Rachel in Alaska

Moving

2009-09-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

As some of y'all already know, I'm no longer in AK. It breaks my heart to say that, but I've made the decision to move on to other interesting, exciting, and mentally demanding pursuits, known more commonly as the PhD.

I'm down in Utah now, that the University of Utah, where I'll spend the next three years hacking away at a dissertation in hopes of coming out on the other side with a few more letters behind my name. (And a better understanding of how and why outdoor recreation is a critical social force for the world we live in).

It would seem odd to chronicle these PhD adventures here, so I'm moving to rachelsphd.wordpress.com. If you're interested in keeping track of the victories, hair pulling disasters, and very late nights that come with PhD world, you can find my ramblings (and occasional insights) there.

Cheers!

Rachel

Winging to the Vet

2009-07-21T19:33:00.000-07:00

Sadly, Sig had a much more adventerous day than either Duane or I did. The Vet in Juneau has this great service where they meet pets at the airport so that the owners don't have to pay airfare to fly over with their pets. (Only in AK!) So, I put Sig on a plane earlier this afternoon for his solo vet trip. He needs and updated health certificate so we can travel with him into Canada next month, and also needed an update on all of his shots.

As much as I would have loved to have a few hours to go over to Juneau, I don't think he really enjoyed the experience. He doesn't like being carried around in his crate for one, and second, I doubt that any dog enjoys getting shots. However, the vet did report that he is a very healthy pup and she also mentioned that he was very well behaved and was "precious". If only he was such a charmer for us too!

Now he's home, and sulking around the house as if he is trying to figure out what he did wrong to be sent away today by himself. I'm trying not to spoil him on the whole, but I think today I'm going to be unable to resist the urge to give him an extra rawhide. I know, I'm terrible.

Rain Comes Down

2009-07-19T17:26:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we woke up to what feels like our first full blown rainy day of the season. I honestly can't remember the last time we had rain that lasted all day. There were a bunch of us that were joking about how great the summer has been adn how we love that we can't even remember when it last rained this hard. Here in town we badly needed it though. Most of our roads are gravel and the dust form the road was started to geting all over everything. Plus most of us aren't used to having to water our gardens.

I think the rain was refreshing for alot of us. There is a certain mentality around rainforest towns, that when you get a spot of nice weather you have to head outside and take advantage of it. It's engrained into our conciousnesses up here. So naturally we have all been outside alot lately, and there have been a few projects around the house that have gone by the wayside due to excessive sunshine. It was nice to get some time to catch up on them while we were hiding from the mist outside.

I think today I'm going to pretend that it is still raining and go home and hunker down under a blanket with a book and some tea.

Changing Tides

2009-07-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

Part of working in a seasonal field means, that around the middle of the season, we all start looking ahead to the next one, to make plans for the move, the change in roles, the change in offerings, etc.

For me, there are going to be some bigger changes this fall than just moving back to Utah. A little while back I was offered a position in the PhD program at the University of Utah as well as a teachign assistantship in the Parks, Recreation, and Tourism department. My time with AMG has been interesting, and I've learned alot, but I know that this opportunity with the U of U is something that I've wanted for years, and saying no to it now would just be ridiculous.

Duane and I will be getting on a ferry out of Juneau to head south for the fall on August 13th, which means we only have a month left in Gustavus. As much as I'm really excited abut stepping into this new role, I am also starting to realize that there are a great many things that I love about my life now that I have to let go.

I love living in Gustavus. Life here isn't necessarily easy, but it's wonderful. Living in a place with such a strong sense of community has been fabulous, and just serves to remind me once again how important to me living in a place with a sense of community is. I've also loved the people I work with here in town, the challenges that come with having a small staff, and the sense that you get from the tourism industry here that we are all in this together, especially this season.

I konw I'm not going to be ready to leave Gustavus, and Alaska, in a month, but it'll be time to look ahead to new things.

Mellow

2009-07-12T22:59:00.000-07:00

Things have been pretty mellow around here lately, which honestly, I’m quite enjoying. I’ve been trying to track my hours in the office to make sure that I’m getting some time away from the desk and outside enjoying being in Alaska.

The weather has cooled off a bit, and we’re back into our typical cool and overcast skies. I think this weather is more my speed, I was starting to worry that I might actually melt in all the heat. One of the guides here, Matt, and I were talking about how we can’t believe that it’s already past the 4th of July. Where did summer go?! It can be truly amazing how you can have the best intentions in the world to do so many things, and they all just don’t quite happen. Duane and I were really hoping to get up to Haines and Skagway at some point, and spend more time in Juneau, but with both of us working the rest of the summer is filling up fast.

On a completely different note: wish I had a camera right now, Sigurd is passed out on the floor and has his limbs splayed like he’s a bearskin rug on the floor, and he looks like he just collapsed there. I think I should take him for a walk down to the beach, but I don’t have the heart to wake him up yet. Puppies: such sweet things when they are sleeping, such little terrors when they are awake.

That’s all the news from here!

Land of Whales, Bears, and Eagles

2009-07-08T17:43:00.000-07:00

Is anyone out there getting tired of hearing about all the whales? I hope not.

I went out to guide again today, which was fabulous. The forecast was calling for 80 and sunny, so I knew it was going to be a great day to spend on the water. I even charged up the camera battery so I would be ready (and then forgot the camera in the car, oops!)

Regardless, we started off with a great sunny morning. I had 4 guests with me, who were all super fun, and excited about the day to come. Right away from when we launched the kayaks and started paddling east from the Chicken Ranch we saw whales, and they were in really close to shore! One of my guests, Jordie, joked that paddling along this way was like running the "whale gauntlet". We ended up having to stop and wait quite often, because the whales were so close to shore that we couldn't get around them.

We finally got through, saw a bunch of eagles at "Eagle Rock" and then headed over to Pt. Adolphus proper to see what might be going on. The whales were pretty quiet during lunch, but we got back on the water and the crew decided at random to paddle back west.

Just as we flipped our boats around to start paddling back west the whales started going nuts! There was a pod of about 6-10 of them traveling west, so we stayed close to the shore and just waited. They were all diving and circling for something and then out of nowhere one of the whales came rocketing out of the water for a full breech! This was then followed by 5 or 6 more full breeches by the other whales and lots of pectoral fin slapping and fluke slapping. The rest of the crew got great pictures (I just enjoyed the show).

When the whales calmed down (about 40 minutes later) we headed back toward the pick up spot. On the way there the "whale gauntlet" was back in full swing, and just when we got past all the whales and I thought I had found a beach to land on, there was a brown bear hanging out on the shore munching on the tide line. Another great photo op. After the bear we paddled a bit more west to give him his space and the next good stretch of beach revealed 2 bald eagles and a juvinile sitting on a piece of drift wood. We floated right past them. Go figure, camera is still in the car. ah!

I guess this means that I'll have to start gluing my camera to the back of my hand on trip days. :)

Rainforest Fires

2009-07-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

I know, it seems like a complete oxymoron, but indeed, we had a wildfire in Gustavus yesterday. I was spending most of the day in my office, and therefore was generally oblivious to what was going on around me, until Duane called my cell and told me he needed me to bring his work gloves and water to the fire station. I asked him why and the answer I got was: “uh… because there’s a fire?”. Ok, I should have been able to figure out what was going on, but I think considering that we live in one of the wettest places in the world this was a fair question.

When I showed up at the fire station, Justin asked if I was available for the afternoon to help out, so I sent Duane off to the fire site and I went home to grab carhartts and work boots.

Most of the fire was contained around 6 or 7 last night, but it’s still smoldering a bit out there. A bunch of us in the community are taking ½ day shifts to sit out at the fire site and monitor for any flare ups. Don’t get me wrong, we’re all loving the 70 degree and sunny weather, but we’re going to need a bit of rain here soon to make sure this thing is really dead.

Woah Whales!

2009-07-02T18:21:00.000-07:00

It looked like it was going to be a pretty typical day this morning. I got up early, took Sig out for a walk, and then grabbed my paddling gear to head down to the dock.

Every once in a while I get to get out of the office and head out on the water with some guests here in Gustavus to go and do some kayaking in and around Pt. Adolphus. It's a fabulous place to be paddling (see June 23rd), and it means that I get to spend a whole day ignoring my cell phone and email and just enjoy being outside with great people.

Today's trip was very cool for two reasons. First, the family that I had out to day was from Wenham, MA! (The tiny town in MA where Gordon College is). They even brought their "Nick's Roastbeef" sticker to Gustavus! We had a great time out on the water talking about all our favorite Wenham places.

The best part of the day though came after lunch. We had stopped out in the middle of the stright to eat and watch some feeding whales that were a bit off from us, but they all dove down deep so we had turned our backs. Then out of nowhere we heard this very loud blow right next to the boat and we all went runnng over to see a whale surface no more than 40 feet off our boat. The captain and I knew that the pod was bigger than one whale so we kept the engines off so that we wouldn't risk running into any of the other ones and then the rest of the pod surfaced, probaby between 8-12 whales, that were close enough that if I had lept off of the boat I could have landed on their backs. Then as quickly as they appeared, they also all took a deep dive and headed back down into the deeps to find fish.

This was definately the coolest thing I've seen all summer, hands down.

We're Back!

2009-07-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

Duane and I spent the last few days having some time to ourselves exploring Glacier Bay. I’ve been paddling in here so many times, it seemed only natural that we spent some time up there together so I could show Duane some of my favorite spots in Glacier Bay.

We paddled into the park on Friday night and camped just a few miles north of the Beardslee cut. The next day we had intentions of paddling all the way up to Garforth Island, but about mid morning we were haulted by a severe amount of wind (about 20 knots, seas around 3 feet). We decided to tough it out and stay on the water because we were paddling in a stable double boat, but it still slowed us way down. We ended up staying at Sturgess Island instead, which is one of my favorite campsites in Glacier Bay. We had a wonderful evening hanging out on the beach and watching the colors change over both the east and west arms of the bay.

