More Sharatin Pictures

We took so many good pictures during our Sharatin camping trip that I needed another blogpost to post them all.  While I was setting up camp I gave Nora the camera and she took a bunch of pictures.  She declared, 'it's easy to take pictures because it is so beautiful'. 'I feel like I am in one of those parks with glaciers'.  And yes it was hard to take a bad picture.  Nora took the four pictures below.

It is a beautiful spot and it has been discovered.  On some weekends over 20 people a day hike to the lake.  We saw something like 12 people and maybe 4 dogs hiking back to their cars while we hiked up the trail.  But once at the lake we had it all to ourselves.  Such a beautiful spot - we shall return!
Patrick

Nora's picture of lake from near our campsite

Nora picture of lake - we climbed down to the lake on that ridge below and to the right of the snow patch

Nora's picture of the lake - with clouds

Nora's Lupin Picture

Sharatin Camping Trip

This past weekend the kids and I hiked to Shelly Lake on Sharatin Mountain and went camping.  It is something Nora has always wanted to do, and this weekend, on a spur of the moment , we did it!

It is a 3 hour hike to the lake and on the way I realized that I have never taken the kids backpack camping before.  Actually this is not totally true - we once hiked up to near Heitman Lake (click here for post)  and took Tank!  But this was the first serious backpack camping trip.  This was more like what I ordinarily do on an elk hunt than a simple hike in the mountains.

And so we hiked to Shelly Lake and camped.  We set up the teepee, gathered wood, and Stuey filled up all the water bladders for cooking, and I lit the wood stove and cooked dinner - jambalaya!  After dinner Nora and I went exploring and found a small lake with warm water.  We went back to camp and got bathing suits and Stuey and returned to the small lake to go swimming.

On Sunday we awoke to grey skies and some fog.  But we had the wood stove cranked and cooked up breakfast.  Then it was time to go home.  The kids hiked back without stopping in 2 1/2 hours - this is a full hour faster they had hiked up.
Patrick

Long hike to the lake!

Swimming hole with a view - infinity lake with Shelly Lake down below

Walking back to camp from the swimming hole

Camp Life with the boys

I still get asked a lot why I don't build a cabin at our place on Afognak.  The answer is that I think it is  just easier to camp.  It takes an hour to set up camp and an hour to take down.  And no maintenance or worries.  Also we leave far less of a footprint on the point - less trash and gear building up.  Camping with a wood stove is pretty cushy too.  But the best part is that it teaches the kids how to camp and live 'in the field'.

On this trip the big lesson was taking care of your gear.  Both Marcel and Stuey got wet shoes and the first night just left them outside their tent.  They woke up to wet shoes.  Marcel had left his sweatshirt on the beach - wet sweatshirt.  On the second night shoes were drying by stove and clothing hanging above the wood stove.  Important lesson learned.

And then there is the wood stove.  I guess you could cook on a woodstove in a cabin.  But I doubt I would.  Cooking on the wood stove is better than cooking on a gas stove.  There are no hot spots and you can cook food slowly.  And with a cabin you'd probably have a chainsaw around for cutting wood.  I love the kids out gathering wood and I saw and split it by hand.  It is a camp chore I enjoy.

So each time we go out there we find it like it was the first time we went out there.  And we leave it in the same condition.  I think that's why I prefer camping to a cabin.
Patrick

Out and About on Afognak

The first morning at Afognak Stuey asked if we could hike to Graveyard Point.  I was a bit shocked because in years past it sometimes took a little convincing to get Stuey to hike to Graveyard Point.  Not so this year, and so away we went.

Marcel and Stuey ended up at the Aleut Town beach digging big holes and playing 'King Knute'.  He's the mythical British King who supposedly tried to command the tide to stop coming in.  Stuey and Marcel built walls of sand and tried to keep their hole from filling up with water, and like King Knute - they too failed.

We also did some kayaking.  The weather was perfect for it.  Every morning was flat calm and in the afternoon a sea breeze would kick up.  Pretty perfect.
Patrick

Fun on the beach

There is nothing quite like a beach for pure fun.  On our arrival at Afognak, Marcel and Stuey immediately gravitated to the beach.  Instant entertainment.  The first evening they dug deep holes and caught baby sculpins in the tide pools.  Best of all, no entertainment input needed from me.  I sat by the wood stove and read a book.  It was not until 11PM that I finally decided they had had enough and that it was time for bed.

Of course no one brought swim suits.  I noticed how they started out with sneakers and their normal clothes.  Then they'd venture further and further into the water.  Their gear would get wet and then they took it off.  They ended up in crocs and underwear playing in the water.  Good thing we had a wood stove to hang wet clothes over and dry sneakers!

One of the beach highlights was the raft.  They used bull kelp stipes to tie together logs and make a raft.   They built it high up on the beach the first time and it was too heavy to drag to the water.  The next try collapsed in the middle because of a lack of 'lateral support'.  The third try worked, but the logs ended up too waterlogged to provide much buoyancy.  Not enough to float Stuey anyway!

Finally they just tried a simple log - and that worked.  But it rolled over with them on top and the water was cold!

Patrick

Shooting rocks out over the water - who can shoot further

Tying logs together with kelp to make a raft

The sculpin aquarium