Visitors!

 I forgot the visitors in the last post! First, my daughter, Jessica, her guy, Steve, and their friend, Marina came for 8 days, and we spent some time in Anchorage plus an overnight in Talkeetna. The time goes so fast! It was Jessica's birthday too, and they enjoyed Talkeetna, zip lining and hanging out in town. 

Then, just a week or so later, Brian's son, Scott, wife Tarah, and our two beautiful granddaughters, Kora and Brie came for two weeks! They graciously let me out the door to go to Vienna a week in (another post), but we had such a good time with them out in a larger RV that we rented to go to Denali, many playground trips, and a journey out on the boat for shrimp and to Seward to the Sea Life Center. 

A good time was had by all! And we'll be seeing them soon again in upstate New York! 

Summer Camping and Visitors!

 We didn't get out in our RV as much as we would have liked this summer, but we were busy with visitors -- and very important ones! We did make it to the Johnson Pass Trail for a hike, just before it got too brushy and to Hope up to the Couer D'Alene Campground where we biked up into an Arctic Valley and then the idea is to stash the bikes and continue on foot up the mountain to an old mine and an arctic lake that still has ice in mid-June. However, they still had too much snow and avalanches that blocked our way, first stashing the bikes early and then not being able to proceed after hiking a while, even on foot. We did see a moose and her calf on the way back! And a couple of horsewomen trailered in after we were back--it turned out we knew the same people in Palmer, our friends Alys & Pete from Palmer, who also have horses. 

We also have been enjoying biking with Kira in the bugger. She loves it and stands the whole way, looking around--we like having her with us, and she's unreliable for running alongside. 

A Long Winter and Time with Special People!

 I'm sorry to see that I've let two years go by without posting anything, especially since last year we had a 30 day trip in our Chinook around the Gold Rush Loop -- up to Chicken, across the Top of the World Highway and over to Dawson City, then down through the Yukon and British Columbia to Skagway. We took a ferry to Haines, then drove back through Haines Junction and the lower route. More on that for another post. 

In the last couple of years, Brian has had a couple of medical emergencies, and my mother died in March of 2022. That also had an impact on how much got done and posted. For my children, their father's mother died, too, this year, so they've lost both of their grandmothers who they were very close to. My children were the first grandchildren who lived in the same town as both grandmothers, and they doted on both of them. I, and they, were very lucky to have two such wonderful women in our lives. 

This year, once Brian had recovered from his bout with Pylomyalgia Rheumatica (Inflammation- Autoimmune-terrible stuff-look it up) we were able to move on and cross-country ski in the absolute best winter we've had here in Anchorage in the past 13 years that we've been here. And that's saying something! So much snow, such mild temps, often in the low 20s, perfect for outings. 

And, we had unbelievable Northern Lights show up this year right from our back deck, which has never happened in all of the time that we've been here. 

We also had a great first-time visit from my son, Colin, who arrived in time for Fur Rondy week, got to see the fireworks, ski with us, fat tire bike, make a trip to Talkeetna, and see both the sprint races (dogs) and start of the Iditarod. 

It was a loooong winter, but we didn't mind, and in May, with the snow finally gone, we got to visit our friends, Mary Mathisen and Lance Mearig in Juneau at their home on the water - whale sightings right out their living room window and a couple of good (wet) hikes! 

There was a lot of card playing on a very rainy Memorial Day weekend and a lovely time spent with friends we see too seldom! 

Pioneer Peak and Finding New Campgrounds Close to Home

 Pioneer Peak is described as "unique, a high peak rising with alarming abruptness from the muddy banks of Knik Arm" (50 Hikes in Alaska's Chugach Mountains). They also say "the trail starts climbing immediately from the trailhead and rarely relents" -  and they were right. We had looked at doing this a few times and always put it off - now we want to come back another day, as it was warm and buggy, and poor Kira was being driven mad by the bugs - we got to the first picnic table, had intended to have water, regroup and keep going, and she wasn't having any of it, desperate to get down and away from the pests. She had what we later realized were black fly bites all over her lower belly earlier in the week, and we took her down - it was still a hot and laborious hike, brushier than the hiking book described, but glorious views even from the "grassy slopes" that we got to.  Overlooking the Matanuska River and the Knik Glacier - another view of the Knik Glacier below when Brian biked it (22 mi. round trip) in early spring/late winter (same thing here!) Another day we'll get up to the ridge and the second picnic table - maybe not to the South Summit! 

