyton2v »

She caught it in swede lake. When you're entering the lake area from Mystery trail-head we were camping a couple hundred yards off to the right, counter-clockwise around the lake. The fish was caught off to the right where the drop-off is about 5 feet from shore near the small creek that enters the lake. We threw it back so you can probably still get it!

I'm pretty sure it was a brown, but it was a hectic moment. I suppose it could have been a golden. Just a bigger golden than I've seen... and not one that has the stand-out typical markings. Or maybe some sort of cutthroat hybrid. I read there were browns in those lakes so I just assumed brown. All the other fish caught were rainbow. I'm sure of that part :).

We were 2 adults (me and wife) and 3 younger kids. We met several nice people along the trail. That's really one of the great things about backpacking. Just about everyone you meet is really nice and like minded.
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Re: Temps above 9000' this weekend?

Post by AlmostThere »

I think we saw you coming up the hill - we were the ones with the Queensland Heeler mix going down. I had a really bright blue Gregory pack.

Your daughter got lucky - every once in a while we catch a really nice fish out of one of the lakes, but most are 4-6 inches long. This trip my buddy caught a salmon-in-training out of Mystery on his third cast. It was his first fishing trip. A fifteen inch rainbow!
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Re: Temps above 9000' this weekend?

Post by fyton2v »

That was us. My kids liked your dog :)... then gave me grief for not bringing our own.

That was a lucky fish and my 6 year old was bummed that she only caught one that size! The biggest fish I saw there aside from brownzilla was 7".
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Re: Temps above 9000' this weekend?

Post by windknot »

Thanks for the report, and I'm glad you guys had a good trip! I've never seen a brown in any of the Dinkey lakes, but I know First Dinkey used to have them and the lakes are all so close together that I'm never surprised what I catch. I got a golden in First Dinkey once, and I've heard of them being caught in South as well. Not sure if this is a product of natural migration or (more likely) coffee-canning efforts.

At any rate, I've been passing over Mystery and Swede lately because of the small fish I've caught there in the past, but it looks like with your two reports they might be worth a few casts the next time I visit Dinkey.

Matt
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