July 20, 2010

What is an off day when you don’t really have a routine?  It seems like we have had a few off days recently, although today was certainly back to summer in Alaska.

We spent an extra night at Bird Creek, with some hope of taking another bike ride on the Bird to Gird trail.  The weather did not cooperate and I think we were feeling a little beat.  I did go back down to the creek and caught a small dolly varden.  It was big enough to contemplate keeping, but I needed to get back for lunch so I let it go.

We departed Bird Creek on Friday.  Getting moving with the trailer is a slow process.  We had stops for water, gas, and propane.  This all takes time, especially when you are maneuvering in tight spaces.  We finally headed north in the afternoon, taking a leisurely drive to Byer’s Lake.  It is the third different camping setup we have had there, only the second place that we have done that.  We have camped there with our backpacking tent, our big tent, and now our trailer.

We arrived early enough in the afternoon to take a hike.  We hiked around the entire lake and even took a side trip up to see a falls.  We got rained on about three quarters of the way around the lake.  It was a good hike, and good to go for a hike after so many days of limited outdoor activity.

We got a good start in the morning and drove to Fairbanks where it proceeded to test our trailer with weather we have not seen much in Alaska.  We had three major hailstorms in about three hours.  The rain was coming down harder than anything I remember seeing since the lower 48.  We even had a few flashes and rumbles of thunder to go with it.  It was a reminder of what real weather is like.  We have been spoiled; it never storms in Southcentral.

We called Heidi when we arrived and she invited us to dinner on Sunday night.  She asked where we were staying and she must have passed that along to Dan since he showed up at our trailer on his way home from work.  We were only a couple miles from the airport where he works so it was right on his way home.  He found our trailer and van without too much trouble.  We had a nice evening visiting.

Sunday was another off day.  We tried to get motivated, but we are sometimes distracted in the morning, especially in areas with good internet connections.  We did manage to go to the laundromat and then to Pioneer Park, a bit of a touristy park that has old buildings and old equipment on display alongside numerous small tourist shops.  I do enjoy looking at the old equipment, trying to identify it without reading the plaques, or trying to figure out how it worked.  Of particular interest was an old steam powered shovel that had been used in the Panama Canal before finding its way up to Fairbanks.

Dinner was fun.  We got to visit some more.  We met Heidi’s parents.  We also met another meteorologist who was up from Reno to help with fire season.  The van made it back to their cabin without any problems; I was a little concerned with the previous day’s rain that their ‘road’ might be a little rutted and soft.  We took a nice walk around their property and picked a few early blueberries which were surprisingly sweet.  We stayed way later than we should have on a work night for them, but it was sunny and warm and we were all having a fun conversation.

Yesterday was another moving day.  Our two night stay in Fairbanks was distracted by the visits and laundry, hampered by the weather, and compounded by our lack of energy.  It felt odd leaving when we hadn’t even walk around the campground.  The campground was right on the Chena River and we never even walked down to the bank.  But it was time to move so we headed out, stopping for milk and gasoline. 

We drove out Chena Hot Springs Road, one of just a few roads that we haven’t driven in Alaska.  The road follows the North Fork of the Chena for just over 50 miles.  We stopped and found a campsite at about mile 39.  Then we drove out a little further and climbed up to Angel Rocks.  The rolling hills of the interior have an interesting feature in this area.  In a few places, odd chunks of granite extend from the ridges.  Some days I am fascinated by the explanation of plutons being buoyant in the magma, busting up through the earth’s crust, and then remaining as the softer materials erode away.  Other days I just feel like saying, “hmm, rocks”.

We did find a treat up high at Angel Rocks.  The blueberries were more than adequately ripe and we pigged out on them.  When we returned to the lower elevations, after taking a questionable steep route down, we found some red currants that were almost ripe.  It was exciting to think that I wasn’t going to miss all of berry season this year.

After our visit to Angel Rocks, we drove to the end of the road, the Chena Hot Springs Resort.  It is an odd little resort, but we didn’t spend any time there.  Just drove in and drove out.

Today was a little more aggressive, although we did get a late start.  We followed the Granite Tors trail from our campground.  This trail is a 15 mile loop, but we only went out about 4 and then turned around.  The trail climbs to a ridgeline where more of these granite spires stick out in various places.  We didn’t get high enough to see any of the rocks up close, but we were satisfied that we knew what they look like. 

The trail was interesting without the rocks.  We started low, in the swampy black spruce forest, climbed up through some burn areas into a lovely birch forest.  The morning’s rain gave way to a sunny afternoon and the bright white birch trunks and blue sky background made for a nice feeling.  We emerged onto a ridgeline that was an older burn area.  It had previously been a spruce forest, but now was acting like a subalpine environment.  We found miles of blueberries and crowberries along the trail.

We hiked up to a knoll and took a break, enjoying the expansive view.  We could see all the way to Angel Rocks.  We could see the entire ridgeline hike ahead with all the pointy rocks on it.  And we could see the hillsides all around, many of them burn areas.  I scanned this expanse of openness for animals, but found none, even with the aid of binoculars.

On our way back down, it occurred to me that we buy a lot of fruit, including frozen blueberries.  I suggested that we pick some.  Kris had a gallon ziplock in her backpack, so we began to try to fill it.  We picked berries for quite some time and only filled it halfway.  The bag was getting pretty heavy.  I think we have plenty of berries to last awhile.

While picking berries, we did hear an odd brief rumble.  My first thought was an old V8 engine was being started, but we were back in the hills quite a distance from any roads.  We heard the sound a couple more times.  It was a deep sound that we could almost feel.  Our best guess was a bear growl, but we don’t rule out a more human explanation.  Fighter jets and helicopters were flying around all afternoon and the wind and mountains can play tricks with sound.  Still, we took no chances.  We kept a watchful eye and made plenty of noise.

After dinner, the sun was still shining.  I knew it was good lighting and I knew what subject I wanted to photograph.  Last night while driving around, we noticed several moose feeding in the swamps.  These are the classic moose pictures, a moose in a reflective pool with a dripping nose from feeding on the underwater plants.  We don’t see that much in Southcentral.  I could never figure out why, but I suspect that we don’t have the right plants in the water.  In a short drive this evening, we saw five moose feeding in water, one of which was on the right side of the road to have usable light.  I don’t know if I got any great pictures, but it was fun to go out looking for something specific and to find it.

So the last week has seemed disjointed with more days spent in town, visiting with people, or moving than were spent being active, but we are still having fun.