Fire and Ice

Day 4

From volcanoes to glaciers, Alaska has it all.  After waking up early, again (4:00 a.m.) we headed south to Exit Glacier.  Once again there was a cloudless sky and although the morning was near 40 degrees, the day warmed up quickly.  This glacier is located near Seward AK on the Kenai Peninsula, south of Anchorage.  Exit Glacier is a large retreating glacier which has been around a long time.  Due to our early start, we began hiking toward  this destination before even the park rangers were on duty.  We decided quickly that today was a day for seeing wildlife.  A couple from Missouri who   were   just behind us said that they startled a black bear as they were coming up the trail.  Lots of moose scat (which looks like giant rabbit scat) littered the ground.  The signs were good. 

From here we headed back up a ways, then turned south on the Sterling Highway  toward Homer for halibut fishing (tomorrow).  We saw a wolf, a moose, sea lions, a beluga whale, and about 10 bald eagles on the way to Homer (plus two volcanoes, which tweaked my buttons).  As we approached Homer we stopped at an overlook to see the town and noticed that there were bald eagles everywhere.  Turns out there is a large nesting area there.  Got some great pictures of the eagles, but since Kevin was in the navigation chair and did not have his camera ready (Like he was supposed  to) I am sorry to say at this point of the trip we have no pictures of grey wolves or moose.

Tonight we are spending the night on the Spit at Homer.  If you saw Sarah Palins show, this is where they camped when they went halibut fishing.  I did not realize that it is in a Tsunami warning area.  Once again I will sleep very good tonight (did you catch the sarcasm?).   We saw the Time Bandit, from Deadliest Catch.  Kevin got caught in one of its traps, but got thrown back (see the photo).  Shutting down early tonight so we can get up early and hopefully catch some halibut tomorrow with Captain Greg on the “Tomahawk II” .

Redoubt Volcanoe

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle on the Hunt

Deadliest Catch - Time Bandit





Bill and Kevin at Exit Glacier

The Real Trip Begins

Day 3

Today’s agenda was to finish up panning, pick up Kevin back in Acnchorage, and head south.  Panning went smoothly today with no repeat of Alaska life lesson number 1.  I finally met up with an old timer who showed me how to pan properly and found a few small specks of gold.  I was glad to have a day job to return to, cause if I had to rely on panning to eat I would be one thin mountain man.

Said goodbye to some really cool folks at the mine prior to leaving.  The last night we were standing around the fire talking about the odds of a lady coming to Alaska and finding a man.  One miner said the odds were good, but the goods were odd.  That about summed up my new friends.  Thanks to Andy for being a great host, and to Bill and Ken for teaching me to pan up my two flakes of Alaska Gold.

Kevin arrived, but his luggage didn’t.  However Alaska Airlines was right on the stick and had it in hand within two hours.  This gave us time for Kevin to get the Moho driving orientation, me to learn how to dump black water (a nice term for poop), and to eat supper.  We ate the best pizza I have ever had at the Moose Tooth Pizza.  If you ever go to Anchorage, go there and get a Santa’s Helper.  Side note.  Me, a Seminole fan, 4,000 miles away from Tallahassee, and they sit us next to a Gator Fan with full gator apparel.  God has a sense of humor.

Heading out of town we passed one unusual sight at the Portage Glacier turnoff.  I thought it was a traffic jam, but there were over two hundred native Eskimos with 10 feet long dip nets lined up in the river dipping fish.  It was a mullet looking fish by the name of “hulligan”.  The fishermen would dip out up to 20 or more fish with one swipe and dump them into 5 gallon buckets or coolers.  It was like a big party, with campfires on the shore and families grilling out.  Ended the day pulling into a rest area inside a huge bowl of a valley with snow capped mountains all around us.  What a beaut.  No internet here in the boonies, so this post will be delayed.

Still trying to get used to the daylight.  We were stuffing cardboard in windows,  blankets across doors, anything to make it dark so we could sleep.  Still up at 4:00 every morning for the sunrise.  

Bill and Kevin's Self Portrait

Hauling in the Hulligans

Long Net/Cold Water

Lining up for fish

One Scoop

Day 2- Gold Panning

Alaska – Day 2

Alaska Life Lesson #1

Gold is not easy to get;

Gold is panned in water

Glacial till on rocks is slippery as owl ____.

Glacial runoff is Cold as ICE.

It is hard to breathe when you are submerged in glacial water.



