Old Crow Medicine Show

Busking for tickets
Bread from spent grains
Dunkleweizen

FOD steam roller print

Carving pumkins

Camel on my bikeride

Fishing on Flathead Lake with Dad and Isabella

Fall in Missoula is about to wind down. But it has been nothing but sunshine for the past month...glorious. I attempted fishing Montana style with my dad and half-sister. We got skunked but Isabella and I got in a good skinny dip and we feasted on smoked salmon that I caught in Ak.

I made my way to Seattle to visit Sarah Patrick and went on several really cool and really long bike rides. I saw a couple of camels, yes camels and figured that they must be rotting away in the wet and rainy pacific northwest climate. I spent Halloween there and had several different pumpkin ales from several different local breweries and found them all to be wonderful. My favorite was the Great Pumpkin, an imperial pumpkin ale for the Elysian. Sarah and I carved pumpkins and then later carved them up again for a pumpkin soup. It may or may not have been a hit with her family.

When I got back to Missoula, I jumped into the Festival of the Dead activities and stayed dry in the pouring rain with my new rain jacket. Some friends of mine got so cold during the pre parade performance and the parade that they ducked out before the dancing in Caras park. I stayed warm and dry in my jacket!!!! If you know me at all, you know that this is quite the anomaly. I am the "reptile," the one who is always cold. On another note, for the first time, I was a spectator instead of a dancer in the FOD. It was fun but a bit sad. Later, I won my first silent auction bid and I won about 12 postcard size skeleton steam roller prints. I was more than happy to win them as well as support next year's FOD.

I brewed a dunkleweizen with a recipe that I formulated myself!!! I put a lot of stress and worry into the concoction. There is a lot to think about such as water pH and mineral content, types of grains used and at what temperature you mash them and what hops to use and when to add them as well as what yeast to use as whether or not you should prime them...and the list goes on and on. I finally settled on

Diabolical Dunkleweizen

7 lbs dark wheat malt extract

1lb Chocolate malt

1lb Belgian Pale

1lb Munich Malt

2 oz Hallertaur hops

wheat beer yeast

Then I made bread, flour and granola from the spent grains. The bread with spent grains and spent grains flour was awful. The bread with white flour and spent grains was great as was the granola. A friend of mine brought over about 25 lbs of spent grains from his wee heavy Scottish ale and I made three more batches of granola: Cinnamon, chai and pumpkin.

Perhaps the most notable occurence in the past couple of weeks was last Saturday when the Old Crow Medicine Show came to town. Their tickets sold out months and months ago and second hand tickets have been impossible to find. So Crazy Lisa and I spent half the day with signs around our necks that said "will pay and sing for OCMS tickets." We planned to camp out in front of the Wilma two hours before the show and play Wagon Wheel with her mandolin and my guitar until someone sold us a ticket. We started the evening at the Top Hat, however, because a friend had tipped me off that the band had hung out there before their previous show in Missoula. We sat around the Top Hat with our signs and instruments and had a lot of sympathizers, some looking for tickets others who had tickets and still others who thought we were brave as can be to offer to play for a ticket. They bought us beer. No tickets though. At around 5:30 we went to a friend's bon fire to practice and while there Joy's roommate sold us two tickets. We were so happy and relieved to have tickets. However, I still wanted to follow through with our plan just for memories and perhaps to get a tickets for friends who were still looking for them. It was really cold but we set up in front of the Wilma and played Wagon Wheel over and over. The folks lining up to enter had a grand time listening to us and singing along. No one seemed to catch on to the fact that we were looking for tickets and we saw many tickets exchange hands but no one approached us, the cute girls actually showing what big of fans we really were. Finally, we were overcome with cold and excitement and we entered the show. We missed a couple of songs but had a great time nonetheless. They only played for about 2 and half hours and so we had a lot of evening to kill after the show. While filling up our water glasses at the Old Post, I spotted two members of the band having dinner. I grabbed Crazy and we thanked them for coming to Missoula. They thanked us without even looking up. Wow, way to foster good fan relations. While on the way back to our table we ran into a third member and we thanked him as well. He greeted us with sarcasm and then ducked into the bathroom. But no matter, I still love them!!

Concord grapes, swiss chard and garlic and squash and carrot soup with cilantro...all missoula grown!

