rain and, um, more rain

ok, so juneau is in a temperate rain forest, but i wonder if i'll ever see the sun.
did see some bald eagles. perched all around the beach waiting for salmon.
weather report: 55 degrees and cloudy with chance of rain.
...every day.

northern fun & sun

i know it must seem to some that my summer job is like a vacation, but it is work, so it was nice to really get a vacation up in alaska before starting my next job. and of course to spend time with c after so long and before so much longer. she took a vacation too and we had great fun she showing me the locals' life, me dragging her to the good tourist stuff.

ate well. had yummy red salmon her sister caught dip-netting and moose that her brother hunted last season. and there is a new organic coffee shop in anchorage that we went to every day we were in town--fully back on the bean, sigh. c bartered for some alaska salmon her sister caught, smoked and jarred. i'll take that to antarctica along with some california wine and berkeley chocolate for a special occasion (like trying to convince someone to take me on a helicopter flight off-station).

drove to wrangell-st elias national park for a backpack trip. forests of "scrawny black spruce" everywhere. saw a moose--from the car, so no stomping us. the hike was a short one (hey, i was on vacation) but beautiful. camped near a herd of dall sheep in the mountains. every time we heard a rock slide c kept hoping a sheep had fallen off the side so we could "fry it up". instead we just ate oatmeal.

ok, done with backpacking, back to road trip. other side of park and 2.5 hour drive down a gravel road with 5 mile hike to check out the old copper mining town of kennicott--cool old buildings. from there hiked to root glacier after which c made me promise to never hike to another dirty glacier again unless we were going to use crampons etc and actually walk across it. i agreed except if it were for a job.

went to kenai to try and work the "slime line" at a cannery. we weren't going to be available for enough days to make it worth their while, and besides the sun was shining, so we went down to homer instead. then took off for seward because i'd never been. dragged c on a boat tour so she could see a tidewater glacier calving in to the sea. now that was worth it. also saw a pod of orca, a humpback whale (not to be confused with the salmon "humpies"), stellar sea lions, sea otters (with pup), puffins, bald eagles of course, and a "bait ball". those poor little fish don't even get called by a proper name, just food. made for good puffin watching though. wanted to catch up with another boss instructor who'd worked dog mushing in seward area last winter, but we missed him by two days.

thankfully had no bear encounters at any of our hiking spots. got back to the city though and c's sister came home from work telling us a bear had been in the parking lot that day. not too much of a city after all.

i'm back in oaktown getting ready to go far south. turns out i have three days to get ready rather than just one. so will have time to see family here (and more in denver). unlike going to india i don't have to get inoculation shots and such, however i do need extra supplies because i won't be able to get them there (like extra pair prescription glasses), so running around a bit now.

ravens and rain

hello from sitka, alaska.

c is getting personal carving lessons at the cultural center here, so i'm staying busy at the library. great view here.

the town of sitka is in the rainforest of southeast alaska.
and it's still raining.

they tell me the summer is never like this, that they usually get more than 3 sunny days in the summer. i don't know. some days it only drizzles which is not bad. actually it adds to the ambiance.

it was really cool walking through the hemlock & spruce forested park in town listening to the ravens talking up a storm before landing on a totem pole.

we went on a hike yesterday up a misty mountain. the trees covered in moss, it looked like a scene from lord of the rings, except that the ground was too steep. near the top, the vegetation changed and there were huckleberry bushes. not super sweet, but we foraged along the way. glad it wasn't like my childhood book "blueberries for sal" and we saw no bear.

the humpies (salmon) are thick in the streams on their way to spawn. they arrived shortly before i did. glad of it because now the bears are staying out of town cuz they have something eat. seems the berries were not plentiful enough this season. i only found a few salmon berries (like blackberries, but golden colored).

we moved from the campground to a boat closer to town. i was worried i'd get sea sick, but instead got food poisoning. fun fun. i'm better now. mostly the boat stays calm--it's in a harbor--but last night the rain and winds were bad, so i felt the swaying. today in town, on firm ground i felt fine while riding my bike, but if i sat still, i felt swaying. ugh.

speaking of boats, i went out on one the other day with some fishermen, and we pulled in a 70 inch, 180 pound halibut. spent the next day processing it and the others. i'll bring some home.

uh oh, my one hour on the computer is up, and some russians are waiting their turn, so gotta go.

long overdue update

my oh my, i saw a friend last week who thought i was moving to alaska. made me realize it's time for an update about me. i mean, some of you might not even know i had had plans to go to alaska at all.

i probably haven't written any kind of update since some time while in mumbai.

so the past year and a half in brief along with near future plans...

march 05 - came home after 4 months in india just in time for mom's birthday. fortunately, the sublet problem had gotten resolved so c and i had an apartment to return to. many thanks again to all who helped.

june 05 - took a course with outdoor survival school in utah. the course was pretty intense, though not a rambo type thing. no food or blanket or anything for the first three days. after that they took pity and let us have some rations and a blanket, but no tent.

june-september 05 - guided backpacking and trekking trips for the adventure travel company i used to do office work for. went to tahoe, yosemite, mt whitney, muir wilderness in sierra nevada.

dec 05 - worked for a month on maui selling vintage posters. i've been selling them here part time for a few years now, and finally got to do the "employee exchange" with the maui gallery. saw whales and volcanoes, tried surfing for my first time, etc.

jan-apr 06 - back to the full time office thing, working for bill (cpa) preparing lots o' tax returns.

may-july 06 - i'll be going back to beautiful southern utah to apprentice/work with the outdoor survival school.

the rest of the summer will be back in california guiding. oh and i got a mention as "sous chef and guide" in the may 2006 issue of cooking light magazine. they did a feature on my boss who does "gourmet" cooking out in the woods. the article doesn't seem to be online, so if you're really curious you'll have to loiter around the newstands. sorry.

end of august, i'll go for a 2 week visit to sitka, alaska where c will be spending the month. earlier this year we had plans to move there (c has beaucoup de family in that area), but eventually decided to stay put in the bay area and just go to ak for a visit. or many visits.

that wraps up the summer. um, and i don't know what i'll be doing after this september. i'll just have to see.

i leave tomorrow morning for utah. back mid-july. i'll have only occasional email access, but drop me a line and i'll try to answer in between wilderness stints.

i hope this was short enough though i probably left out some important chunks. oh well.

i'm off to the wild orange yonder.