Day 15 – Thursday, May 26, 2022

After driving all morning to Carmacks, we took the Campbell Highway east to Lower Salmon Lake and the Drury Creek Campground. The campground is small but nice. We are one of 2 RVs parked here. The other, a fifth wheel, has its wheels locked together and its vehicle is absent. 

The setting is amazing with the ice on the lake breaking up and blowing toward the head of the lake. When we arrive, it is hovering in the mid-30s. We are surrounded by snowcapped mountains, and there is quite a bit of snow on the ground still. It’s beautiful and very cold with a significant breeze. We watched 2 pair of ducks swim to the edge of the approaching ice. After a brief duck chat, they flew to another part of the lake. We are watching some loons dive and finally resurface. 

When the wind stills, we can hear the ice compressing, tinkling like ice in crystal glasses at a cocktail party just a room away. The lake’s ice crystals are varied and clear, some long and knife-like, some look like grass mowed a day or so ago.

The wildlife sightings today are a beaver, a bear, a moose and a hare, and a squirrel to spoil the rhyme. The aspens are putting out their new leaves. As usual, the sky has gone from bright to cloudy and back again. I am searching for a word that means “something as beautiful as you could ever dream of.”