Happy Birthday To Me!

I had the best birthday ever this weekend! A very big Thank You to Rob for inviting me out camping with him.

We spent the day Friday getting all the gear in order: camping gear, fishing gear, clothing & food stuff, the truck, the licenses – all of that stuff. It’s actually rather amazing how much stuff is needed, and it was only an overnight camp!

Oh, and I want to send out another big Thank You to Shelly for sending me that cool little identification pouch thingy: our I.D.s and fishing licenses fit perfectly in there so neither of us had to bring our actual wallets or purses.

Saturday morning saw us on the road by 9:00, with only a brief stop at the Sports Authority to get some long underwear for Rob. The weather forecast called for rain the entire weekend, so we had to be sure we’d both be warm enough. As it turned out we didn’t really need them after all, but did wear them to sleep in at least. I mean, he did… I wore my own.

Anyway, we drove about 3 hours south of Anchorage, to just past Sterling. We turned off on the Swanson River Road, and then turned off again onto Swan Lake Road. Somewhere about 8 miles past that turnoff was a small parking lot (maybe 4 cars can fit in it) with the trail head we were looking for.

It took us a bit of organization to get things worked out just right. We had the canoe, Rob’s big pack with all our gear, my smaller pack with all our clothing & food, two fishing poles and two paddles – all of which had to be hauled up the trail which was just over a mile to Nest Lake. Rob originally planned on carrying the canoe and his pack, but decided that two trips was a better idea – so he dumped the canoe on the side of the trail and came back for it later.

Nest Lake is a pretty little thing, and somebody very kindly built a little dock leading down into the water so launching the canoe was easy as pie. A nice big female moose was right on the other side of the lake, munching on the grasses in the water. We got some good pictures as she was not bothered in the slightest by us being there.

The portage across to Duckling Lake was easy to navigate. Rob had thought it might be choked off with water lilies, but the local beaver had kept it nice and clear. We only had one log jam to maneuver thru and we were on the other side in no time.

Duckling Lake is a little bit bigger, but just as pretty as Nest Lake. Right away, we saw a pair of loons – the nice big ones with the beautiful voices. I do love a loon! There was also a pair of ducks flying about, as well as a big beautiful eagle overhead. A pair of swans had a nest with two little ones on one side of the lake, and the beaver was busy on the other side. It was so peaceful and beautiful.

We found our camping spot right away, and got started on getting things set up. The tent Rob has is a really nice one, and very easy to put together. The last tent I helped put up was much more confusing (remember that, Elizabeth?) but we had this one up in no time. Then we scoured the area around camp, looking for firewood and cleaning up trash from the other people who’d camped there (which is really annoying: why can’t people take care of things?).

Finally, we got back in to the canoe and headed out for some fishing. That’s when we realized that the person who had put the fishing line onto his poles for him (they did that at the Sportsman’s Warehouse) did not know what he was doing. Rob had specifically asked for line that wouldn’t get all tangled up, and the guy assured him that the one he used would not.

He lied.

It got tangled up each time we cast the bait out. Poor Rob had to untangle the line every time, and was getting more and more frustrated the longer we were out there. So, we finally just headed on back to camp.

I fished for a little while longer, mostly because it was my first time and I was having fun despite the tangles. It’s so cute to see that little bobber out there. Each time the fish got the bait, it would travel around like a little train engine. The fish were too small to actually take the hook – but they took almost all our bait.

Since we didn’t have any fish to cook for diner, we ended up eating our breakfast instead: bacon and eggs cooked over the fire. There’s just something about eating food cooked over an open flame – even a vegetarian has to admit that bacon and eggs taste really good in the right circumstances!

Sleeping in our mummy bags in the tent that night was a bit chilly, I have to admit. I had my long underwear and several sweaters on, as well as a wool blanket over the top of me. But I only woke up once or twice, and ended up getting a fairly good night’s sleep. It did rain during the night, but the tent held up quite well with no leaks or anything like that. We actually slept in a bit in the morning: it was just so nice and comfy lying there all snug in our bags. Plus, it was just so cold neither of us wanted to face the cold clothing waiting to be put on. Eventually we had to, though. It was just too pretty out to be holed up in our tent.

After our breakfast of apples, cliff bars, and coffee/tea we decided to break down camp and load up the canoe to go off and explore the lakes.

Paddling, by the way, is hard work. And I had the easy spot up front – Rob got all the hard work of actually keeping us going while I just did the steering and navigating. Most of the time, he’d just tell me to stop paddling while he got us going. That gave me time to watch all the goings on, though.

Getting all our gear back to the truck took a bit longer than expected – I think we were both a little pooped, although I really don’t know why. But we finally did manage, and got the truck loaded up again. We stopped at a pizza place in Sterling for a bite to eat, then took our time heading on back to Anchorage. We pulled over several times just to see what was there, or to take a break for no other reason than that we felt like it.

When we finally got home, my roommate had a home-made Chocolate Birthday Cake waiting for me: what a great surprise that was!

Yup, it was a Great Birthday this year.

I’m 45, by the way.