We take down the kayaks and head out onto Byers Lake.  It is a small kettle pond about 1×2 miles across in Denali State Park.  There is a bit of breeze but its very pleasant and not too much work to paddle.

A mama Merganser is teaching 9 young ones the fine art of fishing.  Usually they are graceful divers but today the whole bunch of them are a splashing tumbling mess as they run along the top of the water and scoop up salmon smolt.

A Loon surfaced just a couple feet in front of my kayak.  I sat motionless.  He looked at me then at Kent and in just a few seconds he slipped silently down into the crystal clear water.  I could see him swimming about 5 feet down.  Very cool.

The inlet stream is icy cold.  We can see the snow fields that are its source.  My feet got cold right through the hull of the kayak as we paddled upstream.  The float back to the lake was unbelievably silent without even a paddle slap to disturb the senses.

Campfire and smores, Yum!