It’s been too long since I’ve been to my lake west of Whitefish.  After our rainy camp out with the kayak in the van on the 4^th of July, we needed a redo.

I’ve been going to this lake for over 30 years.  It’s comforting to know that some places never change, and my lake with the beaver lodge and scenic hikes has hardly changed at all – a phenomenon these days.   

I even got our favorite camping spot.  The other four spots stayed empty until late, always nice.  And this time we had exquisite weather.

I’ve just about gotten the inflatable kayak figured out.  Fast set up gets us out on the lake quickly so exploring can begin.  Not that I don’t know every curve and inset along the shore of this lake.  All my dogs have been out there with me and every time is a gift to be remembered.  This day we saw deer and ducks and a few fishermen.  The mountains put on a deep green summer show with billowy white clouds to enhance the blue sky.

For leg exercise, we did two hikes that took us back to little pocket lakes. Loons greeted us on one but the other we had to ourselves. Luckily no lions or bears. And I noticed serviceberries were ripe, early this year. I picked a few huckleberries as we trekked along but, like we found over the holiday at the spot in the Bitterroots, too small to attempt picking a good haul. But the serviceberries were prolific and fat so, yep, I picked a nice bunch, yummy souvenirs. I sang John Denver songs loudly to let the bears know I was there. So far that’s always worked and I’m sure John looks down knowing why any bears run away fast.

I always take home souvenirs.  It seems the beaver lodge is deserted, hard to know, but the lake is down enough that we could walk out and poke around on it a bit.  I always pick up an old piece of wood with beaver teeth marks and I picked a little wild mint.

A very successful camping trip – more than makes up for last time.  We did a lovely local hike right after we got home and stocked up on more berries and then the cooking began.  I’d rather have yummy syrup than jam and my efforts played out nicely.  Now we have more sweet souvenirs – memorable and edible!