That's Me



Woke up to a beautiful cloud free morning and spent the first real day doing a combination of gold panning and photography, and yes, I personally learned Life lesson #1.  I was being soooooo careful, and WHAM, I am on my back in this ice cold stream trying to breathe.  It was like laying in a bathtub full of ice water.  The only saving grace was that I had a backpack on so I didn’t smash my head and that there was no one around to laugh at me as I lay there like an upside down turtle.  After returning to the Moho to change clothes and dry out everything.  I turned the heat to 85 and put my belt, wallet, and socks in the oven at the lowest setting.  I was sitting on the floor in front of the oven rotating socks and leather goods so as to dry and not burn.  Anyway after warming up and drying out  I headed back down and had a good, safe rest of the day.   I truly look forward to getting Kevin tomorrow in Anchorage.  You really need a buddy up here to share the experience.  However, the people I have met here at Crow Creek Mine are great folks.  If you ever get up here, you definitely want to spend a night or two at this place.

Do NOT step on this rock!!!!!!!!





Diehards with dry suits dredging the creek

Crow Creek

The Adventure Begins (sans Kevin)

5/26/2011

10:30 p.m. Go to bed

11:30 p.m.  No sleep

5/27/2011

12:30 p.m.  No sleep

2:00 a.m. Wake up/ toss /turn

3:00 a.m. Might as well get up

4:30 a.m. Shelby drives me to the airport (what a sweetheart), it’s so early there are no kiosks open to even sell us breakfast.

Goodbye Tallahassee, Hello Anchorage.

That’s how my day started.  Now its 3:00 a.m. EDT, 11:00 p.m. local and still daylight outside.  Alaska is just so cool. 

I arrived in Anchorage today at 3:30 to a balmy 70 degrees and sunny.  A few photos are attached  to highlight my long but quick day.  I am staying tonight at Cross Creek Mine to do a little gold panning and nature viewing prior to Kevin’s arrival.  One bear already spotted on the mountain tonight.  When I got here I found that the Gold Prospectors of America organization is here camping for their kick off weekend for the summer.  I hung out with some Alaska "good ole boys" listening to tales of prospecting and seeing collected gold.  Tomorrow I’ll be surrounded by professional gold miners, my slim chance of finding gold just got slimmer.

Oh well, good night, I mean good morning.

Those are snow capped mountains and glaciers

First Night Stay in AK

Old Mine Shack - Bear Viewing on the Hill
Photo taken at 11:00p.m.

The Moho - Still smells new

Hank Williams, Rosa Parks, & Shakespeare

Alright, what in the world does this have to do with Alaska?  I don't know, I guess I'll need to start another blog for thought flatulence, but right now this is all I have and regardless of what I'm doing, the Alaska trip is coming up real fast and soon you'll get to read outrageous stories of toilet usage in the MoHo, chasing bears, and hearing Kevin say "Chootem Troy", oh, wait a minute, that's next year when I go aligator hunting (That was one long sentence).

17 days from Alaska liftoff and I'm in Montgomery Alabama for a couple of days at the ADEM UST tank conference.  Today was about exciting as a tank conference can get.  Just as things were getting interesting (yawn), a fire erupted in a bathroom and required evacuation of the entire building.  I'm talking two fire trucks, firemen in full turnout gear, axes, fire hoses, the whole shebang.  I did smell smoke when I headed out the door, I just hope it wasn't a chemical reaction with that giant burrito I had last night.

With my unexpected free time, I have discovered that Montgomery is quite a city. They have a minor league Rays team called the bisquits (seriously), and they have quite a history (hence the title of this blog).  While walking downtown I was drawn into the Hank Williams Museum by the sound of  "Hey good looking, what cha got cooking, how about cooking something good for me?"  Add some twang to it and you get the message.  Any way, it turns out that Montgomery is:
Birthplace of Hank Williams
Birthplace of Rosa Parks
First capital of the Confederate States of America
and home of the Shakespeare Festival.
We are talking country music, historical events, redneck roots, and culture.  If I wasn't already settled in the big metropolis of Wakulla County, Florida, I would probably move here,  uhhhhhh, maybe not.

Anyway, I ate supper tonight in a Bar B Q joint downtown.  Glancing around, about 1/4 of the tables had a mixture of white and black patrons eating, laughing, and enjoying each others company.  Amazing changes in just 50 years for this birthplace of both the confederacy and the civil rights movement.