Nancy Lake State Rec Area
Nancy Lake State Recreation Area … is one of the few flat, lake-studded landscapes in Alaska preserved for recreation purposes. The recreation area’s clear waters are ringed with unspoiled forests, and provide tranquil settings for canoeing, fishing, hiking and camping. – Alaska.gov
As you can see, Google maps makes the Nancy Lake Rec Area look pretty darn inviting when you have a kayak in tow. Because of the number of lakes, it has been on my radar since Fairbanks. Unfortunately it was dropped from the plan to stay elsewhere for the weekend. What did not come to mind, at the time, was that the 4th of July weekend would fill most campgrounds with “weekenders” making it impossible to stay in the replacement campground. So, as luck would have it, we ended up at Nancy Lake Rec Area anyway (much to the joy of my inner-kayaker).Arriving on the 4th of July was risky, we knew that. Luckily there were 4 sites left in the campground and we found one that suited us. With families neighboring both sides of us, we figured the night would be rough; with loud music, hootin’ & hollerin’, and good old fashion fireworks. Oddly enough, I don’t recall it being an issue. I slept just fine, only hearing a few booms of fireworks at some point in the night. The only real complaint was that the previous camper decided it was a brilliant idea to leave raw chicken pieces in the trees nearby. Moose and Byron loved the treats, and I’m sure the local bears have would too. Which brings up…
Way back in Montana, I decided not to kayak in Alaska without some form of protection against large animals. I would not hike without it, and I do not see the difference being in a kayak. Moose and Bear regular water and both can swim out and eat me while sitting in my plastic wrapper on the water. All around the campground were warning signs making it clear that I would be killed by bear (or worse) if I ventured into the wild. So the “assault kayak” was born, even under constant and rapid fire eye-rolling from Kerri. We would come out of this paddle alive… bears and moose be damned.
The morning of the 5th we woke and headed straight out to the park’s “canoe trail” which consisted of nearly 10 miles of lakes and portaging between them. The campground host informed us that “there is a little portaging, but it is not bad”. She lied. Only 10 minutes after getting in the water we were at the other end of one lake and we were stepping out onto somewhat dry land. We were to portage to another lake, but found that it was roughly 3/4 of a mile down the trail. Now, Kerri’s kayak weights nearly 50 pounds, empty. And my kayak is even heavier. Then add the kayak emergency kits (which has been growing), our packed lunch and water bottles, a finally a 12 gauge shotgun… well things got real heavy real fast. We got only a few hundred feet down the path before realizing the futility in the plan.
We chose instead to head back into the water and go for the other end of the loop trail which required a much shorter portage to the next lake. There we explored around the small lake until we came to yet another small dock and trail used to portage to the next lake.
We made the walk to the other lake, but our kayaks did not. We were already dreading having to make the return trip to the first lake, so we enjoyed the views, ate our hot soup lunch, then set off back towards the truck and camp.
The morning of the 6th we woke early enough to eat a hearty breakfast (breakfast tacos!), pack up the trailer, then take the dogs down to the lake for some horse-play before moving on to the city of Palmer on our way to Anchorage.
