I am back

 I had forgotten that I had created this blog to go along with my concession business, Cisco's Landing, at the Bear Lake State Park Marina.  My business contract was not renewed in 2014 so it was disassembled and closed along with this blog.  I found it today looking for information on Gus Rich Point.  It has been over ten years since my last post and lots of things have changed at Bear Lake.  I am finally starting to write again after years of inactivity.  I will bring you all up to date in the near future.....

Well, Memorial Day has finally arrived.  After a long winter and one week of spring it begins.  Many of the seasonal cabin owners make their annual trip to the Lake with lawn mower and weed whacker in tow.  Kids of all ages are hauled along to do yard work and help clean the cabin.  I think many residents here wonder why all the work but I think folks generally enjoy it.  As they work they can think of all the fun times ahead for them.

During the winter, I thought that is should redo my website at Cisco's Landing.  My existing website was ten years old and I thought it was time for a change.  I also wanted to let customers pay for their reservation deposit online.  As a guy who was an adult before public computers started I have had to teach myself about their intricacies for 40 years.  I have spent far more time figuring out programs and how to, use them than I ever have done generating something.  My son-in-law Jeff, who designed my first wouldn't tell me how to manage it for fear I would screw something up.  My experience with website design is limited so I though I would involve a web designer.  I would have gone to the guys in town but they are overwhelmed.  I have had a lot of experience with training East Indians how to drive boats so I though they could help me with a website. Two months later I have learned to use my Skype and am in the process of learning WordPress, something I never knew existed.  I also got to know some interesting people in India. The first cut is done and is now live at ciscoslanding.com.  I am happy so far and I hope to be able to learn enough to manage it.  Check it out.

Bear Lake Weather

Over the last forty years I have looked down on Bear Lake thousands of times from every vantage point possible.  I know, in my inner being, that Bear Lake is alive.  Created by "Mother Earth" over 200,000 years ago.   I would give anything to have seen it during those eras.

I am fortunate, through an unplanned series of events, to have spent my adult life here and have no plans to leave.  Every time I look at the lake, it shows me something different.  An infinite number of shades of blue and gray reflect off its water.  Storms, whitecaps, glass, the moon and its sunrises and sunsets all combine with color to provide views that are unsurpassed.

I guess this mid-May snow squall along the east shore caused me to be in a reflective mood this afternoon.  The fact that I took it from the old Rocky Point turn that has such a history also gave me pause.  I felt as if I should share my thought with you....  

Darcaena fragrans

April has been rather uneventful cool/cold and windy at Bear Lake.  Hand to renew my Food Handlers Manager permit to make sure everything is tasty and safe at Cisco's.  People are ready to return to their slips but don't want to fight the cold, windy weather.  I guess all of the trailered sailboats need to be out of the parking lot by next weekend.  Summer is starting to squirm.

One a personal note, the other when I came in the house I smelled something different but didn't know what was.  The next night Doreen was complaining of a horrible smell but to me it smelled like flowers but I hadn't bought any.  Then I saw what it was.  Years ago (20+) we bought a corn plant because they were big and cheap.  It has persisted since then, even freezing out on the deck when we were adding on.  No plants die naturally in our house, even with neglect, because of all the light sources.  So this old thing, droopy and dust covered stood in the corner and is now about six feet tall.

I was shocked to see that is was flowering.  I had never seen flowers on one.  It is native to central Africa and has a horrible scientific name Dracaena fragrans.  Later the sickening, sweet fragrance filled the house and Doreen was ready to hack them off.  But since corn plants live up to forty years and usually only flower once, I couldn't do it.  The following morning there was no smell and all the flowers looked like they died. At about 5:00 pm I smelled it again and all the flowers were out.  I guess it has evolved to flower in the steaming jungle in the afternoon when the hummingbirds are out pollinate it.  Nature continues to fascinate me.

Cisco's Carp

They never fail to amaze me.  The water temperature is their calendar.  They have been on the silty bottom of the Bear Lake Marina since November.  The temperature of the water has hovered just above freezing, little light has penetrated the ice and there have been no currents.  Life inside the Marina is much different than out in the lake where the water is always moving, there is more oxygen and billions of small fish eggs.  But here they stay,year after year, in a state of suspended animation, waiting for vibrations from the docks, and the beginning of manna from Heaven.

I am at Cisco's more now, getting ready for the summer.  As I peered over the dock I could see shadowy figures, barely moving, deep in the water.  I got a hot dog bun left over in the freezer, broke it up and threw is on the surface.  It seemed like forever before the forms, squeezing out the antifreeze from their veins, came to the surface with their yellow lips and whiskers and had their first food for months.

