ENGINEER LAKE CABIN, KENAI NATIONAL WILDLFE REFUGE, ALASKA, APRIL 14-15, 2025 (REDUX)

 ENGINEER LAKE CABIN, KENAI NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, ALASKA, APRIL 14-15, 2025 (REDUX)

PARTICIPANTS;

Wally Hufford

Elizabeth Hufford (Mrs. Huffy)

AUDIT OF EVENTS:

Hike into cabin, cribbage tournament, prepare Spicy Ginger Beef Over Rice Noodles for dinner, raucous concert, stargazing, relaxing morning, hike out.

Mrs. Huffy at the trailhead with her loaded backpack.  Ready to make the hike to  Engineer Lake Cabin.

You might recall that we were at Engineer Lake Cabin just a couple months ago.  It was so much fun that we decided to go again!  This time the lake was free of ice so we had to put everything in our backpacks and hike in.

Once we got setup we began the cribbage tournament right away.  Shockingly, I won the first game.

Mrs. Huffy on the cabin porch.

The view out the door of the cabin.

The cribbage tournament began right away.

For dinner we were looking forward to a recipe that we had seen on a YouTube video a few months ago.  The guy on the video made it look easy and even cooked the entire dish in the vestibule of his tent.  Things didn't go as simply for us.  After what seemed like hours of slicing and dicing we finally started the actual cooking over a single burner backpacking stove.  The pan barely contained all the ingredients and every time I stirred things around bits and pieces fell out onto the table.  After simmering for a good long while it was ready to eat.  And, I do have say, it was worth the effort because it was delicious.

Slicing ginger, red Thai chili, and garlic for the Spicy Ginger Beef Over Rice Noodles recipe.

Watching the meal simmer on a single burner backpacking stove.

Mrs. Huffy thought it was delicious.

After dinner it was time for another game of cribbage which Mrs. Huffy won handily.  Then came the evening's main event.  A huge concert which shook the walls of the cabin.  Each of us had created a playlist of ten songs and we played them using my camouflage JBL speaker.  I must say it was probably the best concert ever held at Engineer Lake Cabin. 

The camouflage JBL speaker pumped out the tunes for the evening concert.

Here are the playlists in detail if you are interested:

WALLY

The Wind Cries Mary  (Jimi Hendrix)

No One Knows  (Queens Of The Stone Age)

At The Hundredth Meridian  (The Tragically Hip)

Gild The Lily  (Billy Strings)

Burn It Down  (Los Lobos)

Are You Gonna Be My Girl  (Jet)

Ends Of The Earth  (Lord Huron)

Boulevard Of Broken Dreams  (Green Day)

Boomerang  (Imagine Dragons)

Call To Arms  (Sturgill Simpson)

Wish You Were Here  (Pink Floyd)

MRS. HUFFY

Radioactive  (Imagine Dragons)

Black Muddy River  (Bruce Hornsby)

The Boxer  (Mumford and Sons)

Galileo  (Indigo Girls)

We All Fall In Love Sometimes  (Coldplay)

You're My Best Friend  (Queen)

Adventure Of A Lifetime  (Coldplay)

Mona Lisa And Mad Hatters  (Elton John)

Someone Saved My Life Tonight  (Mumford and Sons)

Who Believes In Angels  (Elton John and Brandi Carlile)

Surrender  (Mumford and Sons)

Following the concert we walked outside to find dusk settling over the landscape.  A few minutes later the sky began to fill with stars and planets.  It was like someone sprinkled star glitter from one horizon to the other and dropped a few planets in for good measure.  It was beautiful.

Engineer Lake at dusk.

Mrs.Huffy gets a photo of the lake just before dark.

Waking up the next morning we built a fire in the wood stove and played a final game of cribbage.  I won!  So, I guess now you could say I am the reigning Engineer Lake Cabin Cribbage Champion.  Believe me...I'm just as surprised as you are.

The winning hand.

After packing up we made the hike back to the parking lot and headed for home.  It was another great trip.  In fact, it was so good we already have plans and reservations to return later in the year.  I just hope my winning streak continues!