South Lake Tahoe

Day Three: Exploring South Lake Tahoe

Sarah Smith — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 09:39:51 -0500

by David Stalling

The great John Muir once wrote: “Going to the woods is going home, for I suppose we came from the woods originally.” After spending a few days in the Meiss Meadows area, and now spending some time alone roaming the Caples Creek area, I indeed—for the first time since moving to California—felt at home. Muir also wrote that “the most distinctive, and perhaps the most impressive, characteristics of American scenery is its wildness.”

I couldn’t agree more.

A writer, activist and wilderness explorer, Muir led the battles to protect of a lot of wildlands in California. As a non-hunting founder of the Sierra Club, Muir did not always see eye to eye with then President Theodore Roosevelt—a serious hunter and conservationist. But, after the two met and camped out together near Yosemite, in 1903, they realized they shared a common love for the wilds and together became a potent force for conservation. It’s a lesson, I think, we should still heed today to work cooperatively with others—focusing on our shared love of the land--to protect, restore and sustain the fish and wildlife habitat we all enjoy.

Such were the thoughts running through my head as I ventured alone through the Caples Creek area. I began my journey early in the morning, starting west of Caples Lake and North of Silver Lake, hiking most of the day and taking in a large chunk of beautiful, wild country. I hiked up then down a steep ridge, dropping down into Caples Creek, then followed the creek down to where it merges with the Silver Fork of the American River (which forms the majority of water in the South Fork of the American River) and then I ventured up the Silver Fork for a ways and eventually back to where I started, completing a large loop. Along the way, I passed through dark forests of Douglas fir, Jeffrey and lodgepole pines, and passed through meadows colored with Indian paintbrush, lupine, daisies, and balsam rue. I saw the tracks of a black bear, and several tracks of mule deer. It’s the kind of country I would love to someday hunt. And fish.

Both Caples Creek and the Silver Fork American are terrific dry fly streams, full of feisty wild rainbow, brook, and brown trout that aggressively take to the surface to smash a fly. There are two different kinds of water here; classic high-gradient pocket water and slow, meandering meadow water with deep cut banks. I enjoyed working my way upstream on my hike back, casting small attractor dry flies and terrestrials close to the banks, where I quickly lost count of the number of fish caught. Caples Creek and the forks of the American River are definitely two fast-action fisheries with trout mostly eight to twelve inches, but they also hold some big browns and rainbows that will surprise you.

And, like the Meiss Meadows area and Upper Truckee, its pristine, wild headwaters sustain the clean waters and support wild trout and other wildlife, as well as fishing and hunting opportunities. But unfortunately, like the Meiss Meadows area, Caples Creek is not permanently protected. Although it is relatively small in comparison to the Mokelumne Wilderness to the south and the Desolation Wilderness to the north, the glaciated topography, rugged river canyons and old-growth forests of the Caples Creek area definitely has wilderness characteristics and opportunities for tremendous, solitary hiking, hunting and fishing.

Through his work with Trout Unlimited, Dave Lass is working cooperatively with diverse individuals, businesses, organizations, and state and federal government agencies to seek Wilderness designation for the Caples Creek roadless area, which will more formally protect such an important headwater area through federal legislation. This is a long and complex process, and he continues to work in the near-term with this same collaborative to positively influence Forest Service administrative processes to keep it just as it is before such legislation is passed.

After spending three incredible days in the Meiss Meadows and Caples Creek areas, I plan to someday return—with a rifle and rod in hand. It’s definitely the most enjoyable time I have spent in California thus far, and exceeded my expectations. There is nothing quite like exploring and spending time in beautiful, high, wild country within remote parts of our public lands—special lands worth protecting. I hope all hunters and anglers join efforts to keep these places just as they are today, great places to hunt and fish.

