| Date: June 15, 2004 | | Location Prill & Swallow Lakes Fishing | | Where: Mt Jefferson Wilderness | Our original intent was to fish Marion Lake, but when fishing partner Lon Carlson & I arrived at Marion Lake we found the lake already in bloom, the color of split-pea soup. I was so confident in fishing at Marion I had not had an alternate plan, so on the spot we came up with the idea of hiking further on to Prill Lake. Hiking around the north-east shore of Marion Lake we ran into lots of evidence of the B & B Complex Fire of last summer, and when we arrived at the location of the small trail that climbs up to Prill Lake we found that the fire had really destroyed almost all the trail indicators that fisherman depend on to find the lake. Some trees where so badly burned that the old trail blaze marks are no longer visible. The occasional bright colored marking tape that flagged sections of the trail were of course burned entirely. The worn path was in many places covered over with burned logs, and the burned out duff of the forest floor had obliterated even more evidence of the route. With the trail impossible to find, the day was saved by Lon and his GPS. Fortunately he had a route already in the GPS from an earlier trip and he was able to plot our way right to the lake.
|  | | Lon checking his GPS |  | | Lon fishing Prill Lake Despite our best efforts, we were not able to even get a strike at Prill Lake. Lon felt sure that he knew neighboring Swallow Lake had fish in it, and although I had never been cross-country across the lava field to Swallow he had, and was confident of finding the lake. True to his word he walked right to the lake. Here too we were unsuccessful at catching any fish. With snowdrifts still at the lake's edge, I ended up concluding that perhaps we were here too early and the water too cold yet for good fishing.
|  | | rafts on Swallow Lake It was 5:30 when we packed up our rafts and headed for the Swallow Lake Trail. Here we ran into numerous snow drifts that made route finding very difficult, but Lon had been in on this trail so many times, and in all kinds of conditions that he was very successful in leading us out. We took a brief rest at Marion Lake, enjoying the quite and the evening light on Three Fingered Jack, before hoofing it on out to the trailhead and the car at 8:30.
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