by John Kruse, August 15, 2006

Good fishing, pretty country and an adventure with my nine-year old son David on horseback. Our trip to Blue Creek Meadows and Mad Lake from July 28th through the 30th couldn't have been much better.

The two of us made the ride as part of a "Family Pack Trip" with Icicle Outfitters. There were four parents and five children on this long weekend trip that took us 9 miles on horseback to a camp at Blue Creek Meadows. Next to camp was blue creek, a small, clear running stream that was up to five feet deep and held small cutthroat trout to 6-inches that entertained the kids (and me) all weekend.

On the second day of our trip we rode two miles further along the Mad River trail to Mad Lake. The lake is small, maybe 4 acres, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in a scenic surrounding of pine forest and meadows highlighted by red Indian Paintbrush. The lake has a good population of cutthroat trout in it that averaged 7 to 8 inches in size. The biggest one taken in 3 hours of fishing by the kids and adults with them was 10 inches. The usual assortment of spinners, spoons, flies (a beadhead nymph pattern) and for one of the kids, Powerbait, enticed the fish to strike. In all, 15 trout were kept on the stringer and then fried for breakfast the next morning to go with some scrambled eggs and dutch oven biscuits.

The Mad River trail can be reached from the Entiat or Chiwawa River Valley. The trail is open to motorized dirt bikes as well as horses, mountain bicycles and of course, hikers. We were suprised to see the trail was relatively uncrowded. In fact, we only saw three other people at the lake while we were there (a group of motorcyclists who briefly stopped before leaving).

More details about the trail, creek and lake can be found on Green Trails Map 146. If you want to go on horseback, Icicle Outfitters puts on trips to not only this lake, but several others. Check out their web site at www.icicleoutfitters.com for further information.

PHOTO: Fred Duzan of Icicle Outfitters shows of a nice Mad Lake Cutthroat Trout.