UNPLUGGED #15: Mead Lake

LOCATION: North of Bralorne, Squamish-Lillooet, B.C.

Finally.

It is officially the time of year when all the camping gear comes out of storage, the search begins for that magic trout-slaying fly at my favorite local tackle shop and I hope that a late spring didn't prevent the ice from coming off whatever remote lake has been chosen as the spot for this year's Father's Day fishing trip. You may recall that last year we headed into the Thompson-Nicola area to a nice quiet place called Thalia Lake for our annual excursion. It was a great trip but the fishing, well, not so much.

So this year we decided to forgo Black Bear country in favor of heading into gold and Grizzly land. Our chosen location was Mead Lake, nestled between Bralorne and Gold Bridge about two hours north of Pemberton. In order to access to this lake we had to cross the Hurley Pass, a 6000 foot mountain pass accessible via the Hurley River Forest Service Road. A phone call to the local watering hole, The Mineshaft Pub in Bralorne, confirmed that the pass was clear of snow so we off we went.

		PLACE: Mead Lake (Click for Map)

As you can see, while the intel was accurate and the pass was indeed cleared of snow, the snow itself was not exactly gone. As a matter of fact, at one point we pulled the truck over and asked my six foot tall buddy Roy to the stand next to the burm as a point of reference. Best guess, as of June 17 there was still about 10-13' of snow trying it's hardest to turn to Hurley River water.

The good news was that as we descended the north side of the pass heading toward the old gold mines the snow rapidly disappeared and the wildflowers were in bloom.

An hour or so and a few wrong turns later we finally came upon the two-track that took us to our destination, Mead Lake.

The water was still a bit cold and as a result the fish were only now beginning to spawn which made for a slightly less than productive fishing trip. Of course, everyone knows that the purpose of fishing is not necessarily to catch fish - although I would very much like to have taken home a cooler full of rainbow - it is in fact to get away from civilization, unplug the mind and enjoy the all the beauty the outdoors has to offer with a couple good friends and a few cold ones. With that as the benchmark this trip did not disappoint.

If you are considering heading out this lake you should be forewarned that the camp site is on private (but unoccupied and open to the public) property and considered primitive with no man made facilities such as fire pits or outhouses. There is a fairly flat mountain meadow just off the shore of the lake where we pitched our tents and set up our camp mess, a lean-to attached to the roof rack of my buddy Don's pickup.

All in all, there is nothing better than spending the night under the stars with the only sounds being frogs, birds and occasional thunder of a far-away rock slide. And of course, what is better than waking up to this view?

Remember, if you have any suggestions for an upcoming UNPLUGGED please drop me a comment below, via email at [email protected] or on Twitter at MTedesco. Also, feel free to share your thoughts on this feature or anything else (within reason and sticking to the VIA commenting policy of course).

Until next time…Happy Trails!

-mt

All images copyright Michael Tedesco.

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