K.C, my cat
enough pears to produce a gallon of juice
from left to right: pear, apple, grape

one of the PEAS farm pigs, my dad's pigs' sibling


My cats, K.C. and Tunes

I have been home for a week or so now and have collected quite a bit of fruit and veggies from my various and sundry hot spots. I spent and evening canning pickled beets and salsa. I have been experimenting with different grape jellys. I pressed 3 gallons of apple juice, one gallon of grape juice and one gallon of pear juice. I made cyser, a sweet apple honey wine, with some of the apple juice.

We brave the wind...

My sign with a plea for a ride
Kimberly, who met everyone on the ferry!

Matt dropped me off at the Skagway ferry terminal Friday evening in the rain. I had to call him back because my water bottle had escaped into his truck. When I finally had all my belongings and my boarding pass, I got on the ferry and quickly found the solarium, a covered, heated area on the top deck of the ferry where the young, or at least the restless, camp out. The solarium has windowed walls on three sides and is open to the rear. It is water-tight, for the most part and their are lots of chairs and reclining deck chairs to sleep on. I set up a place right under a heat lamp. From Skagway to Juneau there were only 5 of us in the solarium. One person had set up a tent on the deck in the open and it was getting pummeled with rain and wind. There were a lot of folks that got on in Skagway and Haines that were ferrying to Juneau to fly the rest of the way home. I explored the ferry and took in the views. However, I had boarded the ferry in the dark and their wasn't much of a view to be had, plus it was raining hard. I cozied up in my sleeping bag fairly early.

The ferry docked in Haines at 9pm Monday night and left around 11 pm. We reached Juneau at 3 am and left at around 5 am Tuesday morning. I wasn't really too awake but the next morning, there were a lot more people and tents on the upper deck. I wandered the ferry, drank a lot of tea, walked laps, looked at the scenery, read and chatted with fellow passengers. By the time we reached Sitka at around 2:30 pm, I had met several interesting people. Ferry passengers who were interested in going to Sitka could pay 10 bucks for a round trip shuttle bus. So most of us did and were given a fairly good bang for our buck; 24 miles and a lively driver who filled us in on all the local gossip and history. My friend Chris and I found a run down bar with black and white photos of boats on the wall and hung out there for an hour before we had to shuttle back to the ferry.

The ferry ride to and from Sitka was really pretty. The channel was fairly narrow. As you can see on the map, the ferry must go three hours out of its way to get to Sitka so we spent most of Tuesday just getting to Sitka and back to the main route. I hung out at the bar that evening with William and Jen, the bar tenders and a couple who had worked as fishing guides in Cooper Landing. William had the latest Journey video so we watched that for a good while. Sunday morning was beautiful and I spent most of the day wandering about the ferry. By evening, I had met a good contingent of folks on the ferry and we were all in the same boat, literally. We had just finished up a season of summer work and were headed to the next thing; gypsies and wanderers all, we came together easily and freely and opened ourselves more truly and genuinely and for those remaining hours on the ferry, we were the best of friends. About 10 of us ran wild on the ferry, playing music and singing, dancing and laughing, flying kites and playing hackey sack. We were all near each other in the solarium and shared our food and spirits. We were all traveling alone, we had all just said good bye and were turning our heads to the new horizon and wanted one last way to commemorate our summers, one last epic hurrah before moving on. Transitions are subtly taxing. Saying goodbye is never easy, nor is saying hello. But the emotions are masked by the elation and excitement of leaving; leaving behind the stuff you didn't like and leaving for something new while everyone else continues with the old. The excitement of having had a great time and knowing that you made it that way.

The ferry made stops in Wrangall and Petersburg during the night. I did get up and make a call to Sarah at Petersburg because she spent her own epic summer working at a cannery there. We arrived in Ketchikan Wednesday afternoon and were able to get off the ferry and explore town. My posse and I headed for the nearest bar because at this time of the year, after the last cruise ship has left port, nothing else is open. I felt a little stir crazy and so left my pals at the bar to walk furiously around the town and stretch my legs. The company on the ferry was sure great but the lack of space to move around was a little difficult to deal with. Back on the ferry and moving, the wind picked up and the waves swelled. We were going through open sea and we walked around the outside of the ferry and tried to fly in the wind at the prow. Someone flew a rainbow colored kite and it flashed festively in the setting sun. That evening I danced my heart out.