Sunday we had intentions of making it all the way up to the McBride Glacier to camp that evening, but after being slowed down the day before we decided to stop short at Goose Cove to make sure that we had enough time to get back down the next day to make our pick up. The native people who lived in Glacier Bay (the Tlingit) say that Goose Cove is one of the places that the Krustica lives. The Krustica is a Tlingit shape shifter that lives between life and death. Those who travel in Glacier Bay say that when you sleep in Goose Cove you tend to have bizarre and abstract dreams because of this shape shifter. Neither of us really remember dreaming, but who knows.

Monday morning we got up early to start heading back south on the tide currents that were ebbing south out of the bay. We made it across the bay just in time before the winds started blowing out of the south, right in our faces, again. We did manage to make it down to SeBree Island to camp before our pickup the next day.

The pickup the next day was a breeze, thought getting picked up is always kind of a kick. All the passengers on the boat treat kayakers they are picking up like they are a part of the wildlife. Everyone comes out on the decks to take pictures of you and then the whole day on the boat everyone wants to ask you questions about how people go camping in such a cold and wet place. However, the day tour boat that does the kayaker drop off and pick-ups can be a great end to the trip. It means that the last day of our little “mini vacation” we get to just sit on the boat, drinking lots of cocoa and tea, and watch all the tide water glaciers of the west arm of Glacier Bay as we cruise along.

We got home tonight and the pup seems to have grown up another inch or so and was very excited to see us.

Swing baby Swing

2009-06-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

One of the realities we deal with living in costal AK is the phenomal tide swings. Glacier Bay, Alaksa is home to the 3rd largest tide swing in the world, and the 2nd largest in Alaska. On a typical day these swings are anywhere from 12 to 18 vertical feet. (This means that our floating town dock will rise and lower by that height twice a day).

Today however, we are having the largest swing we'll probably see all summer. The Low tide this morning was a -4.4 and this afternoon it will be coming up to 15.5. This means our total swing will be 20.9 vertical feet. To serve as a comparison here are some tide swings for today for other US Cities:

Savannah, GA- 8 ft

Boston, MA- 11 ft

Seattle, WA- 13 ft

I took some pictures too! Here's the Gustavus town dock at low tide:

And here's the dock at High tide later in the afternoon:

Naturally, Duane, Sig and I went down to the beach to do some exploring, and Sig had a fantastic time chasing ravens and looking for clams. We also are watching the progress on our new town dock! I'll update with pictures, but for now here's the sign from the ground breaking.

Skies Break Open

2009-06-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

I'll be honest, I was dreading today when I woke up this morning. It was raining again, (which is typical for this part of AK, but rare for this season) and I was headed out the door to go and guide a trip at Pt. Adolphus. Now, I do love being out at Adolphus, the whales out there are wonderful, and the sea lions are very entertaining, but I really wasn't in the mood to trying to convince people that beingout in the cold rain all day really was the most entertaining thing they could have done today.

As soon as we got over to Pt Adolphus though the skies totally broke open and it turned out to be a beautiful day! We had a whole group of sea lions that followed us around for a while and then we saw so many whales! One pair of the humpbacks got a bit closer to us than I was really ok with, but so it goes! We also saw a humpback breech 8 times in a row!

It's another one of those days that makes me fall even harder for Alaska!

Return of the Rain

2009-06-22T17:11:00.001-07:00

It's been absolutely amazing how beautiful May and June have been up here in AK. Typically you can expect South East Alaska to be cold and wet most days, and having the weeks just puctuated with the occasional day of sunshine. However, in the last 6 weeks or so I've had to water my plants almost daily just to keep them from drying out.

Today however, I woke up to the ever so familiar sound of drizzle on the roof of the house. Sig and I went for a walk in the rain this morning and now I'm nustled down in the quiet office catching up after last week's chaos.

Gotta go prep for a day trip tomorrow. Let's hope we get some more of those sunny skies!

I'm afraid of June

2009-06-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm not being very good about this. Let's see, since the last post my brother has come and gone, my dad was here for a visit, Sig has shot up like a weed and chaos has erupted at the Gustavus office.

I knew that June was going to be crazy, but didn't think that crazy was going to be this crazy. For the last few weeks I've been running boat transfers, chasing squirrels out of the office, having staff coming and going, and the trip schedule has been completely stacked. One of the staff here joked that I should paint "Rachel's Taxi Service" on the side of the company van, because I've spent so much time just shuttling people around lately.

In other news: The ground breaking for the new Gustavus Dock is tomorrow! Everyone around town is pretty excited that part of the state stimulus money is coming here so that we can get a new dock. Ours is really old and is so small that we can't be on the state ferry system. A new dock will mean that it's going to be so much easier to get too and from Gustavus. Plus all the workers coming to town are just going to help bump the economy a bit in our small town here.

Ok, thats all for now, hoepfully more soon!

Satellite!

2009-05-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

YAY! We're offically online with satellite internet at the Gustavus office! I feel like I'm able to work at the speed of light!

Sigurd

2009-05-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

Pete and I came to the library to catch up on some higher speed internet for a bit, which means I can upload pictures!

This is Sigurd. Mostly known as Sig, but also commonly refered to as "small one", "monster", "little man" and "sig pig". He keeps me pretty busy during the day, because he is in serious chew phase and wants to eat everything he can get his little teeth on. We've discovered that he has two modes, he's either asleep or he turns into a total wild child (this is known as "wombat mode" in our house, even though he acts more like a tazmanian devil.). We tell ourselves he's going to grow out of this and calm down, but who knows.

Today he is 3 months old, and he's growing like a weed. I think he looks like he has bat ears, but Duane disagrees.

I'll post pictures of our house as soon!

Family Time

2009-05-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Gusto! For a very small and quiet town things have been super busy. We had our first trip go out of the Gustavus base of AMG this weekend which kept me pretty busy. The students and staff arrived on Thursday evening, and then all day Friday I was working with the staff to get them prepped for their trip. Saturday and Sunday were dedicated to another deepwater rescue training class and then Monday was their food pack day. So there went my weekend. As much as I would have enjoyed some rest this weekend, it was pretty nice to have people around for a few days and keep things interesting.

Then on Monday my brother, Peter, arrived in Gustavus. He’s going to be staying with us here in town for a few weeks, just spending some time relaxing and seeing Alaska. It’s been fantastic to have him around the last few days, and I’m hoping we can get some good paddling adventures in around Gustavus while he’s here.

Sunny Days

2009-05-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those days you really appreciate in southeast Alaska, even if you have spent just a little time here. This part of Alaska is enveloped in the Tongass National Forest, which is also a rainforest. The Tongass is the world's driest rainforest, but a rainforest none the less.

Summers like 2008 remind us how truely wet it can get here. Between May 1 and Sept 15, 2008 (the typical summer season) Haines, AK saw 5 days where there was no rain. 5 days! So the fact that Gustavus, AK, only about 50 miles away as the crow flies, has pretty much been sunny since May started is really a blessing. I decided to take every opportunity I could to spend time outside today, because I know the rainy season will come eventually and then I'll be tired of being stuck inside.

Life in Gustavus, when there aren't trips packing in or out, or students mulling about, can be pretty mellow. I enjoy days like today for that reason. I was able to get up with Duane at 7a, make breakfast, answer some emails, take Sig for a walk, check off some of the to-do list, etc (all in flannel pants and a hoodie!)

In other news today, I was able to get some seeds in the ground today (mostly salad mixes, they seem to do the best up here). Let's hope I can keep Sig and the moose out of the garden for the season!

In Gustavus!

2009-05-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, I've been bad, I know, but somehow in all the chaos of transitioning I've completely lost the blog.

Update from the last few weeks:

April 29th: Duane and the Puppy arrived in Juneau! We had a great day together exploring the city and playing with the pooch. We've decided to name him Sigurd, or "Sig" for short. Sigurd Olsen is Duane and I's favorite author, so it only seemed natural that our norwegian dog should inherit his norwegian name.

April 30th: The three of us jumped on a plane over to Gustavus from Juneau. We were lucky enough to have a high ceiling to fly over on, so Duane got to see all the snow capped mountains of AK for the first time from a small plane.

May 1st to May 4th- We spent the days getting moved into the house, picking up the car from the barge, and both of us getting started with our jobs in Gustavus.

May 5th- Sig and I took off for Haines. I had to go and teach a 3 day Kayaking Rescue skills clinic for the new staff in Haines, and Sig came with me to meet the crew in Haines.

May 6th-8th- Rescue Training in Haines. Most of it was done in Pool Sessions, which I am really grateful for. Teaching rescues to new paddlers in cold water can be really challenging. The new staff made the best of the warm water in the pool and then we had our test out session in the ocean on Friday with the help of some dry suits.

May 9th- Charter flight back to Gustavus. Both Sig and i were very excited to see Duane again and get back to our house. I must have been really exhausted because I slept for almost 16 hours or so when I got home.

My camera is broken, so getting new pictures up is a bit challenging, but I'll try to get some pictures of the house and pup up soon!

Waking up to Snow

2009-04-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

I woke up early this yesterday hoping that I was going to be able to get a run in before heading into the office, but sadly, it was sleeting outside, so I decided against getting soaked to the bone in 40 degree weather. This my friends, is spring in Alaska. However, we did have 3 absolutely beautiful days in Haines before this, so I can't complain. We've finally lost all the snow off the beaches, and there are just little piles left all over town.

I can't believe the month has flown by so quickly. I leave Haines a week from yesterday to go meet up with Duane in Juneau for a few days before we both head to Gustavus for the summer. I feel like arriving in Gustavus will be when the good times of the summer can really get started. However, I did just find out today that I'll be coming back to Haines on May 6,7, & 8 to run the kayak guide training for Haines. At least its only a few days, and I'll have time to get moved into Gustavus, and get settled at the Gustavus HQ.

This morning though was beautiful again. The sun is back out and we're all loving that the temperatures are starting to come back up. (Highs this week are in the low 50s.) I also received these pretty things on my desk

this week from that lovely man who will be joining me in Gustavus next week. Thanks baby!

The View from my Office

2009-04-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

I was struck today by how lucky I am to be looking at this view out my window from my office everyday. Gosh I love Haines.

