Spring Camping Round 2

We don't really need an excuse to go camping; however, we have been without sewer/draining for a few weeks and kind of figure we'd might as well be out.  (The sewer pipe got crushed when a sink hole collapsed....or something along those lines.  We have water coming into the house, but have to collect the drain water to dump outside and use honeybuckets in the bathroom.). We went down to the Eli the other weekend and found a good camping spot near some lakes we could hike to.  The weather was absolutely beautiful.  It. was. hot! 

On our way down, we saw an eagle on a nest, but as soon as we got close, it started circling and squawking at us. 

We found a good rocky shore to set up camp right across the river from a good hiking spot.  

After we got the tent set up and the kids were so energetic (read: wild and crazy).  They made up all kinds of versions of tag. 

This little stick teepee was "base;" they'd run around and then slide under it.  

Of course you can't leave Anya out!  

Add in a little rock throwing and you have a perfect evening.  (The bugs weren't terrible yet....but just wait.  They get there.)

The boys were playing around as I was organizing the inside of the tent and Brett was finishing the staking when Oren shouted, "Mom! Dad! I saw a fox!"  Brett, thinking he could've been mistaken and actually have seen a bear cub, ran for his gun to be ready in case it was needed.  Shortly the fox showed itself again and the anxiety of having a sow and cubs hanging around dissipated.  

Brett sat on the shore with the camera for a while and caught some great shots.  I think the one above is a Lesser Yellowlegs and below an Arctic Tern.

We woke up on Saturday to bright blue skies and warm weather.  We planned to hike to a lake and knew we'd be getting wet, so we figured we could wait until it got really warm.  In the meantime, this yooper dude had to try another version of a tent sauna.

Collecting rocks for the sauna stove.

The finished sauna (that's "sow-na" by the way ;) 

The kids loved it.  It didn't work for steam, but it did get nice and toasty in there.  It was so warm that we all went swimming.  I'm calling it swimming even though it was just a quick dunk and run out.   That water was COLD.

We soon determined it was warm enough and headed out for the hike.  We packed some lunch, bug spray, and water.  The boys started in sandals, but quickly chose to hike in bare feet.  The water was refreshing but not freezing and the air was so warm that it made for a perfect little adventure.  Ryker has been known to drag his feet on hikes a bit, but he was just cruising on this one. He loved splashing through the water.  every once in a while our feet would slip through the mucky bottom and hit the ice (permafrost) under. 

We found a good spot up on the tundra to stop for lunch and watch for birds.  The seagull on land is sitting on a nest.  "Egging" is a popular subsistence activity, but we have never been in Noatak in the end of May/ June, so we've never been.  That has changed now!  We found a few nests and took some eggs to try.  The kids were so excited.  

Lunch time!

We didn't know if these were Teal or Pintail eggs.

 One of the 3 sea gull nests we found.

Do you remember my comment about the bugs?  Well we found them.  They got bad, but weren't actually biting until we got up on the tundra.  These ones were huge.  I don't know if these were male mosquitos or just mosquito-like insects, but we had to walk through the clouds of them with our mouths closed!

The fuzzy quality to this photo?  Yep-those are mosquitoes!

When we got back to camp we boiled seagull eggs over the fire to have for dinner.  The kids were SUPER excited and everyone enjoyed them.  I think the yolk tastes a little like fish.

Relaxing after the hike:  We have a couple of readers in the house.  Oren got started on the Redwall series and loves it (nothing beats having a real book in your hand, BUT I just love a Kindle where we can carry a bunch of books without taking up extra space).  Ryker and I started reading The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White.  When I stopped reading he wasn't ready to be done and just continued to read by the fire.  It really made me smile to see him intent on reading that big book.  

We were playing around for a while after the hike and Anya said, "I found more eggs!" and held out her hand.  She's really at a make-believe stage and we didn't really believe her at first-just thought they must be rocks.  Well she held her hand out and sure enough, she held two little perfectly spotted eggs.  We asked her where she found them and she said they were just on the ground.  After a little exploring we found the perfect little hole formed on the ground and gently placed the eggs back.  (Can you see it in the center of the picture above?). We watched closely for the mother to return and it didn't take long.  This little lady (a Semipalmated Plover) hung around all weekend.  On Saturday two eggs were in the nest, on Sunday three eggs, and on Monday four eggs were laid.

I couldn't tell the male and female apart, but they were both hanging around off and on and were fun to watch.  

Did I mention it was hot?  But the water definitely wasn't.

Anya and Ryker playing in the "pool"

On Sunday we wanted to hike to a different lake.  We got out there and the mosquitos were about eating us alive.  We didn't last long before we hiked back to the boat and the safety of camp.  (The bugs were still pretty bad on the beach, but not nearly as congregated as they were on the tundra!)

Anya wasn't a fan of the rocks, but LOVED the sand.  She was filthy dirty from the moment she got up to the moment she went into the tent, but you can be sure she enjoyed every minute of it.

"I'm NOT dirty!!!"

On the way home we saw two different groups of Tundra Swans.  It was tough to get an in-focus picture, as the boat was moving and they spooked early.  This one taking off is mostly in focus, or at least enough to see it "running" on the water!