Bad news first:
The Pete’s Lake Fire west of Elk Lake (and Hosmer Lake) will have the road closed from Elk Lake to Lava Lake starting today for 3 days. Here is the news release:
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – The Cascade Lakes Highway will be closed for the next three days so crews can safely continue work on a shaded fuel break for the Petes Lake Fire that has now burned 324 acres in the Three Sisters Wilderness Area west of Elk Lake, officials said Tuesday.
Its wilderness setting not only means an indirect firefighting effort but no daily containment figure updates, officials say.
“Because the majority of our current efforts will be focused in areas that are not directly on the fireline, success on this fire will be measured by meeting the primary objectives rather than containment percentage,” officials say on the fire’s InciWeb page, explaining why the daily updates don’t include a containment percentage.
I’m hopeful that the USFS is using good judgment here! A windy fall day after another 80 degree week ahead and a lot of structures and campground and access to favorite lakes and the headwaters of the Deschutes are in danger. Don’t read that with alarm please. Those areas are all at the lowest threat level with a nearby fire. It will indeed take a lot of bad luck to move fire to a dangerous level at this time. So let’s collectively cross our fingers that the shaded fuel break being laid down now, along with some inevitable fall rains coming up will make this fire stay well west of Hosmer and the other special areas around there!
Who’s ready for great news? We camped on the Metolius this weekend and fished a lot of green drakes in the afternoons. Flav’s #12-14 seemed more prevalent than the bigger drakes (#8-10) so far. That said, I rose (and missed) one monster redband on a big green Drake comparadun my friend Chester tied for me.
Also, on queue are massive hatches of little olive stones #16. Make sure to have a CDC Caddis, a Hemingway and Henryville and some little green soft hackles to grease up and fish in the film.
PMD and BWO hatches we’re good, and there were an awful lot of Tan Spotted Sedges #16, a few October Caddis and some Micro Caddis here and there. We also saw a few Cascade Stones and Golden Stones mixed in, in which the nymph is going to be your most important fly to imitate there.
Rusty Spinners near dusk and a good frenzy of dry fly fishing with the little olive stones and caddis emergers in the evening.
Great 11 am to dark action with dries. This time of year is really special for the Metolius.
See you out there.
Jeff