Day Two: Exploring South Lake Tahoe

Sarah Smith — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:50:51 -0500

by David Stalling

I awoke a few times during the night and early in the morning from the sounds of my tent rattling from the strong winds. I was glad to have some shelter from it. Dave, on the other hand, had decided to just throw his sleeping bag out under the stars and managed to sleep well. By the time I got up he was already working his way around the lake catching fish. After a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee, we took a break atop a large, rocky outcrop with a spectacular view of the Upper Truckee watershed, looking north toward the town of South Lake Tahoe and the large, bright blue waters of Lake Tahoe itself. As far as I could see there was nothing but forests, lakes, rock and snow.

Although the area is not designated as “wilderness” under the 1964 Federal Wilderness Management Act, it definitely has a primitive, wilderness feel to it—a pristine watershed sustaining not only Lahontan cutthroats, but black bears, mule deer, Columbia blacktail deer and other wildlife. In other words: a healthy, intact watershed that makes for clear, clean water headed for Lake Tahoe. As Dave pointed out, with numerous efforts to keep Lake Tahoe clean (or, “Keep Lake Tahoe Blue,” as I read on several bumper stickers during my visit to the area) it only makes sense to protect the watershed for the biggest source of clean water flowing into the lake. Unfortunately, there is no official protection for the Meiss Meadows roadless area—which means it could someday be opened up to logging, mining, road building, and off-road-vehicle use, potentially degrading the quality of the watershed and adversely affecting the threatened Lahontan cutthroat.

“Ideally, I would like to see this area designated as wilderness,” Dave said. “But that is unlikely to happen.” Instead, Dave—along with numerous hunters and anglers, businesses, county commissioners, local land owners and chambers of commerce—are working to get 32 miles of the Upper Truckee designated as a “wild and scenic river,” which would offer adequate and needed protection for this unique area.

After enjoying a tremendous view and good conversation, we headed out and spent the next few hours bushwhacking through forests and meadows past Meiss Lake (which is closed to fishing as part of an effort to help restore Lahontans) and onward to Round Lake. You can really get lost in this big country, and along the way, we hiked through one of the largest meadows I have ever seen—perhaps several miles long— which reminded me of the high country in Yellowstone National Park.

We fished our way around Round Lake, which has a mostly rocky shoreline. The wind had finally subsided, making the casting easy, but the fishing was a slow. Regardless, it was a beautiful day and an amazing place to be. After working our way along the north shore of the lake—a bit tricky in places, picking our way around rock outcrops—we came to the inlet on the south side. Here, a small creek cascades over a few small waterfalls into a marshy area of deep pools formed by beaver dams. In one of these pools, we could see about 50 cutthroats ranging 12 to 20 inches. It was like looking into a fish hatchery. Dave climbed through the thick brush surrounding the pool, stood on a beaver dam, and—at least for a while—caught fish on every cast with a caddis. Again, they were Lahontans, and Dave reminded me that this was the last place left where you can catch wild Lahontans in their native stream habitat in the Tahoe Basin.

Lahontan’s were originally listed as endangered in 1970 but then changed to threatened in 1975—a listing not reflective of any trend in recovery, but to allow for recreational angling for the species in places like Pyramid Lake. Dave reminded me that Lahontan are not doing well. “They currently occupy only 8.6 percent of historical stream habitat,” he said. “The remaining isolated populations that exist in small, scattered stream systems are low in numbers. Self-sustaining native populations remain in less than one percent of historic lake habitat. In fact, only Independence and Summit Lakes currently support wild populations of Lahontan.”

After fishing a few hours, it was time to head back to the trailhead. On the way out, we ran into a couple from Pennsylvania, named Mark and Sue Lee, who were on their way toward Round Lake. It turns out that Mark serves on the board of directors for Trout Unlimited in Pennsylvania, so we had lots to talk about. Meeting them was a pleasant reminder that people from all over the country often travel far to spend time in pristine, wild parts of our public lands to hike, fish, hunt, camp and enjoy the feeling of adventure and solitude. These same people spend money in the rural economies that adjoin these public lands during their pursuits, a large consideration that should be factored when deciding the future of these special places.

We reached the trailhead by late afternoon. Unfortunately, for Dave, he had to get back to work and so we parted ways. I decided to drive just a few miles west, to the Caples Lake Resort, spend the night and then explore some of the Caples Creek area the next day.