So, we decided for Labor Day weekend the best option was to get out of town. Dave had been to Seward a couple of weeks earlier and happened across the wonderful Ptarmigan Creek Campground and Trail. This fantastic spot is located 23 miles outside of Seward and it is a really nice little campground. It only has 16 camping spots, so its really small and quiet. It also has some day use parking and a fun hiking trail. We hit the road on Friday evening and arrived at camp around 9pm. There wasn't much time to do anything before it got dark other than walk Winston around the campground, set up the tent, get a campfire going, and relax into camp chairs. Saturday morning provided us with fabulous weather and so we decided to give the hiking trail a try.
Here are Dave and Winston hitting the trail. The trail is seven miles long in one direction and it takes you up to Ptarmigan Lake and three other remote campgrounds. We were all set to go all the way to the lake to check it out, but we went for a couple of miles and there were signs that were making us nervous. First, we found more than one pile of fairly new bear scat. Second, the trail was getting tighter and tighter, there was a river filled with spawning salmon on one side and either steep rocky cliffs or really deep tall grass on the other side. Now I tend to be the more anxious of the group when it comes to possible bear encounters. I was already well on my way to nervousness - but that's not a big surprise. What did it for me was when Dave, who is much more comfortable and experienced with bear encounters in the wild, said that he felt continuing on the trail was a bad idea. Dave's nervous - we're getting outta here! So, we turned around and never made it to the lake. Maybe if we'd had different gear - an air horn, bear spray, something - then we could've continued on. But we had none of that and we had Winston, just a bad combination. We decided to head back to camp. In the afternoon we headed into the town of Seward (for a later post) and in the evening we just enjoyed being out in the wilderness.
Winston enjoyed one of his favorite activities - dinner!
Dave enjoyed one of his favorite activities - playing with the fire!
And I enjoyed one of my favorite activies - knitting! I'm turning the heel on Dave's second sock.
We had a beautiful night at camp with some fabulous sunset views....
And some great sleeping accommodations....
A good time was had by all.
So, we decided for Labor Day weekend the best option was to get out of town. Dave had been to Seward a couple of weeks earlier and happened across the wonderful Ptarmigan Creek Campground and Trail. This fantastic spot is located 23 miles outside of Seward and it is a really nice little campground. It only has 16 camping spots, so its really small and quiet. It also has some day use parking and a fun hiking trail. We hit the road on Friday evening and arrived at camp around 9pm. There wasn't much time to do anything before it got dark other than walk Winston around the campground, set up the tent, get a campfire going, and relax into camp chairs. Saturday morning provided us with fabulous weather and so we decided to give the hiking trail a try.
Here are Dave and Winston hitting the trail. The trail is seven miles long in one direction and it takes you up to Ptarmigan Lake and three other remote campgrounds. We were all set to go all the way to the lake to check it out, but we went for a couple of miles and there were signs that were making us nervous. First, we found more than one pile of fairly new bear scat. Second, the trail was getting tighter and tighter, there was a river filled with spawning salmon on one side and either steep rocky cliffs or really deep tall grass on the other side. Now I tend to be the more anxious of the group when it comes to possible bear encounters. I was already well on my way to nervousness - but that's not a big surprise. What did it for me was when Dave, who is much more comfortable and experienced with bear encounters in the wild, said that he felt continuing on the trail was a bad idea. Dave's nervous - we're getting outta here! So, we turned around and never made it to the lake. Maybe if we'd had different gear - an air horn, bear spray, something - then we could've continued on. But we had none of that and we had Winston, just a bad combination. We decided to head back to camp. In the afternoon we headed into the town of Seward (for a later post) and in the evening we just enjoyed being out in the wilderness.
Winston enjoyed one of his favorite activities - dinner!
Dave enjoyed one of his favorite activities - playing with the fire!
And I enjoyed one of my favorite activies - knitting! I'm turning the heel on Dave's second sock.
We had a beautiful night at camp with some fabulous sunset views....
And some great sleeping accommodations....
A good time was had by all.
1 comments:
I'd been trawling the web for photos of Ptarmigan Creek Campsite as I'm planning a visit in Spring. Thanks.
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