start of lost lake...

 thought i would take a break from nome and then get these in before going back to the last of nome and the pictures from july...man am i behind.  too much fun this summer.  every summer it seems like i guess.
here is the group from this weekends trek to seward and lost lake cabin.  dale clemons i believe it's called.
i will for sure totally mess up the spelling on my new friends from Sweden but i shall try.  myself, ernie,pela, bob, maddie (standing), sandra, hulkum, tanya and martin in orange jacket in front.  was another great group of people and we all had a blast out there.

 driving out to seward was beautiful.  got the later start.  thanks to scott for stopping by and taking over rio's care.  it also worked to get my arse moving and headed towards seward.  a few errands to run first.  walked blossom at the dog park and got her outfitted at rei.  tons of fireweed out there and it was fabulous.

 i got lucky and the one large area of road work i got to the back of the line just as they were letting my side through or i suspect i would have been there for quite awhile.  i buzzed through.  seward was packed with folks so i decided to try and find a campspot for everyone.  took me some time but i did get us in at a place close to millers landing.  everything else was booked up.  there was a bit of a funny odor at times, but once everyone built campfires it just smelled like campfires.  we finally all met up and chilled for a few minutes of campfire time ourselves.

 sandra and i got there first and went to eat at nellies in downtown seward.  thought this taxi was a bit out of the ordinary.

 a short beach stroll for blossom and then back to make the campfire.

 somewhat peaceful sleep there, thanks to benedryl.  some idiot blew off firecrackers at about 1am and then a car alarm was sounding off at 2-3 am.  i had my big green tent for car camping so sandra, blossom and i were very comfy.

 didn't rain though it was foggy by morning...kinda typical seward weather.

 this old beat up train on the campsite grounds. not the best campground, but it did have decent outhouses and a cheap price and accomadated us all.  it was nice to not be downtown with the rows and rows of rv's in the end so i think everyone was chill with it.  just one night either way.

 i haven't actually backpacked for a bit and it isn't not easy. kayaking does tend to spoil you as it's so much easier to load the boats and let the boats do most of the hauling.  have no idea how much my pack weighed either. i'm usually a bit picky and preweigh the thing.  never did.  tried to pare it down to bare essentials knowing we were just going to be out there overnight.  still felt pretty heavy. i don't have the ultralight gear that regular backpackers would have.  that stuff has gotten better and better over the years and i haven't bothered to replace stuff that works just to lose a few ounces. i'm sure there were moments i regretted that, but overall i think i held up fairly well.

 maddie even commented  when we were fairly close to the cabin that i didn't look at all tired after all we'd hiked.  kids are generally beyond honest so i would take that as a compliment.  haha.

 mostly my hips ached from carrying the pack.  and my low back.  our fire in the campgroud above.

 below blossom looks on as hulkam parks the rv with bob's direction.  apparently one must make a leveler bubble happy in those rv's before you can actually park it in peace.  who knew.  below is my car camping tent.

 morning pack and prep work went faster for sandra and i than the others so we went into town with maddie for breakfast.  maddie tried to sneak a soda in on us, but even though we aren't parents we know not to give a kid soda for breakfast!  gottcha!  breakfast was good.  we stopped by and picked up a few subway sandwiches to pack in for late lunch/dinner.

 blossom gets outfitted with her pack.  it was her first time wearing a pack. i think i could have gotten her a medium sized one.  had a bit of play in it.  overall it worked just fine.  i just had her carry her own gear in.  on the way out since she'd eaten her food i made her carry a bag of trash out.  the hershey's bars were then added to one side that seemed lopsided, this made it even more off kilter.  at the first break i insisted all the chocolate get eaten for blossoms benefit, much to the childrens dismay!! after that her pack was sitting center the rest of the hike.  go figure.

 bob gets maddie ready to hike. he carried a pretty heavy pack as did hulkim i think.

 tanya and maddie ready to walk.

 blossom and i ready to go as well.

 the lower part of the trail is rain forest.  it's beautiful and lush. it goes up and up and up.  not much seemed flat at all and none was downhill really on the way in.

 hit a few switchbacks.  there is a short cut for the under 30 crowd, the rest of us prefer switchbacks.  i remember being baffled by switchbacks as a youth/young adult.  seemed such a waste to go back and forth, would be quicker to just go straight up.  as i get older i've appreciated the switchbacks more.  not really that many trails actually have them in place.

 i find most trails are made by those younger than myself.

 this sign tells you winter/summer routes for cabin/trail access.

 seemed like a good place to stop.  the first picture on this page was taken by a nice stranger coming up the trail.

 the trail continues with some thinnish trails at times with short drop offs.  plenty of water to keep blossom happy.  not sure she actually enjoyed the pack.  she was very sweet.  pela loves dogs and he led her a few times.  other times i held her leash and he just held the leash with me.

 i know every other dog was pretty much off leash.  i didn't like the heights. i  also figured if i had her off leash she would run back and forth between everyone and really wear herself out with that pack on.  dogs are not always good gauges of when their energy level with be sapped.  she is trained to a leash so it really is no punishment to be on a leash.  she does enjoy an off leash reward from time to time.  she is on leash much more frequently in the summer.  bears and what not...

 this turned out to be the whatnot.  can't say that one often runs across pack animals like these llama's (or alpaca's?)  anyway, was happy blossom was on leash as i suspect they would have spooked her more off leash and she may have bolted.  as it was the one kind snorted at her and she jumped i guess or reacted. i'm not sure.  i do know that she and pela ended up off the trail and in a slide down the hill.  luckily, it wasn't too steep of a drop off at that time and pela's dad caught him by his backpack and i got blossom by hers.  we pulled both to safety as these guys walked on.  they kept pela pretty close after that.  especially in the area's where the trail dropped off.  he was a trooper though and did great on this long and strenuous hike.  blossom did as well.

 eventually you pull out of the rainforest into regular forest.  more and more wildflowers begin to appear and large beautiful green mountains appear.

 also lots of biting type flies. mostly they were just bothersome. some of them must have bit me as i have some welts on the base of my skull area.

 blossom looking happy with her pack still.

 martin checks out some flowers

 flowers and flies.

 martin out front.

 some of the wildflowers.

 the trail just kept getting more and more beautiful with better and better views.

 we stopped frequently to take pictures or rest.

 never for very long though.

 monks hood.

 not sure what these are but they were pretty.

 looking back you can see resurrection bay where seward is.

 sandra, maddie and bob make their way up. bob tends to tell maddie stories to keep her going.  often continuation of other stories that he's told her.  very imaginative.  had to laugh today as apparently one of the characters names is "ovum".  maddie made it up and the story has been around for a bit. since she came up with the name randomly, ovum it is.

 it wasn't an easy stretch, but everyone was great. patient and kind.  gotta love people like this. keep good attitudes!

 the view behind us got better and better as well.

 the view in front of us wasn't half bad either, haha!!

 bob runs with his pack to catch up.

 one last flower shot.  will post more of these hopefully tomorrow night and i hope i am feeling more energized.  not sure where i'll hike tomorrow.  see how achy i am.

still more unpacking to do and laundry and all that good stuff.  it really is a beautiful cabin.  we had a great crew and we all had a blast!!  good night....