Saturday morning I realized that the fates had conspired to leave me, my father and the Torega free during the afternoon. Since it was a sunny day we decided (my father and I, the Torega didn’t have a vote) to hike up to Leisure Lake as an early Father’s Day activity.
One of the funny things about my job is, despite the fact that I more or less live on the bay all summer, there are a couple of places that I have been taking people to for years but have never seen myself. The State Park trail system in the vicinity of the Halibut Cove Lagoon Ranger Station was one of those places. The other particular advantage of the lake hike was that there is a dock at the ranger station where we could leave the boat.
After we worked into the Lagoon on the incoming tide we realized that we had forgotten about the possibility that the dock would be full of boats fishing for kings (there is a seeded king run in the lagoon). Luckily the fishermen were able to move a few things around and I was able shoehorn the boat into a space at the base of the dock.
After taking a peek at the ranger station we headed up the trail. According to the trail signs and math the hike into the lake was about 3.4 miles and took about 1:45. I need to get in better shape.
The state park has a public use cabin at the lake and another nearby in Moose Valley. There is also a nice camp site at the mouth of a lovely little creek where we stopped for a quick snack.
While it would have been nice to have a nap we headed back after about a 30 minute rest. The trip out only took about 1:25. Over all the trail was really good and I’d like to backpack back into the area so that I can spend some more time exploring. All in all a successful afternoon jaunt.
2294A 