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Dslayer
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Joined: 02 Jan 2002
Posts: 652 | TRs | Pics
Location: Home:  Selah  Work: Zillah
Dslayer
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PostSat Jul 06, 2002 12:18 pm 
I did an overnighter in the West Rosebud, spending the night at Princess Lake and fishing Princess and Mystic Lakes. Mystic Lake is a natural lake that is dammed and is utilized to produce electricity-they run a pipe from the lake down through a powerhouse downstream-not exactly Grand Coulee Dam but an interesting old facility-the trailhead is at 6500 feet-higher than most places I hike up to in the Cascades and the effect of the lighter air can't be underestimated as I discovered when I made the additional trip up to Princess which has been 'pioneered' by hikers/climbers going up to Granite Peak, the highest peak in Montana-it's not an NFS maintained trail. It climbs out of Mystic which is 7665 up to Princess which is just under 9100 feet in two miles and it's mostly straight up. Princess holds some nice cutthroat, Huckleberry Lake which is a widewater on Huckleberry Creek is reputed to have some nice rainbow but I just passed it by. I like to fish Mystic where the W. Rosebud dumps into from the next lake upstream, Island Lake--this is a phenonemal fishing spot-the water moves across a huge gravel bar and if you get above the water and the wind isn't blowing, you can literally see hundreds of fish holding in the water-not too difficult to catch fish here but there are plenty of fish in the 16-20 inch range. To get to this place take I-90 to Columbus, MT, take Montana 78 to about 3 miles N of Absorakee and go left on 421 (I think) at a Sinclair gas station-you'll take this road-it's about the best road in Montana-it goes up to the Stillwater mines-about 4 miles, passing through Fishtail and the famous Cowboy Bar and there a road that goes N off a 90 degree turn-it is signed with NFS Access, Mystic Lake etc-you'll go about 7-8 miles on this road and then a gravel road, again well signed will take you 14 miles to the Mystic trailhead-don't be dismayed if you get there and it looks like the Ingalls trailhead on a weekend which means to say it looks like a used car lot-the Rosebud is massive and just swallows up people-Mystic Lake itself is about 3 miles long with lots of great campsites. If you're interested in the East Rosebud, which is next month's adventure, another trail deep into the Beartooths, continue past the Sinclair station up to a little town called Roscoe and take the road that goes into 'town' up to East Rosebud Lake and the trailhead.

"The Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights is my concealed weapon permit."-Ted Nugent
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