Made the short and easy hike to Hidden Lake with my son and daughter yesterday afternoon. This is usually a crowded destination but most of the crowds had headed home by the time we arrived. We cast spinners and spoons into the lake for about an hour with no success. There are brook trout in here (I've got several in the past), but this has never been a place where the fishing is easy. On the bright side, there were lots of trout fry visibile in the shallows and I did have one brookie that was about 8 inches long follow my spinner on one retrieve but he didn't strike.

One odd fact.....Lots of garter snakes! We saw seven of them around the lake shore and on two occasions, swimming in the lake. I'm not sure if it was garter snake meeting season of if they were just having an impromptu convention but it was odd to see all of them in such a short time, something I've not seen here before.

Throw in some chattering squirrels, chipmunks, nice weather and quality family time and I've got to admit, it was a nice day even without the trout biting!

---