Our big Adventure!

This is the trail to Red Shirt lake. It was GOREGOUS!!!

Saturday morning to got up at 5:45am to leave by 6am.

It didn't work but we were only 10 minutes late...good for the morning!

So we have Hooch, Bee, two backpacks of fishing stuff and food, Google map directions and off we go to Red Shirt Lake. (Oh we had Ben too.)

We drive for 1.5 hours to find out that the directions we had were WRONG. We ended up at a dead end, of a river. The little Sustina River. NOT what we wanted.

The ranger at the gate said, "Oh gosh. Umm...you are gonna have to drive 45 minutes back that way and then take a left, then drive another 30 minutes and take a left. And it's about 15 minutes back in there."

Super.

So we thought we would drive back to one of the other lakes we saw along the road. We stopped at a few only to find that they were private lakes. No public property to fish from.

And being in Alaska, people DO shoot at you on their property. NO JOKE.

Finally we found one. We got out and stretched our legs, the boys threw poles in the water, Bee was throwing rocks. So we were having a good time. Not catching anything but still fun.

I was watching Bee throw rocks into the lake. All of a sudden he turns, smiles at me and books it into the lake. FULL bore...into the water. Clothes and everything.

Did I mention at it was about 50 degrees outside with the water about 40???

Crazy kid. I was shocked and stood there for a minute before I realized I needed to pull my kid out of the water. He had fallen on to his face.

What a nut!

So I change him and get him warmed up. The boys decide that they want to drive to Red Shirt Lake, even though it's going to be another hour to get there, at least.

Off we go to Red Shirt Lake.

We didn't have directions to this lake so we are going off a GPS that doesn't even have roads on it. What an adventure.

We get to Red Shirt Lake and rent some ores for the boat that is at the lake. We have to hike in the ores. Cool deal...not a problem.

WAIT....did I mention that the 1.5 mile hike I thought we were going on, turned into a 3 mile hike to the lake and 3 miles back?? Oh yeah I forgot....just like my hubby!

So Bee hikes in about 2 miles of it. We carry him on our shoulders for the last mile. We get to the lake. It's goregous! Boats are awesome. We were good to go.

We get into the canoe and I hadn't thought all the way through about bringing Hooch. I thought, He will have a great time on the hike. I forgot that he had to be in a canoe. Plus a 2 year old.

Oh it was an adventure to just keep the boat from tipping. Chris was fishing, I was rowing. We were having a good time.

Then we past this little island, about 20 ft across, round. We thought, Oh this would be perfect for Hooch. He can run around and we don't have to worry about him moving every two minutes. Plus he doesn't like water so we know that he will stay. SCORE!

So we dump him off and off we go. We are fishing and talking. I notice this big piece of wood floating next to the island where we left Hooch. I asked Chris if he saw it. He did and told me to go towards it.

That's weird, why?

Cuz it's Hooch.

Our beagle can swim!

So we pull him in and go fishing some more. After about an hour of fishing in the wind, we decide to take a break at one of the public cabin on the lake. We beach the boat and hop out.

IT IS AWESOME!! It has a stove, fire pit, porch, wood beds and table inside along with matches and toliet paper!!

So we camp out there for a few hours. Bee takes a nap. I take a nap. The boys fish! All is happy.

I wake up from the nap and decide that since it took us 2.5 hours to hike the 3 miles, we better start hoofing it back to the truck since it was about 5pm.

We packed up camp. Left the cabin better than we found it and got in the boat.

Within a minute of pushing off the beach, it starts to sprinkle.

Chris and I laugh, "Oh I'm glad we are from Seattle or we might melt!"

What can you do? So we laughed and kept rowing.

Well about 2 minutes later, the rain gets harder.

Two minutes after that, it gets harder! And then HARDER!

Until the rain would drop into the lake and it would make a 4 inch splash!

Chris and I laugh, "Oh it can't get much worse this. Bee is sitting in a puddle, shaking cuz he is cold. Hooch is whining cuz he is wet. Oh let's hurry and get to shore."

As soon as Chris replied, Yeah it can't get much worse....

It starts hailing with thunder and lightning!!!

SERIOUSLY!!

That will teach us!

So we hurry even faster to the shore and stand under the canoe to keep the hail off of us. Finally it slows down to a sprinkle. We grab our stuff, the kid and had for the truck.

Bee was so cold that he couldn't walk so I'm hiking with my backpack and stuff, plus carrying Bee like a sack of potatoes. 35lbs sack!

We get about 100 yards onto the trail and it starts hailing again.

So here I am hiking up these hills, carrying Bee, and sliding down the other side, while standing. I'm watching the water flow by me down the hill.

What can you do but laugh??

So we get to the truck 1.5 hours later. The rain finally stopped. We threw everything in the back of the truck and drove home. We all just wanted to eat and sleep.

I took pictures of this adventure on my phone. BUT my phone was in my backpack while the hail and rain got us. So now my upper keys don't work, to get into my pictures.

So google helped a sister out!

Have you guys had an adventure like this or is it just a W thing?