This week fall weather set in up at Quartz Lake. The wind started blowing, whipping up canoe capsizing waves on the lake. So for several days we huddled in the cabin around Bruce (our woodstove).
Finally, we had a day we were able to get out. The wind had (sort-of not really) died down but we needed to get out of the cabin and get our gear out of the stream. So we started paddling, and got sketched out by the waves about a third of the way up the lake. We beached the canoe and started bushwhacking along shore, which proved to be quite slow and ineffective. So we got back in the canoe, ignoring the possibility of worsening weather, and made it to the head of the lake and Quartz Creek. The creek was 5 degrees Celsius and all the overhanging branches were covered with icicles. And it snowed on us too. On October 11th. 
So we completed our redd surveys, pulled gear, and didn't see any fish in the creek. Unlike us, the fish were smart enough to get out of that creek once the it got so cold...
We made it up to Cerulean Lake, where all the waterfalls were lovely and frozen, and bushwhacked down the game trail one last time.
The next day we packed out our gear, and my pack was stuffed to the gills (see, it's taller than me!) and had all sorts of stuff that wouldn't fit inside strapped to the sides. Normal people carry tents and sleeping bags when they go hiking... field studies always seem to involve carrying absurd things like rebar, plastic pants, car batteries, metal stakes...
And now we are done with the bull trout. I'll be travelling a bit, to Oregon and then New Hampshire, and hopefully finding another job at some point.
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