Lynx Lake Loop Canoe Trail

    

The leaves have all fallen from the trees and littered the ground in a blanket of orange and brown.  Fall is definitely here and with this in mind, we are trying to get as much paddling in as possible before the lakes freeze up and we have to put the boat away until next spring.
   A couple of weekends ago, we paddled the Lynx Lake Loop Canoe Trail, which is something I have been wanting to do since I first visited Alaska 13 years ago!  The 14 lakes included in this trail are Tanaina Lake, Milo Pond, Little Noluck Lake, Big Noluck Lake, Chicken Lake, James Lake, Owl Lake, Charr Lake, Lynx Lake, Little Frazier Lake, Frazier Lake, Jacknife Lake, Ardaw Lake, Milo Lake and then back into Tanaina lake.  For anyone wanting to paddle in this area, this was the time of year to do it!  We did a little bit of paddling here back in June and the bugs we TERRIBLE!  This time around, there were almost no mosquito's and we saw only 3 other people the entire day.   If we had been here a week or two earlier, the fall colors would have been great as well, but we were a little late for that.                                                                                             

Parking area at the start of the canoe trails

 The portage trails were a combination of dirt paths and simple 2x4 boardwalks.  Overall it was pretty easy going.  We did cross one "bridge" which took us over a 3 to 4 food deep channel.   This one spooked us a little bit...as I walked across with the canoe, it sank about 10 to 12 inches but it did hold.  One of the things that made the portages easier was going lite...we carried only one backpack with us and tried to take only what we absolutely needed for the day.

"Bridge" crossing 3-4 foot deep channel

Another thing that helped was taking breaks whenever they were available during portage.  Its easiest if you can find something to rest the bow of the canoe on and set the stern down to rest, this way I wouldn't have to lower the entire boat all the way to the ground and then pick it all the way back up once I was ready to go again.  We were always looking for good branches, wide stumps or even the trail signs that were posted along the way as potential 'rest areas'.











Most of the paddling was in open water, but there are a few channels that we got to paddle through as well.  One of these channels actually allowed us to skip one of the portages that was shown on our map.  We had just been goofing around and exploring the shoreline and decided to paddle as far back as we could.  Before we knew it, we had popped out into the next lake and skipped having to carry the canoe all together!








Overall, this was a great place to paddle, explore and just play!  We stayed on the main trail system and didn't explore every lake as much as we would have liked to due to time, but I know we will be heading back up here as soon as the snow starts to melt and the ice breaks up next spring!