After work on Friday, we went out to one of my favorite lakes (DeLong), and Sam and the Browns joined. Sam had his introduction to fly fishing. He did an awesome job and picked it up very quickly. I love having partners in crime.
Saturday I ran around like a mad man, just soaking up every ounce of sunshine I could. It's funny the difference a couple of months makes. Pretty much completely dark all the time to completely light. It's kind of confusing when it's light outside at 11 pm. I find myself forgetting to eat and generally do anything productive (e.g. household chores).
I just decided this post will be very random...I've been meaning to post some of these pictures for a while, and am finally getting around to doing so. Thanks midnight shifts! First is some more Redoubt goodness. Apparently we're headed for another eruption in the near future. Whatever. Here's a shot from the webcam near the peak tonight when I got into work:
The crazy thing here is if you look at the time stamps on the photos. The first one is some time around 10 pm. The next one is around 1130 pm. I guess that's what daylight and a full moon gets ya.Here are some ash pictures when one of the eruptions sent ash into Anchorage. I was at work when the ash cloud moved into town and was leaving to head home right around the peak. It was basically like a dust storm. A dust storm that smelled like sulfur. The picture following showing the road while driving probably won't mean much to those of you who haven't been here yet, but usually at this point on the drive home you can see the big ole mountains on the east side of the city. Instead it just looks like a really humid summer Carolina day. Pretty crazy stuff though...so here they are: one with ash on the Subaru, one with ash on the snow, and one while driving.
Alright. So getting back on track...
Sunday provided an excellent opportunity for the first camping trip of the summer. HOpefully it was the first of many. The original plan was to head to this place called the Johnson Pass Trail and hike up into the mountains. Unfortunately, May still means about 2 - 3 feet of snow on the trail in the low elevations. So we scratched that idea and headed up to the Russian River. The Russian River is one of those places that is the epitome of what many people think of when they think of Alaska. This is the place where tons of footage of bears grabbing salmon jumping up water falls comes from. Since it's still so early in the year, we saw no bears or salmon. I am perfectly fine with the former, and can continue to wait another month for the latter.
Most of the campgrounds are still closed, but we camped at this place called Hidden Lake. It sits in the mountains just off the Kenai River where it dumps into Skilak Lake. The overlook has one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. You can look across the Kenai River, see Skilak Lake, see some smaller mountains, and way on out there is the start of the Harding Ice Field. Unfortunately the point and shoot did essentially no justice, especially without soem kind of polarizing lense. Until I can get a cooler shot, I won't even do the diservice of posting a shot of this place.
Moving on...we set up camp, got a nice fire going, and generally enjoyed the beautiful evening. The mosquitos were out of freaking control. Think of everything you've heard about bugs in Alaska...it's true. Luckily Kim had brought some 100% deet along, and that worked pretty well as long as we applied it every couple of hours. Funny story, we didn't have a cooler, but did have some ingredients for gin and tonics. The best refrigeration? Partially ice covered Hidden Lake. We went old school style and left the gin and bottle of tonic water in the lake for a bit, and after about 2 hours enjoyed some ice cold refreshments. For some reason I thought that Dad would really enjoy both the fact that we utilized natural refrigeration and gin and tonics, so Dad, there ya go!
It was crazy trying to go to sleep when it's light outside until about midnight, and light outside again at about 4 am. We did see 4 or 5 stars around midnight, but even by then the moon was killing our chances.
We got up and got moving Monday morning to another fantastically beautiful day. Drove up to the Russian River area and hit the trail. We first hiked to the russian river falls, about a 2.3 mile hike. Next we doubled back for a bit and got on the Russian Lakes trailhead. We hiked about 4 or 5 miles on this trail to the end of the first lake. Here's the view looking north back towards the Kenai River:
We took a break here and enjoyed the view and day. It is pretty hard to explain how much you appreciate a day as beautiful as this once you've been through -20 and 8 nmonths of snow. Not to mention a serious lack of daylight for several months.
We kept commenting on how nice the day was, and how much we just really appreciated it. So we hiked back to the car and made our way back to Anchortown.
To say I was exhausted by the time we got home is a complete understatement. I've always been a huge fan of sleep, but I think I set some records today. i went to bed at 11 at the latest, woke up at 7 this morning, went back to sleep from 8 until 1. Got up to eat and get some groceries, and then slept again from about 4pm until 630 this evening. So here I am back on midnights and still completely wiped out.
The most beautiful part of it all? The smallest Madderson had an awesome time. I have never seen a living being go so hard for so long. In the span of this trip she:
- ran around Hidden Lake campground at will and made friends with the women camping nearby
- ate mosquitoes
- ate about 10 lbs of sticks
- threw up about 1 lb of stick in my car (easiest clean up yet!)
and if we hiked probably about 12 miles yesterday, she probably hiked about 30. From when we got home last night about 7pm until i left for work this evenings, she has barely moved.
A tired Boykin Spaniel is the best Boykin Spaniel!
2 comments:
That is a great picture of Maddy! Good to know you are enjoying the daylight and better part of Alaska weather!
Great post Nate. I enjoyed the stories and the photos. Let that dog run, it's in her blood!
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