State Fair

Hiddy Ho!

I didn't update this earlier but last weekend I went to the Alaska State Fair with the usual suspects.  We left Saturday afternoon and headed for Hatcher Pass which is by Willow Alaska.  It's an unpaved road similar to the Denali Highway.  It goes through some former gold mining areas and has some amazing views.

We've absolutely lucked out with the weather this August.  The sun's been shining and although the temperatures have been crisp anything beats the rain!  Saturday night we camped along Willow Creek and we were actually awake when it got dark.  It's been getting darker earlier and earlier.  Right now it's 9:40pm and the sun's gone which is by far the strangest feeling.  We have grown so accustomed to the light that you really notice the darkness.  The nice part is that I was able to get off 1 star trail photo before some clouds rolled it.  It's not the greatest one I've ever done but hey at least I got one!

The next day we drove over the summit of Hatcher Pass and stopped at Independence Mine and walked around the complex.  It was a very active mine that is now shut down but had an entire community at the site.  They had housing, a school and shops along with the actual mine itself.  It was a really pretty spot overlooking the valley.  After hanging out there for a while we moved on to the State Fair in Palmer.  On the way there we stopped off at the Musk Ox Farm.  None of us felt rich enough to pay the $8 entrance fee so we just popped our heads over the fence and got a quick gander at the arctic animals.

Then is was Fair time!  We pulled in and the first thing we did was check out the giant vegetables.  These things were HUGE!  Two cabbages at least 2.5 feet in diameter.  I took pictures which hopefully display their size.  I wonder how do you get your vegetables to grow that large?  What do you feed it?  Is it just luck of the draw?  And in Alaska no less!  They have such a short growing season the fact that they have the time to get it so big is impressive.  After that we wandered the booths looking for unique artists and souvenirs.  I was a bit disappointed in the limited number of local artists present.  There were tons of booths but it seemed for every 1 local artist there were 5 cheap import tents.  I still managed to spend all the cash I took out though, I know surprise surprise.  I treated myself to some classic fair food, corn dog, kettle corn, roasted corn on the cob and the most amazing berry lemonade ever!

I ended up walking away with a chinese hat (mostly for rain protection and possible halloween costume!), an alpacha sweater, stones for making necklaces out of and some fudge.  We were all tired and overwhelmed by the crowd.  It's really hard to go from Denali to a large city again.  We're not used to be pushed and stuck in masses of people.  I know that's going to be really hard to get used to again when I leave. 

We headed out of the fair to Knik lake were we camped in front of a bar.  Apparently that's the only public camping on the lake.  For the first part of the night we were treated to cars leaving, drunken karaoke and Harley's revving up.  Then on Monday we wandered around Wasilla for the morning while Steph and Alex's car got an oil change before we headed up the Houston, Alaska.  In Houston Alex fished for Salmon on the Little Susitna River.  He didn't end up catching anything but I enjoyed laying by the river and getting a little sun.  I also enjoyed taking photos next to the large ice cream cone at the general store.

We then headed back for Denali to try and make the Employee Appreciation Dinner which was also celebrating Christmas in the Park.  We arrived 10 minutes before it was over and I learned that I was chosen as Employee of the Month for the front desk!  That was a nice treat and I still have to figure out what I'm going to use my gift certificate for.

I've already posted all the photos for the Hatcher Pass/State Fair trip so you can check those out at this link.

For the last week I've been finishing up work, today was officially my last day of work. I am heading to Kantishna tomorrow on the bus for my last trip into the park.  The colors have just exploded here and I'm eager to get some more photos before I leave.  I'll leave Denali on Tuesday and head to Anchorage where I'll spend the night.  After that I'm going to Seward again for 2 days to kayak and hike before flying from Anchorage to Burbank on Thursday night.

This summer has just been amazing and crazy in so many ways.  I'm happy to be done with my job but so sad to have to say goodbye to these people.  They have been my saviors this summer in more ways than one.  My travel buddies have always kept things interesting and exciting.  My co-workers have done the same for the front desk.

I will post again from Seward and probably from Anchorage as well.  So keep checking out the photos and leaving comments! 

Updating the Update

Ok so I caught up on my photos, so please check them out and leave comments if you like anything.  It boosts my ego and I can never get enough of that! 

George's Visit

Dad's Visit

Denali Highway

Chena Hot Springs

Updates

Howdy Everyone!

