Skilak Lake, AK

 We drove further along to an area with a 20 mile dirt road along route 1, along Skilak Lake, with a stop at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, admiring exhibits, and more films of the area. We admired this route on our way to Homer. The waters are a stunning aqua blue/green. We got very lucky and found one out of 2 camp spots along the lake at Upper Skilak Lake Campground. Another Alaska state park. Score! We planned to add my rope to designate our space, but then saw the sign stating that a vehicle, or tent needs to remain to secure this space. That is a new one. So fortunately, I have a small tent that we set up. We drove towards a trailhead. The mosquitos were not too bad, but still enough to keep us moving. The trails was not too long, but became enough for me. It was steep and muddy in areas, with deep roots, so not easy to navigate wearing the pouch filled with Jo Jo. He had to be carried, which blocks my vision, and slows me down. Eileen wanted to go ahead to reach the lake. I decided to turn around and go back. In the meantime I hummed the song "Another one bites the dust," from Queen. I wanted to make noise and let the bears know I was there. My mind raced, and I tried moving as fast as possible, out of breath, and bear paranoid, leaving only enough breathe to hum that song. Just before the end, Eileen caught up to me. She too was bear paranoid and wrote a bear song in her head. Lol, it was fun after the fact, but I was stressed, and hot. So we did another polar plunge in Skilak Lake. We scrubbed it all up, then a quick rinse. OMG, it was freaking cold in these glacial waters, but what a rush! We ate popcorn as part of our dinner. Our new favorite popcorn. Alaska Chip Company popcorn.