Burnside Lake

 

(By Erik)

July 6th was free fishing day in California.  I have a nonresident California fishing license, but Ashley does not.  On Thursday Ashley decided that we needed to take advantage of the free day ($15 normally).  Friday Ashley spent the afternoon packing the car with camping and fishing equipment.  We just got back from 5-days of camping in Monterey and spent the 4th canoeing and fishing Silver Lake, but what the heck, summer only lasts 3 months.

We camped that the Markleeville Guard Station Campground.  Most USFS campgrounds are $35 which is a little pricy, but since the Markleeville Campground is run by Alpine County it is $15.  It had everything that the USFS campgrounds have, running water and flushing toilets.  The campground was empty – maybe 40% occupied which is pretty good for the 4th of July weekend.  We knew we wanted to get the kids out into the open when we moved here, so we have made a significant investment in tents, camp stove, sleeping bags, air mattresses, cookware, lanterns, ect.  Great campground in the middle of the pines

The next picture is significant – it is the kids looking for firewood.

Dad once told me that “kids need space.”  They did not have that in Phoenix.  Here they do.  They have the opportunity to explore.  They were so excited to look for firewood.

Along the same lines

Papa once told me “kids need  adventure – in NYC they create their own and many times it is destructive or illegal.”  Again the kids have adventure here – everything is an adventure.  Camping, canoeing, hiking, exploring.  Its great.

The campground also has an 18 hole Frisbee golf course.  By the time we set up camp and ate dinner it was a little late, but we gave one hole a shot.  It is hard!, but again, something new. (you can see the “fairway” in the path behind us.)

We were going to go fishing at Indian Creek Reservoir the next morning (right across form the campground).  I thought we could be on the water by 9:30 or 10:00.  We did not even have our camp ground picked up until 11:00.  Being that the high was 91 today and Indian Creek is at elevation 5500-feet I made an executive decision to go to Burnside Lake (google map – Burnside Lake, Alpine, CA) because it is at elevation 8200 feet and much cooler.  The high up there today was 75 degrees – note the picture with Svea wearing her jacket.  It was a difficult dirt road for the Mazda, so I don’t think we will go up there again until we have a real car, but we made it today to try it out. 

I had never been to Burnside Lake before.  Some people on the shore were fishing and had caught nothing.  I was kind of disappointed.  Indian Creek Reservoir is stocked with fish and usually productive.  I wanted the kids to be able to catch some fish so that they would maintain interest in the sport.  We canoed around the lake and found what was probably close to the deepest point – 12-feet.

I cut up a worm and got Soren in the water. Almost right away he claimed that something was nibbling.  I had my doubts.  I got Svea’s worm into the water and 30 seconds later she had the first hit.  She didn’t want to pose with it.  It was a trout (I am 90% sure), but have no idea what kind.  It was not a brooke, rainbow, brown, golden, cutthroat, or lahontan.  It was green on the top and silver underneath, almost bass coloring, but not a bass body.  It was only about 4-inches big.

 

Shortly after Soren reeled in his first fish of the day.

Then Ashley

 

All hand size – but seriously, I was putting worms on and taking fish off so often I could not get a line in the water.  It was every minute and if you did not catch one in a minute it meant your bait was gone.  We caught 40-60 fish.  When I looked over the canoe I could see hundreds of little fish beneath us waiting for our bait.  As we would real one in, the other fish would try to eat the worm out of the caught fish’s mouth.  It was really great – they were small, but the kids loved it.  Soren never suggests that we go fishing, but every time I say we are going he gets excited.  Svea is also becoming an avid fisherwomen.

I did get the last laugh as I did manage to catch the big one of the day – 6 inches.  Still no idea what kind of fish it is.

 

So if you see what we did on the 4th of July and what we did today its pretty amazing what difference a year makes.  As Ashley and I were driving home we were discussing that we felt like we have been on vacation the last week.  I feel totally rested.

I remember mom visiting about 18 months ago in Phoenix.  I  had been looking into the military to serve in the reserves to make the extra money to move my family to Mesa and that door had closed.  I had a home worth 3/5 what I owed.  Had a job that had not given raises in 3 years (actually cuts).  I had added three kids to my family with no additional income.  Most civil engineers were unemployed, so forget advancing in my field, just getting a regular paycheck and having health insurance was a victory.  I told mom, and I was a little emotional “I don’t want to raise my family here.”

Earlier in the year our bishop had challenged me to increase my fast offerings (a collection at church that benefits those who need it) so that the lord would bless me with abundance.  I increased my offering 150% even though I could have used the money.  I paid for over a year and when the military door closed I discussed my disappointment with my bishop that like the brother of Jared I had found my solution to my problem and still nothing happened.  I remember he told me “Brother Nilssen – don’t dispair, the lord is not through with you yet.”  It was less than two months later this job opened up and it was a green light.”  A day does not go by that I am incredibly grateful that somehow this opportunity presented itself.  “County Engineer” is a position that someone with 30 years experience should have and you would have expected someone who was ready to retire that wanted to be here would have put in for it.