Tombstone Lake fishing and camping

Shaggy · #1 05-27-2013, 02:28 PM

Looking for advice on this lake. I want to take my two boys for a few days this summer. They are 12 and 13 years old and love backcountry camping.
I am considering the option of parking off #40 at Elbow Lake and mountain biking in with packs. My research says that the first 1.5 km gains elevation fairly quickly. Can I get some first hand opinions on the actual steepness of it? Too much to bike up? Even if we have to walk the bikes for a while is OK, but I dont want to have to rig up pulleys to hoist them up. There are lots of trails we want to take advantage of in there.

Also, I can only get sporatic reports on the fishing there. Does it winterkill? Is the fishing good, OK, or poor? I intend for fish to make up a generous portion of our meals so we pack in less food, but I require the fish to be there for this to work.

I have researched albertawow, various camping forums, google earth and you tube, but I would appreciate some insightful feedback from here.

Cheers

blackmamba · #2 05-27-2013, 02:39 PM

The hike up isnt to bad .. if ur in really good shape u could pedal it but way easier just to walk them up and save your energy for the next 7 kms .. especially with all your gear , once you hit elbow lake its fairly easy to tombstone campground.. as for the fish u will catch a few but like every highcountry lake the size is limited to 12 inchers ..

Scott N · #3 05-27-2013, 02:41 PM

I've never been all the way to Tombstone, but I've been to Elbow Lake a number of times. The first 1.5 kms of that trail is fairly steep, but I've hiked up there numerous times with my belly boat.

I'm not really much of a mountain biker, but to me it seems like that trail would be a bit much to ride all the way, but walking the bikes up would be pretty "moderate" if you asked me. I see fairly young kids up at Elbow all the time, so it's not too difficult of a hike.

Okotokian · #4 05-27-2013, 03:54 PM

Relatively steep to Elbow. Walk your bikes unless you have WAY stronger legs and lungs than me (that may not be THAT hard. LOL). Then it's pretty flat all the way to the tombstone campground. The trail from there up to Tombstone lake itself is relatively steep again. I'd just leave the bikes in camp.

Tombstone is OK for fish. I think Elbow is actually better, or at least I've done better, so I'd make sure I hit Elbow for a while on the way.