Day 19, Tuesday, July 5

I spent the day hiking today. I rode the bike to the trail head for the String Lake & Leigh Lake hike. The hike felt like it was much longer than it was. I think, looking at the map that it was around 7 or 8 miles but about 3 of that was across land where the trail was no more. The woods were like a lace web of fallen trees so I tried to use them as a suspended walk way. Some of the time, however I had to ditch my wooden byways and beat a path through the scrub brush. What a blast! Got my legs and arms all scratched up and probably donated a pint of blood to the local mosquito population but I had a BLAST!
Both String and Leigh lakes are glacial lakes and are fed by an incredibly clear creek/river. Many points of String Lake were fairly shallow (10-15 feet?) and the water was so clear you could see to the bottom of the lake probably 70 or 80 yards off the bank. It would have sucked to try to fish in the water because in order not to spook the fish you’d have had to use line so light that even the smallest trout could break it. Every fisherman I talked to on the lake was using a 3 weight rod and a 2 pound tippet. Very light weight tackle.