Byers Lake Hike

 Brad and I decided that even though it's been horrible and nasty weather the past few days that we would still get outdoors and do something. So we borrowed some rain pants, dressed in layers, grabbed our coats and headed to the wilderness. Our hike brought us to Byers lake this afternoon, and it was absolutely gorgeous. In fact, regardless of the mosquitoes (which are inevitable) the hike was beautiful. It was the perfect day for hiking!!! It was partly cloudy, the trail had received some rain previously to our arrival so there was some muddy parts but it wasn't bad. But we forgot one staple in going out the enjoy the beautiful great outdoors.

What we did remember:

1. The Camera - check

2. The Rain Pants - check

3. The Bear Spray - check

4. Mosquito spray - ooooops!

I had remembered to grab everything except the mosquito repellent! How dumb of me...we hiked in suffering for the next three hours! It got so bad at times we had to rip off tree branches and wave them consistently in front of our face to keep them off us, and out of our noses and mouths. They were so thick that at times, we weren't even able to stop whatsoever for pictures without getting eaten alive. I was able to find opportunities when I would feel a light breeze to stop quick and snap a photo. Later the afternoon to discover my camera hand was ridiculously smothered in bites. Dang, guess I will suffer by having uni-knuckles the next few days! Sure will make driving interesting!

Brad up ahead while I adjusted the backpack

The lake was as calm as ever!

Brad using his Christmas present from my Mom and Dad. He loves his new binoculars

Brad and I standing on a bridge where there's a light breeze so the mosquitoes weren't as bad

Breath taking views. I never realized the quality of the photos my camera is capable of capturing!

Looking for Salmon!

We're so in love:)

Vibrant green summer colors, and crystal clear water

Wind storm  uprooted a giant black spruce tree

All in all the hike took us about three hours to go all the way around the lake

We did come across several traces of wildlife (bear) but never saw a one. Which I'm surely not complaining about. We did take proper precautions while hiking around Byers lake to be sure that we would not put ourselves in a position of dangers. The Bear Spray (like pepper spray) helps tremendously to comfort us, but also more importantly we stay alert, and making noise. At one point in time during our hike, my phone alarm was going off to remind me to send Janel's Birthday present - I had forgotten earlier that I set it, so I forgot to disable it. As it started going off, I asked Brad (after seeing bear scat) if we should just leave it going off. He agreed it wouldn't hurt to provide more noise - but I'm sure he was just not wanting to stop so I could dig through the pack to find my phone. It was a beautiful day out hiking. We couldn't have been blessed with more beautiful weather to enjoy our time together outdoors. It felt great to get out and be active on a day off. We ordered pizza, watched a cute movie, had peach cobbler for desert, and nestled into our bed to complete a wonderful day - nearly perfect day - off.