Changing Seasons

2009-04-12T18:08:00.001-07:00

The rain broke for a short while today, so I decided to go for a run down along the water. As I ran along Beach Road I couldn't help but notice that the mountain tops across the fjord where peaking out of the coulds, and I was struck with how amazingly beautiful this place is. The more I thought about it, I feel like my whole life has been spent diving myself into wilder and wilder places, until I ended up living in Alaska, in the last frontier. It's almost been as if there was a blessing laid on me many years ago that I was destined to seek the wilder places in the world, and to come to know what makes wildness beautiful, and how live and love can be stemmed from what seems to be just rugged chaos.

For those who have spent time in these wild places you know what I mean, and you know that there are unnumberable lessons that come from just being there. One of them is that you become so dependent on the weather and the season that your body and soul can feel when they start to change. This feeling comes even before russling leaves, or grey skies, or even the change in the wind. There is a change in the air that is completely untangible to those who haven't learned how to look for it.

I got that feeling today, not about the land so much as about my time in and on it. What happens when the wilderness stops being wild? What happens when the place that has been foreign to any person becomes home? I don'the think this answer can be the same for everyone. For me, I know that there is something sturring in my world, something that sends me from one proverbial wilderness to another, creeping closer and closer to the very edges of myself.

I can feel the winds sturing, and there is another wilderness on the horizon, but I guess I'll have to wait for the rain to fall before I know where or what it is.

Good Friday

2009-04-10T17:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty typical week in Haines, so not much new to write about. It's fun to be here this year when all the gears are just starting to turn. Most of the time I roll into town in May when everything is already cranking at full speed, but this year, I'm here early enough to see Haines while its still a bit quiet.

Town these days is still cold, rainy, and at times almost errily quiet, but for me there is a certain amount of peace in that. I've been able to slow down a bit, take a deep breath and enjoy being in Haines before the chaos of the summer begins.

Last night marked the opening of the Fireweed Resturant in town, which is located right next to our old offices. So last night a bunch of us walked down there after work to have the first pizza of the season. (and yes, Aunt Kathie, it was fantastic!) It was great to see people from all over Haines turn out for the season opener.

18 Days until Duane gets to Juneau, and I couldn't be more excited. We'll have the whole summer together, with me working for AMG and he'll be working for Glacier Bay National Park.

Not much other news for now, but the sun did peak out for a bit today, so here's a picture of our new offices in Haines. I'll try to get out and get some pictures of town as soon as the clouds break open for a few minutes!

Just another Monday

2009-04-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

Monday in the office, and all was pretty much standard for a day in the Haines office. I went in knowing that I had reviews of some curriculum that needed to get done this week, and sooner than later, but somehow between the phone ringing and emails piling into my box, I didn't even touch my to-do list for the day until close to 2pm

I woke up this morning and saw the clouds hanging out just above all the roof tops, typical Haines. However, over the course of the day things cleared up pretty significantly and it turned into quite the bluebird day!

A bunch of the newer staff are starting to roll into town this week, and in an effort to get them oriented to life in Haines and AK in general, the other full-timers and I took them to dinner and a few games of pool. I think the crew is still going strong out there, but I have a conference call at 9am central (6 am Alaskan time) so I'm trying to wind down for the evening.

In other Haines news, the Fireweed (my favorite Haines eatery) opens on Thursday for dinner, so it's already in my calendar to be in attendence to order up one of Lisa's wonderful pizzas for the first time this season.

Still Snowing

2009-04-04T21:04:00.000-07:00

I know I've always joked about living in eternal winter, but now I think it might actually be true. I woke up this morning, expecting to step out of my room into another brisk and clear day in Haines, but instead there was already 3" of snow of the front door step, and it hasn't stopped snowing all day.

However, Mosey's (one of my favorite Haines eateries) is open and I've already managed to get in two Halibut burritos this week. It's little things like Mosey's fish burrito that make Haines a wonderful place.

Tomorrow is my first day off in town, and I was hoping to hit up some of the hiking trails around town, but it looks like they are all still going to be covered in more snow than my trail runners can handle. It looks like the agenda instead is going to include sleeping in, checking out the Mountain Market and getting a little bit of laundry done. (Exciting I know!)

Today is the one week mark since I left Salt Lake City, and it feels so much longer and shorter than that at the same time. It's hard to leave a place once you feel like you've finally built a home and a community there. I miss SLC, but at the same time am so glad to know that I'll be going back to a place where I feel so at home.

In Haines

2009-04-03T19:15:00.000-07:00

It's nice to be back in a town so familiar. I arrived in Haines via ferry from Juneau on Wednesday afternoon and have been cranking away at work ever since. We bought a Motel in town and are busy moving all of our offices and warehouses into this new and larger space. It kind of feels like we work in a real office now!

I'm in town a month earlier than I've ever been, and its kind of remarkable to see town so snowy and quiet. The stores are all still on their winter hours and most of our summer staff won't be rolling in here until the middle of May. I am thankful for the quiet evenings though to just walk on the beach or sit on my sofa and read a book.

I am however beginging to remember how expensive everything is up here, and how hard it is to get the little things that can make you really happy. Case in point: I found this pen down in Utah that I absoltely love, but they don't sell them anywhere in Haines (no suprise there). So I am left with the option of ordering pens from OfficeMax and paying for shipping on pens, or I can cling despirately to this one until the ink runs out and then switch to boring bics until I get back down to the lower 48. I know, its just a pen, but Jen is having the same problem with her favorite shampoo, and the closest Trader Joes to me is in Portland (or maybe Seattle). On the plus side, I can have really fantastic Alaskan Salmon every morning for breakfast!

Just another day in Haines.

Flukes

2009-03-31T22:35:00.000-07:00

I decided to sit up on the front deck today, with my head feeling a bit clearer, to watch the water and the land pass around me while losing myself in the book I’m reading right now. It might have just been luck, but I’m convinced that it’s something more, that I looked up from the pages just in time to see a whale off the port side of the boat toss its fluke (tail) in the air. For those that travel in locations with whales, this is a blessed event. Often we see them surface, or see a blow of air and water off in the distance, but fluking is something special, and truly a sight to behold.

The start of a whale fluking starts with a larger than normal arch of his back, that when you’ve spent enough time around whales you can recognize and you start to get excited about what is coming next. As the arch rounds into the water the whale reveals its beautiful fluke.

I was getting the feeling during this voyage north that I was early. I felt as if I had somehow jumped the gun on the rhythm of life with the land and was heading into a place that wasn’t ready for me or for what my part would be in it. I come to Alaska to paddle, to show people how alive and beautiful this marine environment truly is. Yet, there is still snow at sea level and I can’t help but think that the bays are still clogged with ice.

Yet the whales are here. The whales spend their winters calving and nursing their young off the warm coasts of Hawaii and only come up to the chilly Alaskan waters in the summers to feed. At the end of march I would have expected them to only be about as far north as Seattle or Vancouver, but here they are, in the waters between Kake and Juneau, diving to the depths getting a head start on their summer feeding.

I was going to take this as an omen that summer was coming, but then it started snowing. So instead I’m choosing to take this as an omen that I’m not early at all, I’m right on time, the whale said so.

Tonight I'm in Juneau, AK. I tried to go for a stroll and check out some of the local shops, but everything closed at 5. I guess before tourist season really kicks into gear there isn't much reason to stay open any later. Hopefully on my next swing through town the skies will be less snowy and we can get out and see Juneau in all its capital glory.

Ferry Boats

2009-03-30T22:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I count Grey’s Anatomy as one of my guilty pleasures, though I guess with its popularity I shouldn’t be so shameful of it. Anyway, on last week’s episode Meredith tells the chief of surgery that Derek needs his “ferry boats” scrub cap to operate on Izzy. She says it’s his lucky cap as he loves ferry boats, and I can see why.

This is my third trip up to spend the season in Alaska, and I can’t believe I’m even saying that. This year however, I am forgoing the popular Alcan Highway, for the Alaska Marine Highway instead. I had a few reasons for this change of itinerary, the least of which being I was just tired of driving the Alcan. Don’t get me wrong, the Alaskan Highway (known to most of its travelers as the Alcan) is absolutely beautiful, and an experience in of itself. Yet taking the time to do it again by myself seemed unnecessary. Also, this year Duane and I will be going to Gustavus, Alaska, and not Haines. There are no roads to Gustavus, so driving directly there is not an option. Instead the boat must be barged there from Juneau. There aren’t any roads to Juneau either (the state capital), the only way in and out of the city is by water, hence the ferry system. So I’m on route from Prince Rupert, BC (where ferry tickets are much cheaper than if you decide to ride up from Bellingham, WA) to Juneau, AK. There the loyal Subaru will wait for 3.5 weeks while I go to Haines to get some work done at our main office there.

On the Road Again

2009-03-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

I guess it’s time for an update, as this blog is about living in Alaska and I am currently en route up north. I left two days ago from Salt Lake City to drive up to Prince Rupert, BC where I will board the ferry to Juneau. The drive was tiringly predictable. It was dark for most of Utah, Montana was mostly flat, and the border crossing was crowded.

To top it all off I was coming down with a wicked head and chest cold and said a tearful good bye to Duane since he won’t be able to join me up north until the beginning of May. Not the best conditions to start a long drive. C’est la vive!

I did make the best of it though and explore some new places on the way north. Previous journeys have found me staying in and enjoying Jasper, AB. I’ve spent enough time now in that town to have a favorite restaurant and bakery, but it was just too far for this trip north, so I stopped in Canmore instead. Canmore is just shy of Banff, AB and sadly all I really saw of it was the main drag that reminded me of well, every other ski town in America (ahem, Canada). Still, it was quaint and welcoming and served up a great cup of tea before starting off on the second leg of the drive.

Day 2 started off fairly familiar with the “Ice Fields Parkway” between Lake Louise and Jasper. Only this time it came with new challenges: darkness and snow. It was a slow drive over the mountains, but it yielded a fantastic sunrise. From Jasper I changed course and headed due west instead of my usual northward drive. All new roads from here on out into Prince George and on to Prince Rupert, and they were great, at least what I can remember of them. I think I lost most of the day to the daze of cold medicine and just staring at the road. Oops.

Staying in Prince Rupert, BC tonight. Honestly this town is more run down than I was expecting. The outside of my hotel looks like something out of a gloomy horror movie but inside was very bright and cheery. There was also a very large burned down building right on main street that had not yet been cleared. I wondered why this town was so run down, but then I guess the only reason that anyone would drive all the way out here would be to jump on the ferry. Prince Rupert is a port town, with only one road in and out and the next biggest city, Prince George, is some 650km away. As for the gloom, I’m going to blame the Tylenol PM and the misting Northwestern rain for that impression, and not Prince Rupert itself.

