Making a Splash into Cedar Lake

Here's Abigail jumping for joy at the beauty surrounding her!

One thing Alaskans will never get tired of is having a sunny weekend.

Yes, it's true.

This last Saturday dawned fair and bright and super hot (for Juneau standards) at about 78 degrees. 

After a very full and busy week of work, Quinn and I decided a hike and a swim was in order.

Gathering a group of siblings and friends together, we headed off 'out the road' to the Point Bridget trail.

First we had to wait for the other friends to show up though, and that took a little while...

So after setting off a few fireworks and playing a few rounds of baseball with a rock and a log, we decided just to start without them. 

They had said they would catch up with us later.

The trail wasn't too long, just two miles to a cute cabin, and very flat and pretty.

The only downside? 

The bugs!

My sister Valerie would love to tell you all about the terrible and horrible bugs she saw on the trail, but it would take a while. 

Thankfully we remembered the bug spray (and for BIGGER things, the bear spray), so we were mostly safe.

Mostly.

Even with the bugs though, the lovely views could not have been beaten. Buttercups, irises, lupine, and pink shooting stars dotted the fields that we walked through.

Valerie's favorite flower, the chocolate lily, was also in bloom.

Don't let the name fool you! 

These flowers may look pretty (and have a scrumptious sounding name) but they smell absolutely terrible!

We don't recommend putting them in your floral arrangements...

Once we reached the two mile mark at the cabin, we took a break. The rest of our friends hadn't been far behind us, and together we started up the last .7 miles up to Cedar Lake!

Doesn't my brother Henry there in front look sooooo excited to be there?

He had plenty of fun, don't worry.

The last .7 miles were harder then the first two. 

For one thing, it was all up a mountain, but the first view of water had us all excited, and we eagerly sped up our pace!

We'd been hiking for most of the morning, and we were hungry. But all it took was one glance at the sparkling water for all of us to suit up and swing in!

When Paul was still working for the Forest Service, he put up the rope swing here at the lake. He climbed up the tree with a chainsaw and the rope and cut his way back down so that the rope would hang and swing freely. 

We were all pretty thankful he did.

We put a silly video together of all the best rope swing jumps and the one time we all piled on top of the raft (and the inevitable flip-over). 

We hope you enjoy watching it!