Land of the Midnight Sun

Well,back in Alaska for yet another summer of fun and adventure!  And so far it’s been fun…and adventuresome!
After two weeks straight of training, I have two weeks off before I start my first trip of the year on June 12th!  After I begin working, there will be very little days off for the rest of the season, but that is just fine as I am looking forward to my days on as well, exploring our different lodges, kayaking, hiking, wildlife watching, etc!  So during that time off, I decided to take advantage of an opportunity that presented itself and took a trip to Barrow, Alaska the most northern point in Alaska, way above the arctic circle!  An arctic village of 4500 people, 75 % or so Inupiat Eskimos, not accessible by road, it truly was an experience and my Alaska experience is a little more enriched now. Thanks to my friend Christina who is doing a 6 month work stint up there, my friend Michelle who I work with in Cooper Landing and I were able to take a trip of a lifetime!

The Yellowstone Connection in Barrow Alaska!

  

Christina, Michelle, and I underneath the whale arch                                  Three fingers for 3 AM!!!! 

Here I learned that I truly am a cryophile – lover of cold!  June 1st-4th, 24 hours of sunshine and a balmy 35 degrees for the high.  Awesome!  However in March I learned that it was 30 below for the entire month day and night…that might be a little too cold!
                                     

                                 After arriving at the airport, we had to go straight to the shore to check out the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean…it was only 8pm in this picture, but this is also what it looked like at 3am! The water in this picture is just surface water, there is still an ice layer underneath!

Barrow was a very very interesting place.  I felt like I was in another world, another time, another life even.  Although it is light enough all through the night down on the Kenai Peninsula, the 24 hours of intense sun that Barrow experiences from May 10 to August 3rd, was a different kind of light.  And because we wanted to take advantage of the nice weather not knowing if it would last or not, we made the most of it!  We were out until 4:30 in the morning exploring the town, driving from end to end (all 3 or so miles of it) and birding birding birding, getting excited over every new species.  Finally my body told me something was not quite right and we decided to head home and get some shut eye.  This was to be the norm for the weekend…not able to follow the natural schedule of day and night, we made our own schedule, and had a blast doing it!

Birding in a new place is always fun and exciting as each new bird requires some figuring out to do.  I love that in Alaska birds come from all other continents to spend their summer here, many of them breeding and nesting and taking advantage of all the daylight hours and food available. After 3 days of hard scouring, the last bird we identified was the elusive  (this time of year) Snowy Owl.  It was a great way to end the amazing weekend in Barrow!

Snowy Owl

               

Tundra Swan                                                         Red Phalorope                                     Snow Bunting on whale vertebrae

And if birding isn’t your forte, one could simply walk around town and be intrigued in every direction you look, whether your gawking at the caribou hides hanging on the front porch, the muktuk (whale blubber) heaped in piles everywhere, the collection of tires, snowmobiles and 4-wheelers out front of every house, the mass of kids riding their bikes in the streets, the stilts every house sits on, the neighbor plucking their geese in the front yard, the list goes on and on!  A friend described it as looking like a third world country with electricity and running water.  Trash dumpsters are everywhere, but it appears the locals like to hang on to everything (usually in their front yard).  Let’s just say Barrow has its own character!
        
Decorated Dumpsters all over town!                      Houses on stilts due to permafrost and melt!                         Caribou Hides hanging out

One of the more exciting activities that we did was to take a trip out on the pack ice of the Arctic Ocean as we made our way out to a Pressure Ridge.  Of course you can never leave home without your shotgun, as even though it is unlikely, you always need to be on the lookout for the polar bears!  Which unfortunately we did not see. 
       

The girls on an adventure!                                                           Don’t worry its solid!

After hopping on the plane and leaving Barrow, I felt like we were leaving a special place.  I had a great trip, even though it was just a long weekend, glad I had the opportunity to get off the beaten path and check out a new place!

Spectacular Fall Show in Denali

Wow!  I've never seen anything like it!  No, I have not experienced a fall in New England yet...still on the list!  But the fall colors on the tundra sure takes the cake! (Is that even a saying?)  It's just this amazing vibe of color as far as you can see, and not just one shade of red, but infinite shades of red, mauve, orange, yellow, purple, on and on all splashed together perfectly, really hard to describe and hard to capture as well!

