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When Does It Start?

August 14th, 2006

I never really get unpacked when I return from some trip – there’s always another adventure not more than a few days away. I live in a vacation destination on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. Within a 1.5 hour drive there are mountains, glaciers, fjords, an ocean, incredible bays, Class IV/V whitewater, world-class ski trails, and some of the best salmon and halibut fishing on the planet.

Looking into the near future (August 2006), I have eTickets for Los Angeles – Auckland, NZ – Cairns, Australia; Sydney – Singapore; and then in mid-January, Bangkok – Taipei, LA, Anchorage.

I have sold my house, my son graduated high school this past May and is off to the university in August, and after teaching for 25 years, I have recently retired.

For the first time in my adult life I am free.

It’s time to achieve escape velocity! ww1.jpg

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Russian River Reds and Bears

August 14th, 2006

Hiked the Russian River with my friend Jan. I try to head up there a couple of times each summer to see the salmon jump up the falls – it’s always a cool thing to check out. It was tough to get a shot of a red in the air with the delay on digital cameras, so I just clicked away and took about 75 shots. From those, I did manage to get about 5 good pictures.

Lots of bear scat along the trail – and on our way back, this brownie was heading towards us and didn’t seem to want to get out of our way. We stood our ground (and made a bit of a fuss) and the bear was polite enough to yield the path to us.

falls.jpgbrownie.jpg

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The Eve of Deduction ( I hope)

August 7th, 2006

I know how to pack all of my needs for a couple of months in a single carry-on bag. I know how to let things happen when I arrive – rarely planning a definitive thing beyond the first night after getting my passport stamped. I know how to travel with a companion; sharing intensifies the appreciation of the sights, sounds, and tastes of location.

But I’m now about to be off for 6 months and at least 7 countries. Yeah, I am hooking up with friends in Oz for a couple of weeks, and another friend for nearly 3 weeks in SE Asia, but for the most part, I‘ll be off on my own.

It’s not exactly trepidation; I’m not too worried about being out there by myself. I’m giving this entirely too much thought I suppose, but I’d rather not eat alone. It’s always way weird to sit by yourself in a restaurant.

Even though I am of a certain age, I will travel as a backpacker. It’s a philosophical choice and a financial necessity. I suspect that the other travelers I will meet will be some 30 years younger than I am. Will I get along with the kids? Read the rest of this entry »

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Nice Ice,Baby….

July 28th, 2006

Hiked up the trail at Exit Glacier (Near Seward, Alaska) to the Harding Ice Field with my friends Jan and Sara. The day couldn’t have been nicer. The trail has been upgraded recently and while it is continously steep, it is relatively easy to make your way to the top. Lots of tourists on the trail – most were over-dressed and in cotton clothes (and the occasional winter coat despite the gloriously warm day).

On the way down, came across a black bear and 3 cubs on the trail – they were caught between hikers coming up and an ever-increasing bottleneck of hikers on their way down. A couple of locals from Seward and I were able to get them to scoot downhill off of the trail so we could all continue on our ways.

Thought about bringing my skis up – next time, for sure. Hardingice1.jpg

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Doin’ the Dip

July 20th, 2006

Doin’ the Dip

My hometown, Soldotna, is on the Kenai River which supports one the healthiest wild-salmon stocks anywhere on earth.

When the salmon return to the river – tens of thousands of tourists also migrate up the asphalt river and there is a dis-harmonic convergence of supply and demand. Some 400 river guides take their clients out on small boats to try to land a king – it’s not uncommon to catch a 60+ pounder. The reds are also running now – and so the commercial fishermen set nets from shore and boats to make a living. And of course there are pukers – those folks that come down from Los Anchorage for the purpose of killing fish and stocking their freezers. Quite a few of these folks could give a care about anything else except drinkin’ and fishin’.

A few years back , the state let all AK residents harvest salmon with a dip net. These nets can be up to 4′ wide and can be used from the beach or from a boat in the lower part of the Kenai or Kasilof rivers. Last year, 2 friends and I netted 78 salmon in 2 hours. This year the salmon escapement is way low (they are closing the fishery tomorrow night until more fish get upstream) and we only boated 27 fish in 6 hours.

We counted over 200 boats on the river when we were out there – and for the first time in years, it was less chaotic than normal.

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Nenana WW Festival

July 17th, 2006

So – let’s begin with today.

On the 13th, we headed to the white water kayak festival on the Nenana River up by Denali Park. (In the picture from intro post), I am on 6Mile Creek near Hope, AK.

And now just back from Glitter Gultch outside of Denali park and the 30th annual ww kayak festival run by the Fairbanks kayak club. Tom and I are the only kayakers from the Peninsula (some rafters from kenai showed up). We set the standard as we finished DFL (Tom was next to last) in the downriver race. The waves at roostertail were (no kidding) 7′. Much fun. The rodeo was at twin rocks – but only 6 local kids challenged the hole which spanked each and everyone of them. Some good surfs and spins were there – but not much else.

On Friday, we did a run down Riley Creek starting in Denali Park – a fun ride and continuous class III creek flow. Pure fun without consequence. It put us out on the Nenana just above the Jones Bridge – and into Anderson(?) bend – some big holes and waves. Later that day we put in 10 miles upstream on the Nenana and did that run back down to the Jones Bridge in 4 hours – just fun and more of it the whole way – some big holes and pourovers – but they were all by choice.

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