This summer’s long hike for me was the Wonderland Trail, with several friends (glorious!). We love to swim or dip when we can, and the last lake we enjoyed was Louise Lake, which is right next to a highway. It was lovely, but as we were enjoying our dip, a family came and started fishing next to us. The boy snagged multiple times (on logs? there wasn’t much vegetation), although never broke his line.
The situation reminded me of when I passed by Spooner Lake on the Tahoe Rim Trail a few years back. A group of women were right next to the lake and called out to me as I passed by. One had gotten a fishhook stuck in her foot when she went for a swim. Spooner, like Louise, is on a road and very popular for fishing. I had no tools to help them remove the fishhook, but there were plenty of fisher folk around so I think they asked one of them for help.
Fortunately in Louise Lake we had no troubles. But even on the JMT, far from the roads, people fish in the lakes. It’s always a risk I guess, getting into someone’s gear. What do you all carry with you on a backpacking trip – not a fishing trip – that might be useful in removing a well-anchored fishhook?
