On The Road to Chicken, Alaska

We had a week out in our 18.5 ft. Chinook, 1977 sturdy thing that she is, especially with Brian taking care of her - including adding a marine propane heater that was just right for warming it up in the morning! We headed north last Thursday and climbed Lion's Head on the way up. We found the campgrounds to be very full, of course, with the 4th of July holiday. But there are always spots in Alaska and good ones too!

This was the view out of our window in our "leftover" and free spot on Alascom Rd. just north of Sheep Mountain. No services, but we're self-contained - so glad there were no spots left!

We continued on Friday and met up with Loogpla Cowden and her guy, Curt, for lunch on the road just north of Glennallen - then continued on to stay on the Nabesca Rd. in the Wrangell Mts, while they continued west to Delta Junction - we were told we might not  find a spot on the Nabesca Rd., but did and also did a pretty good hike there, 7 miles round-trip up to the Caribou Cabin - kind of a monotonous hike in that it's up a gravel maintenance road, and we didn't have time (or maybe energy) to go beyond there for what is supposed to be a great ridge hike. The view was gorgeous though, up and back.

Saturday we camped at a BLM site - we were the only people there besides the host, and besides the mosquitos, another really great spot. The "host" didn't know why the 4th of July campers hadn't made it up that far. Very nice outhouses and free firewood!



Then we got to Chicken, a tiny spot far enough north that it wasn't getting dark at all. So Chicken, we understand, has a Chickenstock Festival every year (think Woodstock) but this year it's been delayed til August due to the Coronavirus. Things were pretty closed down but we managed to score some old Chickenstock t-shirts for grandchildren presents and to have a nice lunch out on a sunny patio.



I'm glad we went, and the terrain was different and striking enough to be worth it all in itself - but the roads were terrible enough that we decided not to do the many miles further on Top of the World Highway (dirt road) to Eagle.

A Full Weekend in Anchorage - even still pretty much isolating

Once we had the salmon in the freezer yesterday, we went for a bike ride, Brian pulling the bugger with Kira, and me pulling myself, which seems like enough work. In fact, it felt like so much work, we checked my tires when we got home, and they needed air - I was glad to get that explanation.
In the morning, I was still trying to empty out freezer space, and I had A LOT of bananas in there, so now we have banana scones, banana muffins, and banana bread! Then I froze some of it for when we take our trips in July, so it ended up taking up room back in the freezer anyway! Our small chest freezer is almost full with shrimp and salmon now, so the refrigerator freezer can hold the rest.

Copper River King Salmon for dinner on the grill, and we have rhubarb growing right next to the grill, so we had a very pretty strawberry rhubarb galette for dessert. Good thing we had the bike ride to get ready to that!

Today we took a longer bike ride, and we were reminded again of how much we love the trail system in Anchorage for biking ourselves and for enjoying how many families are out biking, picnicking, how may little lakes and creeks and streams there are that we bike along and around. A beautiful 2 hour bike today - and no pictures! I forgot my phone - next time! It's been in the high 60s and sunny, sunny, sunny! My perfect weather!

Dip-Netting for Salmon on the Copper River

June 11, 2020

I wasn't there this year, so I'm only passing along the experience and the pictures! But I was at home waiting for the Copper River Reds to come in and pack the freezer for many weeks to come. Here is a picture of Brian fishing - it was a light year this year - 12 salmon apiece for the guys that went, and Brian caught a king that they split four ways. We had a piece of king salmon on the grill last night - probably two inches thick and VERY tasty. I should have taken a picture of THAT!

The year that I went there were 3 of us, and we brought home 55 salmon - and a king too, I think, if I remember correctly. This year Brian took plenty of clothes, because the year I was there it was really cold - I would have given anything for a winter hat and gloves and even a winter coat instead of a raincoat - and that was in June! The folks across from us that year were in full sun and stripping down while we were freezing! This is from 2017 - it looks dark and cold, but I AM smiling. 

One of the best parts of this trip is the scenery on the way up - no prettier place, probably in all of Alaska.

We've planned to take two trips in July, one to Denali and the other we're still undecided about, so stay tuned for more pictures!

Weekend in Hope, Alaska

Actually, weekend was more of an overnight, but we did get to hike two days! We camped in our Chinook along the Resurrection Creek last night and hiked the Resurrection Pass Trail, which we've done several times. I wish we'd get further along the trail, but we went out an hour and a half and turned around and came back. It's such a great spot along the stream, and the hike is a nice graduate uphill but still enough of a hike so that you feel like you did something - about 2 hours, 40 min. total.
Brian wants to come back and bike it, but we tried that once, and I was not stellar - he'll get a lot further without me - and he won't have to listen to me whine either!

We cooked a salmon filet and grilled vegetables for dinner - and we all slept well and were up early with the sun!

