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adventures / Alaska / friends / photo / weekend — Comments Off
31
May 14

Puppies! Err, Visiting Denali, Day Two

We booked a tour at Husky Homestead, home of Jeff King, the four-time Iditarod champion, and his many dogs. At first, I was a tiny bit skeptical. Learning about the Iditarod would be interesting, but Jessica and The Yankee were more interested in seeing the puppies.

They did not disappoint. And they’ll win you over. Cuteness follows. You step off the shuttle and they thrust dogs right into your hands:

Those puppies are all about six weeks old. We’re told we are a part of their training. We’re socializing the animals. They should be paying us for our help!

This is Chase, he gave us the general idea of the place, introduced us to a few of the 60 or so dogs there, including a couple of champion huskies and told us about their general life with the mushmaster. Some turn into competitive sled dogs, others get passed along to a more domestic lifestyle. For now, they’re all pulling stuff. In the winter they drag a sled. Right now, as we were there, they hooked up nine or 10 to a four wheeler and the dogs ran like the kibble bowl was on fire. The rest were loudly jealous.

The short version: they’ve got it pretty good.

This dog is already a champion, and at a young age. King said she could be one of the best ever before she’s done.

This one is a couple of months old. Each litter is given a theme name. This litter is named after Jeeps. This is Cherokee. Or Wrangler. Hard to keep them straight:

King has a nice patter as he talks about running the races. I have some video of this I’ll be putting together in the next few days. Be sure you come back to check it out. It is informative and entertaining.

In the afternoon we went out riding four wheelers. There’s a large parcel of land that abuts the national park that is private land. The story goes there was a coal operation there when the park was federalized. And that was in a time when the government wouldn’t just snap things up. So the mining continued. When that played out, the land stayed private, and now there are ATVs.

And this guy is our guide. What could go wrong?

He was good, a personable fellow, a fine guide. He didn’t drive fast enough.

He took us up close to views like these, though:

We saw the train on our way back to the lodge:

More mountains:

And a moose — unconcerned on the side of the road. I walked to the center line on the road before the moose would worry about me. That’s, what, 15 feet? Not a bad evening find.

Tomorrow we head back to Anchorage and, much later tomorrow, back to the lower 48.

adventures / Alaska / Auburn / Friday / friends / iPhone / photo / video — Comments Off
30
May 14

Visiting Denali, Day One

We are visiting here for the weekend, which requires a drive about four hours north of Anchorage.

That means that just over … there … somewhere … is Mt. McKinley, the highest point in the country. Jessica drove us to Denali because Adam is on his way to France for work. Some kind of life, no?

The drive was, of course, beautiful. Lots of verdant scenes dotted by small towns and pure-Alaskan wide spots in the road. We saw some wildlife, but not the bigger animals we were seeking:

Also, there are mountains.

I’m taking a lot of pictures of mountains. I’ve noticed. But I’m not the only one:

Today we took a hike alongside the Savage River, which we saw at an elevation of 2,780 feet. Here’s The Yankee:

Perhaps she was taking pictures of a small thing:

Here’s what the hike looked like:

The water, snow melt that was probably 15 minutes old, was perfectly clear.

The rock formations through this little valley are some of the oldest on the continent. The Outer Range of the Alaskan Range are thought to be somewhere between 600 million to more than a billion years old. That little river is believed to be even older than the mountains.

The rocks feature schists, blended ribbons, of quartzite, mica, slate, marble, greenstone and phyllite.

OK, fine, one more mountain shot.

Oh, last thing. We had an Auburn family reunion today. I put the picture on my War Eagle Moments blog. I also met a nice lady from Birmingham as well. She goes to church, she said, with some of my Samford colleagues.

It is a small world, even in big Alaska.

adventures / Alaska / friends / photo / Thursday — Comments Off
29
May 14

People shots – Alaska

We’re getting ready for another big trip tomorrow, so today we ran errands in Anchorage, ate at an incredibly healthy restaurant, wanted more food and doing laundry. Even the laundry in Alaska is an adventure. I suppose it could be, if you were living off the grid or in some place where you have to get water hauled to you — such places exist.

We used a brand new, modern washer and dryer that communicates with the Mars Rover. If you leave your clothes in the dryer for too long it automatically re-starts them, so they don’t get wrinkled. Even the laundry in Alaska is an adventure.

So, instead of scenic shots, today’s pictures will be of people.

Adam, when he isn’t doing his normal 14-hour work day, has been driving us around:

You can see why he’d want to:

The Yankee at Chair 5 Restaurant in Girdwood:

And here she is in Seward:

Right outside our lodge, just outside of Seward:

They’re all checking out this glacier, which is calving right in front of us:

Did you see the video of that I made?

Our wonderful friends and hosts and tour guides — Jessica and Adam:

We’re having breakfast. I should take more shots like this, I think:

The cat. He is heavy, but cuddly:

Tomorrow, we head to Denali.

adventures / Alaska / photo / swimming / Wednesday — Comments Off
28
May 14

We saw two moose

Today we swam (I got in a mile in a military pool) and hiked in two different places, in search of wildlife. We made a fine sight calling out “Heeeeere bear, where are you?” We did this all day, first on a three-mile hike.

Our second hike was a six-miler, and the more successful of the two, on the South Fork of Eagle River trail. We met four dogs there. And saw scenes like this:

We crossed streams coming off glaciers and headed for nearby lakes.

We walked on this nice, clean, new trail:

And stared at mountains to our front, left and right.

On our way back we rounded a curve in the trail and saw:

I got to within about 25 yards of them before they started walking away.

Having gotten my shots, and feeling lucky to not make the mother charge me, I left them alone.

We finished our hike, now we need to see some bears.

adventures / Alaska / iPhone / Tuesday — Comments Off
27
May 14

Extra Alaska

After four days traveling up and down the Kenai peninsula we had a rest day in Anchorage. To hold you over until the next big adventure here are just a few of the things I haven’t published yet. This is an interactive shot from the hike to Exit Glacier near Seward. Put your mouse in there and move it around. It isn’t perfect, being from a free phone app, but it’ll give you some atmosphere:

Like that? Here’s one from yesterday at Glacier Lake near Homer:

Here’s a panorama from Seward. Click to embiggen:

Here’s a panorama from the beginning of the hike over the Saddle Trail to Glacier Lake. Click to embiggen:

I mentioned the tiny strip of land at the end of the peninsula we stayed on in Homer. Remember, I wrote how the water can, sometimes, come right up to the hotel? Our room faced that water, and here’s the view. Click to embiggen:

Tomorrow: the search for wildlife continues!