John Muir Fish and Fungus Fest

I hope this does ont double post, as  was expereincing technical difficulites. 

I just spent 5 days in the John Muir Wilderness fishing and hiking.  If you go far enough back in, the fishing rivals any I've experienced in the west, even after living in Oregon and Colorado, and going all over Idaho, montana, etc.  Most days were 25-50 fish days, in addition to 8-10 miles of hiking

Highlights included:
Golden after golden.  On pool below a lake off of the trail, had 75+ goldens in it, up to 12 inches long.  Walt Disney could not have designed a more colorful fish!!

One night, we had a brace of browns to 13 inches and some Porcini mushrooms (Boletus Edulis), fried up with some wild sierra onions. 

Fishing the inlet streams on a few lakes, catching 12 inch brookie after brookie, as the sun went down. 

Drawbacks included:  Brutal hiking, -my boots finally broke in my feet after the 4th day, bloodthirsty mosquitoes- our goal was to eat more protein in fish than the mosquitoes could extract from us in blood, and the fact that it lasted only 5 days. 

The lakes and the views were stunning also- enjoy the pics. 

Heres a few more pics

Wow!!  Thanks for the report.

That is just friggin awsome , way to go my man, nice report, awsome looking fish.Andy

beutiful scenery, nice fish... thanks Andy.

~ramon~

FANTASTIC!  Thanks for the pics & report

looks fun nice report

Andy -

Sweet report and fish. Those are really big trout for the sierras. Is that a picture of the evolution valley near Muir pass?

Scott

Epic!!

Boletes and wood roasted trout. Man thats a $50.00 per plate meal at most places. You must have had there been some thunderstorms to flush those boletes. Very cool 

Scott-

We went from bear creek over the pass, into the San Jouquin, near muir trail ranch.  Its about 10 hiking miles from evolution- it sounds like you know the area!!

great report, i'm so jealous. were the boletes plentiful? cant wait for the coastal fruiting in autumn.

AWESOME TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

I'M GOING IN 3 WEEKS RIGHT AROUND THERE!!!  I'm going to call you for advice if I don't see you before.

Thanks it was just what I needed to get stoked about the trip!!!

PJ

The Boletes were coming up in the meadows around the lodgepole pines.  The deer had eaten most of them, and counted about 10 bolete holes right near camp.  We were too tired to look around for more. 

Boletes are why I bring olive oil when backpacking!!

Scott-

We went from bear creek over the pass, into the San Jouquin, near muir trail ranch.  Its about 10 hiking miles from evolution- it sounds like you know the area!!

Andy -

I have hiked the whole Muir trail and that area around Evolution Valley has a distinctive look. It is also trout city as you know but the ones you caught are really sweet. I used to spend a week every year fly fishing the sierras but then I became addicted to kayak fishing. Guess I need t check into a NCKA rehab center. 

Scott