ENGINEER LAKE CABIN, KENAI NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, ALASKA, MARCH 18-19, 2024

ENGINEER LAKE CABIN TRIP, KENAI NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, ALASKA, MARCH 18-19, 2024.

TEAM:

     Doug Armstrong

     Wally Hufford

     Miko (doggo)

     Penny (doggo)

Since our trip to Engineer Lake Cabin last year had been such a success, I had been looking forward to making another journey to the cabin at Engineer Lake.  I was checking the cabin availability on the internet with regular frequency and noted there was an opening on March 18th, which fit nicely with my work schedule.  Mrs. Huffy was going to be out of town at that time, so I contacted my buddy Doug and we began making plans for the trip.

The goal of the trip was to simply enjoy the wilderness and hopefully relish some good springtime weather.  It would a sub-24 adventure between days of work.

Arriving at the parking area we happened to meet the previous occupants.  We all stood in the sunshine and enjoyed a pleasant chat about their stay at the cabin.  They were from Homer and this was their first trip to a Public Use Cabin.  

As the conversation continued Doug and I began to unload sleds and gear from the truck and prepped for the short walk across the lake.  The path was packed down and we easily made our way to the cabin in a little over 20 minutes.  We stashed our gear and set out to collect some firewood--a task that was made easy with Doug's chainsaw.  We loaded up the woodshed in no time and soon decided to take a hike along Seven Lakes Trail.

Engineer Lake Cabin.

Doug Armstrong arriving at the cabin.

Doug starts the chainsaw in preparation of collecting some firewood.

Melting snow on the wood stove.

This is the sign at the Seven Lakes Trail/Engineer Lake Cabin trail junction.  We passed it as we were hiking toward Hidden Lake.

We made our way from the cabin to the Seven Lakes Trail a short distance away.  Once we were there we hiked through the burn area toward a short side trail which led to Hidden Lake.  After taking in the views we returned the way we had come and soon found ourselves back at the cabin where it was time for afternoon beverages.  The hike had been about 2.5 miles in total.  The pups had a great time running around.

MIko posed for the camera.

Penny posed, too.

Doug sat on a bench in front of the cabin for afternoon beverages.

Following beverages we each made our dinners and ate them while sitting on the porch.  The evening was grand with clear blue skies and warm temps.  However, once the sun began to descend we moved inside and filled the stove with wood in order to keep the oncoming evening chill at bay.  We loaded the stove once more before going to sleep which kept the cabin comfortably warm all night.

We lit a fire on Engineer Lake ice to burn some dead branches

The next morning we made a leisurely breakfast and basked in the rising sun as it peered through the front windows.  After eating we began to pack up before making the short walk back to the truck.  

Heating water for morning coffee at the cabin.

Doug and Miko hike across Engineer Lake pulling a sled.

And...that was it.  The trip was about 24 hours in duration and had we enjoyed perfect spring weather the entire time.  I went back to work and started looking forward to my next adventure at Engineer Lake.  Which can't come soon enough.