The Upper Ohmer cabin is located in the Skilak Wildlife Recreation Area on the Kenai Peninsula. During spring breakup, only 4x4’s are recommended on Skilak Lake Road and we had quite a bumpy muddy ride getting in. We reserved the cabin months in advance for the Mother’s Day weekend and it was the perfect kickoff to our camping season. Since the cabin is only a .3 mile hike, I added in all our thick sleeping pads and my boys threw in their overstuffed animals. Each of my children had their own backpack to pack and carry and as we walked the trial to the cabin they were bursting with gear and excitement.
The cabin sits next to Upper Ohmer Lake and has 2 bunkbeds, a table, a wood stove and a deck. There are numerous cabins available to rent in the wilderness on the Kenai Peninsula, for more information click HERE.
Our afternoon was spent playing board games, exploring, and trying to fish from the shore. My 9-year-old focused on starting the fire in the woodstove and I prepared a delicious dinner of sliced steak, potatoes and mushrooms in a savory sauce. My husband and I relaxed into evening with a glass of wine on the deck and we closed the night with a few chapters of Harry Potter with the kids all snuggled in their sleeping bags.
My mother-in-law joined us for breakfast the next day and with the calm lake calling us, we all put on the life preserves and loaded into the boat with our dog managing to get every single seat wet when she jumped in. We paddled around the lake and decided to explore the interesting rocky outcrops on the other side of the lake. Much of the forest is long dead from a long-ago fire and fallen into tangles across the moss.
It proved to be the best kind of hike for my boys because it was a natural jungle gym. I had to carry my two-year-old through a number of sections but she enjoyed climbing around the logs as much as the boys. We made it to the top of a few of the hills and were able to see a couple other lakes in the distance. Overall this hike was my favorite part of the weekend. We got quite a few cranberry stains on our clothes from last years berries and the boys enjoyed eating a few. We talked about the bears being out for spring and eating those berries while they wait for the approaching moose calving season. We also found a pile of bear poop with berries in it to accentuate our topic.
Then it was time to hike back to the boat and we met the newly arriving family hoping to enjoy the cabin as we had.
Freshly home and showered, I can’t help but appreciate the contrast of these wilderness experiences and how they bring our family together in a unique and fresh way that opens our hearts to the adventure of the outdoors and the world outside our internet.