The wind rocked my tent last night and this morning the
fresh coat of paint on my camp table was covered in conifer cones and dense
yellow pollen. It was still a bit windy,
but the mosquitos were fewer and the ones who had survived the night looked
shell- shocked and whined in dizzy loops without finding any exposed skin. Following the advice of a woman in the
visitor center, I drove out past town in search of Fish Lake Road. According to her the lake was just West of
town and there was hiking all over the place, but I wasn’t sure if this meant I
could wander wherever or if there were designated hiking areas.
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| Fish Lake from the road |
Fish lake road wound past some kind of utility station,
then, at the sign marked “city limit”, dissolved in a dirt road pitted with
potholes. The lake was still frozen in
places but it looked like the locals had their boats floating in the thawed
areas and were dropping lines between ice packs. I parked and followed a rutted
path past a silver truck and into a forest of wind-blown spruce. Tree roots arched in gnarled clumps from a
fine dust and the hobbled trees covered a dark trail that might have been
penned by JRR Tolkien himself. Dark
things rustled in the bushes and it seemed as if an army of squirrels was
mustering for the charge.
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| Fish Lake and the short forest |
But soon enough the trees broke and I had gained enough
elevation that the trail cut through dry grasses and across a rocky
plateau. On my way, I met a group coming
down the mountain that told me the trail ended at the next peak. Sure enough,
the trail at the base of the peak had disappeared and I began the steep climb
up an unmarked scree field. In places, a
dense cover of lichen and moss grew over the stones and climbing was easy, but
in others the jagged stones sat precariously balanced on the incline. A thick snowfield circled the summit like the
receding hairline of a white-haired man. The snow was was deep and I was in
shorts, so I climbed a rocky pinnacle and snapped a few pictures before heading
back down.
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| From the peak |
