EARLY SEASON MADNESS Craig Rist goes for a paddle, ride and walk to find some good fishing .....
Y
ou know what it’s like, you get a crazy adventurous idea in your head and it’s all you can think about. Over the years I’ve had a few mountain bike trips into the Nineteen Lagoons before when the gate is closed to cars, beyond the Lake Augusta Dam. I’ve always loved the idea of being among the first few to get back into this part of the Western Lakes early in the season. A mountain bike can really cut down on the walking time along this road, giving me a bit more time to hike out beyond these lakes and lagoons that are easily accessible by road. On this occasion, I decided to set my sights on an early mountain bike assault into the Julian Lakes.
Planning There was no way I was going talk anyone of my fishing mates into such an ambitious plan such as this. Even if one of them did say yes I just couldn’t do it to them. With that in mind I decided to do a solo run
first just to see if it was worthwhile. I also had serious concerns about my ‘*mart special’ mountain bike even surviving the trip. Lake Augusta is usually flooded early in the season so to access the Julian Lakes track I would have to get my mountain bike across the lake first. I planned to paddle my kayak 2.3 km across the Lake with my bike strapped to the back of it, then ride / push my bike 9.2 km to the lower Julians Lake, camp over night and then return the next day. It sounded like an achievable plan in theory, how hard could it be?
The Doing When I arrived at Lake Augusta Dam conditions were picture perfect, it was a blue-sky day, snow covered the higher peaks in the distance and the shoreline was covered in ice. A cold southwesterly wind blew into my face as I paddled my heavily laden kayak into the waves across to the other side of the lake.
My kayak finally broke the ice where the submerged Julians track leaves the Lake. I dragged the kayak ashore and threw the pack onto my shoulders to start the second leg of this mission by bike. The reality of the task ahead soon became painfully obvious with the large rocks on the track making it impossible to ride the whole track with the additional weight of my camping gear. I was forced to push the bike for much of the way, only getting back on to ride the downhill and flat sections of the track. I was really pushing the capabilities of my economy class mountain bike with one of the pedals finally breaking from the abuse and load I was submitting this bike to. Through perseverance, I eventually made it to the southern end of the Julian Lakes. I quickly set up my tent and eagerly assembled my rod and reel.
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