Since I couldn't find a seat on a boat in Lake Washington, I called the force of nature and laced up the hiking boots. Well, actually my sneakers. But let's not get lost in technicalities.

Basically a trip to Grieder is a 5 star day no matter. But on a scale of F to A+, this was an A. Only thing preventing A+ was full sized golden trout with full golden markings remains elusive.

After thunderstorms yesterday, trail was wet. As in, the trail was an active creek in some spots. Not recommended as it turns out, as especially on the way down this makes it a lot more treacherous. A few times I slipped, and 1 wrong step on that trail can be a 60-100 foot fall, and even if not a fall, hobbling down that hill with a sprained or broken ankle would be brutal.

In any case, today I tried to break the force of nature. We decided to set land speed record, so we jogged from parking lot to trailhead, except steepest uphills on old logging road. Parking lot to Big Grieder was 1 hour 40 minutes, even with the wet trail. And yes, I did manage to break the force of nature. I managed my breathing and didn't talk all the way up, and about 35 minutes into the hill she started fidgeting, and then her walk slowed down about 25%. I was quite pleased. Or would have been, if I wasn't too tired to care haha. I'm pleased in retrospect!

1 hour 40 minutes is absurd. It made for a really unpleasant ascent, but on the other hand, it made for more fishing time!

So in any case, inflated raft, the sun was out periodically, the wind wasn't a huge pain in the butt, and we didn't get rained on all day! That's like a B+ right there even with no bites. But I had about 5-6 bites, landed 3 fish, and landed 1 keeper! See littlest fish in last report for pic of littlest fish today. Very similar, really beautiful markings. And since was some conversation about what I caught last time, this time I'm posting pics of the golden hybrid I released, and the full blood rainbow we had for lunch. The pics of the hybrid really dont give it justice. It was a beautiful, gleaming fish in real life. Really, really gorgeous. But even so, the difference is quite clear between the 2 pics. I'm sticking with my guns, that the lake is full of hybrids, of various genetic makeups, and a few really nice full blood rainbows (maybe stockers from recent past since only 2 I caught in 2 trips were 12 and 12.5 inches?), and maybe, just maybe, a some full blood goldens. That's a dream isn't it? A 10 year old full blood golden stocker? That thing would be mammoth.

Getting to know lake better, what works, where to fish, where the scary snags are underwater, where to launch the boat, etc. And getting to know the hike better. This time I was more with it ... wow, it is SO MUCH more steep going up that hill than I remembered! But, I'm in much better shape day after this week than last. Even with a heavier pack, I have less pain in my shoulders, my back is totally fine, and my legs dont hurt as much.

Thought would be slow going down to be safer, so we didn't push it as it was so wet. Much more dangerous than when it was dry. I think this is my last visit to Grieder this year, as regardless of the hike, I would need a full week of no rain before I even considered it. But for us, since we are so bad ass, "slow" meant 1:45 going down instead of the 1:40 going up hoho!

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