Back from the Yukon

2008-08-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

I'm back from the Yukon trip and had an absolutely fabulous time! We spent the first 6 days of the trip on the Blanchard River doing Swift Water Rescue and Raft Guide training with the students and then headed up to Kluane National Park in the Yukon to do some backpacking. After the hiking section we went back to the Tatshenshini River to do some overnight river trips before heading back to Haines.

It's been great to be back in Haines for the last 24 hours, but thats only about how much longer I'm going to be in Haines before I head to Gustavus, AK to start prepping the next trip. I have some day trips this week out of Gustavus that I'm going to be helping out with and then on Saturday I'm headed back into Glacier Bay for a 24 day trip with two students.

Such a crazy busy summer. More later!

The First Day in the Front Country

2008-06-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

Already this has been quite the first day back, and in a rather stressful way. Honestly its probably more stressful because of what happened on the last two days of this last trip. The trip was great, I had these three fabulous clients, that were so much fun to be out with. They were really relaxed, went with the flow and we all had a great time and had great weather, again.

The day before our pick-up however turned out to be slightly epic. We woke up and winds were building out of the south and so we hurried to get on the water to get across to the east side of the bay before the water got so big it wouldn't be safe to paddle. The crossing was a bit on the rowdy side, but we got across, and just in time, because by the time we landed the surf was building t0 3' waves. Thankfully there was a passing boat that I could call on the VHF for a weather report and the very friendly captain of the Kastine let me know that the winds would be dieing down in the evening. So we hunkered down just off the beach out of the wind and drank hot drinks and ate snacks and waited for the wind to die. Right around 4p we looked out at the water and didn't see any white caps so we jumped in the boats and headed south. We still had about 10 miles to go to our campsite, so we knew we were in for a late night. We would need to be on the beach for our pick- up at 7:30 the next morning, and we decided it would be better to paddle later into the night and sleep as close to the pickup as possible, just in case the winds picked back up again in the morning. Winds were on and off as we paddled south toward camp, and we arrived on Garforth Island at 10p, ate some oatmeal and went to bed. The next morning we had to be up at 6a to get to the Mt. Wright pick up. So by the time I got back to town after the trip I was excited about the great trip, but exhausted.

This morning, I got up to start cleaning gear and was checking my voicemail when I dropped my cell phone in the bleach water. It's totally dead and it took me 2 hours on the phone with Verizon to get a new phone. And just when I had that all figured out, I knocked tea onto my laptop and it shut down. Luckily a few hours later and some serious attention to drying it out and the laptop is back in service, but the phone is long gone.

As my dear friend Matt Allard said today: Rachel, You silly girl. You can handle an 16' 'yak in sea swell amongst floating chunks of glacier while humpback whales try to scratch their backs on your rudder, but you cant control a cell phone on flat pavement. What are we going to do with you?"

So true, what are they going to do with me? Turns out I'm a way more competent guide than I am technology owner. Such is life.

Back from Glacier Bay!

2008-06-19T15:53:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! I’m back from Glacier Bay and what a fabulous trip it was! This last group was one of the best groups of student’s I’ve had and were so much fun to work with. Plus we had beautiful weather and saw lots of great wildlife! Here’s a sampling of what we did from the trip report:

May 24^th- Food prep in the morning and gear prep in the afternoon. Also went over general course outline and course expectations. Hauled gear and boats down to Bartlett Cove in the evening.

May 25^thand 26^th- Intro to paddling skills all day in Bartlett Cove with Brian McGorry. Continued paddling skills introduction as well as introduction to rescues.

May 27^th- Bartlett Cove to N. Beardslee Islands (11 n. miles)

First day of paddling up toward the Beardslee Islands. Caught the 6:30 am high tide through the Lester Island cut into the Beardslees. Paddled north through the islands to the northern most island just west of BearTrack Cove. First backcountry camp, talked with students about all info pertaining to campsite selection in this environment. Also introduced TECs and Trip reports to add to the student journals.

May 30^th- Garforth Island to Goose Cove (13.5 n. miles)

Got up early to arrive at the Mt. Wright pick up by 7:30 am and had breakfast on the beach there. The Fairweather picked up Kaylyn at 9:30 am and the rest of the group packed up and continued north along the east coast of the bay. Group stopped at Maquina Cove for lunch and then paddled north to Goose Cove. Rachel spotted a brown bear between camp and the water source just south of camp and alerted expedition members. Bear wandered back into the alder. Students spend some time in the evening preparing the itinerary for the next 5 days of the course.

May 31^st- Goose Cove to McBride Bay (6 n. miles)

Rode the am rising tide from Goose Cove up to McBride Bay and set up camp. The arctic turns are nesting significantly closer to the terminal moraine this year and made finding camping that would accommodate the turns difficult but doable. (If you get too close to their nests they will scream and start dive bombing at peoples’ heads) At 2:30p a lone wolf wandered in near camp and spent about half an hour around the camp, but was more interested in the turn eggs that on getting close to camp. Then at 3:15p nine members of the group went on a hike up the shore to check out the glacier closer. Rachel and Staci stayed behind to work on repairing the kayaks that were needing patching. After the Rachel and Staci finished patching the boats they got up and found that there was a brown bear that had wandered into camp. Rachel instructed Staci stay with her as she moved toward the bear spray and after some whistle blowing the bear moved away from camp after ripping a dry bag. Meanwhile the rest of the group heard the noise back and camp and started working their way back. The bear momentarily was between the two groups but both groups of people moved toward the water and the bear toward the alder and then wandered out away from camp. Group debriefed the experience over dinner.

June 3^rd- Maquina Cove to Garforth Island (5 n. miles)

Another short paddle day. Arrived at Garforth Island by noon. Students spent the early afternoon doing peer midcourse evals. After evals were complete, Brian and Rachel had one-on-one meetings with each of the students to check in with them about how their course was going and giving feedback to them to take into their next section. Students worked on preparing for departure and resupply while they were not in their interview. After dinner the group sat down together and had a midcourse debrief regarding the first 12 days of the course.

June 4^th- Garforth Island to Mt. Wright Drop Off to Tidal Inlet (15.5 n. miles)

Group got up early to pack boats and be at the Mt. Wright drop off by 7:30a. Group cooked breakfast on the beach at Mt. Wright and waited for the Fairweather. Boat arrived and the 12 day participants departed. Remaining group members received re-supply and packed boats to head to the West Arm. Smooth crossing to Tlingit Point and then paddled up the shoreline to campsite in the bay just north of Tidal Inlet.

June 6^th- Composite Island to E. Tarr Inlet (13.5 n. miles)

Started the morning with a crossing to the west side of the Rendu Inlet from Composite Island. Throughout the crossing wave conditions continued to increase from the south and by the time we were finishing the crossing waves were consistently at 2-3 feet swelling to 4 feet. Ricky and Rachel started looking for a beach to exit onto, but the shoreline was too rocky to be landed on, and the one beach that would have been suitable for landing was tested by Ricky and turned out to be too steep to surf land without soaking everyone. (Ricky got wet to his waist while testing the landing.) It was determined that it would just be safer to stay on the water than try and land and the group paddled north with caution. Winds subsided as the group neared Russell Island and due to the tailwind and rising tide it was decided by Ricky to continue into the Tarr Inlet and take advantage of the conditions rather than stopping at Russell as planned. Group camped on the east side of the Tarr Inlet just north of the prominent alluvial fan. (LOD: Ricky)

June 9^th- Ried Inlet to Skidmore Bay (10 n. miles)

Had a late and long breakfast and paddled south to catch the high tide at the cut into Skidmore Bay. Arrived at the cut at 4:00p with a high tide that wasn’t going to be in until 7:00p. Group stopped and made hot drinks at the cut and waited for the water to rise. Water never rose high enough to paddle all the way through. (13.5ft high tide on the Bartlett Cove tide chart). Group decided that they had already invested enough time there that they should finish the cut and lift the boats over the sections that weren’t floatable. Finished paddling/floating/lifting boats through the cut by 7:30p and started paddling up Skidmore Bay. Arrived at a campsite on the eastern side of Skidmore Bay around 9:00p.

June 14^th- Rush Point to Young Island (3 n. miles)

Crossing of Sitakaday Narrows. Left the morning open for students to work on final projects and assessments and then prepared for the crossing in the afternoon. Caught the 5:15p low tide slack for the crossing. Started crossing from Rush Point at 4:30p. Crossed to the channel marker. Tide was still pushing at about 1knot through the 1^st half on the 6^th hour going toward low tide. About the middle of the crossing the tide mellowed out and crossing was completed without complications. Camped on the west side of Young Island.

June 15^th- Young Island to Bartlett Cove (5 miles)

Spent the morning doing peer feedback for students and working on rescues with students who wanted more time on the water. In the afternoon the instructors worked on final paperwork as well as final interviews with each of the students. After an early dinner the group paddled into Bartlett Cove and spent the night in the Bartlett Cove campground. Had the group final debrief on the beach at Bartlett Cove.

Pictures to follow soon!!!!

Leaving Town

2008-05-22T00:46:00.000-07:00

Remember that time I said I was going to be in town a bunch more and therefore updating this a bunch more? Turns out that might not happen for a while. I'm headed to Gustavus, AK tomorrow where one of our main kayaking branches is, and from there will start a 24 Day Sea Kayak trip for IWLS in Glacier Bay National Park. Then, what I found out yesterday, is that after that trip I'll be staying in Gustavus to do another 8 day trip in Glacier Bay starting on June 22nd. So I won't be back in Haines until June 30th! Kind of crazy logistics, but that's life in the guiding world!

Life here in Haines is good, the last two days have been pretty crazy busy with day trips and with the cruise ship season getting started in southeast AK. I had some great guests with me out on the water and we chatted all about the types of trees in this area, and the wild life, as well as the native people that live in the area. Yesterday we even saw a whale breach, which something you always see pictures of but rarely get to see in person. It was awesome!

I'm off to bed, early morning tomorrow running errands and getting ready for a 3pm flight over to Gustavus!

