With two weeks of school in the books and an impending heat wave for Turlock we decided to head for the Eastern Sierra to stay cool and try to catch some fish. Since we wanted to maximize fishing and exploration time (as well as time out of the car for Zephyr), we “roughed-it” at the Toiyabe Motel in Walker, CA along HWY 395. The main objective of the trip was to scout the fishing & autumn foliage possibilities at Lobdell Lake in the Sweetwater Mountains. Laura and I had been telling one another “we need to get into those mountains someday” for nearly 15 years. This trip finally made it happen.​  We also spent some time fishing the West Walker River and finished with lunch at Leavitt Creek. 

While Laura was in Upstate NY visiting relatives, I decided to end our summer vacation by camping with Zephyr, Grandma & Grandpa H.  Our target was the newly opened Webber Lake campground, a property of the Truckee Donner Land Trust.  The lake had been a private ranch and trophy trout lake since the 1870's until it was acquired by the TDLT in 2012 .  After much planning and infrastructure improvements, the ranch area near the lake was converted into a campground that opened August 1st of this year.  We were some of the first people to camp here!  

Long story short, I never got to fish the lake because of massive thunderstorms that were unrelenting until just before dinner.  We went to several other lakes in the area hoping to fish, but the storms kept chasing us. We stayed in the truck so we wouldn't get soaked and waited for a dry spell that would allow us to make dinner.  

​The morning brought beautiful skies (for our tents to dry) and the chance to hike Lacey Meadows.  No trout in Lacey Creek, so we packed-up and headed to the Little Truckee River hoping to get a trout for Z.  You'll see that he did!