[Lead Dog]

Can anyone out there tell me were the best camping spots are at Edds Lake are? By the looks of my topo map the banks around the lake look pretty steep. Am planning on spending 3 days there and would like to get a halfway flat spot for a base camp. Any info. would be helpful. Thank you. This is the Edds Lake on the PCT 10 mi. N of Snoqualmie Pass.

[Randy]

Really no good camping. I spent quite a bit of time there a couple of years ago and walked as much of the lake shore as I could. Steep and cliffy to the east and the inlet side is all large talus blocks. The majority of the west shore is steep heather and/or steep brush. You might find something somewhere in the few tree swaths that exist, but very few people go to the lake let alone camp there. I'm just curious, why would you want to spend 3 days there? Climbing Thompson? If so, better to camp in the upper basin. Running water, flat rocks and meadow type areas...and no brush!

[Backpacker Joe]

Randy, isnt there a camp site at the outlet? Also, I wont mention it on this site (got in trouble for it before) but if you think about why he's going there, you'll know why he's staying three days! TB

[Randy]

Yeah, there might be. That's just about the only spot I didn't look at. I figure he just read the recent report on WTA where the guy talked about catching GT. Hopefully it's not three days of catching and eating. Release them fish!

[Backpacker Joe]

You mean to tell me someone POSTED a WTA report on Edds lake? That man should be thrashed! Jesus, that wasn't very smart! TB P.S. I couldnt find that report anywhere. Do you know the date of it?

[Mike Collins]

The report was dated Sept 11 and mentioned 12-14 inch Golden Trout.

[Backpacker Joe]

Army tanks Mike...

[Lead Dog]

I read that guys story on the wta website and he would not know a g-t from a pike. There havent been any g-t in Ridge Lake since the PCT moved from the Gold Creek valley to where it is now.

[Brian Curtis]

In the report on the WTA site he never claimed there were GT in Ridge. Plus, you don't have the fish history of Ridge quite right.

[Lead Dog]

Many years ago, when there was a nice trail to Alaska and Joe Lakes. Before !!!! they blasted the PCT trail along the ridge, you could follow the inlet of Alaska Lake up to Ridge Lake and catch g-t as well as cuts and rainbows. All the lakes on that entire ridge used to be a fishermans heaven. Now with I-5 running right thru this area you get little fish. When we caught g-t we told no one!!! and that holds true to this day. I fished Ridge and Gravel 2 years ago when we hiked from Stevens Pass to Snoqualmie Pass and I know why the fish were not biting, cause they be fished into extinction.

[Brian Curtis]

Ridge was last planted with CT in 1960. It then received RB and GT were not introduced until '86 and '91. More recent plants have all been RB. The fish in those lakes are definitely not fished into extinction. Quite the contrary. In Gravel the fish are naturally reproducing and there are actually too many. But I have no doubt that fishing would have been a lot better before the trail went through there.

[Dante]

There wer fish rising at both lakes last time I was up there (about this time last year). I don't think many people get down into Edd's even with the new trail. You'd have to be a real lake lover or fisherman. I've never wanted it bad enough . . .

[McPilchuck]

Been all over that country from variuos routes in the 1970s a 80s. Caught what was planted there in all those lakes and stayed around them on 3 to 5 day trips. Didn't see too many folks there either. Been into Edds the back way, up Burnt Boot Creek, too...if you like the brush. I would agree with fellow Trail Blazers - Brian C. on factual assessments.