Life in Haines

2008-05-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

First full day in Haines! As per usual, it rained all day and never got warmer than around 45 degrees, but I still love being here. In stark contrast to last season, things are ramping up slowly around here for me. I don’t leave to go out on trip until the 24^th, which gives me about a week in town to get my feet underneath me and move into my place.

Speaking of my home, I’m all moved in, and finally got this place clean. After sitting for the winter the trailer had gotten pretty dirty, and so I spent a good part of my morning with a bottle of bleach in one hand and a sponge in the other. I finally got the place clean and got everything out of the car and into the trailer. Living in a camper trailer I am constantly amazed by the people who design these things. There is no shred of space that goes unused in these things. As I kept cleaning I kept finding all sorts of places around the trailer to store things and different amazingly smart ways to use this space. It’s starting to feel like home, which is good seeing as that’s what it’s going to be for the next few months before I head down to Utah.

All is fabulous here on the far northern front! But if someone has some sunshine in their part of the world and wants to send some this way we’d all really appreciate it up here!

Oh Canada

2008-05-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

Ah! Finally some time to write! We’re in Calgary right now, and Andy is driving and so I get to chill out in the front seat, check out the sights and catch up with you all.

One of the things I love about this drive is the ability to have 1/3 of the mileage done on the first day, so that for the rest of the drive through Canada you can slow down and a bit and enjoy the scenery. Honestly, the southern part of Alberta after you cross over from Montana is less than exciting. Andy commented that it looks like “SimCanada” where you just have these huge stretches of open, flat and empty land and then out of no where someone just dropped this small village somewhat randomly on the plains.

Calgary, as always, was a pain in the ass to navigate. I suppose part of the problem might be that we went a little bit further into town than we wanted to to try and find lunch, but still, the highway systems are not the easiest things to figure out in that city. There are however two very nice things about leaving Calgary, one: is that the roads open up and all the cars disappear, and two: is that it means you are headed toward Banff!

We stopped and did lots of fun stuff in the park today, all of which I have pictures for. But with all the stopping to see things and dinner with a friend in Jasper, I'm totally zonked and need to get some sleep before we keep driving up to Laird Hot Springs tomorrow.

Pictures of the drive when I get to Haines on Friday, I promise!!

Playing Catch Up

2008-05-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry, this is left over from yesterday:

Today was eventful and uneventful all at the same time. We got up and left Mankato early, (around 5) and drove through western Minnesota and North Dakota. The real fun started somewhere around central North Dakota when the car top box suddenly flung itself open and tossed two bags and two jackets into the road (honestly, I’m surprised more didn’t come flying out). Andy ran back and picked up everything that had fallen out and I climbed up on the car to fix the box. It seems to be working fine now, but there is a crack in it along the side. No major damage, but I’m really glad that REI has such a great return policy. I don’t care what they say, car boxes should not open by themselves.

Other than that we got to Great Falls without incident and went out for some awesome greek food before settling in at the hotel for the night. As I was falling asleep I was thinking about how this would be the first of a series of new places that I would be sleeping in the next 6 months. I’ve taken a new job, in a new state, and having to start a life that is very different from what I have been doing for the last two years. It felt like my heart was breaking to have to say good bye to so many people who have become so dear to me over the last two years, and knowing that some of them I might not see again for a very long time. I guess the best way to put it is that I love to go, but I hate to leave.

I’m so excited for tomorrow though, driving up through Banff to Jasper on the Icefields Parkway is beyond beautiful. Rumor has it that there has been lots of snow still falling in the mountains up here, so we should have some great views of the snow capped Canadian Rockies.

Great Falls and Tumbles

2008-05-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

Great Falls, MT
Miles: 1,108
Drive Time: 16.5 hours

What a long day, thankfully this will be the longest day of driving that we will have as we head up north. It was pretty windy and rainy most of the day, which didn't seem to put too much of a damper on the drive.

We're totally zonked and need to get some sleep. I'll try to write a better update in the car tomorrow and post it when we get to Jasper!

Side Note: calls to/from canada on the cell phones are expensive! So if I don't answer the cell for the next few days, please leave a message and I'll call you back when I get to AK on Friday.

Driving North

2008-05-12T02:54:00.000-07:00

I had every intention of posting the itinerary for the trip before we actually left, but its been a crazy week here trying to get everything ready to take off. Andy and I are leaving in a few minutes to start the drive, so I'll have to wait and update y'all from the road.

We'll be driving from Today, May 12 til Thursday, May 15! Catch us on our cell phones on the road!

Packing

2008-05-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

I always find it interesting that your last few days in any place where you have lived seem to be the busiest. You need more time at home and to yourself to be getting organized and getting packed and reconciling yourself to the fact that you're leaving. Yet at the same time all the people you love and care about want to spend as much time with you as possible before, in my case, you disappear into the woods. I think I've managed to work out a pretty good balance between these two things, but it still means that the last week here is going to be fairly crazy. A great crazy though.

The apartment here in Mankato is about half packed up. I'm making piles of stuff that are getting stored in MN for the summer and early fall, and then other piles of things that are going to be making the trek up to AK with me. Knowing that I could be in AK until as late as October and probably spending more time in town than I did last season means that I'm taking more stuff than I did last year, so I think the car is going to be pretty full. I'm trying to pack carefully and strategically.

It's definitely a tearing situation I find myself in these days. Mankato has become my home, and I love my community here and it breaks my heart to have to leave it. But at the same time I love being in Haines and what I do up there. I'm getting really excited for the first trip (24 day Sea Kayaking course in Glacier Bay that goes out on May 24th!) and just to be back in ALASKA!

I'm working on finalizing the itinerary for the trip north and should have it posted soon. As of right now I'm leaving Mankato on May 12th, which should land me in Haines on May 16th!

The Haines Community Website

2008-04-27T20:29:00.001-07:00

This is one of the many reasons that I love living in Haines, AK.

Oberhalsie goat
Posted: 2008-04-19
Contact: 766-XXXX
Price: $100
Description: Prime breeding age Oberhalsie goat. This goat has a great personality, and is for sale to a very good home.

so classic.

Home Sweet Home

2008-04-16T07:37:00.001-07:00

For the last few weeks I have been totally consumed with working on getting the thesis ready and getting ready for my last conference here at Minnesota State. The thesis is over and approved (yay!) and the conference is next week, and everything is going to plan. So now that things have settled down my mind is starting to have some free space to think about a moving to AK.

I talked to the boys out in UT and it sounds like housing options are pretty slim in Haines this year. I'm still looking around for something a little more stable but for now, it looks like this is going to be home base for the summer.

It's going to be tight, but at least its cheap! Something else might come up, but if it doesn't at least I have something that is relatively warm and dry to spend the time in when I'm not in a tent in the backcountry.

5 Weeks Out

2008-04-06T16:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry the posts are a bit sparse, there isn't that much exciting going on with relevance to AK just yet.

I'm heading north in 5 weeks, which is really exciting. Andy (a friend of mine from grad school) is going to work for a youth wilderness program in Wrangell, AK, so he is going to drive with me to Haines, and then head down to Wrangell from there. It's going to be really nice to have someone to split the driving with. Plus, it's just going to be nice to have someone else with me along the Alcan. There were times last year where I realized that I was a female traveling alone along really isolated roads and I wondered if that should potentially concern me.

Andy and I plan on leaving Mankato on May 11th and we should hit the Alcan on the 13th and be in Haines by the 15th.

I'm still trying to figure out housing for the summer since it sounds like I'm going to be in town a little bit more than I was last season, which means more time to experience Haines and more time to update the blog! (Which means you have more opportunities to procrastinate reading it instead of doing more productive things on the internet..... like checking facebook.....)

In other news: I passed my thesis defense! So the two years of hard work wasn't for nothing and I get to graduate! I'm really ready to be done with studying for a while and to be back in the field working with students.

Thats all for now, stay tuned!

The Return North

2008-03-14T16:53:00.001-07:00

Remember that time I was going to keep this going over the winter? Yea, that was wishful thinking. Turns out there isn't much to say about life in Alaska when you are actually living in Minnesota and spending all your free time in the library.

But now seems as good a time as any to re-start the blog... because yesterday I got my trip schedule for Alaska this summer!

For those of you who tuned in last summer, you'll be glad to know that at the moment I am only scheduled for 2 maybe 3 long trips, which means a little bit of a slower pace this summer, and some time to really enjoy being in Haines. (Also, for all of you compulsive blog checkers this is going to mean more updates and more ways for you to procrastinate!)

So for now I have somethings to finish up in Minnesota (like graduating, hosting a conference, etc) and then I'm due in Haines by may 15th!

Tune in for more updates as the departure date approaches!

Picture of the Day

2007-09-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

So there have been some requests to keep the blog updated.... and some other comments that the blog lacks some serious picture action and even more serious lacking in good stories from the time up on the Last Frontier. So here's my solution... Picture of the Day (ish). Every few days I'll update the blog with a picture from the summer with some details about where it is, what trip it was on, why its cool, etc. That way everyone can continue to have a procrastination destination at work/home and I can get more of the pictures online without having to upload them all at once. Genius!

This picture was taken on May 18th on my first 12 day Sea Kayak trip in Glacier Bay. It was about 5 days into the trip and we had stopped for lunch on this beautiful day on a beach in Maquinna Cove. The tide was just starting to come in, and we were planning on riding the tide up toward the upper arms of the bay. While we sat there enjoying the sun we had to keep moving the boats up on the beach every 10 minutes or so or else they would float away. My boat is the 3rd from the bottom in the picture. The mountains across the way in the picture are part of an unnamed range that divides the two major arms of the bay. By the time I got back to this same spot a month later most of the snow from that range would be gone. This is probably my favorite beach in all of Glacier Bay, I love how clear the water is, and there is such a great view of the east arm from the place I am standing!

More Pictures

2007-08-25T11:43:00.003-07:00

As time goes on I am getting a little bit better about getting pictures moved online. (baby steps).

So here are some pictures from the 24 day trip in Glacier Bay: PICTURES!

Portland

2007-08-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

I'm almost back to MN! I'll be honest, it has been hard to leave Haines. I really loved living in Alaska, its a beautiful place, full of really fun people, and I was working for a fantastic organization. It just doesn't get much better than that. But it was time to go, so I'm back on the road.

