Eagle River Camping and Kayaking at Eklutna Lake

We are back in the Anchorage area so Joe can get his prescriptions filled as we won't be in a US Walmart area until we get back in the lower 48. We also had some shopping to do. We got the third season of House of Cards and will be getting the third season of Homeland when we find it. We are addicted to those two shows. We are staying at Eagle River Campground where we have stayed before. Another lovely spot in the trees. We actually went on our second paddling adventure in Alaska!!  We got a rare sunny day and headed north to Eklutna Lake about 35 or 40 minutes from Eagle River. It is the largest lake in Chugach State Park and a reservoir for the City of Anchorage. As the water is drinking water for Anchorage there are no motor boats allow, just kayaking and canoeing. We had to drive through the parking area a few times before some left and we got a spot to park. There are great trails around the lake and a glacier on one of the hikes as well and so this is a very popular lake. We also checked out the campground but it was almost full. It is Friday and so weekenders are already filling up the place. We got our boat inflated and carried it down a small hill(not looking forward to carrying it back up the hill) and over to the water. The lake is just gorgeous. Look at that sunshine!!!

Savannah, our Queen Charles, is enjoying her spot in the front of the boat.

The current made it a little harder to keep straight. Then on the way back, we had to paddle almost constantly or we would go backwards. A good workout anyway. Plus it was a beautiful day on the water.  When we got back to shore we sat for awhile just enjoying the sun and putting off the hike up the hill with our heavy kayak.

Saturday we went to the Farmer Market and Festival in Anchorage. It is a large market with produce, lots of jewelry, clothing, and Alaska trinkets, art work,etc. They also have a number of food vendors. We ended up having the same thing we had on our 2012 trip, Halibut fish and chips and corn fritters with honey butter. It was so yummy!!  I had been looking at the weather projections for several days and it kept changing from rain in the afternoon to all day rain and back and forth. We were lucky and it didn't rain until late afternoon and so another nice day. That night it rained all night. I didn't think it was that hard but heard later that Anchorage got a couple of inches of rain and had flooding in a number of areas. 

The campground limits you to 4 days for some reason and so Monday we had to move. Joe is still working on getting his prescriptions as he had to get a vacation override to get some of his drugs that aren't due to renewal for a few weeks. So we headed back south to Bird Creek Campground where we will be for a few days.