Camping Portage Valley

We recently tested our new toy out at Portage Valley, about an hour drive from Anchorage.  We stayed at the campgrounds Black Bear...for some reason I don't feel like I would encourage the bears by naming the campground after them.  But I strangely felt much safer sleeping all snuggled up on the queen sized mattress and layers of blankets inside the bed of the truck.  I might be able to handle more camping this summer. 

Our friend, Jared, joined us while his other half was out of town.  Notice, he has the real deal backpackers tent set up outside out gigantic sleeping quarters.  Eh, details.  And if your curious, our 80lb dog slept in the tent with us, just as she always does.

Our campsite had a view of the river running through the area and it backed up to this nifty trail system.  And thankfully the rainy forecast actually involved sunny skies.  We brought our bikes along and took a stroll down to view some glaciers.  They were beautiful.

I would like to point out that it is mid-June when this picture is taken and that is snow on the ground.  Sometimes I wonder how I'm surviving.  But notice the huge glacier behind us.  This picture does not do it justice.  We contemplated getting closer...but decided dinner sounded better at the time. 

We headed back to the campground and cooked us up some quesadillas on our new propane stove top and built us a fire with some smores and hot cocoa.  That's probably the best part of camping to me.

The next morning Jared had to leave early, so Matt, Mocha and myself checked out the sweet trails, bridges and views around us. 

Hopefully we will be able to get out camping a bit more during this short window of relatively warm weather (and by that I mean not freezing).   We have more than enough places to explore.