Friday after work I headed home and picked up my gear, then I picked up Jon then we went back to my office and picked up Derrick. The 3 of us drove out to Lawrence and then north a ways and ended up at Perry Lake.
Actually it was pretty dark when we got there. We strapped on our packs and headlamps, left the van and went looking for the trail.
We found the trail head and a few blue tree markers here and there but we could not stick on the trail at night and it was tough going. We guessed the right direction for the most part and eventually found about where we needed to be 2-3 miles from the van. We set up camp on a little hill looking out over the lake.
We didn’t discover how pretty our hill was until the next morning. That night we got the tent set up and a fire going then cooked up some foil wrapped burritos on the fire and sipped on some whiskey. It was warmer all night then we expected but it got really windy after we went to bed.
In the morning we were doing good.
We had coals from the night before and made some coffee quick then hit the trail.
There were white trail markers and the trail was really easy to follow. We went about a mile or so before finding a nice still lake down in a low area out of the wind. It even had a pick-nick table.
We made some breakfast sandwiches: cheese, bacon, and sliced boiled eggs on a bagel.
After breakfast we hiked some more before finding an information kiosk with a map and instructions. We eventually figured out we left the main blue Perry Lake trail and somehow ended up on another small 2.5 mile loop trail. We had almost walked all the way back to our campsite. From the kiosk we got oriented and quickly found the first mile of the real trail. Finally we were on the way.
After that little mistake we found the trail covered in dead leaves but otherwise easy to follow. There were lots of blue marks.
Much of the trail follows the lake and at lunch we found a nice beach to go down to.
We rested our feet, legs, backs,
made clean water,
cooked up some peppermint tea,
and ate tortillas with humus, summer sausage and sliced cheese. Then we got back on the trail.
Saturday was a long day. We were supposed to hike 14 miles but started out with 2 unnecessary miles. It was a really nice day of hiking but by late afternoon we were beat.
About a mile from our goal we found a nice quiet low spot and set up camp.
Just before dark we built up a fire ring, logs to sit on and set up our tent. We roasted a nice big kielbasa over the fire and made up a mix of rice, beans and veggies.
It was a great big pot and was a great ending. The night felt cold but the warm food and fire took care of us. We were ready for bed right away but hung out around the fire for a while drinking some port. The night turned out to not be as cold as expected or we were too tired to notice. We still had some coals so while rushing to get the tent down and our bags packed up we had a coffee break.
Here is our fire ring, siting logs and just behind the guys is the flat spot where the tent was. We had a ways to go and hit the trail again.
We were low of water from the night before so didn’t go far before stopping. We knew we were leaving the lake for a while and were not sure where we would get water. We didn’t mind the break and ate some breakfast while we waited.
Instead of my little hand pump for water we borrowed a friends bag thing. You fill that top bag with lake water and let it drain through the hose and filter into a second bag that ends up with 4 liters of clean water. It is pretty nice.
Once our stomachs were full of peanut butter and granola wrapped in tortillas and we had plenty of water we hit the trail again.
We took a shortcut and did 2 miles down a road to cut out like 5 or 6 miles on the trial. After that though the trail was really fun with more nice views.
We ended up going 8-9 miles on Sunday and we were really ready to get off our feet when we found the van.
We put on the cleanest clothes we had, drove into Lawrence and had some burgers and beers while watching the Chiefs on TV.