I finally made it ALL the way back to Wonder Lake, 11 hours bus ride, 96 miles into Denali, third and final attempt!  Had another free day in the park, so I decided to go for it and just happened to be a gorgeous day with mountain views the whole way in and out!  Which doesn't happen too often!

Broad Pass, south of Denali National Park

 

The Road to 'The High One'

                               

 



I'm glad I had some time up North, because meanwhile down on the Kenai Penninsula, a monsoon/hurricane was taking over (okay not really) but sooo much rain that the Kenai River is flooding and it's hard to get use to flood season in September here!  Luckily the weather has turned for the better, and now I am patiently awaiting the Kenai to turn gold!! I feel like I can't leave, like my season won't be complete until the turning of the leaves!  (and I selfishly just want to see the spectacular fall colors here, where when I first came the lakes were frozen, etc)  We shall see if nature chooses to perform in the next 10 days!  Not that I would wish the already too short summer season to end any sooner then need be, but still...by the way the sun set between 8 and 8:30 last night!

Looking forward to Dave's arrival on the 16th!  We'll spend 4-5 days exploring this area, trying to show him all my favorite places, and then we have a little over 2 weeks total to slowly make our way back down to Montana...can't wait!!  Through the Canadian Rockies, Jasper, Banff, Waterton, and then Glacier Nat Park, all the way down down down to Yellowstone!



Follow Me!!



All in all, what a GREAT summer!  Unbelievable!  Living the dream!  Glad I finally made it happen! This may be the last post of the season, so just wanted to say thanks for 'reading'! 




Climbing Cecil Mt, my back yard! (Actually front yard, back yard is Kenai River)



Fall is in the Air...

It's true.  Sad but true.  Fresh snow on the peaks up north last week, a chill in the air, tundra plants turning red, trees on the verge of turning gold...coworkers saying goodbye already...and the tell tale sign...fireweed going to seed...



Last blooming fireweed with South and North Peaks of Denali in background


August has brought the most precipitation of the summer so far, however even with a gloomy forecast, clear weather still breaks through every once in awhile!  I had my best views of Denali from our Talkeetna Lodge a few days ago ...and now that the sun is setting at a decent hour (10:30) and rising later, I can actually enjoy the sunset and sunrise for a chance.  I've missed it!




Sunset over Mt Foraker, Mt Hunter, and Mt McKinley



Sunrise over  Mt Sultana, Mt Beguia, and  Mt Denali (better known as)



Denali



Even though I haven't been lured into the fishing scene (I went one early morning at 4am, floated in the dark for 1 1/2 hours, watched the boys fish for 45 min, turned my head while they beat the fish silly with a club...(took 4 good wails, must be a slippery fellow) and then proceeded to float right by the brown bear cubs (which is why I went in the 1st place for photography) however we happened to be way to close as the current took us right by them to even think about trying to take a picture... so no thanks to the fishing...but I have enjoyed watching the fish as they turn 'red' and attempting to jump up the falls in the river(where is the brown bear with its mouth gaping open ready to catch the fish???)

Spawning Sockeye Salmon (say 3 x fast)

whoo hoo!

Pictures from past adventures

CROW PASS HIKE



Raven Glacier



Waterfalls











PALMER CREEK HIKE

                  

 

HARDING ICE FIELD

Exit Glacier

Nunataks (def.~ mountain peaks above the icefield)

Fireweed is in Full Bloom...



7 ft tall Fireweed!!

 

...apparently this is a sad sight for Alaskans, as it means that as soon as that fireweed goes to seed, it's all a downhill race to the end of the summer, end of daylight hours, end of warm temperatures, etc...but for me??  Whoo-hoo!  Peak wildflower season is finally here!  Soon to be followed by berry season, and then beautiful fall colors on the Kenai Peninsula as the birch, aspen, willow, cottonwood, alder all turn to yellow gold and orange, and then finally that first fresh dusting of snow on the mountains!  I can't wait!  Although I am trying to enjoy the moment, day by day, flower by flower!

Well so much for weekly entries...it was wishful thinking :)  How about monthly??
To catch up with July...the weather is still holding!  And still no mosquitoes!?  Too good to be true!

Been staying busy with work, making my weekly trips up to Denali, down to Seward, a night or 2 in Anchorage, and all around!  Seems that my weeks alternate between 30 hours or 50 hours, so a nice average with great time off!

