Be Prepared

As I mentioned in the last post we're going camping tomorrow!  We're heading up to the Williwaw Lakes, which is accessed from the same trail head as Flattop (which should be familiar to you all by now).  Andy camped here a lot when he was growing up in Anchorage, so he knows his way around.

We're just planning on heading out after work and doing an overnight to test out some new camping gear and make sure the old stuff still works - and if it doesn't work, we're newly minted REI members and I'm sure they would LOVE some more of our money.  The nicest part of this trip, aside from promising some beautiful scenery, is that it's so close to home that if something goes awry we just hike a fairly short distance, hop in the car and head home.  We also bought Ripley a backpack so he can haul his own gear around.  We'll see how well he tolerates that.

I also noted in the last post that the berries are coming out.  Apparently this is a good part of the mountains to pick blueberries, cranberries and other wild goodies.  Unfortunately, humans aren't the only ones who enjoy berries...

So, with that in mind and in honor of our first Alaskan overnight adventure, we made a special purchase:

Bear Mace.  We are not messing around here, people.

Here's to hoping we never have to use it.  Wish us luck! We'll check back in on Sunday.  Have a great weekend everyone!