Lake Catherine State Park, AK

May 22nd -- It rained most of the night and thunder and lightning were near with a few weather alerts breaking last night and this morning.  During the night, some of the warnings were calling for hail and high winds so I pondered the thought of golf ball size hail pounding through the vinyl/canvas areas above my head and sleeping area -- more than once the alerts came.  In the morning, a fresh pot of coffee hit the spot and I enjoyed taking an early walk to the marina, visitors center and store.  A little later, heavy rain hit again so I hunkered down to get the next segment of my route planned from San Antonio to Tempe (Shirley's place to Dave's).  Still needed to get Tim's address again to plan that last section for meeting up with him (around June 11th).  May plan for now to arrive San Antonio 5/26 and depart 5/30 to arrive Tempe 6/2 or 6/3 with departure to be determined.  Some sunshine now so, will check on anglers and their success -- nothing positive yet and I had picked up a 3 day license in hopes of catching something better than the lone bluegill I had caught at Hungry Mother Park.

Next day started with another pot of coffee -- French press really makes a nice pot -- and then headed to the lake to fish from one of the small piers.  Night before had joined neighboring campers (John and his son Jerod) for dinner and a campfire.  They had a rental trailer already set up on a pad so they had a small car loaded with all their stuff.  John was a disabled truck driver in his early fifties with a pony-tail and his son was 22 and had a mohawk dyed red -- rather heavy set too.  The previous night (my first night at the lake), I thought these two were a couple of the crazy red-necks I might have remembered from "Deliverance" as they were constantly trying to get their campfire roaring to 6 and 8 foot heights by dousing the logs with charcoal lighter fluid and lantern oil.  The leaves on the tree directly above seemed to wither and dry as each dousing made the flames jump higher and higher -- sparks were flying from the logs and I also envisioned my camper catching fire so, I prayed for the rain to come and douse their fire (and it did, thank you very much).

We had a rather good meal with steaks, corn on the cob and summer squash with onions -- all cooked on the grill to a slightly salty taste -- still better (or at least a nice change) than my usual can of soup and salad.  Had a nice evening chatting with John and learning some of his story -- how his son was in the custody of his ex-wife and this was his chance for renewing his relationship with his son -- one that he hoped would continue to grow.

Throughout the evening there was a small racoon that kept trying to come join us and John or I would throw him some small table scraps.  I donated some of my firewood to the fire as I learned the wood John and his son were trying to burn was "green" and hadn't even been split or dried -- given to them by one of the local park employees who had removed it from one of the roadways after heavy winds knocked down a tree.  That certainly explained why there had been so many sparks flying that first night.

Tried fishing the next day but, again with no success -- power plant and dam across the lake kept changing the level of the lake and sediment from the rains didn't make the fishing any better.  So, I walked again to the visitors check-in/store to mail AMEX payment then, walked to the south end of Camp C and took the trail to the falls.  After getting pictures of the waterfall, I continued on the trail to the top of the mountain and down the other side -- a good hike and walk -- needed to rest sore knee a couple times (forgot to take my Aleve).  Did try fishing a couple more times with no luck.  Neighbors pulled out around 4:45 pm and now a tent city of youngsters is setting up as I look out from my pop-up.  Will check emails and see about dinner -- maybe a campfire later.  Perhaps a nap first after emails and check on expected storms for the night.

Camp was clean and had good showering facilities but, no washers and dryers.  Marina had boat rentals and fishing gear.