After leaving Ketchikan, we made no stops until Bellingham;36 hours straight. I had made a sign that said I needed a ride from Bellingham to Missoula that I wore around. A logger from Florence offered me a ride. As the ferry approached Bellingham Friday morning we were scattered...packing up, trying to close up business, say goodbye, organize rides. And as quickly and as easily as it had started, so it ended. We all went our separate directions. Harvey the innovator and thinker...on to a new documentary. Mark and his guitar...to Port Townsend and then what? Chris to Utah to do some ski patrol and Kimberly to Arizona to woo m ore men and just be awesome. Darren, Mary, Bear and the others...off to do their thing and then there is the banjo player who taught me Wagon Wheel on both the banjo and guitar. I hope he realizes what a gift he has given me. I hope all of my ferry folk realize how wonderful it was to not be alone, how wonderful it was to sing and dance and chat and how wonderful it was to be with a gypsy band once again!

Kassiks Brewery

Kenai River Brewery

A finished mural from a past festival.

This year's mural in progress

Seward, Anchorage, Tok, Haines Junction, Whitehorse, Skagway

Matinuska Glacier

I own the empty town of Skagway

Skagway Brewery

September 24

After Mom left, my knee began to really bother me. However, that didn't stop me from dragging Lilly up Slaughter Ridge a couple of times and on several long walks. However, my knee pain worsened and I decided to take a day off to visit Kassiks Brewery (80 miles away) and Kenai River Brewery (60 miles away). Kassik's Kenai Brew Stop is housed in a small warehouse, nestled in a clearing in the woods, adjacent to the Kassik’s home in Nikiski 20 miles outside of Soldotna. The head brewer's passion for brewing began when his wife Debra, bought him a home brew kit for Christmas. Frank was hooked and soon became a proficient home brewer. They decided to make a business out of it and in 2006, opened up their doors with just one beer, Beaver Tail Blonde. The wife, who is in charge of accounting, marketing, distribution and kegging, gave me a sample platter and chatted with me as I tried each beer. She said that they have put a lot of work into the brewery and have enjoyed a lot of success. They have people coming all the way from Anchorage (over 200 miles away) to fill up growlers or get kegs and they distribute all over the peninsula and the Greater Anchorage area. They are very clever in naming their beer. For example, Four Play Ale is described as a flavorful light summer ale with a lower ABV of 4.8% that you can enjoy with all your outdoor activities. They also have Dolly Varden Nut Brown Ale which is named after the brown trout that is commonly fished in this area. They also have the cleverly named Caribou Kilt scotch ale and Morning Wood IPA. My favorites were the Honey Hefeweizen as well as their Dunkleweizen. I took a Sobe bottle home of this style. I also liked the Rough Neck Oatmeal Stout.

I went to Kenai River Brewing Company, which is located in the heart of Soldotna. Their beer names are inspired from the world famous Kenai River and Russian river fishing holes. I was not at all impressed by this brewery. This is mainly because I am not a huge fan of the styles of beer that they focused on and also because they completely blasphemied the very name hefeweizen. They have a beer that they call Honeymoon Hefe. It is described as a true marriage between German and American styles. Light and refreshingly made with 45% wheat malt, then cleanly fermented to yield a crisp, almost pilsner-like beer that is refreshing, somewhat fruity, and ideal for a summer's afternoon. In order to understand what a debacle they have made of this beer you need to understand what the difference is between a German and an American Hefeweizen.

According to the Beer Judge Certification Progam style guide, German Hefeweizens should be "a pale, spicy, fruity, refreshing wheat-based ale using Weizen ale yeasts. These are refreshing, fast-maturing beers that are lightly hopped and show a unique banana-and-clove yeast character. The version “mit hefe” is served with yeast sediment stirred in. This means the beer is often cloudy instead of crystal clear. Bottles with yeast are traditionally swirled or gently rolled prior to serving. By German law, at least 50% of the grist must be malted wheat, although some versions use up to 70%; the remainder is Pilsner barley malt.

American Hefeweizens are described as refreshing wheat or rye beers that display more hop character and less yeast character than their German cousins. They also have little to no banana or clove flavor. Clean American ale yeast is used and the yeast sediment is filtered out. Like German styles, a large proportion of wheat malt (often 50% or more, but this isn’t a legal requirement as in Germany) is used in the grist. Pyramid and Widmere both make this style of beer.