I left Haines on Saturday morning and had some great company. One of the students from my last course was going to Vancouver, so she drove with me the last two days. It was interesting for her driving at first being that she is from New Zealand and everytime she had to make a turn she had to think pretty hard about it to make sure that she didn't turn into oncoming traffic!

We decided to take a different road down that I had taken up. We took the Cassiar Highway down from Upper Liard, YT down to Prince George, BC. It ended up being an epic day. The Cassiar is a mountain road that isn't paved all the way through, so we couldn't drive quite as fast as you can on the Alcan. It's beautiful though, and a shorter distance, and we saw 8 blackbears along the side of the road. Trouble was we had a hard time finding a place to sleep that night. Once we got back to a place that actually had hotels everything was full. So we ended up driving until around 1 am until we could find a room.

Sunday we decided to drive down to Vancouver via Whistler. Whistler is a beautiful town and we were both wishing that it would suddenly be winter so we could go skiing. But sadly there was no snow and we drove on. Too bad for us that there was major construction between Whistler and Vancouver, which really slowed things down. So by the time I dropped her off an got across the boarder it was getting late. I didn't get to the pant's place in Portland until close to 1 am.

We spent today playing in Portland and tomorrow morning I am headed toward somewhere in eastern WY. I do love my road trips, but I'm going to be excited to just be in MN and done driving for a while.

Time to sleep to be awake on the road!!!

More Pictures!

2007-08-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

So it turns out that one of the students from the last few courses is way better about getting his pictures posted than I am (and he takes better pictures too.) So, I thought I'd go ahead and post a link or two to Henry's pictures for your viewing/procrastinating pleasure.

Glacier Bay

Yukon Territory

Enjoy!

The Last Few Days

2007-08-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has taken me forever to get this up.... life here has been nuts-o. I got back in from trip on Tuesday and since then have been de-rigging the last trip as well has having meetings with some of the office staff to finish up the season well and talk about stuff in the future.

This last trip was fabulous. The students had a great time and the scenery on the hiking section was amazingly cool. Then once we hit the water things got rowdy. The Primrose River was in flood, which creates interesting obstacles for us as in there are no eddies (stopping places) to scout the river from.

The part of the Yukon Territory that we were in is in a rain shadow, so this trip was much drier than any of the others have been, which was fabulous.

I uploaded a few pictures from the trip for your viewing pleasure. More to come as I return back to MN. So far the plan is to leave here on Saturday and arrive in MN sometime on Wednesday evening. Can't wait to see everyone back down south!

To the Yukon!

2007-07-23T07:51:00.001-07:00

Ah.. Finally time to write, and its late on the night before I am going into the field again. I guess that’s life in Haines! It has been nice to have a few days off here (well at least a few days where I could move at a more reasonable pace through the office). I was due for some time in town and just being here and being around has made me realize how much I really love this place. Haines is a great town, small, quaint, lots of stuff going on, still pretty rugged. If you think about it in the grand scheme of things, the gold rush was really the first thing that brought people to South East Alaska, and that was only 100 years ago. This is still very much a “cowboy town” full of really interesting people and a vibrant community. I can easily see how people come here for a season and end up just staying.

I, however, am going back into the field right away. This next trip is going to be pretty amazing, and I’m stoked about it. It’s going to have some crazy logistics, but I think that is going to keep us all on our toes and keep things interesting for all. The schedule looks something like this.

July 23-28: Raft Guide Training and Swift Water Rescue on the Blanchard River in Dalton, Yukon Territory

July 29: Transport to Whitehorse, YT

July 30- July 6: Hiking the Wheaton River Drainage to Primrose Lake

July 7: Float Plane brings rafts and re-supply

July 8-July 13: 1^st Commercial Decent of the Primrose River!

July 14: Transport back to Haines for de-rig.

Crazy! But I think at the end of a long summer all the changes going on will help to keep things fresh and keep people (myself included) on our toes and stoked about being out there.

So I’ll be back in town on the evening of August 14^th, and then am planning on spending a few days in Haines wrapping things up before I head back down south. (I’m planning on being in Portland somewhere around the 21^st and back in Mankato somewhere around the 24^th). Travel plans are still pretty up in the air, I’ll figure it out when I get back, it seemed too far away on this break to really plan anything or set anything in stone.

All in all, life is excellent in Alaska, but at the same time I’m getting excited about getting back to my life in Minnesota and all the awesome things that are going to be going on there this next year. Always a new adventure!

More Pictures from Glacier Bay

2007-07-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

So there are many fabulous things about leading trips with Ted Roxbury, but one of my favorites is that he is a photographer, that takes way better pictures than I do.

So here is the link to Ted's Pictures from our trips! Enjoy! http://tedroxbury.com/gb.html

Back from Glacier Bay.... again.

2007-07-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

Hey Y'all!!

I decided that since I had way too many pictures from this trip I wasn't going to take the time to really upload all the pictures to the blog and instead I just did a mass upload of them all to snapfish. You can find them all by following this link. Pictures from Glacier Bay

This last trip was great. We spent 24 days in the bay and this time got to see almost everything in both the West and East Arms of the Bay. We spent the first 12 days in the East Arm of the bay doing skills training with the students and also doing some exploring. It was my 3rd trip in that part of the bay, so it was starting to feel rather homey and really familiar which was nice.

The West Arm was new and really awesome as well. There are tons of tidewater glaciers in the west arm and it was a totally different environment out there. Super sweet.

Now I'm in town taking some down time to just chill out and relax before I head up to the Yukon for my last 24 day course. Shoulds like its going to be awesome! More details later.....

The quick breeze through town

2007-06-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

Sigh... only really 30 hours in Haines this time and I'm back to Gustavus. There are times if I wonder if I should have just made that home for the summer. Things change, plans change, and I'm being sent back down to Glacier Bay.

Not that I'm complaining at all. Glacier Bay is beautiful! And this trip is going to be twice as long which means we'll get some time to explore some new parts of the park and see some amazing stuff.

I guess when I started this blog I had thought that I was going to be in town a little more often than I am and therefore be able to update this on a more regular basis. My apologies to those who feel as if they are in the dark part of the time. It's not my intention.

Pictures from Glacier Bay

2007-06-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

Students paddling north from Sturgess Island

My co-instructor Ted Roxbury!!!

Very very little ice berg!

Brown Bear at the McBride Glacier

Brown Bear Tracks next to Ted. That's one HUGE bear!

For some strange reason its always warm and sunny at the McBride Glacier.

Another sunny day in Kayaks at the inlet to Goose Cove

One of the coolest parts about doing trips in this park is the ammount of natural history that is a part of doing trips here. Out on the water its rocky and there are huge mountains that jut up into the sky and then you walk just 10 feet into the trees and you've been transported into this amazing rainforest that you didn't even know was there.

Ted working with a student on some advanced strokes and rescues in the Beardslee Islands.

Back from Glacier Bay

2007-06-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

Howdy y'all.

Just got off the plane from Gustavus and I'm back in Haines for a little bit.

In all honesty I have so many thoughts about this last trip, it was really challenging and I learned so much about working with really difficult students. At the same time leading trip with Ted is always fantastic and how can it not be amazing when you are leading trips in Glacier Bay!?

I love working in Alaska.
I love working for IWLS and AMG.
I love that I get to work with such cool people.
I love that I'm in a place that challenges me and also uses the skills that I have.
I love that I feel like every day is a new adventure.

I have some pictures from this last trip that hopefully I'll be able to get up soon.

Back to Gustavus

2007-06-09T11:41:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in the IWLS office with a few minutes of free time before we have to start prepping gear and food and all of those fun things and figured I'd check in.

The mountaineering section we just finished was great, and I've had 2ish days in town to chill out a little bit and get my head back on my shoulders before heading out again. This afternoon I am on a 2 pm flight back down to Gustavus, AK to start a 12 day Sea Kayaking trip in Glacier Bay. I'm stoked about getting to go back to Glacier Bay and doing a trip where I actually know where I'm going this time. Fimiliarity can be a beautiful thing.

The rest of my summer schedule is finally settling into place. After this trip I will have 2 more 24 day trips that will be almost back to back and then things will slow down. (Around August 14th). I'm hoping to be back in MN in time for classes to start and to get settled back into work... but we'll see.

It's still chilly up here, but today is finally a bit warmer and we're all thankful for that. The weather is clear today as well so we are hoping that the ceiling stays high enough for us to fly over the Chilkat Range to Gustavus instead of flying around the pinnsula on the water.

I should be back in Haines on the 22nd. So hopefully more pictures and updates then!

Re-Cap of the 12 Day Mountaineering

2007-06-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

May 27^th Today was the first day of the trip and honestly I’m a little tired just coming off the last trip. My few days off were consumed with office work and getting things ready for the season in general especially with the new integration of the WEA curriculum into the IWLS curriculum. In any case we met up with all the students early this morning, took care of our final outfitting and were on our way to the airport by noon.

The ski planes in Haines are down for repair at the moment and because of that we had to take a helicopter up onto the Garrison Glacier. It took a couple trips of ferrying students and gear but eventually we were all up on the glacier and setting up Camp I.

May 28^th

Today we were in camp getting all the technical skills that the students will need to travel safely on the glaciers for the next 12 days.

May 29^th

Travel day!. We have so much gear that we needed to ferry half the food and gear up toward the ice falls at the entrance to the Casement Glacier. Unfortunately we got just below the first ice fall when one of the students started having chest pains that were consistent with vital signs that meant that he needed to get out of the field immediately. He was evacuated by a helicopter. The rest of us returned to camp and tried to get some other work done for the days that were coming up.

May 30^th

We woke up this morning to total white out conditions. The clouds were rolling in and over the glacier pretty quickly so every couple hours or so we’d hit a break between the clouds and get a glimpse of the range. We did some more classes today and got a lot of rest. Tomorrow we are planning to head up to the cache.

May 31^st

We woke up to a totally blue sky, packed up camp and started heading up toward the cache under the first ice fall. It was a long hard day hauling both heavy packs and heavy sleds. Once we got to camp Kevin and Brian continued up to scout the ice falls and the group and I stayed to set up camp. The group built this awesome snow shelter for us to sleep and after a few lessons we headed to bed.

