Blue Lake

I took to the hills today.  It was much needed and really enjoyable.  Blue Lake is nestled between a few mountains (all of which I don't know).  I decided to ride the mountain bike as opposed to hiking in.  The ride was incredible.  Blue Lake Road took me up and through Sitka's back-country.  The weather was really quite mild...perfect for a ride.  After passing the campground, the road winded up, then down, and then back up again.  On the final downhill, I sped down to the hill overlooking the lake.  I hadn't noticed how windy it was until I got to the lake.  It split the country-side exposing it to massive amounts of gusting wind.  Powerful would be the word.  The lake, the mountains, the wind...powerful.  As usual, I immediately began snapping an obscene amount of pictures.  The area provided more than enough.  Interestingly enough, I stumbled upon a pipeline that led down from the boat put-in right into the lake itself.  From the information I gathered, Blue Lake as well as Green Lake are Sitka's primary sources of hydroelectricity.  That explained the pipeline.  Pretty neat.  As I wondered around more, I climbed my way around a ridge to a slide-area on the western edge of the lake.  Suspended above the lake I climbed up and into this area.  A huge tree was laying right in the middle of it.  I decided to make my way up it, and at end of it was a rope tied to one of its roots.  The other end of the rope was tied to a tree on a ridge sitting above it.  Unsure of the ropes stability, I scrambled further up the slide to the top.  As I made my way around and back down to the tree the rope was tied to, I stumbled upon an area that looked as though someone might have been squatting there at some point.  If it's seclusion they wanted, they got it.  It didn't provide the view of the lake I was hoping for, so I made my way around and back down to the lake and was on my way back.  It was a fun little ride, though.  I'll have to be sure and come back this summer and camp for a bit.