Kenai River Brewery tried to hybridize these two styles and came up with something like a botched Pilsner. It had little to no wheat flavor and zero banana or clove flavor. It was clear as glass and pale as the moon. It tasted a bit watery and had no yeasty body. They would have been better off calling it a German Pilsner rather then getting our hopes up with the word Hefeweizen. They also disappointed me with their 5 different styles of Pale Ales and India Pale Ales. I just can't wrap my taste buds around such strong hoppy beers. I did like their Scottish Ale and would approve if they continued to brew that one as is...

September 26

Katie came home! Or I should say, Katie finished up her 10 week detail in Wenatchee Washington and returned to her true duty station, Seward Ranger Station. That is the good news the bad news is that she came home the very evening that Matt and I had planned to drive to Skagway. I convinced Matt to leave a day later and this allowed for a lot more fun! First of all, Carolyn came over to to Cooper Landing and made dinner with me and helped walk Lilly. Then we drove to Work Center and picked up Katy and Matt and then went to one of the season's last bon fires. I hadn't really been at work so I can't attest to how slow things were but, at this point in the season, all the college kids have left and the only folks hanging on are the ones who want to make as much money as they can before the winter sets in and they won't have a job or any source of income.

It was fun to catch up with both Carolyn and Katie as well as some of my co-workers. I hadn't been at work for two weeks and felt fairly out of the loop. However, with Kassik's Sobe bottle of Dunkleweizen in hand, I felt I made a good run of it all. We had a huge sleep over at my house and I spent all night smoking fish. Ah yes, smoking fish again. Wade left at least 20 sockeye fillets behind in the boy's dorm's freezer. Matt and I decided to smoke them up and cart them down to the States with us. However, Matt doesn't know how to smoke and we didn't have the time or the resources to have him learn so I spent the better part of my nights and evenings smoking fish.

Carolyn, Katie and I bummed around the next morning, made pancakes, walked the dog, got coffee from Wildman's and cleaned house. Then we went to the Seward Arts Festival. The festival was a lot of fun and had good music, fun artisan booths and an activity area with hoola hoops, juggling balls and scarves and stilts. The festival takes place after the last cruise ship has left port so it is really oriented at the locals. Every year, an artist designs a mural and creates a kind of giant paint by number that community members paint over the course of 3 days. The murals are displayed permanently on downtown buildings. Past murals include the Mount Marathon race and tributes to mining heritage and the rail road. This year was designed by Ed Tussy of Homer to commemorate the Kenai Fjords. It is a sea scape with all kinds of marine animals.

I spent much of the evening outside in the parking lot with my friends and co workers listening to them play on their various instruments. Mark and I reminisced about the old days in Montana and gazed at the stars. The clear night and the energy in the air as well as the crisp cold hint of winter really made me feel as though everyone was having their last hurrah of summer, saying goodbye, recognizing the transition. Matt, Katie, Carolyn and I slipped out without many goodbyes. It is easier that way and I felt both sad and elated as we drove home.

September 27
Matt and I began our drive to Skagaway early the next morning. It had frosted during the night and the warm weather or yesterday was a faint breath in the crisp morning. The fall colors were vibrant to the point of pulsing and the blue sky was a sort of banner of surrender: "okay, it can be cold and fall like, but I will remain brilliant." As Matt and I drove north towards Tok, the fall season became more and more advanced. The yellow leaves of trees dropped to the forest floor and eventually the temperate rain forest of hemlock, spruce and aspen gave way to the muskeg of Dr. Suess-like black spruce and bare aspen trees.

I got speeding ticket in Glenallen. May I just say that there are moments when a speeding ticket is well deserved and that there have been many moments in my life when I have willingly and knowingly sped and would have accepted a speeding ticket as a punishment and a reminder to drive more prudently. However, on this occasion, I had been driving for all of two miles on the 55 mph highway. I noticed that there were some buildings and I was thinking to myself, I wonder if this is a town. I wonder what I should slow down to? Where is a speed limit sign? Hmm...maybe you don't need to slow down, I'm going to anyway? This is what I was thinking as Trooper Duce turned on his lights and proceeded to slap me with a 85 dollar ticket and a 500 dollar no proof of insurance ticket. Where is the love? I know how annoying it is to have someone speed down your main street. I am not some mindless out-of-towner who just wants to get from point A to point B. I am a small sympathizer. I wanted to slow down, your signage sucks. Try doing it like Moose Pass; lost of signs on the side of the road as well as painted on the pavement. It's impossible not to get the hint. Your one sign two miles outside of town is not adequate. I wasn't even driving when that sign went by.