June 1^st

Up over the ice falls today! Huge elevation gains and steep terrain and we decided to do it in one push instead of having to tackle the two ice falls twice. The students were up for the challenge and we had a great day. Once we were up ontop of the icefields things were beautiful and the skyline was beautiful.

Ice Falls behind the Garrison Glacier

June 2nd
We woke up this morning to rain on the Casement Glacier, but after a morning of some lessons the student leaders of the day decided to push on and do some ice climbing anyway. The skies cleared up in the afternoon and they had a great time doing climbing some vertical ice on an ice fall a few miles down the glacier.

June 3rd
The end of the trip is on the horizon, so today we packed up the sleds and packs and did an 8 mile traverse of the main ice field over to an area called "the nob". The light was super flat which made it difficult to do route finding in the broken up areas of the glacier. It was a long day and a late night into camp, but I think everyone was excited to get it done in one day and save us having to set up a snow camp somewhere in the middle.

Rope Team on the Traverse of Ice Field

June 4th
Again another day of wonky weather. We had a chill out morning for people to do some relaxing and some people climbed up on top of the nob. (I had to stay in camp to get evals done and some other fun paperwork stuff.... woot.) After that we did peer midcourse evals and early to bed to get ready for the bushwack in the morning.

June 5th

Today we started our decent down to the water for our pick-up. We exited over the Harley Glacier and down over the ablation zone of the glacier. After we got off the glacier and the moraines we started the crazy bushwacking. Seriously one of the most fun bushwacks I have ever done. Granted it was 6 miles and 12 hours with our packs on, and bushwacking with packs that have big orange sleds strapped to them isn't the greatest conditions, but it was really cool to get to walk out of the black and white world of the moutains and glaciers and down into the thick and dense rainforest.

Toe of the Harley Glacier

June 6th
Today was the second day of the walkout. We had made it down to the beach and the delta where the river from the Harley meets the ocean. Today we walked up the beach about 5 miles to Glacier Point where we will catch a boat in the morning. The hike to Glacier Point was nice, and it was great to be on the beach again. About half way to Glacier Point there was a river crossing that looked deep and pretty fast. So Dave, Kevin, (the other guides) and I decided to rig up a Tyrolean Traverse to get over the river, that all the students really enjoyed getting to see done in the field, and we all stayed dry!

Tyrolean Traverse

June 7th
We got up super early and headed out to the dock to catch the boat back over to Haines. After the boat ride it was a quick clean up and interviews with the students and then to a shower!

Pictures from Glacier Bay

2007-06-07T19:03:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to throw up a few pictures from Glacier Bay. Hopefully while I have some more time in the office in the next day or so, I'll be able to get a few more up!

Glacier Bay, East Arm, McKenna Cove.
Iceberg on the beach just south of the McBride Inlet.
The background of this picture is the McBride Glacier. Where I am standing used to be under the glacier in the 1970's. All the icebergs in the bay are from the calving glacier.
The icebergs flowing out of the Muir Inlet in the East Arm of Glacier Bay.

Heading out again!

2007-05-26T23:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone, but today got to be totally nuts and I didn't have a chance to upload pictures from Glacier Bay! We had an all staff meeting this morning and then I got sucked into the wild world of WEA paperwork for a good part of the middle of the day and then had to start doing trip prep stuff for the trip that is going out tomorrow.

Usually things are that crunched around here, but the fixed wing planes that we usually use to fly into the glaciers are have maitnance done on them at the moment. Therefore we are having to take helicopters into the glaciers. This means that instead of having a day with the students to prep (Sunday) and then flying in on day 2 (Monday) we have to be ready to load the helicopters at 1 pm tomorrow (the only time the whirlybirds can fly into the mountains). So the 5 guides that are on trips going out tomorrow have been working at full tilt to be ready for the new departure time.

Sean gave us a quick run down on new protocols for flying in on helicopters instead of on the planes. It makes everything we do about 100 times more intense and more dangerous since the helicopters can be more unpredictable and will be landing in places that the pilots have never flown before. So tonight we are weighing all the gear and prepping the flight plans to be able to get into the mountains efficently.

soooo awesome.

So I'm headed up into the mountains and glaciers that I just spent the last 12 days looking at from a Sea Kayak with other stellar guides and 9 very excited students. If all goes according to plan I should be hiking out of the mountains on the 7th and back in Haines that evening. Then its another 2 days off and I jump on a plane back to Gustavus, AK for a 12 day Sea Kayaking Trip that goes out on June 10th.

Alaska is amazing. IWLS is full of cool people and I'm stoked about being here more and more every day.

Back in Haines

2007-05-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Haines.... but only for a short bit!

The last course down in Glacier Bay was fabulous! Lots of good stories that hopefully I'll be able to get posted before I head out into the mountains again on Sunday morning!

Things are going really well here, and life is slightly chaotic with all the trips coming in and out right now but all in all fabulous.

Alaska is beautiful and amazing and the people here are so fun to work for!

Stories and pictures soon!

Leaving for Gustavus

2007-05-10T19:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been in Haines for all of 3 days now and tomorrow I shove off! Tomorrow morning, my co-instructor Ted and I, are flying over to Gustavus, Alaska to start a 12 day Sea Kayaking trip. AMG recently established a basecamp down in Gustavus, so Ted and I will be packing our trip out from there. The trip doesn't offically start until Sunday, but we will take tomorrow and Saturday to pack and get oriented to the area and do all the final trip plans.

And then we head to Glacier Bay National Park!

Currently AMG has a group permit to be able to run commerical trips in Glacier Bay, so this is an amazing opportunity to get to go in with them and get to use this area as a classroom.

Also in news: My cell phone works in Haines! woot!

The calendar for the coming weeks is slightly chaotic. I leave tomorrow, for a trip that starts on the 13th, and I'll fly back to Haines on the 25th. Then on the 27th, I leave for a 24 day Mountaineering/Sea Kayaking Course. Should be interesting.

People keep popping in and out of the office and I still need to get home and get some packing done! I'll check in again when I'm back from Glacier Bay!!

Haines!

2007-05-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

I pulled into Haines late yesterday afternoon and met up with the folks at AMG. It was so nice to have people expecting you and excited for you to finally get into town.

The drive yesterday was absolutely beautiful. I stopped in Whitehorse, YT for a little bit to look around and decided that it was a stellar little town, just nestled into the mountains. Then I headed on down to Haines, AK! Haines is a cute little town right on the water of Lynn Canal, where the glaciated mountains come right up out of the water. Haines is small, only about 2,500 people and two main streets. One bookstore, one grocery store, a few bars and restaurants and thats about it.

The south side of town is dominated by Fort Seward, which is no longer active. All the buildings have been converted into homes or businesses. The biggest house is now a fancy hotel, and the old stables are where our office and warehouses are.

I found out when I got here that I am leaving on Friday morning for Gustavus where we have a kayaking base. Ted and I are leading a trip down in Glacier Bay National Park. The trip officially starts on Sunday, but we will have to do our trip prep on Saturday down in Gustavus.

After that trip its back to Haines for a Mountaineering trip and then straight back to the water for more Sea Kayaking. I'm anxious to get to explore Haines, but it looks like it's going to have to wait until the middle of June until I'm really able to get to spend some time in town.

So for now I'm settled into the camp ground near the office and trying to remember as many names as I can and get ready to head into the field.

Miss you all and wish you could see this place! Pictures soon!

Hot Springs

2007-05-08T11:50:00.000-07:00

680 miles

13 hours on the road

I’m writing this sitting in a wooden Adirondack chair in a little lodge nestled in the Canadian Rockies. I have no idea when I’m going to be able to get internet, maybe tomorrow.

Yesterday with Scott was really great. It was so nice to be off the road for a day and stretch out my legs on some hiking trails. It was fun to be able to see him in his element too. After hearing about fire fighting it was really fun to get to see the base, and the rappel towers and the helicopters.

I started driving this morning around 6 this morning. And honestly, the drive from Hinton up north was rather boring (sorry Scott). It was miles after miles of thin trees. But then every once in a while I’d come around the corner and then out of no where would appear the Canadian Rockies, only for a minute, and then the road would dive back into the woods. The road itself was pretty quiet and isolated today. Not many cars on the road just yet. Today did mark the begining of the driving on the Alaska Highway. Sooo cool!

More interesting it was what happened after I got done driving for the day. I decided to stay at the Lodge at the Liard Hot Springs for the day, which is about half way from Hinton to Haines. So tonight I’m in British Columbia.

After I checked in I hopped across the road and jumped into the Hot Springs in the park. They are close to 125 degrees and after so many days of driving it was very nice to just be able to sit and soak and relax for a bit. While I was at the hot springs I met a couple of people who were driving 80 dogs north to Juneau do to dog sled tours. Also, I met two guys from Utah that were driving north to be tour guides at McKinley.

Back at the Lodge two people I had met at the hot springs (Jenny and Joe) invited me to have dinner with them. Jenny is from Southern California and Joe is from British Columbia, they are up here on their anniversary. They are the sweetest couple, in their mid 50s and also Christians. We talked a lot about ministry and traveling and relationships.

I think the best part of the day was that in all the trees I got to do some heavy thinking. I was walking out to the hot springs tonight and feeling really anxious about the summer and the driving still to come and generally about things unknown. When I got into the hot springs something in the water turned the silver ring that I wear on my finger into a gold and then blueish color. It reminded me of something I had been listening to on the drive earlier that day. I was listening to the Alchemist on CD and it talked about how all things evolve. The wise man in the book said that one of the worst things we can do is ignore the fact that all things need to evolve and change over time. That to become stagnant is to ignore the reality that life is ever changing. I have been wearing that silver ring on my finger for almost 10 years, and while it is bent and scratched, it has always looked the same. But today it changed, and now it’s this beautiful color of blue.

Jasper

2007-05-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

Today was absolutely fabulous! I told Scott that I was up for doing anything that didn't include driving as the primary activity for the day. So... We got up early and went into Jasper and went to this awesome gorge (picture coming).

