Alaska Excursions: Byers Lake Nature Walk

This was our first excursion, and it turned out to be one of my favorites (ok, I'll probably write that a lot, but really--it was excellent!).

Our guide Rachel picked us up at the Princess Lodge and drove us about 30 minutes to the lake. On the drive, we had our first moose sighting! We also learned a bit about driving in Alaska in the summer. Basically, there are only a few highways in the state, and with the long, harsh winters, summer is construction season. It seemed like every road we drove on was under construction, often causing significant delays, and this outing was no exception. It was a bit rainy, though, so we were hoping by the time we got there, the storm might blow over.

We weren't totally in luck with the rain, but the tour company had some rain gear there for us to put on, then we were on our way. Despite the light rain, it was beautiful from the start. We spent about an hour walking on the trail along the lake, and our guide gave us really interesting information about what we were seeing. We learned all about the native plants, and Rachel made a point of letting us sample some of the edible ones like fireweed, wild roses, and tree sap. We also learned about a wild looking plant called Devils' club and a few other plants like fiddleheads and some poisonous ones. We got a nice view of the lake from a little dock, and after a while, we turned around and retraced the trail, with our guide giving us new information and answering all of our questions as we went. Somewhere after the halfway point, we caught a break and the sun came out a bit!

Here are some pics:

Rachel explaining the plants
(this is Devil's club, I think).

A view of the lake.

Our tour group.

The sky is starting to clear!

The growths on the tree are called conks.
Rachel says they only grow on dead trees.

We learned all about burls, too!
Growths that happen when trees
try to contain an infection.

Blue sky!

One of a few cabins people can rent at the lake.

The moose!

As we got on the bus, Rachel gave each of us a little sample of some all natural Alaskan made balm, and we drove back to the resort, seeing the moose again on the way. We had found out in the course of the tour that Rachel and her roommate lived in a cabin in the woods, and she mentioned that she often foraged for edible plants for dinner. My dad joked with her at the time that maybe we should all come to hear place for salad that night, and she joked back good naturedly that we were welcome, but she didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing. Well, on the way back, Dad convinced us (we happened to be sitting in the back two rows of the van) to stay in the car after the others in our group got out. When she asked us what we were waiting for, Dad said, "I thought you were taking us to your place for dinner!" She laughed and laughed, and genuinely offered to take us. Of course we didn't go, but as we were getting out of the van, we all realized that early on in the tour, we had learned that she was born in ABQ and lived there till partway through elementary school, when her family moved (to Alaska, I think). So we had a little conversation there swapping information and realized that her grandma had been the principal of Dennis Chavez, where we all went to school, and that I'm acquaintances with her best friend from 1st grade! Our parents also went to the same high school, Sandia, probably at the same time. It was such a wild conversation, and Dad ended up inviting her for dinner with us at the lodge restaurant, but she wasn't able to work out her transportation. At any rate, it really made our day to find those unexpected connections, and it reminded us all of Pop-Pop, who was always running into people he knew in weird places. :-)

Suffice it to say, this outing, and our guide, set the bar high for the rest of the trip!