Well i've got just two weeks left in Alaska and as much as I have loved this summer I'm getting ready to be done.  I think I've reached the end of my enjoyment of community living.  I'm so ready to not have to walk outside to go to the bathroom or worry about waking up the person sleeping below me.  I've gotten so much out of this summer and I still have a couple adventures left before I leave.

My visitor's have come to an end and I loved having both of them here.  We had great times and saw some great stuff.  I've uploaded some photos, I'm a bit behind right now but hopefully will be all caught up by this Saturday.  We're heading to the State Fair on Saturday afternoon and will be gone til Monday.  Monday the 25th will be Christmas in the Park which sounds like a lot of fun.  Here are the links to the latest photo uploads, I hope you enjoy!

Driving in the Park

Go to the last part of the set to see the latest uploads

Chena Hot Springs

George's Visit

What do you want out of life?

Well today brought an end to Dad's visit in Denali.  We had a great time together.  He arrived on the train on Thursday and as soon as I saw him I was in tears.  I can't help it, I'm Daddy's Little Girl through and through.  We had a great 4 days together, relaxing talking, getting out into the park and fishing.  It was raining the first full day he was here but then by God's grace Saturday cleared up and we had a GORGEOUS day in the park.  We saw lots of animals and hiked around the Eielson Visitor center in 4 inches of snow!  Dad got to see bears, moose, caribou, dall sheep, foxes and even 2 wolves!  Sunday the rain was back but it was perfect for fly fishing.  We both imporved our techniques and got a couple of strikes.  I think Dad enjoyed smoking his cigar with a fly rod in his hand more than anything else.  We also went to the dinner theater show here which was a lot of fun.  Earlier today we did the dog sled demo in the park and checked out the visitor's center before he got on the bus at 2:30 to head back to Anchorage.

It was so sad to see him leave.  I can't even tell you how nice it was to have a familiar face around.  We spent a lot of time discussing the next upcoming event, a visit from my ex-boyfriend.  He arrives on Wednesday and to be honest I'm completely conflicted about how I feel about it.  I know we'll have fun, cause we always do, I just don't know if I will get what I need out of it.  I've spent this summer trying to sort through the happenings and feelings of this past year.  Now I'm left knowing what I want and need but not sure I can get it from this relationship. 

The one thing I have wanted more than anything else in my life has been to fall in love with my best friend and find my partner in life.  I have been blessed to have been raised in a house with two people who still can't keep their hands off of each other.  They've showed both my brother and I how to be partners in life.  I guess I've been a late bloomer compared to most and have ended the most significant relationship of my life.  I don't know what the future holds for me, I wish I had some glimpse of what God wants for me, it would make this part so much easier.  I have faith that all will be for the best I just want to be done with the painful part.  I have learned how to laugh again and not take life too seriously this summer.  This past year has by far been the most painful and stressful I've endured since we moved to Minnesota in 6th grade. My sense of self and sense of humor are still intact and know they will remain so.

Life always throws you curve balls and never turns out how you planned it which is probably why you shouldn't plan your life to throughly.

Denali Highway

Howdy folks! I'm sitting here at the bike shed with it raining outside so I thought I could spare a few minutes to update my blog. Last weekend I went on a road trip up to Fairbanks and back across the Denali Highway. The Denali Highway is a 130 mile section of road that is only paved for about 25 miles. It used to be the only road that got you to Denali National Park before th George Parks Highway was built. It's supposed to offer some of the most amazing views and chances for wildlife.

We started the trip by heading north to Fairbanks, we stopped and checked out the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. It's a recent building that is very abstract in it's design. The design is said to reflect the apline shapes of Alaska's scenary. It's an all white building kind of similar in effect to the Guggenhiem in Spain. After that we headed back to Value Village to try and discover more thrift shop treasures but alas I found none which is probably for the best as we all know I have enough crap already! It was Alex's birthday as well so we stopped by Wal-mart and picked up some party supplies. Since he was the token boy I didn't want to get girly stuff so I picked up THE bluest cupcakes I've ever seen and some Transformer masks. In the parking lot of the Wal-mart we sang happy birthday in our masks. Only Ashley and Alex ate cupcakes right away and thier mouths and teeths were completey blue for a solid hour!