After that we drove up to the Valley of Five lakes and did some hiking. Along one of the trails we found a row boat that wasn't locked up and took it out on the lake and got some sun out on the beautiful teal water. There were a few issues with the boat though. One there was a bunch of water in it. Two, only one of the oars was actually in the oar lock and the other oar lock was totally busted. Needless it say it was the most bizarre paddling either of us had ever done.

We finished out the hike, ate our picnic lunches and then headed into Jasper to walk around and got some smoothies and sat out on the deck looking at the mountains and enjoying the warm day.

All in all a fabulous rest day, and tomorrow its back to the road! I have 1100 km tomorrow until Liard Hot Springs !

I'll update when I can, but I should be in Haines by Tuesday evening, or Wednesday morning.

Canada!

2007-05-05T07:49:00.000-07:00

750 miles
12 hours on the road

Day two of the drive was probably the most beautiful drive I’ve ever done. I was on the road at 5 and heading north on I-15 towards the Canadian boarder and got across with out even having to get out of the car. Gotta love drive through customs.

What I didn’t love some much is that the speed limit on all highways in Canada is 100km (60 mph), which felt ridiculously slow after a day of Montana and North Dakota speed limits of 75 mph. Oh well. So I headed up to Calgary through the ever so flat southern Alberta and from there turned West toward Canmore to head into the Parks.

Driving through Banff and Jasper National Parks was amazing. There simply aren’t words. The whole approach to the mountains you are just sitting there with your mouth open and being so excited that land can rise this high after driving through the Midwest. I stopped in Lake Louise for gas (which is 1.10 a liter) and drove up to the Lake. Unfortunately it was starting to snow so the view of the mountains wasn’t that great and the lake was still very frozen. (I had heard that the lake is this amazing color of blue that I had to see). I thought to myself that I might have to stop again in August on my way home and try to see it, but then remembered that in August this place would be swarmed with tourists (such as myself)/ So I just enjoyed the view I had from bench, ate an apple and got back in the car.

The drive to Jasper from Lake Louise is along the Ice Fields parkway. Again, it was snowing so the first half of the drive there wasn’t much to see, but the snow broke up and if you looked around there was snow covered mountains with blue ice peaking out everywhere. It’s still full on winter here, so you can still see all the avalanche slides on the sides of the mountains.

I was making pretty good time, so I stopped just before Jasper at Athabasca Falls. The Athabasca River flows off of the Columbia Ice Field (one of the biggest in the world) and I read a sign somewhere that it feeds into three oceans. (I have my doubts though… Artic, Pacific, and……? If anyone knows what the third ocean is please let me know) Anyway, the falls were swamped with people but still worth getting out of the car to hike around and look at. While I was at the falls I met a man from Edmonton who was painting pictures of the river and mountains and said I had a strange accent and asked where I was from (eh). I told him I was driving from Minnesota to Alaska and he said that sounded like a lot of fun (eh) and asked which highway I was driving on (eh). I said I was going to take the Alaska Highway up. He told me that the best drive was to take the Alaska highway north and then to take the other highway down the coast of British Columbia on the way back (eh). But that I should know that once I got north of Hinton all I would see for a while was a lot of trees (eh). His paintings were beautiful and I wished I could have gotten one, but sadly I had only American Dollars. So I thanked him and headed back to the car to get to Jasper.

Scott met me in downtown Jasper when I got there and we tooled around the city for a little while. There was this great trail across the river from town that we hiked up and from there you could see the whole town and the surrounding area. It was absolutely beautiful. Scott pointed out to me all the different trails around the town and peaks that you could ski and climb. Also, we hiked past some huge big horn sheep that didn’t even care one lick that we were there. Literally we walked past a group of them with only about 5 feet between us and them and just kept munching on the grass. Scott made some comment about the bizarre “city sheep” and we kept hiking.

Today is my day off, so Scott and I are going to head into Jasper and do some hiking and check out the town a bit more before I have to head off again in the morning to keep going north.

Big Sky Country

2007-05-04T17:43:00.000-07:00

1115 miles
15 hours on the road

Day one of the drive and it was absolutely beautiful! I left Mankato around 4:30 this morning and headed out on 94. For some reason or another North Dakota has gotten a seriously bad rap for being flat and really boring. Here’s the thing though, North Dakota is not nearly as flat as western Minnesota, and it’s so much prettier. It was actually a nice drive. There’s something that is beautiful about middle America. It’s not flashy or exotic, but the bluffs were beautiful.

In eastern Montana I decided to get off of 94 in Forsyth and take 12/87 to Great Falls instead. It looked like it might be a more direct route and also would mean I could see some of Montana that was not just right on the highway. It’s amazing how much open space is here. A lot of it is farms and grazing land for cattle, but it was really cool to be able to drive for miles and only see one or two ranches scattered around. Then every once in a while you bump into a small town with one Main Street. It was endearing. As you drove you drive through you can’t help but wonder if this is one of those towns where every one knows everyone else and what it would be life to live there.

Tonight I am in Great Falls, MT and getting ready to head north tomorrow up to Hinton, AB. It’s nice been nice to be on the road again, and stretching out my travelers legs. More later!

Last Day in Mankato

2007-05-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, I've spent all morning packing and cleaning the apartment, and to even my suprise, I didn't even fill the car. Hmmmm maybe I should take more stuff.... ;)

Upated to the Travel Itinary:

May 4th: Mankato (A) to Great Falls, MT (B)

May 5th: Great Falls, MT to Hinton, AB (E)

Then I'm going to spend 6th in Hinton hanging out with a good friend from Grad School.

May 7th: Hinton, AB to Muncho Lake, BC
May 8th: Muncho Lake, AB (F) to Haines Junction, YT (G)
May 9th: Haines, AK! (H)

The Last Week

2007-04-29T06:51:00.000-07:00

This week has been totally chaotic. We had the Conference for work last week, which went really well but was insanely stressful. I have been moving at a snail's pace ever since then just trying to recover. The last thing I need is to show up in Alaska sick and totally drained.

All my course work for the semester is done, and I just have a few more small paperwork things to do at work before I can offically seal everything up at the office for the summer.

I got a card yesterday from a good friend of mine, actually it was a birthday card, just a bit belated. It was actually really good to read it this week, she wrote about how she hoped I was settling into Mankato, and making this place my home, even if its only for a short while, and that she hoped I was meeting people that would become close to me. The timing of this card was actually perfect. I thought about it, and this place really has become more of a home to me than I ever would have expected. There are people here that mean so much to me, and saying good-bye to them is going to be really difficult. Though, there is comfort in the fact that in a few months I get to come back to the people at school, at chuch, and at work that make my life so enriching while I am here.

This is going to be a busy week full of saying farewell to alot of people who have meant so much to me this year and have made Minnesota so dear to me.

Starting this morning... I'm off to church. Only 4 more days in Mankato.

Travel Plans

2007-04-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

10 days and counting until I leave for Alaska and I'm starting to figure out where to stop where to stay and how on earth I'm going to spend 4 days in a car! I've heard the drive is amazing!

Tentative Itinerary:

May 4th: Mankato to Regina, SK
May 5th: Regina, SK to Hinton, AB

Then I'm going to spend 6th in Hinton hanging out with a good friend from Grad School.

May 7th: Hinton, AB to Muncho Lake, BC
May 8th: Muncho Lake, AB to Haines Junction, YT
May 9th: Haines, AK!

The Last American Frontier

2007-04-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

The countdown is officially down to 15 days. Oh geez! I don't know that I'm totally prepared for what I am about to go do, but I'm getting there.

I was chatting with a friend of mine from High School when I was back in Chicago over Easter and was talking to him about Alaska. He was saying how he has thought for years that I was born a century too late. That I would have loved to be a part of the exploration of the US, traveling in wagon trains and exploring the untouched woods of the great west. He said that Alaska is perfect for me, it gives me that chance to stretch out the explorer in me.

The more I read about Alaska the more I hear people talking about it as the Last American Frontier. This is an arguable point, i realize, but all the same, its completely foreign to me. I don't just want to go to Alaska, I need to go to Alaska. I need to be 23 and do take advantage of the life that I have before me. I think there is something to be said for putting roots down and really becoming a part of some place specific, but for now I know I'm not ready for that. To put it proverbially, I still need to figure out what kind of soil I can grow best in.

Anyway, I've been trying to get in a bunch of paddling to get ready to spend a summer on the water (or at least that's where I think they are going to have me for most of the summer). Yesterday I was out paddling on the Minnesota when this awesome little beaver popped up next to my boat. He was awesome, we moved along in the river for a little bit together, me padding and he diving for something under the water and then he went on his merry way. Sometimes even on the rivers right along the highway you can find little treasures.

T-minus 28 days!

2007-04-06T21:59:00.000-07:00

Holy nut! It's less than a month til I leave for AK! I'm getting super stoked. Even went out for a paddle the other day on the Minnesota, but it was like being on a river treadmill. There was some serious current going on.

Anyway, the offical departure date from MN to start heading north is May 4th! Which means I should be in Edmonton by the 5th and in Skagway on the 8th in time to drive into Haines and start trip prep stuff on the 9th!

School is winding down, and the conference for work is in two weeks... which means I'm ramping up training and reading to get me ready to be leading trips in a whole new climate, environment, and with a brand new company. Gosh I love a good adventure. My friend Hoover says I have the spirit of a frontiersman. I love it.

This is where I am going to be living when I'm not in the field. My awesome portable apartment that my grandfather got for me. Complete with "no see em" netting so I don't get carried off by all the little black biting things at "night".

More pre-Alaska stuff soon!

Alaska Bound

2007-03-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

I think most people know about this by now but... I got a job working for Alaska Mountain Guides this summer leading sea kayaking trips out of Haines, AK! I'm so stoked!

I'm going to be mostly working for the International Wilderness Leadership School teaching on 12-24 day sea kayaking and moutaineering trips. Then between those longer trips I'll be working for Alaska Mountain Guides guiding sea kayaking, climbing, and hiking trips for commercial clients (tourists from cruise liners and such).

The tough part is that my first trip goes out May 13th. So I need to be leaving MN on May 5th. Ikes! Goodness knows I need the break from all the flatness of MN!

I have no idea if I'll even have internet while I'm up there, but I'm hoping that between trips and such I can post up-dates, stories, and pictures of the trips here. Check back for more!