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Fireweed in Valdez
I had the opportunity to go sea kayaking with the group to a tidewater glacier today, but I chose to stick around Valdez instead. I have taken this kayaking trip before and it is amazing, and I am sure I would have had a great time with the group paddling on such a beautiful day, but I was happy to enjoy some the blue skies and sunshine at a mellow pace by myself today. I had a few things I needed to do for camp...restock the ice in the coolers, shop for a few supplementary groceries, fix a wire on the trailer lights. Then I caught up on a few personal things...calls to the family, paying online bills, mailing some letters and packages. In between I soaked up the sun, sat on the river bed, hiked a short trail and gathered wild fireweed flowers. The flowers are blooming all over Alaska right now coloring the roadsides and vibrant fuchsia. I stood in a field of flowers a foot taller than I stood while I harvested them with my pocket knife. When my arms were full I exited the patch of flowers and you could not even tell I had been there as there were still so many remaining. The flowers now stand in my rubber boots in the back of the van awaiting the drying process so I can use them for future projects.
The evening ahead includes dinner out with the group, a drive to watch the spawning salmon at the river mouths and hopefully the bears who come to feed in the area, a few late night camp duties to get ready for the following morning and then hopefully a bit of time chatting around the campfire.
I woke in an incredible mood this morning and have been enjoying the emotional high all day long. Tomorrow we leave for McCarthy where we will camp along the Kennicott river at the base of two glaciers and Mt. Blackburn. I really enjoy spending time in McCarthy and hope that this incredible mood will keep me energized for the upcoming days!
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Another week for another adventure
Another week and the start of another trip. I picked up six new guests this morning, all traveling to Alaska for the first time. As with most groups there is a wide range of ages, back grounds, home countries and more, but the commonality of our upcoming journey together breaks through those differences quickly and conversations came naturally as we spent the afternoon together.
This trip began with a five hour ferry trip through the Prince William Sound where we watched sea otters floating through icebergs in various shades of blue, dall's porpoises zipped playfully through our wake and while I napped on the upper deck four humpback whales entertained the rest of the group and fulfilled several dreams of seeing whales in the wild.
Together we dined on a meal I had prepared the night prior (pasta primavera in a light cream sauce, grilled chicken breast, mixed greens with pecans and dried cranberries and garlic bread) and now as I write we are pulling into the Port of Valdez. After a quick beer run we will head to our campground to set up home for the next two days and celebrate one of our campers birthdays, which is today, with sweets by the campfire. I am excited for the upcoming week and look forward to the adventures in Alaska ahead!
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Rejuvenated
I returned to base camp last night and after a mellow day here today getting ready for my next trip tomorrow. I did most of my "flip over" work of the gear and van cleaning last night. Goose also returned from a trip last night and the whole crew, including the bosses six and three year old daughters (incredibly adorable girls!), helped get his rig/gear/food flipped for him to leave again this morning on another trip. We quickly focused on the chores at hand as we were looking forward to have a little bit of free time together. After all was done and we had enjoyed a wonderful home cooked meal we left to take a walk through the neighborhood. The sky was still light at 10pm and the wildflowers were in full colorful bloom, standing taller than I in areas. We soaked in each moment trying to make the most of the little time that we have together this summer.
Goose and I are both guiding for Alaska Outdoors this summer and since the peak of our busy season, and for the next upcoming weeks, we are running back to back tours headed in opposite directions across this huge state. Our super busy days and limited phone service make it hard to connect often and we have only been seeing each other for a few waking hours at base camp in between trips. Those hours have become very cherished by both of us. We are enjoying what we are doing and we are so appreciative for our time traveling Alaska, but we are also anxious and excited for the end of our season so we can spend more time together adventuring. We will also be able to reunite with his dog Shilo in the fall, who we (especially he) miss terribly. We have been living and traveling together in a 1975 Toyota Chinook pop-up camper since last fall up until our drive to Alaska this spring, and the recent time apart has been tough. We are maintaining an appreciation for the now, but also looking forward to the future!
I awoke with Goose early this morning to see him off and then was able to go back to sleep for a few more hours. The day was then spent doing a few chores and errands, catching up with my friends over the phone, packing up for the trip tomorrow and cooking a dinner for the following night on the ferry with the new group. I would love to stay up late catching up on more "home" things but I need to head to bed soon as I have an early morning and a busy and hopefully adventure filled trip ahead. I am feeling rejuvenated tonight and looking forward to see what this next week will bring.
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Long days
Yesterday was another long day. I had tried to prepare myself for the day ahead, even taking a nap on the incredible whale watching glacier cruise we had taken on a small boat the day prior and then going to bed fairly early in anticipation of long day I knew I had coming, but no matter what, the travel day from Seward to Denali always kicks my butt.
