So to quickly update and refresh the the memory of the future me, who will undoubtedly rely on this blog as a reference when writing my autobiography...
I spent the last two weeks working on the Carter Lake Trail and we what some might call a bit of summer. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds just long enough for me to skinny dip in two lakes on two separate occasions. It also peeked out long
enough to
exacerbate my cow parsnip exposures on my arms and neck to the point of small blisters! Not only that but the sun's rays almost convinced me that I wanted to stay in Alaska forever and explore its every nook and cranny, but five minutes later, lightening ripped the sky and let out a torrent of rain strong enough to wash away small pebbles and create flash floods on the trail. I do love a lightening and thunder storm though!!
Carter lake trail held all kinds of surprises for us. First of all, the trail is much like the "M" trail for about 1 hour and then it opens up into this high alpine plateau that is ringed by peaks, peppered with goats and sheep. So every morning we had a real treat of a hike during which I did a lot of thinking and reflecting and day dreaming and poem
memorizing. I can now recite the Cremation of Sam McGee and The Shooting of Dangerous Dan
McGrew by Robert Service. We were doing basic maintenance work on the trail such as brushing, clearing ditches and constructing drainage dips. One morning, a cow moose and two
calfs bolted down the trail as I was hiking up. I jumped up the trail as the skittered to a stop and we came to a bit of a stand off as we both waited for the other to pass. Eventually, I was able to get far enough off the trail to convince them to pass by. The next day, I spotted a grizzly bear rooted around in a campsite across the lake from me as I ate lunch. He moseyed on to the lake shore and jumped in and splashed around. I can only assume he was fishing for the
greyling that they stock in the lake. I watched him for about two hours until he started moseying my way and I decided to clear the area. I also saw a bull moose tramping along the hill side above where we were working. At some point when the rain set in again, my crew sunk into a pit of
despair and bad feelings so I made sourdough pancakes for them during a lunch break on my
camp stove. It was fun but didn't really work. I made cupcakes the next day and that didn't really work either.
However, after work has been a joy as always. Highlights have included
canoeing on
Kenai Lake with my
dormies and hollering at the cliffs with all our might to summon our echoes as well as a lively dinner at a coworkers house with his wife and two dogs. He goes by many names:
Equipment Dave, Mountain Dave, or if you're me, you get the two confused and combine them to equal Machine Dave, or if you're Kurt, you call him Mountain Dew. Either way, when the shit hits the fan and the revolution happens, I am going to Machine Dave's place because he has everything from a composting toilet to semi automatics and a garden. His wife cooked up a
scrumptious meal all in cast iron while we sipped bud lights and watched his dogs root around in the garden. His house, which he built with his own two hands doesn't have running water or electricity and is lined with stuff. So much stuff, and random too, but all interesting and I had to look at it all! Dave is a sweet old guy that wouldn't hurt a fly but he is part of a motorcycle gang and tells stories of being in the military and the like and I get the feeling that he has a crusty rusty past. He always has a huge smile for me and a lot of stories though. At one point, he brought me a bunch of books about strong frontier women!
Let's see, some other highlights include volunteering for Stream Watch on the Russian River, hiking to
Caines Head and watching the chum salmon run up the delta and fishing for pink salmon on Resurrection Creek out of Hope. I went with Claire and Dave and they showed me the basic art of snagging salmon. Some salmon, reds and pinks included, don't eat while they are spawning. You just have to hook them in the mouth as they swim upstream breathing. The river was thick with these amazing creatures. Some had developed huge disgusting humps on their backs as they began the rotting process. It wasn't too difficult to snag a fish. In fact, any idiot could and was doing it on the river that morning. Landing the fish was a little more difficult and I barely managed to get my limit of three by the time we left. Feeling high on my pink fishing success, I tried my hand again at fishing for reds on the Russian River the next day and failed miserably. The second run has been really low and hasn't gotten too far up the river. That was my big mistake...instead of fishing the lower river, I hiked a trail three miles up and fished down from there. It was low on fish but high on scenic beauty, so I won't complain.
I proceeded to deal with fish all week as I embarked on the process of smoking the pinks I had caught. You have to soak the fillets in brine overnight (I used apple juice, salt and brown sugar), let them dry and form
peliculil on
their surface and then smoke them. I borrowed a shitty smoker and had to smoke my fish for something like 20 hours including overnight and had to replenish the smoking tray every hour or so. All the fuss and sleep loss was worth it though because my smoked salmon is very tasty!
I took a hike up to a very scenic lake with all of my
dormies one evening after work and ran into two folks from my crew and
their 4 dogs. So there were twelve of us stampeding up the trail and infringing on some poor
kayakers solitude. There was an old mining cabin up there and was fully stocked with peanut butter and maple syrup. I don't know why the bears haven't ravaged the place.
I spent last weekend fishing and hiking. Kelly's family took us out on Resurrection bay in their little 16 foot boat and we fished for silver salmon. Unfortunately they forgot the bait. Fortunately, it was a BEAUTIFUL day and the mountains and vibrant colors were out in full force. I basked in the sun and
ogled the
scenery completely content to be out on the water. We caught a small
rock fish and a small silver salmon with lures but threw them both back.
We had dinner at a
Greek restaurant in Seward where the solo canoe guy from Grant lake was our server!
Later, Kelly and Caroline and I lived it up at the Yukon bar where
Nervis Rex was playing some ska goodness. We danced our heart our with a couple of commercial fishermen from Homer. Then, on the ride back home we stopped at a pullout to look at the stars-my first Alaskan star sighting!
I went hiking to Fuller Lakes with Kelly and Cassie and we were stormed on again. I love lightening and thunder, they conger up such energy! I made a salmon quiche for my
dormies that evening and continued smoke fish.
I went back to the Russian River to get fishing for reds right and actually caught two after being ran off the river by a brown bear for a half hour or so. The place is a death trap for bears. 9 have been killed there by
fisher-people or fish and wildlife service. This little bear was minding his own business, looking for fish carcasses and all the
fisher-people cleared out of his way. I wanted to stay well out of his way but I also didn't want to let him out of my sight because I didn't want to walk into him. After foraging at the fish cleaning tables he ambled across the river from me and proceeded down stream. After that, I learned a few tricks from my fellow
fisher-people and landed a beautiful chrome colored red and then a
humpy ugly red colored red which I had to throw back. They are not good to keep once they have changed from chrome to red.
As it stands now, I shall continue my random adventures, perhaps go fight a fire in the states, but maybe not, and slog through work until I am done at the end of September.
The Missoulians of Seward RD, Jenny, Shannon and Rachel
Harding Icefield
Vally of Mount Alice
Michael and Mount Alice
A trail project just outside of the main Seward RD office building