Per Ashley's request we made a stop off in the town of North Pole, Alaska. This town IS Christmas 365 days a year. The street lamps are white wrapped in red stripes and it hosts the largest Santa in the world! It's main attraction though is none other than the Santa Claus House. Think of it as Wal-mart but just with Christmas stuff. We went in hoping to have our picture taken with Santa but as it turns out Santa's days off were the same as ours! We wandered around and took some pictures and each bought souviners. It was hard not to be happy once you started looking around because it felt like Christmas inside. I learned that when children write to Santa at the North Pole this is where they deliever the mail! And apparently they have people who answer many of the letters. We of course took lots of pictures and then headed on our way.

We headed south on the Richardson Highway which is east of Denali. After about 30 miles or so we were treated to our first viewing of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline. It really is an amaznig thing to see. This pipe is 1,500 miles long and about 4 feet in diameter. The pipeline has it's own suspension bridge at our first viewing site. It popped up along the way for the remainder of the day and each time it seemed to be in a new configuration. We saw a Bald Eagle sitting in a tree near a rivier which is always awesome to see. We finally set up camp around 8:30 at a pullout called Flood Creek. We stayed right next to the creek which was really loud. With all the rain we've had all the creeks and rivers are higher. I got some great long exposures of the water and rocks which I'm really excitied to get edited and posted.

I managed to get too close for comfort with the creek though. After dinner I went to pump some water with my new filter that Dad gave me. I was walking along an edge that was eroded away and it went out from under me. I ended up in the dirt on my elbows but then I got on a rock where I was going to sit and pump the water. I manged to slip drop my filter and tubes. The filter went into the river but was caught by a current that brought it back under the very rock I was standing on. I bent down trying to find it but I couldn't then it popped out in the middle of the river! I stuck my foot all the way into the FREEZING water so I could grab it before it went down stream. I walked back to the campfire with no water and sopping foot. Needles to say my friends found it pretty funny as did I. We had just been talking about how nice it was to have dry feet on our days off, well it was nice for them at least!

The next day we drove down to Paxson which is where the Denali Highway begins. We didn't know what to expect for road conditions with all the rain and people's stories of flat tires. Basically everyone that we'd talked to had gotten a flat tire on the Denali Highway. The Denali Highway was really neat but the weather didn't do as we'd hoped. The previous day had been partly cloudy with broken clouds which we had hoped would happen the next day as well. Unfortunatly we got low clouds and drizzle for most of it. A lot of the awesome views were hidden by the clouds but we still got to see some neat stuff. We encountered our first porcupines! I'm sorry I didn't videotape this but if you've ever seen one run it's just about the funniest thing ever. The waddle when they walk and they just can't run, they try bless thier hearts but it's more like 3 legged trott waddle than anything else. We also saw a beaver right next to the road hanging out on a rock next to some water. I wish I could tell you what the last part of the road was like but unfortunatly Steph, Ashley and myself all managed to pass out and leave Alex to the driving (Sorry Alex!).

We were really proud of the fact that we survived teh Denali Highway with no flat tires! We figured that people were probably getting flats from not driving slow enough on the road. The conditions were a lot better than we expected. If you're ever in Alaska and have a car you should take a drive down the Denali Highway.

In just a few hours Dad will be arriving on train and I can not wait to see him! I can't believe I've almost been here 3 months. There are rumors of snow everyday but I'm mostly looking forward to seeing the colors change and a possible viewing of the Northern Lights! Hopefully I'll get the photos from last weekend and the Denali Highway posted soon I'm going to edit them today and then upload them. Keep leaving comments and make sure you're checking out the photos!

Ahhh Hot Springs, Burr Tors!

Another two days off brought another adventure!  This past weekend there was a Bluegrass Festival in the small town of Anderson Alaska.  Steph, Alex and I headed up on Saturday afternoon after work to meet up with friends and check out the music.  We were just at the festival over night and part of Sunday morning before heading to our next location.  We had opted not to spend the whole weekend at the festival and instead make our way north to Fairbanks.  None of us had been north of Denali Park yet so it was a new adventure for us.  We Passed Fairbanks and headed towards Chena Hot Springs which is Northeast of Fairbanks.  

It's been at least 3 months since I have sat in a hot body of water and could not wait to slip my body into the hot spring.  Driving down Chena Hot Springs Rd we passed at least 4 moose right off the road with their heads deep in the water eating the grass. I got a picture of the first one we saw.  We pulled into the Hot Springs Resort around 3 and went immediately to the rock pool.  After surviving probably the smallest changing room ever we got into the pool.  An amazing 107 degree sodium and bicarbonate water heaven greeted us.  This was my first time in a hot spring and I loved it!  The water was really hot and in spots it got even hotter.  There was a neat fountain in the middle that rained cool water on you so you could stay in longer.  Even with the fountain though I had to get at least 3/4 of my body out every 10 minutes.  After relaxing for a couple of hours we headed out to make dinner and find a camp spot.  We all agreed that we wanted to come back later on so we found a dinner spot nearby.  

