Night at Blue Mussel Cabin

Tim and I took off work Monday so that we could try to get in at least one overnight cabin stay at of the many cabins offered by the state or the forest service before winter sets in. We chose the Blue Mussel Cabin (map - look for Blue Mussel Cabin) that is located about 1/10th mile from Pt Bridget. We walked here on a day trip this summer and thought it looked like a good spot to come back to. The cabin is only about 3 miles from the road and the trail runs through the forest, a meadow, and the beach. We don't really have very good backpacking gear as we haven't been doing very much of it at all but we managed to throw a few things together (only the lightweight ones) for an overnighter. We are more familiar with going to a cabin by snowgo (with a couple of sleds) and never worried much about weight. Plus the cabins down here don't have lanterns or woodstoves - most of them have propane or diesel fired stoves so we had to think about light and how we'd be cooking.

Anyway, before heading out we thought it responsible to check the weather forecast - oh dear, hurricane force winds (category 3) and 90% change of rain. Better keep the rain gear in the car and put it on before leaving the trailhead!

Here we are - after walking through a downpour - but protected from the rain and wind while walking through the woods. We just finished the last of the forest walk and had climbed down to the beach again.


And here I am just moments away from dropping the pack


Before leaving the house, the wind really picked up at our pier house and even had waves crashing in over the deck. Could be an adventurous trip! By the time we got to north end of the road, however, it was hardly raining and the wind wasn't so bad...but then by the time we got to the cabin it let loose again. Perfect timing for us!

Since we were packing everything in we decided the cribbage board and the bird book would make up our entertainment...

Here we are playing cribbage (Heidi won the tournament) with the storm brewing in the background. The stovepipe coming out of the Heidi's head was a diesel fueled stove - very efficient even at the lowest setting. (plus all the windows open!) Also notice the short hair...it just reaches my shoulders!



It was a dark and stormy night...



We didn't have to pack in any extra water because we knew there was a creek that flows behind the cabin and with all the expected rain we were pretty sure that there would be enough water to boil and drink. We hadn't noticed on our trip in July that there was a shower too!


As we started packing up and thought about heading home we decided to do what we could to lighten the load and we burned what garbage we could. The wood around the cabin was all wet but we had enough paper goods to keep it going to accomplish our task.



Off the point we watched 4 sea otters getting breakfast all supervised by an eagle and several Red-Breasted Mergansers. Sitting with us on shore was a Song Sparrow.

The weather today was much nicer and we even saw patches of blue sky. We packed our rain gear in the backpacks and took our changes. Here we are leaving the beach for the last time and entering one of the meadow areas.