Landing at Nizina Lake

After spending a memorable day on Wolverine with friends, we loaded up in our Cessna 185, and our friends loaded up in their experimental four-place Super Cub to head to Nazina Lake.

Unlike the spot we had just taken off from, the Nazina strip is a flat 900ft gravel strip clearly visible from the air. We both landed, powered down, unloaded, and headed down the trail that starts by the windsock for the short quarter-mile walk to the lake.

At least one local guiding company runs camping and rafting tours from Nizina Lake, and this summer, the they set up their cook tent right on the trail. The kids checked out the lake, then we herded the kids through the cook tent, saying hello to the campers and guides as we continued on the trail to a little cove we had visited many times before.

Along the trail wildflowers were blooming and nicely framed views of the glacier in the distance.

Icebergs floated close to shore, but they all stayed just out of reach. It became a contest to see who could reach the ice. The added trick was that once you got on the ice, you didn’t know whether the ice would crumble, crack and flip, push off and take you farther from shore, or hold you firmly.

Finally, Meredith and Vance found the winning combination to reach the ice, two logs side-by-side and a bit of balance. They stayed on the ice long enough for me to snap a photo.

Melozi, still hoping to find an iceberg close enough to jump on, headed further down the beach with me following behind. After enjoying the flowers and views, we concluded that we probably wouldn’t find any icebergs close to shore since the larger portion of ice hidden underneath the water was preventing them from coming any closer to shore.

Melozi, my child who is forever barefoot even in the winter, jumped from rock to rock, and easily walked across the silt and gravel as we made our way back to the rest of the group.

There was still plenty of day left, but after our early start and plenty of hiking and adventuring, we were ready to get back to the cabin, make dinner, and to relax and share a meal.

We took off from the lake and enjoyed a scenic flight back to McCarthy.

The Johnsons had brought fresh Copper River Red salmon, and fish tacos were on the menu, one of my favorites!

After dinner, we checked the weather and planned for the next day, July 7th. The next two days were forecast to be overcast but flyable, with July 9th looking like our best chance for a sunny day on the coast. July 10th was Melozi’s 8th Birthday, and we planned to spend the day in McCarthy and have friends over to celebrate. For the next day, we decided on a leisurely morning, then loading up in the airplanes to head to the Bremner Mine.