Story of the picnic tables - there are 3, one at just under 2.5 miles that we hiked to, and the other two placed along the way to the top - is that they were carried up in pieces by the Colony High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp. Wow, that must have been something. 

Knik Glacier off to the right 

Brian's ride into Knik Glacier on Good Friday this year

We got out of there and drove on to Eklutna Lake, napped, took a walk on the beach. We stayed at Eklutna Lake before and have biked there with our fat tire bikes winter and summer, and we had thought about renting a canoe the next morning but got up and went on to Eagle River after sleeping in. We knew we needed to get groceries and regroup for the next few days - can't go home til Sunday, and I have a Board meeting that I have to Chair on Saturday - from either a boat or an RV which takes some planning! 

Eagle River - advertising a canoe portage but this looks challenging! 

We tried to find the campground at Eagle River once before unsuccessfully,  but were pleasantly surprised this time to find this really nice campground on the Eagle River so close to home. After grocery shopping, we grabbed a bite to eat, went back to the campground, and it rained off and on all afternoon and all night. I made salmon chowder and a bake it yourself baguette, which made for a very nice dinner - plus chocolate pudding - I had put a "kit" together for homemade chocolate pudding, which was very easy to do and a good surprise for camping life! 

Then down to Anchorage today for the practical things - dump out, wash the RV and vacuum it out, pick up a couple of things in the garage that we needed, take Kira for a walk and then transfer the dog to a former student of mine who loves to watch her and who is much loved by Kira. We were supposed to be flying to Sitka tonight for that Board meeting, but it was canceled and transferred to Zoom due to the unfortunately very high infection rate of Covid-19 in Sitka currently - and in Alaska as a whole for that matter. Yikes, what are we doing folks - I'm masking again for any indoor shopping and not eating inside anywhere. Now our last few days it will be just the two of us, first hiking Hope Point (we've never made it to the top with Kira dragging her feet, and we've run out of water both times we've tried) and then going out on our boat in Whittier - last phase of our trip! 

One Week Down, One to Go!

 Provisioned with beer and wine at least, we drove to the Little Coal Creek Trailhead, the northern access to the Kesugi Ridge Trail and hung out, took a nap, waited for it to cool off. Busy parking lot, people were dropping a car down the line and coming back here to begin their hike (backpacking overnight or longer down to Byer's Lake.) 

We hiked about 70 minutes after our naps, saw some bear skat on the trail, a little muddy, not too bad. Stayed right at the trailhead (which you're not supposed to do) and drove next morning 7+ miles down the road to the Ermine Hill Trailhead which also heads up to the Kesugi Ridge Trail. It had rained overnight, and we hemmed and hawed about whether we were going - a young couple had hiked out and were trying to hitchhike back to Coal Creek. We finally hiked up beginning 10:30 am, 4 miles to the ridge trailhead and then another 1/4 mile or so up to some incredible rock formations. 

The trail was brushy, steep, and after hiking the 9 miles up and down, I say, why not do the 10 miles open across the ridge next time! Incredible views. Sat in shade for a long time after to cool down. A family from Fairbanks stopped and were getting ready to hike, obviously not knowing what they were in for, so we discouraged them and gave them the milepost markers for two hikes that would work better - they were on their way back to Fairbanks. Then we drove down to Byers Lake, showered, and took ourselves down the road to McKinley's for dinner - kind of a disappointment as they only serve sandwiches and salads, and Denali is hazed in - not visible - maybe from wildfires? Pleasantly tired after that hot and long hike, almost 5 hours and not easy. 

We like Byer's Lake and took a walk partway around the lake in the morning - one bridge is out, so walked to this one and back, about 3.5 miles, not bad for what we declared as our "rest day!" Took ourselves to Talkeetna for a treat, had lunch at Mile High Pizza Pie (only thing open on Monday) and hung out in park (me) for a Board meeting at 4 pm and a nap (Brian) before continuing on to Susitna Landing. 

Nice campfire at Susitna Landing, but boy were the mosquitos pesky overnight - I don't know how so many got into the camper. Brian threw a pole in the water before we retired for the night but didn't catch anything. Just a boy and his fishing pole on the Susitna River! 

Restless night - and then drove to our next big hike, Pioneer Peak.