However, let us not let the entire post be sullied by my mistakes. I put on Float On by Modest Mouse and my anger blew away with the breeze. Well, not entirely but I'll leave it at that. We stopped in Tok for lunch and then pressed on towards the Canada border. We started noticing snow on the ground just before passing US customs and were in a genuine snow storm in the no man's land between custom ports. It was 9:30 by then and Matt didn't want to drive anymore so we pulled over, leveled the truck out and set up camp. Actually, we just climbed into the back of his truck, which is fully outfitted for camping in. I thought I was going to be really cold but Matt had all kinds of blankets and a little lantern which really heated the place up. We woke up to 3 or 4 inches of snow. We drove through the winter wonderland with the Wrangell mountains beautifully laced to the South. We passed easily into Canada and made our way south. As we drove south, the snow melted away and the leaves flew back onto the trees and the weather warmed. In Haines Junction we loaded Jesse's mix on Matt's ipod and we got a healthy dose of alt country, old western and blue grass. We made our way to Whitehorse and I coaxed Matt into driving through the downtown areas. We found the local brewery but it was closed.

Just North of the USA border, the forest and landscape changed. There were fir and pine trees as well as igneous or granite like rocks. I was so excited to see the pine trees after miles and miles of dilapidated black spruce that look like an inebriated bottle brush. Shortly thereafter, we arrived in the fjord town of Skagway. The place was dead to the world and silent as a stone. Skagway is a bustling cruise town in the summer, alive with tourists and cutesy shops and ice cream. However, the last cruise ship of the season had disembarked the night before and everyone was taking the day off...everyone that is but the local brewery and Matt and I headed there to check it out. There beer was not particularly memorable except for the stout, which I had but a small sip of before Matt guzzled it all.

We stayed at a friend of Matt's that night and we went walking along the shore the next morning. At first, we were just enjoying the quiet and the solitude of the morning ocean. But we quickly realized that we were not alone. A humpback whale was surfacing just off the point and we watched it in awe and listened for its exhales and quick inhales. As we continued walking, we were joined by no less than 8 orcas. One had a particularly noisy exhale and sounded as though it had a horrible cold or that it was really really angry. I like to think that it was screaming ANGRY every time it exhaled. Matt liked to imagine that he was frustrated that he couldn't get a female whale to give him the time of day.

Matt took me to the Ferry terminal that evening and I triumphantly made my up the ramp to my home for the next 5 days.

"What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing?- it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-by. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies." — Jack Kerouac

I am home...

September 8


I worked for a week with a pipe-pounder named Big Red down at the Russian River. The pipe-pounder is, true to its name, big and red and deadly. It big because it is and it is red because someone spray painted it that color and it is deadly for many reasons. It's integral feature is a heavy rope that holds a 350 pound weight that becomes frayed and worn due to heat from friction on the pulley and the spinning head. It is deadly because that 350 pound weight is repeatedly hoisted high above our heads by the fraying rope and then drops with all its might on the 10 foot pipe that must be pounded into the rocky-as-all-hell river bottom. It is deadly because the 15 ft boom to which the pulley is attached is made of aluminum and bends and warps with each hoist of the 350 pound weight. It is deadly because the rope is coiled around a spinning head and the human hoisters could be caught in the rope and the spinning head. It is deadly because it spouts diesel exhaust. My last day of work was September 11 and during those 40 hours we pounded 15 or so pipe. There are 50 more to do. I am not sorry to leave this machine of death and destruction. Nor am I sad to leave the dark dank dorm of doom. I will spend the next two weeks house and Lilly sitting in Cooper Landing for a couple of Stream Watch Volunteers. Lilly is a tough 13 year old cocker spanial who snuffled into my suitcase and devoured 7 energy bars.


September 13



Mom came to visit and we had a lot of fun. We hiked more than 86 miles in the 9 days while she was here. It seems as though I saved the best hikes for last and the weather was glorious. Fall has reached us here on the peninsula and the colors are stunning. Every morning the snow line creeps down the mountains and every day the sun burns through the clouds and the bright blue sky sits in amazing contrast to the yellow and orange leaves. Each hike that we did was unique in its own way. I think I will post pictures instead of words.