The Cisco Carp have come alive.  What a great summer they have ahead of them.  I am sure their long wait will be worth it.

Summer will be here before we know it so make your reservations now.  I am presently working with suppliers so if you need anything like tubes, wake boards, water toys or marine products email me at cisco@cut.net and I can have them here before summer starts cheaper than you can get them anywhere else. I also have some new Hyperlite boards and boots from past years that I am going to sell cheap this year.
 

Bear Lake Islands

As the ice recedes, I see that there are two new islands on the south side of  Bear Lake.  I have taken the liberty to name them,  The little one on the left is named "Temporary Island" and the big one on the right is "Sand Castle Island.

Anyone who follows me, knows I am obsessed with turkeys and spend a lot of time driving in Logan Canyon.  Today on my way back from the spring like weather in Cache Valley to the snow in the upper canyon, I passed Rick Springs and noticed something off  the side of the road.  I was astounded to see a tom turkey with the longest beard I had ever seen.  Beards are actually feathers that look like coarse hair and the length is determined by age.  How had he survived the winter up that high and what did he eat?  Only the turkey knows.  They are truly a remarkable bird.  No wonder Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey as the National Bird instead of the bald eagle.

The picture is not of the turkey I saw today.  He had a much longer beard. Too early to be strutting.

The winter in Bear Lake this year is unpredictable.  I do believe the climate is changing but I know it is a lot more complicated than the yap on television.  I am still fascinated by the weather.  In the old days, when were didn't have computer or the internet to check on snow depths at thousand's of locations across the world, things were different.  We judged in intensity of the winter by watching the snow level on wood fence posts or trees.  We tried to factor in drifting and snow settling.  I always watched the old pole, drift fence in the Sinks just after you went over the Summit toward Logan.  When it finally was covered with snow, I figured we had a normal snow year.  Over the past forty years, it seemed that the fence would be covered but we didn't seem to have the same amount of snow.  Last fall walked down to the old structure to check it out.  Sure enough, over the years, the snow and snowmobiles had smashed it down so now it is two feet lower than in the 1970's.  Since the pole fence is no longer accurate, I now watch the metal fence posts on the lay down fence below the Franklin Basin turnoff and check NRCS Snotel stations   

 

What a difference a week makes

It happens every year.  Fear of a drought.  People and media worry themselves to death about water for the summer or how low Bear Lake will go.  Will California be able to raise the vegetables we want to eat?  What a waste of anxiety and it was only January.  I have been in Salt Lake the last week and they really didn't have anything, but then the "high pressure" was breaking down. Here comes the Pineapple Express! Snow.......

The weather will do what it will do.  We can predict it and respond to it but we can't control it so quit worrying about it. As I worked my way up Logan Canyon yesterday it was readily apparent that winter has arrived and I am stuck.

The next morning we are snowed in.  Logan Canyon is closed.  Then the work starts.  Three feet on the deck, blower opening, 12 inches......

Well it snowed all day and is still snowing.  So far Tony's Grove has added five feet in this storm. There are avalanches in the canyon, a constantly narrowing road and of course, pow pow. I haven't even seen my turkeys lately.  But we got our "moisture", we won't die of thirst and all the newcomers now know what a "Bear Laker" storm is.  Enjoy the snow!

Cisco Dip Netting

I am getting to a point in my life that when looking at my past is more interesting than worrying about the future.  On the way back from Mexico I started wondering if the Bonneville cisco run had started.  I then began to reminisce about my life and ciscoes.  In the late 1950's people started dipping ciscoes on Cisco Beach.  Bear Lake was one of the few lakes open year around and the Super Bowl had not started so there wasn't much to do in January.  My dad, Rex and his buddy Wade decided they wanted to try cisco netting, but nets were an issue.  Aluminum smelt/cisco nets were rare so they decided to build their own.  I remember going with him to the carpet store were he was able to get a 12' bamboo pole that they had rolled carpet on.  He then need to make an 18"frame so they formed 3/8' round steel rod around a steel bucket with tails on it.  Then he had the tails welded onto a piece of pipe that would fit snugly over the bamboo pole.  A couple of bolts then held it on.  A net was attached by wrapping parachute around it an the frame.

As a 12 year old making my first trip to Cisco's Beach for the run was memorable.  As we crested the hill just north of South Eden (the road was dirt and mud then) all I could see was billowing clouds of black smoke along the beach.  When we got there there were tire fires everywhere keeping people warm.  Most of the fishermen were in old war surplus coats with nets tied to poles, in hip waders and usually intoxicated.  Old trailer house and tents were scattered along the shoreline and trucks were stuck because there were no 4WD vehicles except Jeeps.  We netted our 50 fish each and headed home to clean them.  It was illegal to use them for bait.