Steph, Alex and I have started inventing our own backpacking food creations.  Usually consisting of some kind of flavored rice mix, ramen and whatever else we have in our packs.  That night we came up with chicken rice + oriental hot and spicy ramen noodles = goodness!  I had also bought a loaf of bread and so yummy dipping oil at the festival so we had that too along with some white wine.  We were sitting on rocks on the side of a pullout keeping away the mosquitos but still managed to have a classy meal! After dinner we went back to the hot springs for a few more hours.  Then we drove back down the road and made camp near the Chena River.  

We had decided earlier that day to spend all day Monday hiking on a trail to see some large Granite rocks called Tors.  It's a 15 mile round trip hike so we packed up enough food and water and headed out.  Unfortunately the rain came in about 4 miles into our trip.  Like all the weather we've experienced so far we figured it would blow over and possibly come back.  As we continued to hike and gain in elevation the weather worsened to full out downpour.  All of our jackets were saturated with rain.  We felt as though we were making good progress towards the halfway make were there was a shelter so we continued on.  Then we saw the mile markers which were always a good mile shy of where we thought we'd be.  By milepost 6.2 instead of saying "hey bear" we started saying "hey shelter!"  Finally Alex spotted it and to our delight it was completely enclosed and had a wood-burning stove with wood!!!!! 

We were able to get a fire going and make some lunch.  Then out of nowhere the Tors appeared through the mist just ahead of us.  It was really neat seeing them and finally getting to the main attraction of the hike.  I got some pictures of them through the mist which was probably cooler than seeing them in the sunshine.  They have a very erie quality about them, the shapes and color and rough edges poking out of the mist.  After getting our jackets "dry" we headed back out again to finish the hike.  Our feet were soaked instantly but we were in much better spirits.  We hiked towards the Tors and were yelled about by a pair of Voles protecting their home in a crack on the rock.  

We finished out the remaining 7 miles of our hike in good spirits, and not quite as wet as we started!  The hike was really pretty for many different reasons.  In 2002 a wildfire went through the area and we were actually hiking through the burned sections.  It was really awesome to see how it was recovering and the process of a forest's recovery.  When you see the pictures you'll see a lot of black trees which are all burned from the fire.

After our hike we headed back to Fairbanks for the night to treat ourselves to something none of us had had in several months, fast food!  I know it's the not the best reward but let me tell you when you're hiking 15 miles in the rain uphill a Western Bacon Cheeseburger from Carl's Jr sounds like heaven!  After enjoying our meal we went to Wal-Mart to do some shopping.  I really don't know how I'm going to adjust after this summer is over to normal life.  Wal-mart was incredibly overwhelming to me and I found myself completely lost as to where to go or what I needed to get.  When you're so far away from things like that for an extended period it's hard to remember how to manage them!   After the shopping trip we headed for the campground in the middle of Fairbanks.  It was still raining so at 1am, in relative darkness and pouring rain we had to set up our tents.  It was really more of a speed challenge than anything.  My tent was still soaked within 30 seconds but hey I was speedy!  

The next morning we headed out to find some thrift shops Alex and Steph had researched.  We found Value Village close by and for the first time since May I actually went clothes shopping!  The selection as we suspected was interesting, here we are in the middle of the largest states and almost one of the most remote, the clothes were all over the place.  I found a couple of things I really liked, one of which is a Military sweater I purchased for $5!  

Arriving back in Denali we discovered that they had received just as much if not more rain than we did over the weekend.  This week has been a little crazy as a result.  Until yesterday it rained for 4 days straight!  The river rose about 20 ft and was surging so we stopped running one of our rafting trips for safety reasons.  Then the northbound train to Fairbanks was shut down because of a landslide on the tracks.  It's still shutdown because the tracks are flooded about an hour north of us.  There were also some rock slides on the park road at Polychrome Pass as well.  Needless to say the front desk has been busy correcting rumors.  We've been under a flood watch for the last week now but yesterday the weather cleared up and we're all crossing our fingers it stays that way for awhile!  This summer has been one of the coldest and rainiest on record.  I've done my best not to let the weather stop me but I would really enjoy hiking without my feet soaking wet for a change.

