A Quick Visit to Louis Lake

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Louis Lake, Lander, Wyoming
Louis Lake


We drove up to Louis Lake this morning. I am told the lake is officially, Louis Lake (as in Lewis), but locally it is pronounced Lou-ee Lake. The lake is only thirteen miles away, but most of this is on dirt/gravel road that hasn't been graded in some time, so travel time is about 40-45 minutes. Sometimes this goes relatively quickly and other occasions it seems to take forever.

The lake has a surface area of about 1200 acres, mean depth of 15-20 feet, and a maximum depth of about 40 feet. It looks to be a couple of feet lower than the last time we were here (2024). I wanted to look at the lake before buying fishing licenses. While we were there, we encountered a couple of fellows fishing. They had just started but had hooked one trout, about 1-ft long we were told, but lost it bringing it out of the water. Looks like the fishing is still good! We swapped Louis Lake moose sighting stories with one of the anglers, wished them luck, and headed back to the highway.

Grannier Meadows, Shoshone National Forest

 On the way out, we stopped at Grannier Meadows. Altogether, it is about 1220 acres in size and really pretty right now. I was interested in getting this photo for a piece I am working on.

 

White Marsh Marigold, Grannier Meadows, Shoshone National Forest

At the meadow, we found several specimens of what looks to be white marsh marigold. Very pretty.

Then, on to Lander! We stopped at the local office of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to buy fishing licenses. The annual out-of-state license was $102.00 and there was a required conservation stamp that cost an additional $12.50. We bought a license and stamp each, which somehow ended up costing a bit over $250. In the past, we tried to fish once a week, so I suspect we'll get about 15-20 trips in while we are here. Plus, I have a tenkara rig that I hope to use in Willow Creek, which runs through SPC. 

A couple of years ago, we met the local fishery biologist, Paul Gerrity, on Louis Lake. I asked about him while we were at the office- he had previously emailed me and told me he was moving to Montana. It turns out that today was his last day, so he came out, and we chatted for a few minutes and he gave his new contact information. A really nice guy. He will be taking on a really interesting position.

We drove down to the local supermarket, a Safeway, where the prices are always higher than I am used to back home. We picked up a couple of things at Ace Hardware and headed home. 

Later in the afternoon, we did a few things around the trailer and SPC, and I fired up the pellet grill to smoke a couple of chicken breasts for dinner and lunch tomorrow.

In Lander, I had bought a bottle of tequila and a bottle of margarita mix, so, Island Time! 

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