I have seen countless changes over the past fifty years but as I was thinking about going dip netting I realized I had loaned all my nets out and none had returned.  When Dad died, I gathered up the old net so I decided to reintroduce it to the lake.  It was none the worse for wear so I headed over on the 20th which was historically when the cisco peaked.  I was surprised how much lighter, longer and sturdier it was compared to the aluminum nets.  Even in open water I had my fish in no time.  The old net didn't fail me and I think it was happy to be back in the lake after 45 years.

\

  

Angry Birds

It has been a while since my last post but shutting Cisco's Landing down is a real chore.  Pulling boats, cleaning boats, winterizing and fiberglass repair on Waverunners, hauling boats over to Lee's Marine in Hyrum for service and winterizing and back to the lake for storage is all consuming for this old man as my help goes back to school or on Missions.  There was a little hunting and fishing thrown in there too.

So much for excuses.  Anyone that knows me is aware that I love to watch and feed birds as much as I like to hunt them.  Since my office is on the couch and the bird feeder just outside I observe feathery animals for hours.  I always like to see the changes in species associated with the seasons as migrations come and go.  However, there is one species that lives here all the time but only migrates to my feeder when it snows.  The turkeys...

Most folks think turkeys are dumb, docile and not smart enough to come in out of the rain.  That is true of the ones we buy out of the stores but my flock is rowdy, cantankerous, mean and think nothing of picking the hell out of each other.  They also have no manners leaving turkey droppings and feathers all the deck.  Above and beyond all they are pigs.  I throw chicken scratch to them on the ground and as soon as that is all scratched up, her they come to raid the black sunflower finch feeder. They bang it and shake it until all the seeds are on the ground and in their crops.

THE PICTURE ABOVE SHOWS REALLY "ANGRY BIRDS"

My daughter, Ashley, is a Bear Lake native.  She grew up here and has spent countless hours on and around the Lake boating, skiing, and just having fun.  Mike and Ash came up yesterday and instead of riding bikes, we went fishing.  She said she has never been fishing on Bear Lake from a boat which is true.  In the morning, we fished in the wind off of Sweetwater. When the downrigger popped she took the rod and after a long fight, she hauled in and released a 20 pound lake trout.  She said she was is in good shape for hiking but not reeling in a big fish.

In the afternoon we took the pontoon boat across the lake to Cisco Beach.  When the downrigger popped again she hooked, caught and released an 8 pound cutthroat.  She said that fish was a little easier to reel in. She prides herself has quite an angler now.  Apparently, Ash thinks it is not that hard to catch large, once in a lifetime, trophy fish on Bear Lake.  She certainly had fun texting pictures to her friends.

 

The Cisco Carp are having a great summer.  Countless kids and their parents come down the gangplank carrying bags of stales bread, cookies, chips and quarters for food.  Before long they are laying on the docks feeding and trying to touch the carp who are greedily slurping up everything that hits the water.  They thrash around like piranhas chasing the food all to the delight of the audience.  Apparently things are so good that they have attracted another species of fish to Cisco's Landing.  I saw a few last year but now they are plentiful.  They get up to about eight inches and are commonly mistaken for little carp.  Actually, the lake is too cold and has limited habitat for carp to spawn so they do not reproduce.  They are in the same family, minnows, and they are Gila atraria or Utah chub.  Utah chub have a very bad reputation for taking over fisheries because the can out compete rainbow trout for food.  During my career as a biologist I killed millions of chubs around the state with Rotenone.  It is a different story in Bear Lake.  They are native to the lake and have evolved with Bear Lake cutthroat trout who love to eat them.  Because of this predator their population is limited and the only safe haven is in the marina.  Enjoy it now "chubs", because when the water cools down the cutthroat will come into the marina and there will be plenty of food for them at Cisco's.

   

Bucket List

I have been too busy lately.  I hate when it goes from winter to summer instantly.  You all know what I am talking about.  Last winter when there was nothing to do and I was reviewing my "Bucket List" I once again began my quest of the great white sturgeon.  This has gone on for years with no success.  Lots of research but no direction. 

