June 27, 2007

Next week is the fourth of July. It feels like summer is almost over even though it has just begun.

The last couple weeks have been hectic. Joyce and Jim were in the state for a vacation with Joyce’s parents. We met up with them in Homer on a Saturday evening. We stopped on our way down to hike the Skyline Trail. The trail climbed steeply, gaining 2800 feet in a couple miles. It was a hot sunny day and we were sweating as we climbed through the trees only to get chilled as we hiked a windy ridgeline above treeline and even crossing some unmelted snow. It was a nice vantage point, looking out over Skilak Lake, the Kenai River, and the flat northwest corner of the Kenai Peninsula. It was a moderately popular hike, but few people made it to the ridgeline. We had the high point to ourselves.

Heading down, we were reminded of the foolishness of people. We saw many people climbing up, ill equipped for the conditions and the possibilities. We saw people with poor choices for footwear and clothing carrying no water, sweating profusely. One guy was wearing shorts and tennis shoes, no shirt, and the only thing he carried was a rifle. The bears should have been the least of his worries.

We made it to Homer, had dinner, and found our accommodations. Joyce had rented a three bedroom home on the hillside. As we pulled in the driveway, we laughed when we realized it was right across the street from a place we stayed with my parents a couple years ago. This house was amazing for the price. It had an A-frame front room with expansive glass providing a spectacular view of the Homer Spit, Kachemak Bay, and the glaciers spilling out of Harding Ice field.

On Sunday we walked around the boat harbor and down to the fishing hole while waiting for our fishing charter departure. We took a half day afternoon halibut charter. Everyone in our party quickly caught their limit except me. I lost a couple fish. I had my bait stolen numerous times. I caught an odd looking fish. All this reeling up to check my bait was exhausting me. Dragging a 2 pound sinker up from 150 feet with heavy gear is hard work. I found myself with a cheering section, perhaps more of a jeering section as they poked fun of my lack of success. The captain stopped by and gave me a pointer that seemed to help and I quickly reeled up a halibut. It was so small that the captain took it off my hook and threw it back without asking. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that was my first fish. We moved for another drift and I quickly caught my two fish. The deckhand was a little surprised when I asked for more bait after the first one since it was a little late to be catching my first. Our group all caught our limit. A couple people on the boat did not. We have our freezer well stocked.

Kris and I were off on Monday so we had another night in our nice accommodations. We took a hike through the Homer countryside with Joyce and Jim while her parents took a second halibut charter. They sure had a lot of fish to take home. We had a nice hike. The trail provided spectacular views. We saw a couple moose. One was pretty close and didn’t seem to mind our presence.

We woke last Friday to an unusual darkness. A large wildfire on the Kenai Peninsula sent smoke to Anchorage. The mountains disappeared and the air smelled of smoke. Visibility at ground level didn’t seem particularly limited, but the smoke was hanging overhead. We had been having some dry hot weather which eventually kicked up some lightning that caused several major fires within a hundred miles or so.

The group was still in town this past weekend. We met them in Cooper Landing on Friday night. They had rented another nice house tucked back in on a dirt road near Kenai Lake. On Saturday we took a rafting trip. Jim and I headed to the launch ramp early because we had to inflate the rafts and set up the frames. It took us about an hour and a half. The rest of the group wasn’t far behind. Joyce and Kris had to take the rental vehicle down the road about 10 miles to park it at the take out point and returned in my truck. The timing worked out perfect and we launched the rafts shortly after they got back.

We floated down the Kenai. Jim piloted one raft with his in-laws and I piloted the other with Joyce and Kris on board. It was a good learning experience to see how the water moved the raft and to learn how to avoid the rapids. The raft could probably handle the rapids, but we really weren’t looking for thrills. Rowing the raft back and forth across the river was a good workout. I only had one incident of not paying attention and running into a log along the side of the river. We were able to free ourselves and keep moving, but it was a good reminder to pay attention. I think everyone cheered as we made it under the bridge since that we had run into two years ago in our previous rafting adventure with Joyce and Jim.

We stopped at the Russian River for some fishing. The reds were jumping and people were catching fish, but the action wasn’t exactly hot. The crowds were thick and stretched way down the river. We had the advantage of being able to fish from an island since we arrived by raft, but we weren’t the only ones. I found an isolated spot to fish so I decided to try my fly rod. I hooked one, but it was an odd encounter. I was half expecting that I had hooked a dead fish carcass as I was bringing it in. I was surprised to see a nice looking fish swimming on the end of my line. It never made a serious run. It had probably just got off someone else’s line and was already played out. My challenge was that I was alone in thigh deep water without a net. I started leading the fish toward some shallows, but I had to cross a wide pool to get there. The fish almost swam through my legs twice. I slowly led it inland, but it finally managed to let go of the hook and swim away.

We mountain biked on Sunday while Joyce’s parents just toured around the area. We rode seven miles up the Resurrection Pass trail to Trout Lake. We ate lunch at the cabin Kris and I stayed at shortly after our arrival in Alaska. We saw a momma moose with twins swim across one end of the lake and join us on our side. It was rainy and cool. The ride out was the most fun as it was mostly downhill. The last half mile provided a wide rocky trail with plenty of visibility to really let the bike run. It was so fun to ride that kind of terrain again. Kris and I both cut ourselves on our bikes so we made it an official ride by spilling some blood.

Kris and I returned to work on Monday while they spent the last day of their vacation down on the Kenai Peninsula. They stopped by our condo to finish organizing their luggage, using our bathroom scale to assure that each piece was loaded to its maximum capacity with a minimum of overweight charges. One of the fish coolers weighed in at 69 lbs, the other at 49. After their organizational efforts, we took a ride to Kincaid Park to look for moose. We found none.

Last night we climbed a mountain. A friend from work and her roommate who is moving to Japan joined us. We climbed one of the smaller peaks along the Anchorage bowl appropriately called The Dome. It was 1800 feet of vertical over a couple miles. It was steep in places, but mostly a moderate uphill hike. The parking area was in a wealthy residential neighborhood. The trail went right along the driveway to an oversized house. A no trespassing sign attempted to mislead people into thinking the trail was not public land. Once behind the house, the trail dropped steeply into the valley of the north fork of Campbell Creek. We were quickly into dense vegetation that gave a sense of isolation and wilderness. We crossed the creek and followed the trail, eventually emerging above treeline. As we rested on the last slope in the alpine zone, I looked back down the hill and noticed a couple of animals several hundred yards away. It turned out to be a grizzly and a couple young ones. We watched for a few minutes until they disappeared in the heavy brush. It got a little more exciting on the way down as we dropped back below the treeline near where we had seen the bear family. Our group demonstrated a complete lack of musical talent as we sung our way down the trail to assure that the bears knew we were present. We exited the trail back to civilization after 10 pm under bright sunny skies.