This weekend, TU volunteers tackled the Benson Lakes area of the Mt. Washington Wilderness. The plan was to survey some of the high lakes for ODFW, recording temperatures, fish species, lake depth, etc. We made base camp on Benson Lake, which had plenty of cutthroat and rainbows. Al Avey and Todd Mullen bushwhacked to Glaze Lake and Elf Lake and had excellent fishing. Brent Ross, Nate Stansberry and I tried Coffee Lake on day two — no fish. The water was 59F degrees, but only 7 feet deep.
Backpacking with a float tube is about as fun as it looks. -MS