Salmon Fishing and hiking AGAIN

Another Alaskan weekend - hiking up McHugh Peak on Saturday along the Turnagain Arm (along Cook Inlet).  The trail goes straight up with an elevation gain of 4200' - we didn't quite make it to the top, as we had a dinner party to get to, but we had a 4 hour hike on a beautiful sunny day with views of Cook Inlet and the Chugach Mts. all of the way up with some great "resting and viewing" spots.  Right after we started we saw a young bull moose right in front of us on a crossing trail.  He stopped and turned around and looked right at us for a long moment, but he was on a mission.  He loped off moving faster than we'd ever seen a moose move!  We stopped for awhile at OUR top before starting down, and when we turned around about 10 minutes later, we saw three grizzly bears not too far from where we'd been sitting, a mother and two cubs! 

Sunday Brian went salmon fishing again on the Kenai with 2 friends, and I went hiking again in Kincaid with the Meetup group -- a hike along the bluffs trail, beautiful views again of Cook Inlet with the tide out -- mud flats and the Alaska Range clearly visible off in the distance with the Chugach Mts. in the foreground.  What a beautiful day again.  Brian was fishing for silvers again -- successfully, as you see here.  Our freezer is completely full of salmon, so it might be time to stop.

Moose on the Trail Again!

Brian managed to snap a few pictures while out for his bike ride without running into 3 or 4 moose along the way.  Hope you enjoy the pictures! 

He "ran into" this cow and her calf first and a couple of out-of-towners not sure what to do.  Brian told them about running into a big bull moose the day before, and as he bike ahead, guess who was in the trail?  the same bull!

New pictures from Klukwan

               Ready to deal with fish!  You wear a mesh glove on your left hand - if you're right-handed!

My partner who went to Klukwan with me in August just gave me new pictures today after we spent the "debriefing" weekend with 30 other people who went to Culture Camps all around the state of Alaska with Alaska Native communities.

I wrote "travel haiku" everyday while I was gone, having heard something about it on NPR just before I left.  We learned to process the salmon (sockeyes), from the time they were caught (we didn't do the fishing) through cutting, brining, preparing, drying, smoking, canning, processing in the pressure-cooker, etc.  We were a group of all ages from a 4 month-old baby through - well, maybe I was the oldest, but there were several of us "there-abouts!"

Drying fish point upstream
Our lives are close by our food
Their spirits live on

Everyday I awoke to the mountains in front of me, often partially obscured by clouds and fog.

Shapes emerge in gray fog
The mountains revealing themselves
The Chilkat rushes by

Alaska Native villages hold these culture camps primarily for youth around the state of Alaska, often so that Native youth will remember and carry on the traditions of their culture.  Many of the camps include the Native language, which often has been lost and was for years forbidden to them to learn or to use in the public schools.  Klukwan has few children in the village, but a few of the youth performed dances and traditional songs for tourist groups in the summer.

Renewal and remembrance
Old ways, forgotten in new times
We reach back to learn.

The Weekend in Anchorage (and beyond!)

Brian went to the Kenai fishing by himself for a few days - well, 2 days by himself and the third day on a charter.  The first two days were on the Swanson River, but the salmon had moved on, so no luck.  Today he was on the Kenai River with a charter (small boat) with 3 other people fishing and caught two big silvers - could have kept 3 if another one had shown up!

Here is a picture of the Kenai River, which is more perilous than it looks.  It's cold, and it's rushing, moving deceivingly fast!  Because it's been doing so much raining, it's high also.  They left in the pitch black dark, 6 am, and you had to put your faith in the captain!  The fishing charter is at www.kingoftheriver.com.  Here is the captain filleting the fish -- Brian said he did an excellent job -- we'll see when we eat it tonight!

The others with Brian were a couple and their daughter -- the woman caught three, had a fourth on the line that took off with her pole!  Husband caught two and daughter caught none.

In the meantime, back at the ranch, I was INSIDE all weekend so far, which I intend to correct as soon as Brian takes a shower and gets cleaned up -- I had a debriefing weekend for the Educators Cross Cultural Immersion program from going to rural Alaska (Klukwan) in August.  It was very moving to listen to everyone's trips - there were 32 of us and think about what we were taking away as our gifts from participating.   I wrote "travel haiku" while I was gone in my journal and shared it as my experience of the trip.  Here is one:

Our life is close by our food,
Our drumbeats close by our hearts,
An ancient village, Klukwan.

Hopefully a FULL day of hiking tomorrow in the Chugach Mts. -- more on that later!  







 

Hiking for Labor Day Weekend

Finally back in the mountains this weekend - we've been busy since we got back to Anchorage.  Saturday we hiked Rendezvous Peak on a day which was overcast but at least rain-free!  Usually this is a good berry-picking spot too, but they had some sort of caterpillar that ate the leaves on the blueberry bushes this year and . . . no blueberries.  We hiked with our landlords, Mary and Lance Mearig.  The 2 1/2 hour hike was enough to challenge our un-used muscles, since we planned to go again on Monday.

Sunday we cleaned house, went to the Farmer's Market, bought some new lamps for our bedroom, made an apple pie and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and went to see The Help -- which we recommend seeing.  Yesterday we headed back to hiking from Glenn Alps, a loop trail to the Williwaw Lakes that takes you straight up first through what is called "The Ballpark,"  a very large, open, cirque dotted with low growth that is now bright red and gold against the green and brown of the hills, very pretty.

From here we could see a grizzly bear, first just with binoculars, then easily with the naked eye as we started moving in his direction!  We kept watching him and could tell when he spotted us, but he moved away from us, obviously not interested.  The hike was long considering it rained the entire day - which never happens in Anchorage - 5 1/2 hours, and muddy!  Once we gained the elevation, though, to 4,000 feet, it was just up and down.  One really long, steep down to Black Lake, a bit of a scramble down rocks and scree.  It was a beautiful spot but too cold and windy to get the camera out again.

This picture I stopped and took of what I thought was Black Lake, but we weren't there yet.  These small lakes in the mountains are just gorgeous with clear blue-green water against the background of the mountains, and you can see there are still pockets of snow against the mountain from last year!

On the way back, we saw about 8 or 10 Dall sheep up high on the cliffs. Oh, and we saw a moose, very far away when we first started the hike.  We were glad to get home, warmed up, fed, and then try to stay awake until bedtime.  Brian is looking at buying a van today to start a home remodeling/handyman business.