I was able to get out to our Kenai Fjord Glacier Lodge which requires a 4 hour boat ride out to Resurrection Bay.  On the way out, we found a group of humpback whales, and this time they were bubblenet feeding!  Which is rare for these resident whales, this behaviour had just recently been observed in Ailak Bay.  Bubblenet feeding involves the whales circling around and around deep in the water while blowing bubbles creating a 'bubblenet'.  Meanwhile another whale may be making noise to further confuse their school of herring.  After the herring( for example) are all grouped together, the whales will come from underneath, mouths wide open (and I do mean wide!! Check out the pics!  I had a hard time determining what I was looking at when I first looked at these!)  and engulf the fish.  Hard to photograph, but the seagulls are the photographers friends at this point...because they will be gathering at the water just before the whales come up!  A few times thought I had my telephoto zoomed into the wrong spot and missed the whole thing with the camera!  Learning to shoot marine life (that you can't see until it surfaces) from a rocking boat has been a whole new experience!

The lodge sits on Pederson Lagoon which is crawling with black bears, sea otters paddling by, eagles nesting, fur seals, and oh yeah, a view of a glacier from the lodge rocking chairs.  Quite delightful.  We did a quick kayak tour and jumped on the Intro Canoe tour with 12 other guests (in one canoe!)
A short ridge walk takes us up to a nice overlook of the lagoon, glacier, and ocean.

 

 

                  

Also this month, I was able to squeeze in a ‘short little’ backpack!  The 40 mile Resurrection Pass Trail from Hope to Cooper Landing, one of the more popular trails that offers very scenic glaciated valleys, waterfalls, rivers, wildflowers, etc.  Our window of opportunity was limited, so we squeezed in the 40 miles into 2 ¼ days…but still had an evening to enjoy an amazing nature moment at Swan Lake where we watched a moose swim across the lake, mountain goats on the mountain behind us, an actual sunset, as the light played on the mountains and lake (first sunset in a long time) (11pmish), the same moose that swam across the lake came right thru our camp later that night…a loon calling in the distance, arctic terns flitting above…a pretty phenomenal evening! Well deserved after 19 miles with a full pack on!



Swan Lake



Ressurrection Pass

I am beginning to appreciate the ‘big town’ of Anchorage more and more as I unveil more and more of its secrets!  I discovered the trail system that runs all through downtown and along the coast of Cook Inlet, but you never know your downtown!  Great trails for running, biking, walking, and in the winter cross country skiing!  It’s nice after a long 8-10 hour of sitting in the bus to get out for even 45 min or so and go for a run or bike ride, even when stuck in Anchorage for the night!

 

 

Ok, I promise to do better with entries!

 

Until then…

Lovin Alaska!

Denali Summer Solstice

Wow!  Can't believe how fast June is flying by!  I was lucky enough to spend the summer solstice in truly the Land of the Midnight Sun!  June 21st had 21 hours of direct sunlight in Denali...the other 3 hours its like the sun is just behind a dark cloud.  Work brought me up to Denali on the 21st, and I didn't have to pick a group up until the 24th, so I had 2 1/2 days on my own to explore Denali!  Denali has one 85 mile dirt road into the park, and you have to take their buses, so no private vehicles, which actually is pretty sweet!  I wouldn't want to see private vehicles and RVs driving themselves on their scary exposed one lane dirt roads!

It was great to see the green up of the park and a lot of early summer flowers in bloom, much different than our earlier visit in late May!  The skies were dramatic with sun and clouds, but unfortunately 'The Mountain' did not reveal itself during my 3 days in the park.  That's OK, maybe another time! 

 

 



 

View from camp



Still enjoyed the views, had some great wildlife sightings of a spruce grouse and chick, some caribou with decent racks already, a nice blonde grizzly and one of her two sleeping cubs...don't worry, all from the 'safety' of the road!  Did a few hikes on their few established trails...alot of Denali is pure wilderness, they encourage you to camp and hike off trails as long as its not in a wildlife closure area!  Since I was by myself however, I decided to stick to the trails!

A few more wildlife photos from Denali can be found in 'Alaska Wildlife' at https://picasaweb.google.com/chilipepperphotography

The weather up here has been pretty okay!  It's actually hotter towards Denali, bc your in the interior of the state and not having the maritime climate which keeps things nice and mild, low 50s high 60s!

Since I can only find time to update this once every week or two, evidently you can sign up through this blog to recieve email notifications when a new blog is posted!