Quick Note

Well, I talked to Pat tonight, and this is actually the Russian ship that he's on! Go figure! It's called the Kapitan Dranitsyn. I guess it goes all over the world, and if one was so inclined, one could book an Antarctic Cruise. Hmmm, interesting. I'd think the view would get a bit "Groundhog Day"-ish. I'm keeping myself somewhat busy. I took the opportunity to hike Skyline this weekend, solo! I impressed myself, but also felt like I was getting a bit out of shape. I need my personal trainer back! I also need my camera! Can't wait for his pictures, though. I guess I'll just head up to bed (*sigh*).

Speak Russian, anyone?

Now, I have no idea if the Russian Ice-Breaker that Pat is sleeping on is this big, but here's a cool picture of one of these ships! He is staying on one of these and he did say that all the crew are, indeed, Russian! Apparently, there are English words also written on some of the signs, so if he needs a restroom...!
He then goes from the Russian Ice-Breaker to his work ship via the Billy Pew. This is the crane-operated lift that is commonly used to transport people to and from ships & oil rigs. Again, I don't have any clue as to the size or look of the ship, but below is a Oil Drilling Ship, which is what Pat is actually working on. He is also having all his meals on this ship, which seem to be quite good and hearty he says! The chefs know about Celiac, so they make special stuff for him if the main meal is not good for him. He sounded pretty good last night, and seems to be enjoying the work and the interesting environment!

Quick Trip

Before my fabulous husband left for Dutch Harbor, we took a little evening trip out to our friends, Chuck and Debbie's home. They are on the Kenai River, and we thought we'd test our rods against the Reds! As you can plainly see, Pat did very well and caught his limit!

I, unfortunately, only caught a 3/4lb. weight on the top of my hand! I hated to give up, but as hours (& Pat's fish count) mounted, I relinquished my grip on the rods and made my way up to the camera to catch photo's of my love! If you hadn't noticed, I kinda miss him!

Catching up!

Hey there! We really have been out doing activities, but since Pat's monster trek, we've been a bit more relaxed! I also somehow lost all photo's of a recent hike I went on. I'm quite disappointed.

Since our last posting, however, we have been able to see a few moose roaming about. This one was lovely, and though her baby is hiding behind her, it's always fun to see baby moose!

We were also fortunate to have had a visitor a couple weeks ago! Jazz Warner, a friend from Wichita, came to see us. She had work in Anchorage, and just thought she'd drop by, since she was in the "neighborhood!"

We haven't been fishing much. The Red's hadn't really been in until just yesterday. The boats are always out, though. Guess what we'll be doing this evening! We've heard that the Reds are very large this year. We are also contemplating having all the Red Salmon exchanged for smoked. We'll see. We prefer to eat Silvers from fresh or frozen, but Red's are a bit fattier. Maybe soon I'll stop and catch some of the dip-netters. They are the ones who stick a huge net into the water and the fish just swim into it. It's a resident-only activity meant to help harvest meat for the year. We qualify since we are resident's, but neither of us love salmon that much to take 30+ salmon each!

The flowers are still blooming and it makes the road-sides quite lovely. Yesterday I saw some horses grazing in a ditch filled with blues, pinks, and whites! The lupine are everywhere and it's fun to see so much color.

Pat is scheduled to leave Friday for Dutch Harbor, and will take the camera, so when he gets back there should really be some fun photo's!

Happy 4th of July

Well, we've been out to Skyline Trail and Pat did the 42 mile Resurrection Trail hike last Saturday, but the camera just wasn't rainproof or accessible, so...sorry! Here we are from yesterday and today at Seward's 4th of July Celebration!

Pat didn't do too bad taking pictures! Long arms are nice sometimes!

We slept last night in the back of the truck! It was rather comfy!

"Run this way!"

We loved this gal's getup!

Here's a look at the top half of Mount Marathon. The race is a 3.5 mile run up 3000' elevation and back down. It's a monster race that the women ran in just over an hour, and the men in around 45 minutes. INSANE!! (but really cool! we had a friend of ours run, so we got to cheer her on!)

Dark Summer Soltice

This was the view out of our house. The sun was a dull orange from a 20,000 acre fire south of us.

This is not a cloud bank, but smoke. Incredible.

We went to a music festival for the Solstice, but it ended up being really dark!

I think the smoke got to us! What all was burning?!!!

Resurrection Pass Trail

We headed up on Friday "night" up Resurrection Trail, a 36 mile long trek from Cooper Landing to Hope. We didn't do the whole thing!! This was a view from the first part of the trail.

