I had very a good, albeit wet and cold hike. I started my hike about about 10:30 on Friday morning and my car was the only car at the trail head. You never seen that in the summer. Lena is a nightmare zoo in the summer so I never go there in the summer. Lena is best on a rainy winter weekday.
As I got near the lake I smelled campfire smoke and this really surprised me since there were no cars at the trail head! Soon a group of two men passed me, they were headed downhill. I asked them if they had someone to pick them up since there were no cars at the trail head and they said they did. But they really did not seem like they wanted to talk much. They did however ask me if there was snow at the trail head. Then a minute later a younger man with a rifle passed me and he was a little more talkative. He said they camped for 4 nights and he had forgotten to pack a tarp so they had a cold wet time.
I walked up to the big rock and looked at the view for a few minutes and then I kept hiking. I still had lots of energy at that point and I was hoping to find the hunters(?) left over fire. I walked all the way to the other side of the lake without seeing the fire and just as I was deciding to head up the Brothers trail I saw the coals at the last campsite on the lake. So I stopped and took my lunch there. I was able to quickly restart the fire with the coals. I only used scraps that were on the ground.
Lunch would have been a rather miserable cold affair if not for that nice little fire. I brewed two cups of water for tea over the fire at ate my lunch there with a nice view of snow covered Lena Lake. Someone had left behind several full cans of food and very recently. Probably the same folks who left me the wonderful coals. I did my part and packed all the food out, it was a rather heavy load but it was all downhill and my daypack has a frame, so it was all good. I figured getting that free food would help make up for the $49 worth of gas that I had to put into my Jeep before the start of my hike.
When I was done with my hike I found a ticket on my Jeep. I had the proper parking pass on my dash but the ranger must have been looking for the giant yellow NW forest pass hang tag. I have a much better pass than that. I have an Interagency Pass and it was displayed on my dash.
Maybe the ranger who wrote me a ticket is the same one who mistook my neighbor's raspberry plant for a marijuana plant? The potted plant was in the neighbors car in their drive way in the city limits. But a forest service ranger called in to the city polices that he saw a "16" plant (16 is the code they use for drugs on the police scanner) on my block and he was going to talk to the homeowner.. I saw it all go down, it took place just 50 feet from my raspberry patch. Good thing the ranger did not see all my raspberries too!
the ranger may have written the ticket because he/she couldn't see the expiration date on the back. i believe you are supposed to display the back side.
What is it with dirtbags who leave GARBAGE like that instead of packing it out? Thankfully we dont see anywhere near as much of that as we used to. Sorry bout the ticket. Take your pass with you to court and the judge will throw the ticket out!
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
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"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
the ranger may have written the ticket because he/she couldn't see the expiration date on the back. i believe you are supposed to display the back side.
No this is a life time inter-agency pass. I'm thinking the Ranger only got out of their truck to place the ticket on the dash and they only looked for a hang tag from their truck. It was raining really hard at the time the ticket was written.
What is it with dirtbags who leave GARBAGE like that instead of packing it out? Thankfully we dont see anywhere near as much of that as we used to. Sorry bout the ticket. Take your pass with you to court and the judge will throw the ticket out!
I thought it was strange they they packed all that food up to the lake but were too lazy to pack it back down....
Going to court is a real PITA for me because my last name starts with a letter near the end of the alphabet, so I'll be there all day and maybe even get a parking ticket while I wait. I'll certianly have to pay to park somewhere while I am in court in Tacoma.
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Thanks for packing out the trace. I guess those guys didn't know about leave no trace 