This weekend Steph, Alex, Ashley and I are going to try and do the Denali Hwy.  It's a stretch of unpaved road south of us that's supposed to be amazingly beautiful and full of wildlife.  I'm pretty excited about that. Also yesterday there was a job fair with other seasonal employers looking for winter workers.  Both Sugar Bowl and Northstar at Tahoe were there.  I put in applications for Ski Instructor positions as well as Ski Patrol.  I really don't know where I'll be or what I will be doing after September but if it includes skiing on a regular basis I will not complain!

I can't believe that it's already August too.  My summer is half over and it's becoming clear here that summer's on it's way out.  The nights are getting significantly darker, last night we saw our first stars!  The colors are getting ready to change too.  I can't wait for Dad to get here on Thursday and show him everything!  Keep leaving comments I love reading them!

Backcountry

Well I finally did it! I went backpacking in the park! It's taken 2 months for me to get a trip orgranized but I finally went. It was a great trip, unlike any backpacking I've ever done. In Denali there are no trails so where you backpack you are making your own trail. It's hard to get used to because you're not supposed to walk in a straight line because that will eventually create a trail. The rangers work very hard to keep this park as wild and pristine as possible. We started out in Section 34 just past the Eielson Visitor's Center at mile 66. We hiked along Moose Creek to the edge of Section 33 where we had reserved our camping permit for. It took us 4 long hours to get to the ridge but we were rewarded with an awesome camp spot. We had also been really lucky on the bus out too, the wolves here are very hard to see because there are not a lot of them. Alex had been talking all morning about just wanting to see a wolf and the mountain and he'd be happy. About 2 hours into our ride a woman spotted a wolf in the woods and we were able to watch it for awhile. We were all really excitied and happy about that spotting until an hour later when we saw another wolf walking down the road!!! It came within 5 feet of our bus at a nice trot and I got a great picture of it. That by far made the trip a success before we even broke trail.

We rode the camper bus out which is specifically for people heading out to camp, it will drop you off at any location along the road. Our driver has been driving in Denali for 31 years and was a wealth of knowledge. The bus system in Denali is probably one of the coolest thigns I've been able to experience here. If you ever come to Denali make sure you ride a VTS shuttle and talk to the drivers they are amazing people with a lot of information to share.

Hiking to our site was rough because it was through wet tundra which soaked all of our feet within 15 minutes. Also going uphill on tundra is exhausting because it's like walking on a sponge. You go to step up and instead all of your energy is absorbed into the ground. Once we got to our campsite we spotted 4 bears in the area. They all were pretty far off and didn't come towards us so we ate dinner and watched them graze for a bit. We were all pretty exhausted so after a couple of card games we called it a night. We woke up to rain and clouds which was too bad because Sunday had been a really pretty day with broken clouds and sunshine. As we made breakfast I spotted 3 bears, a mother and 2 cubs, we had watched them last night but this time they were much closer. We cooked and watched them for a bit. Then 2 Caribou crossed the cubs path and startled them which was really fun to watch. Then the bears started to move towards us and we retreated to our tent site. The seemed aware of us but after about 30 minutes it was clear they weren't going to come and shake our hands any time soon. We packed up and headed out but it was a tad nerve racking to be as close as we were to them and try not to cross thier path on the way out. The hike out was nice, mostly downhill and on a river bed. We were acutely aware of potential bear areas and doing our best to avoid them. After having lunch we had to cross a river and ended up stumbling upon a bear carcass. That was by far the most unsettling experience of the trip. The bear's skull and claws where laying ontop of a pile of skin and fur which was on a strange pile of branches. We opted not to exlpore too long because the site looked more like a kill site than a place where the animal laid down and never got back up again. We hustled out of there and hiked along a canyon river to an opening where we met up with the park road again. The next day we returned our bear can and told the ranger about what we found. She said it looked like the bear had been dead for awhile but if anything killed it it would have been another bear and then they would have stashed the meat under the branches.

All in all the trip was awesome, I got close enough to bears but not too close. The Denali bears as Alex puts it, "are really friendly." Which they are because the rangers work so hard at keeping them wild and not exposed to human food.

I hope you all enjoy the photos of the trip. I've changed how I am posting the photos, I am now making each trip a set so you can view them in order if you'd like. Once the photos are posted I will add a direct link at the bottom of this post that you can follow to see the photos of just this trip. Hopefully tonight I will have those photos posted for you all to enjoy!

Click here to see the photos from Backpacking!