Weekend at the Henderson's

This weekend I hung out at the Henderson compound. I went through a shed of my old shit, not really knowing what I own anymore (and realizing I probably don't need any of it since I haven't seen it, let alone used it, in over four years). I got rid of some stuff, and a bunch of paper work that had no business being kept (some of it for over 7 years!). . . yup, I suffer from the pack rat syndrome. I also attached my bike rack to my car, and indulged in a hot bubble bath in Michelle's clawfoot bathtub. . . it was delightful. We also went for an afternoon float on the Chena.
We put in at Nordale and took out at Dennis Road, right near their house. It took about 2.5 hours- and the weather turned out to be loverly (we have been experiencing a lot of intermitten thunderstorms in the afternoons lately).









It was nice to relax and not go anywhere for a couple of days- but now I'm ready to go again!! For those of you who knew I was going to be biking up the haul road this summer, I had to make a hard decision and cancel it yet again this year :( My ankle is still not in top condition, and I fear hurting it further and doing irreparable damage to it. . . and there are a LOT of things I want to do where ankles are important. :) So I will be doing some physical therapy and trying to do preventative and some restorative exercises to help return it to its original condition. I am disappointed, but will be able to find more things to fill my time before heading back (a little less than three weeks away!!)

Valdez: a little bit of everything

After spending 6 days in the Wrangells I drove down to Valdez while I was in the neighborhood, and had the chance to hang out with my good friend Chuck for three days. Much to our surprise Chuck was able to get two days off in a row from the company he guides and captains a boat for while I was in town. We made good use of the time by kayaking the first day, biking the second day, and camping and hiking the last day- it was a great trip. It rained most of the kayaking trip, but it was still a good time floating among icebergs at Columbia glacier.












It let up for the rest of the trip, as we biked and camped in the Mineral Creek valley, and hiked along the Wagon trail in the Keystone Canyon. We even had some sunshine to hike by on the last day. It was great to see Chuck, and I had fun exploring more of the Valdez area.




More pics can be found on the album link in the sidebar. . .

Wild Flowers in the Wragells

Mark knows his flowers. While on the trip we kept a running list of the flowers we saw on our trip. Here are a few of them. . . :)

Lupine Jacobs Ladder Potentella Bear Root Lousewort (many kinds) Paintbrush Arnica Nagoonberry Blueberry Shooting Stars Veronica Glarcus Gentian Cassiopia Tetragona Dryas Shrubby Willow Siberian Asters Forget-Me-Not Saxifrage Escholtz Buttercups Windflower Valerian Yarrow Cow Parsnip Eskimo Potato River Beauty Fireweed Sourdock Mountain Sorrel Moss Camper :) Monkshood Camas Grass Geranium Columbine Delphinium Lady Slippers

Backpacking in the Wrangells

Wow. Where do I begin to explain what a cool trip I just took. . . I was able to join my friend Mark on a five day backpacking trip throughout the Wrangell Mountains. We flew out and got dropped off in the Lakina Valley (slighly northwest from Kennicott). We followed the Lakina drainage just to the edge of the moraine and then began the accent into a green, lush valley containing a stairstep of five lakes, and hills that are reminiscent of the Ireland landscape. The weather on the evening of the first day, and throughout the second day was overcast and raining (maybe drizzle is more like it), but our spirits weren't dampened. The third day we were lucky to have dry weather and partially sunny skies. On this day we worked our way down the Hidden River Valley, ending at the Hidden Lake (a lake Hidden by the Kennicott glacier, at the base of a valley). Knowing we had good weather, we decided to continue on and do the most challenging part of the hike (mom, you should probably stop looking at pictures now). We followed a goat trail up and across the steep mountain side, to traverse over a knoll
that would bring us around the corner of the valley. I admit I was scared at some points, but continued the mantra "One step in front of the other" and soon enough, I was on top of the world (or at least the 'little' knoll). I should also mention that Mark is part mountain goat, so he was a fearless leader and made it apparent that I could do it too. Once over the top, we decended a much easier route to the fosse. The fosse is a huge pile of glacial rock left by the receding glacier on the very side of the mountians, creating a protected area between it and the base of the mountain.

Day four had us crossing the Kennicott glacier- containing strips of white ice and moraine. . . though a short distance as the crow flies, it requires climbing and decending hills of shifting rock and then crossing white ice (don't forget the crampons! they make you feel invinsible!) and glacial rivers. It is an exhausting, yet fulfilling journey to see what you can cross by simply walking. . . We ended the day at the base of Donohoe (a peak between the Gates glacier and the Root glacier) in an area that screamed BEAR! With the low brush, rolling hills and plenty of soapberries to keep many bears fed throughout the summer months, it was the first time I felt uneasy. The next morning we did see a bear across the flats meandering its way in our direction. So we finished breakfast quickly and packed up camp before 8 to get out of the area. No need to test our luck at this point of the trip :) We followed the Kinnecott highway home (a strip of white ice that leads directly toward Kinnecott). Not without crossing two more moraines and more white ice, we made it back to land to end the trek via a trail returning us to Kennicott. At the end of the five day adventure (20+ miles of scenic mountains and glaciers) we enjoyed a cold beer and lunch. . . ahhh, the good things in life! :)

It was an absolutely fantastic trip, and the most backcountry hiking I've done since I've lived in Alaska (sad, I know now). I hope it is the first of many more trips to come. I know what I can do now, so what's to keep me from doing more!! Thanks Mark, for an unforgettable trip through a beautiful area. . .

**There are more pictures on a link to a Kodak gallery in the sidebar. . . enjoy!!

The ONE and only. . .

My 2007 KING!!!

I caught this beauty while dipnetting in Chitna before the 4th of July weekend. Andrea and I, along with Rachel and Robin, and don't forget Bill :) spent a day and a half fishing on the banks of the Copper River. We drove to O'Brian's Creek, camped there, and walked/biked in .5+ mile to dipnet. The first night we started at 8 pm and did our best until 2 am . . . with only 2 fish to show for it, we were not feeling hopeful!! We headed back out the next morning to find a new spot, but the fish weren't filling our nets any faster, so we headed back to the original eddie.

It was now nearly 4 o'clock and our 60 fish limit (between the group) was not getting filled very quickly. But then. . . it hit!! By 6 pm we had 15 fish! By 9 we had three kings among us, and another 6 reds! We were feeling good now!! Robin, and her amazing skills, captured 2 kings during the evening hours!! She's a bad ass fisherwoman in my book for sure! We ended the evening around 2 am and had 26 reds and 3 kings among us. . . plenty of fish to deal with. . . Robin thought we had too many, so she begrudgingly donated her small king back to the river :( the slippery sucker made it's way back to the waters it came from and we were down to 2 kings. . . still plenty of fish to process at 2 am! It was a great trip overall, and we all went home with some fish. . . yup, even me, who only caught the one fish the whole time (have you heard of such craziness?!?!?)

**ANYONE CAN COMMENT**

I've learned how to allow anyone to make comments now. . . so please. . . let me know when you check in and let me know what you think :)

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ps- I've also included a new menu on the right of links to photo albums that include more pictures than those posted on the blog itself. I'll work on getting more up :) enjoy!!

Camping with the Hendersons

I joined my sister and her family out at Davidson's Ditch earlier last week for a nice, relaxing and mellow trip to the woods. It was Onan's first camping trip, and the families first trip since he was born! They've been busy people!! The bugs were bad, but not unexpected and nothing we couldn't deal with :) Ted and Onan enjoyed fishing for grayling- unfortunately it was catch and release only, but they sure enjoyed catching the 16 they did!!