We had never done the hike to Hope Pt., and the trail, which was very steep, straight up, when we first moved here was made easier (but still substantial!) with switchbacks in 2012 or 2013 we were told. Kira was not at all thrilled to be hiking two days in a row and made two or three attempts to persuade us to turn around and go in the other direction - but in the end, she hung in there. There are great views of Turnagin Arm, Cook Inlet, and the mountains along the Seward Highway on the way up and from the top - well, we aren't really sure that we got to the top, but we were running out of water for Kira and went 6.4 miles - it said the actual top would have been 7 miles.

Love the different greens! 

 Quick stop here for water and treats for Kira - actually at first I thought this was the top.

 Next time we want to go back to the Palmer Creek Road - we did that with bikes partway and hiking the rest of the way 2 or 3 years ago, and it's a gorgeous drive up into an Arctic valley. with the Chinook we'll be able to drive in further, and we ran into someone who told us about another hike to two lakes - we hiked up to the old mine the last time - every hike we do here is unbelievable, and even the drive there in back is stunning. Another weekend they can never take away from us!

Hiking and Biking - The Weather's Been Great!

It's been our perfect idea of weather here in Anchorage - 60-65 degrees, cooler at night, sunny most days. Last weekend we had intended to go out in the Chinook at least overnight, but we got waylaid with "cleanup" in a number of ways - including selling our 1994 Winnie Minnie and deciding to keep our 1977 18Plus Chinook. I put the ad on Facebook Marketplace at 9 o'clock at night, and it was sold at 9 am the next morning! So what we did instead:

Just before the weekend, we'd been meaning to climb Flattop - it's that early season test to see how out of shape we are! And it turned out to be not too bad! Very popular hike here in Anchorage, and easier now to do from the recommended "backside" where new switchbacks have been constructed (off Canyon Red.) We met a couple at the top - and found out that she is from Buffalo, NY - not too far from where we lived in upstate New York. They've been hiking in the Adirondacks too, where we climbed the 46 high peaks over time!

And then Sunday, a hike TOWARDS Rabbit Lake - we didn't go all of the way. Kira was very excited to see how much snow was still there on the trail - and it's still a beautiful hike and a beautiful day.

Biking has been perfect this spring, but we always have to keep a lookout for the moose on the trail!
We ran into this one over on the Campbell Creek trail and waited patiently until he moved in his own time to the other side of the bike trail and was at least facing the other way. We had company - there were 5 of us by the time he moved! The picture of Brian biking with Kira is from earlier this spring, but she was in the bugger with us when we ran across the moose so I included it!

Breakup in the Time of the Coronavirus

Breakup in Alaska refers to the breaking up of the ice, literally when the ice leaves the river, beginning a season that the river can be navigated. "In town" breakup means a time when roads and sidewalks become temporarily unnavigable themselves, an unpleasant time for recreation, since skiing is done, it's too slushy to bike (for me anyway), and walking is wet, uneven, and mostly not fun!

In this time of the Coronavirus, it's seemed more important than ever to be outside, and for the past 5 weeks, it's been great to take an hour or two or more each day to get fresh air, think of new ways and new places to be on our skis or fat tire bikes. But now the skis are put away, and the studded tires will soon come off the fat tire bikes. In the past week it's been strictly walks - and the trails are not in great shape - neither are the sidewalks. And do you wear the recommended face mask to walk? Or just if we're picking up bread from the bakery? Even though it's a handoff outside in the parking lot? Yesterday we picked up coffee from the back door for wholesale delivery at Kaladi's to avoid going to the larger grocery store when the Amazon coffee delivery was put off til mid-May. These parking lot handoffs are starting to feel illicit!

We still have snow, and at the same time, it's time to clean off the deck, anticipate a time when it will be warm enough, especially in the bright sun of afternoon, to want to sit out there - not quite yet, but you can feel it coming! The afternoon walks are feeling repetitive, though the birch forest trails are still beautiful, and Kira still loves bounding in the snow, seeks it out even when there is bare pavement. In the last two days we've walked downtown, along Ship Creek (bare pavement!) and along the Park Strip and winding around through Bootlegger's Cove and downtown (footing not too bad, pools of water in spots.)

And, we have our masks, our new ways of venturing forth in the world. We don't venture forth much, instead, hunkered down with each other and with Kira - a world of entertainment in herself!

A Fat Tire Bike to Knik Glacier

Okay, this one is Brian's not mine. Although I would have loved to have gone, not quite in good enough shape to keep up this year. Brian has been wanting to do this bike in, and the pictures say everything. He did take a wrong turn or missed a turn on the way out, so I'm glad he made it back, since he was out there pretty much alone. 

And, a few days before this, we did BOTH ride from the Hillside trails back to our house, about 90 minutes on mostly frozen trails. That was fun, and we had intended to go again this week, but with the thawing and re-freezing after people and bikes mushed up the sloppy snow, probably not!