I awoke in Seward at 6am after a restless night sleep in a hotel where the early rising fisherman intermittently stirred me from my slumber starting at 3:30am. After a group breakfast at the restaurant next door we loaded into the van northbound for Denali National Park. The skies were cloudless and blue in Seward, our fifth day in a row of beautiful weather, but as we headed further north we began to experience the rain and clouds that had been predicted for the area. After nine hours on the road we pulled into Denali, the group ready for a short hike even in the rain. As they hiked I picked up our campground reservations, wilderness tour tickets for the following day and made confirmations and reservations for the upcoming activities for the weekend. I then picked the group up from their hike, where they encountered a moose with her calve, and we drove further into the park to set up at Savage River Campground.
The rain lightened for us enough to allow a fairly dry set up of camp. After setting up appetizers I made an ice run to replenish the "bar" and ice chests that were in need after a couple of days in the trailer and returned to serve some hot tomato soup while we waited for the lasagna cooking in the dutch oven. The rain continued to pour down on us creating rivers and puddles around our tents and wet clothes and shoes for most of us whenever we moved out from under our kitchen shelters. Hot food and hot after dinner drinks helped to keep us warm. We discussed the plans for the following day in the park, packed sack lunches, did dinner dishes and packed away camp into bear proof boxes and the trailer. Once everyone was settled in bed close to midnight I set up my tent quickly and crawled in completely exhausted from the eighteen hour day.
The rain never let up during the night but as we rose for breakfast at 7am we did receive a short break from the moisture in the sky. Once the group headed out for their wilderness tour in the park I finished the breakfast dishes/clean up and crawled back in bed to catch a couple more hours of much needed slumber. When I rose a bit later, feeling much more refreshed and in a much better frame of mind, I headed towards the visitors center and cell service range in order to finalize reservations and activity options for the following days. The drive down the park road boasted views of the surrounding mountains with a fresh cover of snow from the previous night and expansive tundra dotted with sparse trees all illuminated by the occasional sun peeking through the clouds that still moved across the sky. I marveled at how much I appreciated a little sun after nothing but dark clouds for even only a brief period of time.
I now sit at the campground mercantile to use the free wiifii and will return to camp soon in order to make a birthday cake for one of our group members and to meet them for the night we have planned at the local brewery for dinner and drinks.I am excited to hear about their trip into the park and hope they have many wildlife photos and stories to share with me. After dinner hopefully we can return to camp early enough to enjoy cake and conversation by the fireside as this will be my last night with the group and I have really enjoyed our time together. I will drop them at a park hotel tomorrow for their final few days in Alaska and I will return to base camp to ready myself and equipment for another camping tour across the state leaving the following day.
It is the peak of our busy time of year and I am starting to feel the affects of the past twenty five long days of work without a break, yet I am still trying to maintain a balance of positive energy and constant appreciation for each moment of every day. I truly do love this life.
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Lunch Break
Lunch break at Lower Russian Lake. I took the group, a family of three generations, to the falls to watch the sockeye salmon spawning in the river and then we hiked an additional three miles to the lake where we are now lounging on the beach after lunch. Some of the group took the canoe that is at the lakeside forest service cabin out for a paddle on the glass like waters while the rest of us are napping on the dock and gravel at the waters edge. The sky above is a cloudless blue, loons on the lake edge echo their haunting call across the water and four bald eagles are circling overhead climbing higher and higher into the sun filled afternoon sky.
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Amazing Alaska
My work week began with a ferry ride across the Prince William Sound. A five hour boat ride amongst spruce and boulder covered islands with dramatic cliffs that dropped to the ocean below, intense blue icebergs bobbing in the waves, whales that lunged for food in the rich waters and sprayed into the sky in the distance, otters that napped on their backs floating through the seas and stellar sea lions that sunned themselves under the blue skies. I was traveling with a group of nine campers and together we lounged on the back deck of the boat, slathered in sunscreen, constantly rising to take photos of the glaciers and breathtaking mountains that created the backdrop of an already amazing paradise.
We arrived in Valdez in the evening and set up our tents on the green grass in front of the waterfall that flowed through our campsite. We gathered around the fire until almost midnight never exactly sure of the time as the sky was still light from the sun that lingers for most hours of the day.
The next morning I set the group off for a full day of sea kayaking, a little disappointed that I was unable to join them due to a full boat, but content knowing I would have future opportunities to paddle at sea and excited for them to have this experience on yet another beautiful day in Prince William Sound. I spent the afternoon doing a few camp chores, reading and napping in my hammock and catching up on some computer time in the library. I met the group in the evening and after dinner out we spent some time looking for bears and watching the thousands of salmon fighting their way up stream to spawn. The night ended around the campfire and then I climbed into my sleeping bag under the open sky next to the waterfall.
