Overnight at Utica Lake

On Friday we loaded up our kayaks and headed to Utica Lake for a boat camping trip. We have one touring kayak, one surf kayak, and one small sit-inside. We decided to take all three. We wanted a super relaxing set-up, similar to the luxury of car camping, so we used the touring kayak as a barge that Jason towed behind his surf kayak. We had enough gear to be comfortable for weeks! Deluxe!

This was our first exploration of Utica, and it was incredible! There are numerous islands on the lake, some large and some small. We paddled to several and chose the one we felt had the best views and most privacy. There were several campsites on the island, and we found a cozy one on the northeast side. We ended up having the entire island to ourselves!

Just pulled into camp...

View to the north of our island...Can you spot the sleeping chief on top of the hill?




View to the east...We had our own private cove for swimming, and to be honest, the pink floatie made another appearance!



Jason decorated our campsite...dubbed this "The Giving Tree"



We paddled to the back of Utica and explored the granite on foot.


The boulders reminded me that I promised some belly shots...so here ya go! I did not have a big lunch...That's our little one at 21 weeks!

Lizard on top of a cairn...can't resist a photo!

Looking back towards the lake from the top of a boulder.

Paddling back to camp...