[SwitchbackFisher]

Quick report for a short hike to sandstone lake by bumping lake. Some things to note the lake is almost dried up at this point and there are some logs you can use to easily cross the river. And being the river on one side cliffs on the other did not see a single Hunter out. The route is straightforward cross the logs go upsteam to about where the river had a little split and start going uphill using gametrails keeping a dried creek bed nearby. Very easy but some parts can be a chore of bushwack and climbing downed logs. At the lake I watched salamanders swim a bit, it's so low the whole bottom is visible. I didn't bother fishing it's the fish clearly don't exist there anymore. Saw lots of critter tracks in mud but mine were the only human ones.

Sandstone lake

Sandstone lake

Tracks

Smaller part of bumping off the split mentioned above

Random wetland

Bonus pic golden larch needles covering dog lake campground photo taken yesterday

[fourteen410]

Always good to see reports from the south cascades

[SwitchbackFisher]

Thanks I saw your TR for umptanum canyon, that was actually my first hike when I moved back to WA after the military decided I had to spend 6 yrs in ND. Looks beautiful this time of year, but I wait till rattlesnakes are sleeping so I can bring my dog without worrying so much about him getting bit.

[Mountainfisherman]

When I stocked it 2 years ago, it’s on a 3 year cycle, it was another low water year and I didn’t even bring a pole with me. Water level was the same as in your 2nd picture, the water was right at that bunch of black rocks on the right of the picture. When I stocked it three years prior to that, the water level was near the top of those rocks and we thought that was low. At any rate, I released the jug of fish and was sitting there watching them disperse across and around the lake-then the water started to explode. A population of 13-14 cutts hammered the newly planted fish. I couldn’t see them, they weren’t actively feeding, but the little guys got them going. I would have been surprised if the larger fish that year made it through that upcoming winter, but I learned a lesson that day. Obviously Sandstone is spring fed and maybe there’s enough flow to survive the winter. The first time I made it to Sandstone many years ago, there was so little water in it that there was no chance winter would have been survivable.

[SwitchbackFisher]

You could be right, the reason I am skeptical about it though is there were tons of beetles swimming all over the lake and I could not see anything feeding on then either, seems like I would have seen some movement. But maybe if it gets stocked again I'll venture up there again. If I do I will need to put my trail camera up though.

[Mountainfisherman]

I don’t doubt there are no fish in there. When they make it three years which lately or at least since I’ve been stocking it, 12 years or so, they’re pretty nice fish. Early in the year, the water is chocolate, but it settles out and is pretty nice. You could obviously see the high water mark and I’ve seen it close to that, but the last several years it’s more like what you saw. We come off the top, using a combo of elk trails and what may have been an old hunter’s trail. Short, but steep hike.