Day three we drove north on the Richardson hwy through steep canyons, past towering waterfalls and over a large pass stopping at glaciers and other beautiful sites for many photo opportunities. In the afternoon we walked across the bridge at the Copper river and began our 59 mile drive down the bumpy dirt road that dead ends in the very, very small town of McCarthy. McCarthy and the old copper mining town of Kennicott are set in the Wrangell St. Elias National Park, with over 13 million acres of pure wilderness only accessible via plane or the one dead end road that we were traveling . It is home to approx. 14 local residents in the winter and it my very favorite place in Alaska.
We set camp on the edge of the Kennecott river at the base of two glaciers and Mt. Blackburn which towers behind the glaciers at over 16,000 ft in elevation. The following day in McCarthy some of the group headed out on the glacier for exploring in crampons and ice climbing some of the sheer walls while others headed out to climb a mountain on a nine mile hike to an old mine site.
After the group were all on their way to the days activities I got to fulfill my dream of seeing the enormous wilderness that is Wrangell St. Elias national park from the air. As a guide I get the amazing perk of enjoying the activities in Alaska at little or no charge and more than anything I had wanted to go flight seeing in this breathtaking place. I boarded a small Cessna plane and flew with the pilot to the town of Chitna where we picked up four other passengers. We then returned to McCarthy where we proceeded to take the most mind blowing aerial tour of huge mountain peaks, enormous glaciers, ice falls and uninhabited forests that stretched far beyond where we could see. The trip brought me to tears of happiness and left me speechless. I am so incredibly grateful for each moment of my life, but the moments spent in the air over this wild place brought my gratitude to a new level.
I look forward to the rest of the week I will spend with this group as well as the rest of the summer I will spend guiding and playing in Alaska. I am sure I will have many more incredible moments but I imagine this experience will forever hold a special place in my heart.
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No kitchen needed
I love to cook. The wandering lifestyle that I now lead leaves me without a kitchen to indulge in my culinary passion so I have had to find new ways to fulfill my desire to create meals that do not come pre-packaged.
On the camping trips that I guide I cook all of the meals and have access to four propane run burners which allow me a lot of cooking creativity on the stove top. My latest outdoor cooking tool obession however has been the cast iron dutch oven.
Last season I was introduced to this method of cooking and prepared many lasagnas, mexican casseroles and brownies for my groups. Then in the fall I purchased my own small dutch oven to use on the road and since that time have been experimenting with many new recipes.
The concept is fairly simple. Heat the cast iron from below as well as on top and bake as you would in an oven at home. Using charcoal is the quickest and most consistent form of heat, but cooking on a wood fire also works.
During the spring as I traveled around Alaska with my boyfriend Goose and our friend Not Ryan (many of my friends are known by nicknames or trail names) we decided to try a new dutch oven recipe every day. Most recipes were successful, cookies however were not. Our successes included biscuits and gravy, a variety of muffins and cakes, chili, hash brown and egg casseroles. Our favorite experiment however was a bacon lined baked macaroni and cheese. We covered the bottom of the dutch oven with strips of bacon and then filled the dish with a pre-cooked macaroni and cheese (we used Annie's deluxe brand) to which we added more crispy bacon, fresh spinach, sautéed garlic & onions, then we topped with shredded cheddar. The bacon on the bottom made a crispy crust for the rich and creamy macaroni dish. I have since made variations of this dish, including vegetarian versions and all have been amazing! Tonight I experimented with the double high stacked dutch oven cooking method... lasagna in the bottom cast iron and brownies in the top dish with layers of charcoal in between. I was impressed with how the tower looked and even happier when both dishes turned out so well.
Goose recently purchased a cast iron deep dish pan with a lid that can double as a skillet. He has made a couple of great breakfast dishes with his new kitchen toy. We hope to continue to grow our cast iron collection, although will need a living space larger than our current tiny mobile home in order to house the collection that we dream of someday owning. Until that time we will enjoy experimenting with the cast iron that we own and the ever increasing list of dishes that we would like to try and make.
Cooking over a campfire has always been an extremely enjoyable experience. Cooking in cast iron is a tried and true incredible tool. Combining the two to indulge my culinary passion has been a lot fun and I am super excited to continue to create new tasty delights to share with others, no kitchen needed!
