The Fall Guy

Let me be the first to say.......WoooooooooHooooooooo! Snowed Sunday morning - flurries down here, a little more up in the Chugach. I guess I'm a true convert - looking forward to such a long cold winter. The joy of the extremes. Plus I love jacket weather.


I picked up a new "B" camera - a little one for light duty - still haven't gotten a real one.

This has been a funky summer - we set an all-time record with 31 straight days of rain - which might explain the lack of pictures posted by me (I do have some pics forthcoming of when my buddy Jeff visited in early August.) But early summer it was beautiful, and we've had an Indian Summer since the rain stopped (or is it Native American Summer?) But now, it's solidly Fall, or perhaps more accurately, Pre-Winter.

A couple days ago I went up to the Denali Highway, not to be confused with Denali National Park. The Denali Highway, the 135 mile almost all-dirt road between Cantwell and Paxson, and the original "way" to the Park, is one of my favorite places on Earth. On a Thursday in September, I'm quite confident I was the only person in at least a 25-mile radius. Dead quiet up there, which is hard to find these days - it's not even in a commercial flight pattern of any jet low enough to hear (I've never seen one up there either). Pretty sweet spot, huh?


The conglomeration of rocks around the fire was necessitated by the crazy wind - I swear it took 20 matches to get that fire going, and it only got going because I cut the top off of a soda can and started the fire in there. During summer fire is first and foremost for entertainment, then for cooking, then for warming. This late in the year, warming takes precedence. I knew before I went, while it was still in the 50's here with lows in the 40's, up there the highs would be in the 40's, with lows in the 20's at best. The weather didn't disappoint, as evidenced by my partial water bottle which, while laid on its side overnight, froze solid.


Thankfully, due to gear, I didn't (toes did lose some feeling though.) I just finished a book called "From Sea to Shining Sea," about the Clark family in the late 1700's and early 1800's, including the well-known Clark of the Lewis & Clark expedition. I don't think those boys (nor Sacajawea and her newborn) had sleeping pads and zero degree bags to keep them from freezing while crossing the Rockies. People back then were crazy tough.

But there's still a little adventure left out there in the World, no matter where you live.

LFE 2010

Had to go to Chicago for business a few weeks ago - turns out, once you pay to fly across Canada, it's like cab fare down in the LFE from state to state ($680 to Chicago and back, only an extra $200 to divert to STL and Seattle inbetween). Chicago was cool, great to visit STL with the fam (95 degree weather in May was interesting). Thennnnnn - back to the PNW (Pacific Northwest) to meet my buddy Jeff. Reeeeallly bad weather down there. Planned on camping alot - camped one night (after climbing over a barrier in North Cascades National Park, which was still CLOSED). Pretty bad luck on the weather - next time I leave AK between May and September (which apparently had the best Memorial Day weekend ever, which I missed) it will be to a desert, or a tropical isle, or something.

The good news is I did get some great pics, despite the gloomy weather:


Ohhhhhh - oops! Somehow my camera was destroyed in transit to either CHI or STL. Unfortunate to say the least. These things happen, and there wasn't much to photograph anyway. I'm in the market for a new one, and hopefully will have some images worth sharing soon.

I Memorize the Basics

Ahhhhhhh - back to basics at Eagle River Nature Center!!! First trip of the year for my backpacking bro Beth & I. Even on May 5, there was still quite a bit of ice compacted down on the trail. Patches of snow in the woods, too - some even a foot deep, but right next to dry ground. Buds, but no leaves on the trees yet.


Still a little icy along Eagle River as well. Overall a pretty comfortable day in the 50's, with temps in the high 30's at night.


And yes, in honor of the first salvo in campfest 2010 - I am wearing cammo pants!

April....Showers? (Redux)

A bit of snow in April isn't so unusual - it is Alaska, after all. But remember two years ago when it snowed almost 2 feet on April 25? That wasn't so good.

OK - had a good laugh this morning seeing snow pile up on the truck again - it can go ahead and stop now!

Anticipation

Soon....soon.