Ponding

I can't believe it's been two years since I last posted on "Ponds." Looking back I note I did not get to all the ponds on my wish list, but I did visit a few. Caught some fish as well.

     My favorite pond is Stump Lake. Yes, I know it is a "lake." But it is smaller than the somewhat more famous Walden Pond, so I don't apologize.

     I try to get to Stump Lake a couple of times a year. Whether spring or fall, it is a symphony of nature. Bald eagles glide over the lake searching for an unwary fish. Ducks of many varieties, well, duck for a meal along the water edge. Beaver glide silently, often close by my canoe, and then out of some nervous habit slap the water and are gone.

      And, of course, there are fish. Some of them are surprisingly large, for such a small lake, and beautiful. They dimple the mirror like surface on a quiet spring evening and are alone worth the trip, but I leave them where I have found them.

     Fall brings crazy color. Few places in western Washington are as beautiful.

     And the name? The stumps. I don't know if they are the remnants of a drowned forest or the castoffs of a old logging operation. Whichever, they populate the lake and provide habitat for the trout.

     The interesting thing is that there is another pond, "Spider Lake," no more than two dozen miles away as the eagle flies that is another drowned forest.

     But Spider will have to wait. Next to Stump Lake my favorite pond is Prices Lake. The scenery is better than the fishing, but if you can latch onto one of the wild cutthroat that own this lake it is worth the hike.

     It takes a raft or float tube to enjoy the pond, but it is an easy one or two block hike. Go in the summer when the water lilies are in bloom.

     Happy ponding until next time.