Engineer Lake Cabin

---

When we awoke, Rob and Estrella were out for a canoe ride. It had rained during the night, but was a beautiful morning. When they got back, Danielle and I paddled around a bit and said good morning to some loons (an adult pair and 2 juveniles). We paddled to the car and got the sleeping bag that I had left behind. After we paddled back, we fixed up a lunch and got ready to hike the seven lakes trail. The girls were off and running along the trail with Carina and we had to remind them that we could easily run into a bear or moose, so they should stay close. We found a nice meadow and the girls ran around and wanted to keep playing in it, but we had plenty of miles ahead of us, so we corralled them together and they were off again. We decided not to take a spur trail to Hidden Lake, but had a nice view looking back at it. Then, we stopped for lunch on the shores of Hikers Lake. We reached the end of the trail just past the next lake (yes, if you’re counting, you hike past 4 lakes on the seven lakes trail). Just before the end of the trail we saw a bald eagle and then a family of mergansers. The hike back was somewhat less lively as the energy of the group dwindled, but we made it back to the cabin with some smiles on a couple of faces (if not all). We covered about seven and a half miles!

Of course as soon as we got back, the kids (who could not walk another step) were full of energy. I took them for a canoe ride (the afternoon was still absolutely perfect for a late September day). We got close to the loons and they serenaded us with their calls. We paddled a bit more then headed back to the cabin. As we got close, we thought we saw a moose in the water feeding. We all got pretty excited, until I realized that the reflection of the water and the sun conspired and we were actually looking at Rob collecting water from the lake. I’d be willing to bet that it is the first time that he’s been mistake for a moose! After a great dinner of rice and beans (and some leftover soup), we crashed. Everyone was beat….and slept much better!

---