Well even though there is still plenty of snow in the mountains, the ski gear is put away and we are shifting towards warmer summer activities. Jay got a few days off work and we decided to check out tustumena lake on the kenai peninsula which feeds the kasilof river known for its big salmon runs. Tustumena is a HUGE lake fed by the glaciers of the kenai mountains. It's 30 miles long, 6 miles wide and 925 feet deep at its deepest. It's longer than turnagain arm and deeper than cook inlet so it's a formidable lake in a canoe. Much to our parents delight, tustumena is known for having a nasty temper when the wind picks up and can make 9 foot waves and has killed several people. Sooo we were cautious about our route but had beautiful calm water for most of the trip. It started out a little rainy but that is to be expected in AK.
The lake is riddled with cabins for public use. The first one we came to is on caribou island. It is a mystery as to who built the cabin but was built in the late 1800's and had excellent craftsmanship noted in the dovetail notching of the logs. A few logs have been restored using the same techniques as the original builder. Most likely it was used as a big game hunting cabin. Jay looks like he could live here indefinitely but we insisted that he come home.
A five star hotel compared to a tent in grizzly country.
Jay taking down a big dead tree to restock the cabin's wood supply.
Lucy is finally getting used to life on the water.
Tustumena glacier is straight ahead. The lake goes all the way to the base of the mountains.
Made it to the Big Bay cabin.
There were some awesome pictures of hunting parties in 1903 in this cabin.
By day 3 Lucy was 100 percent comfortable.
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