[crosspost from MTBR as requested by Slim]
This area has been rendered much less popular since a freak set of thunderstorms caused severe flash flooding over Naches/Manastash/Taneum last May and washed out the main roads. So when husby sent me a very sweet txt on Friday requesting me RSVP an invitation to "The First Annual Manastash Lake Bikepacking trip", I had to say YES of course.
This also gave us a chance to test some new gear. We had ordered Revelate Viscacha seat bags, but only one was employed this time since I had the TAB off my seat post already. But we were both able to test drive the
Bedrock Bags Chinle compression panel. Gotta say, the MOLLE panel on the front is sheer genius... infinite possibilities there, but in this case it was most notably used to carry our daughter's tiny little fishing pole in.
The crux of the trip came right off the truck. This is where the creek blew out the culverts and the road. Had to bust the trail-a-bike and the BOB trailer off the bikes and carry each piece across one at a time.
Then we darted down a road to a chunky trail and began the climb. Halfway comes Lost Lake, where daddy and daughter stopped to do a little fishing. Note handlebar bag on Ol' Yeller is flipped over... that's because no matter what we did, the short front V-brake cable would clamp down on the rim if we loaded the bag on the front of the handlebar. So we flipped it over. Believe it or not, it worked all right for this short trip (although it made shifting 'interesting', but if anyone remembers gearing from '98 and knows how heavy a TAB with kid is, you'll know why I didn't bother changing it up much).
Finally got to Manastash Lake, and found the PERFECT campsite... complete with dock. !!!! This was apparently a memorial to John Bostick. Whoever you are:
THANK YOU.
First fish! Brook trout, which was very good pink meat baked in the camp fire in foil.
Helping daddy fish more (which didn't get more fish).
Sunset at Manastash lake, on what might be our Best Camping Trip Evar.
Took us about 3 hours in, including stopping at Lost Lake and talking with some moto guys at Manastash Lake, and about 1.5 hours out (which included a LOT of breaks for someone who was tired of getting crotchelated back there bouncing over all the chunk).
P.S. You KNOW it's a good kid-camping-trip when they start crying in the truck that they'd rather be back up at the lake, lol.