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Another day on the job
An nine hour drive from the Alaska coast in Seward to the interior of Alaska at Denali National Park. It is a drive I do almost weekly, a drive I have done more times than I can count and it is just another part of my job as a Guide. At the end of the day I am exhausted, especially after an early morning to set up breakfast, a mid day lunch break, arriving at night to set up camp, cook dinner and get everybody lined out for the following day of activities. At midnight I finally crawl into my sleeping bag, too tired to even be bothered with setting up a tent. Yet I still linger here at the edge of the lake and marvel at the colors of the sky as the sun dips behind the horizon for just a few hours. A full rainbow brightens the clouds behind me and touches the mountain top in the distance. The wind makes the quaking aspen dance overhead. I reflect on the conversations enjoyed with the people I have been spending the week with. People who have traveled here for a vacation that they will always remember, one that hopefully exceeded their imaginations. A journey that perhaps they have dreamed of for many years. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this journey with them and to be a part of these memories that they will cherish.
Even though as I lay in my bed knowing I need to be up in five hours to cook breakfast, and my body aches, and my head throbs I am still overwhelmingly happy that I can call this my job.
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Genesis Hike
It has been decided to name the short "weekend" backpacking trip that Goose and I squeezed into our two and a half days off in between guiding camping tours "The Genesis Hike". The genesis of my re-entry into the blogging world, the genesis of Goose's commitment to re-enter the world of YouTube videos, the genesis of our adventure lifestyle and future in Alaska, and even more specifically the genesis of the decision to plan our most recent upcoming adventure trip, hiking the Hayduke Trail. I'm sure I will be getting into great detail about that upcoming hike in future writings, so for now I will focus on the hike I am currently enjoying, the Genesis Hike, on the Goldmint trail in the Independence Mine area of Alaska.
I returned from my last guiding trip on Wednesday night. Goose and I turned over all the gear, washed the van/trailer, did some laundry, showered and were on the road just after 11pm, the night sky as bright as the early evening. After a beer run we headed for the mountain area behind town and were soon camped at the trailhead for the night. The next morning over coffee we realized in our haste to leave base camp Goose left his backpack behind. Although we could have continued with just his daypack and without his hiking clothes we decided to return for the pack as well as a few other things we could pick up while in town. After the town run we returned to the trailhead, baked some macaroni and cheese in a bacon lined cast iron dutch oven over a wood fire, packed our packs and got on trail around 6pm.
The mild trail meandered along the banks of Little Suisitna River, through fields of multi-colored wildflowers, and deep into a canyon surrounded by glacier topped cliffs and steep rock faces. We marveled at the beauty along the way, enjoyed the opportunity to hike at our own quick paces, stopped to observe the beaver dam lined and pools with large lodges and beavers busy working mid-day oblivious to the sun as they are lacking the typical nocturnal part of their brain this far north. We chatted most of the hike and when we fell silent we hollered out the occasional, "hey bear!" to warn the possible critters in the woods of our approach. When we reached the end of the canyon we worked our way up the left side and found a huge squishy tuft of tundra grass where we set up camp for the night.
The original idea for this hike (I approach most aspects of life with only ideas vs. plans to keep options flexible) was to follow the Goldmint trail to an saddle in the mountain range to the left, cut across the saddle and join with the Archangel trail which we would then follow back to the road leading to where we had parked. However the following day after a leisurely morning enjoying our camp spot and coffee we realized that we had hiked too far the previous day, at least to be able to easily return to the car the following day in order to return to work by noon, and would have to remain in the area and return via the Goldmint trail the next morning. With less pressure to not have to bushwhack over a mountain ridge this day we set off on a climb for an afternoon of adventure. After climbing to the top of a waterfall we settled in next to the river hot from the climb and the intense Alaska sun. We had a picnic by the water, drank our ice cold beers we had chilled in the stream and lingered in the sun. Later in the day what we had thought to be a totally isolated mountain top was interrupted by two hikers cresting the ridge below us just in time to disturb some naked hippie napping in the grass. We decided to pack up our bags and head back down the ridge line to find a camp spot for the night.
We again dined by the river and then stashed our bear can and other smelly items away from both our dinner spot and our tent. We returned to bed where we read out loud to each other for a little while (we are just finishing Edward Abbey's 'Monkey Wrench Gang') and then fell asleep.
We had to rise early the next morning as we needed to be back at base camp to work that day. We used an alarm (typically not allowed on my backpacking trips) to rise before the sun and after coffee we headed down the mountain side to find the trail we had left behind a couple days earlier. After returning to the well beaten path we had a beautiful morning hike to start off our day. We spent much of the time on that morning walk discussing our upcoming plans for the fall hike and our dreams for even farther in the future. No matter where each day takes us I know it is likely to always be an adventure.
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