Day One: Matt, Jennie, Kelly, Mom and I had lunch at Sleeping Lady Brewery. I remember liking their beer but I was too distracted to really pay attention to the quality or style of the beer. I had an amber I think. It was good and I took the pint glass! Then Matt, Mom and I braved Best Buy on PFD check day. I had to pick up my computer from the Geek Squad and it was madder than the day after Thanksgiving. We wrapped up the Anchorage trip with a stop at Midnight Sun Brewery where I bought a growler full of authentic German hefeweizen. Yummy!

Sleeping Lady Brewery

Midnight Sun Brewery

Day Two: We took a boat to see Portage Glacier and then we took a train to see Spencer Glacier. Carolyn was our friendly USFS representative on the 4 mile round trip hike. She kept us in line and on time to catch the train for the return trip.

Portage Glacier

The Alaska Railroad

Shasta the high-fivin' husky

Spencer Glacier Whistle-stop

In awe of Spencer Glacier

Day Three: We hiked to Bench and Johnson Lakes on the Johnson Pass trail. We saw six bears (three black and three brown) from afar.

Johnson Pass

Day Four: It rained and rained and rained. But we didn't let that stop us as we hiked to Crow Pass and Raven Glacier. The rain and the rising and lowering clouds seemed to make the experience even more surreal than it already was. The rain put my new event rain jacket to the test and it proved itself over and above the competition. I stayed dry to damp while mom became soaked in her gortex.

Raven Glacier as seen from Crow Pass

Day 5: Many of my coworkers had recommended Devils Pass as one of their favorite trails. It was not a disappointment in the least. We left the tree line after three miles and hiked in the alpine for the next seven. Wave after wave of migrating cranes passed overhead and scenery and weather were splendid.





Day 6: We hiked to Lower Russian Lake. This hike holds a special place in my heart because I actually worked on this trail. At the beginning of the season we used ATVs to haul gravel load after gravel load up the wheelchair accessible trail to fill in the washed out areas. We also replaced several culverts and used a tamping machine. Lower Russian Lake is also where Katie and I first encountered the elusive and mysterious Moo Chirp and where Rachel and I helped the Cabins Crew demolish the deck of Barber Cabin. A spur trail leads to the Russian River Falls and this is where you can see salmon jumping. It intermittently sprinkled rain and had the sun shine so there were a lot of rainbows in the air!



Day 7: The last time I planned to do this trail, I got way-layed because there was still a lot of snow in the higher elevations. That was in mid-July. The hike from Lost Lake trail head to Primrose trail head is about 16 miles and full of grandeur and beauty. At the high point you see Resurrection Bay to the South, Mount Alice in the distance to the West, Mount Ascension towering over you to the East and the Lost Lake network pooling blue beneath you to the North. While all the while giant fat, baby bear-like marmots whistle and bold for their holes or stand sentry on guard. The wooded parts of the hike were ripe with blueberries and mom and I easily picked a gallon or more of them on the way down. I, at this moment, deem this one of my favorites in all Alaska. As Megan told us, when you reach the high point, you can hear the angels singing!



Day 8: I have drooled over the Harding Ice Field in earlier posts. Mom and I did this hike despite the call for thunderstorms. They lied, it was a gorgeous day and we had a wide clear view. We watched a very amusing traffic jam through binoculars take place on the trail ahead and above us. It began with a black bear on the mountain side, foraging toward the trail. Then a herd of 16 goats grazed up toward the trail and down-trail from the bear. Some goats crossed the trail and moved upward onto the rocky scree above. About 6 goats lingered to graze below. About this same time a family of 6 hiked up the trail and stopped about 60 feet short of the bear, who, by the way, was paying them no mind. While that family pondered on their next course of action, four more hikers joined them below the bear on the trail while four others were stopped above the bear as the hiked down. The bear moved little during all of this, but half of the people down trail began to hike up onto the scree to skirt the bear while half of the people up trail began to hike through below the bear. At some point, the bear was surrounded by folks and goats and the whole thing looked pretty funny from afar. Finally, the trail became clear in the down-trail direction and the bear moseyed in that direction. By this point, mom and I had left the trail altogether and were making a b-line for the high point and the view of the ice field. While there we were joined by a smaller black bear who snuffled around the rocks behind us. Our attention was divided between moments of bear viewing and ice field viewing.

Exit Glacier

September 23: I hiked up the Summit trail on my own and found myself in a winter wonderland.

That, sadly, concludes my hiking adventures in the Chugach National Forest.