CABIN CAMPING

Spent the past weekend out at Nancy Lake State Recreaton area near Willow, Alaska. There are numerous "public use" cabins which can be rented. The cabins are usually pretty rustic but are way superior to tent camping especially in winter.










Friday night we hiked in 4 miles to Lynx lake Cabin No. 2. Started hiking about 3 pm, just before dark! A couple of friends were ahead of us having started earlier in the day so we were looking forward to a warm cabin at hikes end.
When we reached the cabin, no friends and no warmth. They were lost! We started a fire but after a few minutes with no change in temperature, we saw the problem. A window missing a pane. We used Highlands ingenuity to fashion a repair and the cabin slowly warmed up. By the time we backtracked a mile or so to find our friends and then returned to the cabin, it was almost tolerable.



Temperatures Friday night dropped to 25 below. Everything inside the cabin froze solid despite efforts to keep things warm. I was toasty in my minus 10 degree down bag so getting up was hard. But I did and soon we were on our way to James Lake for our Saturday night cabin. The cabin at James lake was paradise comparatively speaking. Best of all, double paned windows and a supply of ready to use firewood.

Sunday's hike out was 8 miles and the weather was chilly but nice. When we reached the truck, the temperature was 0, same as when we started two days before.