I had met a guide last fall when fishing for Chinook in Tillamook that said he fished for sturgeon so I contacted him and set a trip up even though it was early in the season.  The time finally arrived this past weekend.  As a fisheries biologist, I had seen and read about sturgeon but I had never touched or examined them.  That is how they got on my "Bucket List".  Fishing in the mouth of the Columbia River with the constant rain and wind, it happened.  With an anchovy on a single barbless hook the tap, tap, tap started.  The pole "loaded up" and the jerk.  The battle ensued and in a half hour an exhausted fish and angler finally met.  Too large to keep at 65" we held it for a minute and parted ways.  A sense of satisfaction came over me.  Another lifetime goal accomplished.  Never give up on your dreams.

Gus Rich Point

Well, it is finally gone.  I am sure you are sick and tired of me talking about ice on Bear Lake, but bear (no pun) with me.  The ice left in the midst of a rainstorm, followed by a huge dump of spring snow.  It was wrapped up with a windstorm.  As I had said previously, here today, gone tomorrow.  Ice did stack in some areas.  Of particular interest to me was Gus Rich Point.

Gus Rich was a colorful individual whom I met shortly after arriving at Bear Lake in 1974.  He was an old guy then with his own chair in "Pulleys" Bear Lake Motor Lodge which we all frequented for morning coffee.  Now I am not claiming these facts are accurate, just stories I have heard.  He had the first Ideal Beach which was on the point between Garden City and Laketown.  In the old days he owned a bar with plenty of partying, gambling and even stories of a sunken boat with gold aboard.  I don't recall when Gus passed away but it wasn't long after I came here.

The reason I bring this up is because years ago the ice came off and ran a ground at Gus Rich Point.  It took the front out of the old Bar and completely filled it with chunks if ice.  It almost happened again this year.  The ice stacked up close but didn't do any damage.  History usually repeats itself or the lake just doesn't like buildings close to shore on Gus Rich Point.

I actually believe that the Lake is trying to erode the point off of its shore.  In a map of Bear Lake in the late 1800's the point extended further out.  I would also speculate that the "Rockpile",  are remnants of the point 1000's of years ago. 

Gus Rich Point circa 1985

Gus Rich Point 2013

Welcome back liquid water.  Everyone was happy to see you frozen over, we had lots of fun on you but got tired of the ice and the long winter.  Now get ready for fishing boats and it won't be long before paddle boards and wake boarders are skimming on your surface.

I guess that all my whining paid off.  The Monday blizzard that left two feet of drifted snow an my place apparently dumped enough warm rain and snow on the lake to stir and warm up the water to above freezing.  As the valley cleared on Tuesday morning the ice was gone.  I am more than willing to trade that for snow.

Ice Off Facts

I am tired….  I am tired of the snow on the ground….  I am tired of always having to wear a coat and long pants…. I am tired of looking out over the ice covered lake….  Most of these things are out of our control and are part of living in Bear Lake which I never get tired of.

The ice is on everyone’s mind.  First people want to know when it will freeze.  Once that happens, everyone is content until March.  Then it starts again, when will the ice go?

Many people assume that as the weather gets warm, it makes the ice soft on the top and it eventually melts.  That is true is small bodies of water but on Bear Lake things are different.  The rain and heat affect the ice surface but the water below needs to get warmer than 32 degrees.  The inflow from the Bear River and tributaries account for this impact.  This ice melts from the bottom up.  As the lake level increases it opens up a ring of water around the shoreline.  The lake then starts to get darker which means it is melting.  The wind starts pushing the huge ice mass around, it cracks and the blocks crash into each other.  More water opens up and one day, all of a sudden, it is gone.  It may push up on shore as a result of wind, but it will be bathed in a warm rain or just disappear.  I sure hope it melts before May.

Sure signs of spring are here  The turkey vultures have returned to Randolph, calves are frolicking around, turkeys are gobbling and the deer are nibbling the "first green bite"  Enjoy.

Mouth of Swan Creek working on the ice

I don't know how many times in the last week I have been asked it Bear Lake is open yet.  It should be because everything else is.  They also want to know when the ice will melt in the Marina.  I took this picture flying over the lake today.  You be the judge.

I am continually amazed at wildlife in the Bear Lake Valley.  This is a picture taken on 3-29-13 of an antelope feeding in the field west of the Chevron in Garden City.  Over the last thirty years I have watched antelope slowly migrate from the Bear River to the west,  Ten years ago I first saw them in the hills east of Bear Lake.  I then saw them cresting the top of Laketown Canyon.  Last year there a small bunch in the fields north of Laketown.  And now, this one on the other side of the valley.  If they were deer you might not be surprised but one thing that is different about antelope.  They can not jump fences,  They have to go under or around them.  There are a lot of fences between Laketown and Garden City.  Welcome.