It had rained for an hour before we began, thus the vegetation was all wet! Wearing the rain gear made me VERY HOT! Nylon doesn't breathe well.

This is a shot from Trout Lake, a half-mile jaunt away from the main trail. There's a cabin and a boat for public use, but it was taken, so we just relaxed, got a drink, and enjoyed the view.

The little white spot on the top of the cliff is our tent! Pat is taking this picture from a bit closer to Juneau Falls, and the mist ended up being too much for this camp site!

Saturday, we hiked up to Juneau Lake, found this Forest Service Cabin (public use), and liked the security measures!

Here's a view of the front of the cabin. This was rebuilt in the last year, and still smells like fresh varnish! I think it's been in use since December, as the cabin register dates to that time!

Behind another cabin further up the lake, I was surprised by this critter in the woodshed! I'm glad porcupines aren't bears!

Pat thought I looked like I was on Safari! I had to switch clothes with him, as I packed for too cool weather and got very toasty! I'm sure that clothes-swap would've been a cute sight for others to come upon on the trail! We had planned to go to another lake a few miles up from Juneau Lake, but the clouds were foreboding, and we turned back. It was a good sight-see, but not too difficult of a trail. This is one that a lot of mountain-bikers use. Pat's planning a long day-hike to do the entire 36 miles. I'll forgo that one, and let him go with our friend Dan!

1st Backpacking Trip!

We are on our way up Fuller Lakes Trail!
Isn't a tripod and timed shots great!
Below, we are at our campsite at the lower lake, just before we retire for the night.

We fished the lower lake and Pat got the grayling! Again, I came up empty, and decided to get the fire going instead. Pat cooked them up and we had a great dinner. Oh, I'm using the spotting scope to watch one of the 3 different black bears we saw!

It was a beautiful day, and though it got a bit chilly in the evenings, the days were quite warm!
We had a great time and rediscovered some muscles!

Canoe-Camping!

Here's our "home" for the night! I can't believe Pat has gotten me to this point in camping! That alone is a great feat!

Here we are in our canoe, ready for bed!

We had our heads in the middle and our feet towards the ends. A 16' canoe has plenty of room! I was even able to bend my knees and sleep on my sides & tummy!

This was what a lot of the upper Swanson River looks like - this is "sledding" the canoe.

This was a section we portaged around!!!

Time to warm up for lunch on a boulder. We finished this trip in 24 hours where most take at least 3-4 days! Of course, we were trying to go light and fast, which means we didn't take time to fish or dawdle.

5 Years, and Counting!

Last weekend Melissa and I celebrated our fifth year of marriage. I've never been able to understand how life can get better and better until now!
To celebrate, we went on a 20 mile canoe trip. The trip is a giant loop in the Swanson River canoe system, it is comprised of twenty five lakes and many miles of trails. As we get better gear, more stamina and more grit, we are able to get by on less and less, which means we no longer have to make two trips to get our canoe and all our gear from one lake to the next. Instead, I carry the canoe and Melissa carries ALL the camping gear.

Every trip we make is a training run for our big hunting trip this fall. This means that we are continually testing new gear (most of which is camouflauge) and deciding what we are willing to trust our lives to and what needs to be replaced of upgraded.

A favorite quick meal while in the woods is fresh trout. We catch small trout and cook them in foil on a small fire. I put together what I call foil packs containing spices folded into pre-cut aluminum foil. I also include matches, napkins and a plastic fork. These items fit neatly into a zip-lock bag. When things go right, we can be eating fish within 20 minutes of when they are caught.

All the camping in the system is "primitive" which means that we can camp wherever we want to. Some places have established camp sites and sometimes we have to make do with a semi-flat spot without too many bumps. This camp is on Lost lake and it is a very nice spot. Melissa is in charge of setting up the tent and getting the bedding ready, I gather fire wood and usually get dinner going. We have found that this arangement works well for us.

Last year we purchased this Old Town canoe. It weighs 20 pound less than the Coleman that we started with last year. It is also much more efficient and very fast.

This spot is on Camper's lake. We saw a black bear that allowed us to paddle to within pistol range, but was too small to warrant packing all the way out.
Next week we will tackle the upper Swanson River. This 17 mile stretch will require us to paddle/portage the first 13 lakes in the system before even getting to the creek. Then it's 17 miles of difficult passage to the point where we usually put in. We are working on a way to eliminate the tent and just sleep in the canoe covered by a tarp. More on that after our next adventure.