graeme and i are still a few days away from hitting the road. i've been putting in long days getting the rv insulated and ready for the soon-approaching winter. my nights have been spent customizing and organizing my new website. i'm done with my dog- and house-sitting duties in anchorage and can now focus solely on getting my act together so we can head north. the weather in anchorage has been really nice the past week but i've been so busy that i haven't had a chance to get out and enjoy it other than on short dog walks- that's a lie, i actually did get to potter's marsh on friday and snap a few of the trumpeter and tundra swans migrating through:
and also made it to powerline valley early one morning to watch the moose rut. every fall a couple dozen moose congregate in the valley to decide who gets to mate with whom. i only saw a few moose that morning but will try again later this week before i leave town:
fall is about three weeks late in anchorage this year and it's been unseasonably warm. a big storm is headed in from the aleutian islands tonight and bringing with it lots of rain and wind gusts up to 90mph. i'm so excited that i may not sleep. i get excited for inclement weather.
last week a friend i met in denali two weeks before stayed with me the night before his flight back to france. he'd been in alaska for a month and had seen more of alaska in that time than i had in the 5 years i lived here previously. we crossed paths while viewing a bear far off in the distance from the park road in denali. he (his name is jean-baptiste- the "p" is silent, i learned) had the impression that there were bears on every street corner in alaska and this one 1000 yards away was the first he'd seen in the two weeks he'd been here. he was a little disappointed about that. we hit it off well enough that i offered to guide him up igloo canyon the following day where his chances of seeing a bear(s) were good. he was very appreciative and i was happy to show him around. i've been smitten with denali national park since i first visited it in 2008, and always enjoy sharing it with first-timers. the next morning we met at 7a (side note: it was 8 degrees outside and 20 degrees in the rv that morning when i woke up), drove to the closed gate at the teklanika river and hiked the remaining 10 miles to the top of igloo canyon. we stopped and sat on the side of the park road for lunch once we arrived. while eating our sandwiches (summer sausage, pepper-jack cheese, and avocado on a wheat bagel), a pika (small ground squirrel that lives in the mountains) came out of its hole looking for a handout:
we laughed and shooed him away without sharing our lunch. thankfully i've developed the habit of looking behind me every few minutes when out hiking in alaska. while we were being entertained by the pika, i happened to turn and look to see these three rambling down the mountain towards us and only 40-50 yards away:
"HOLY SHIT- BEARS!" is what jean-baptiste says came out of my mouth, and insists that i'll be famous in france because of it. our lunches and camera gear were spread out all over the side of the road. we gathered it all up as fast as we could and headed up the road to get the park's mandatory 100yds distance between us and the sow and her two cubs. we then watched and photographed them as they ate blueberries for the next hour and a half. experiences like this are one of the many reasons i missed alaska so much the past two years. despite being tired, sore, and our feet feeling like they'd been walking on cheese graters, jean-baptiste and i smiled the entire 10 miles back to our vehicles. oh, and on our hike back we ran into two guys on bikes returning from spending the past couple nights in the park. oddly enough, they also happened to be from france. they and jean-baptiste then spent the next 20 minutes speaking in french while i sat on the road and smiled at the serendipitous meeting of the three:
so back to the original thought about jean-baptiste's last night in anchorage. i picked him up after he dropped-off his rental car and took him to the moose's tooth for the pizza and beer he owed me for getting him up close and personal with the bears. after dinner we went back to the house i was dog-stting at and settled in for a night of editing photos on our laptops. the northern lights forecasts had been quiet the previous several days, but i thought i'd check anyways since it was jb's last night and it was the other sight he was hoping to see while in alaska. it was 930p, anchorage was covered in low clouds, and we had to be up at 4a to get to the airport for his 6a flight back to france- but i checked anyways. the 1-hour forecast was "active++". i'd only seen the forecast that high one other time, and the lights were spectacular that night. jb and i threw some warm clothes on, tossed our cameras and tripods in the car, and headed north in hopes of getting out from under the clouds. we stopped for our first cup of coffee in wasilla. still cloudy and raining. we went further north. it stopped raining and by the time we got past willow we could see green through the clouds. the northern lights were out but the clouds were still thick enough that we could only make out the colors. we stopped at the side of a lake and set up our cameras. from what i could see at that point, the aurora covered 80% of the sky and directly overhead i could see green, red, pink, and purple through the clouds. we were missing possibly the greatest aurora borealis display i'd ever seen in person or in pictures. we shouted and cursed and raised our fists at the clouds to get out of the way, but they didn't listen. we hopped back in the car and drove to talkeetna, hoping that there was less cloud cover there. we arrived at talkeetna at 1230a, the clouds were thicker than back at the lake, it resumed raining, and jb had not packed for his 6a flight yet- so we turned south and headed back to anchorage. feeling sore about missing such an amazing display, we barely spoke on the 2+ hour return trip. this is the best view we got of the northern lights that night:
if you haven't already, search out photos online of the aurora display from that night. they were seen as far south as oregon and south dakota- and to call them stunning would be the understatement of the day.
later this week i'll share a couple photos from my bike trip through denali.
and also made it to powerline valley early one morning to watch the moose rut. every fall a couple dozen moose congregate in the valley to decide who gets to mate with whom. i only saw a few moose that morning but will try again later this week before i leave town:
fall is about three weeks late in anchorage this year and it's been unseasonably warm. a big storm is headed in from the aleutian islands tonight and bringing with it lots of rain and wind gusts up to 90mph. i'm so excited that i may not sleep. i get excited for inclement weather.
last week a friend i met in denali two weeks before stayed with me the night before his flight back to france. he'd been in alaska for a month and had seen more of alaska in that time than i had in the 5 years i lived here previously. we crossed paths while viewing a bear far off in the distance from the park road in denali. he (his name is jean-baptiste- the "p" is silent, i learned) had the impression that there were bears on every street corner in alaska and this one 1000 yards away was the first he'd seen in the two weeks he'd been here. he was a little disappointed about that. we hit it off well enough that i offered to guide him up igloo canyon the following day where his chances of seeing a bear(s) were good. he was very appreciative and i was happy to show him around. i've been smitten with denali national park since i first visited it in 2008, and always enjoy sharing it with first-timers. the next morning we met at 7a (side note: it was 8 degrees outside and 20 degrees in the rv that morning when i woke up), drove to the closed gate at the teklanika river and hiked the remaining 10 miles to the top of igloo canyon. we stopped and sat on the side of the park road for lunch once we arrived. while eating our sandwiches (summer sausage, pepper-jack cheese, and avocado on a wheat bagel), a pika (small ground squirrel that lives in the mountains) came out of its hole looking for a handout:
we laughed and shooed him away without sharing our lunch. thankfully i've developed the habit of looking behind me every few minutes when out hiking in alaska. while we were being entertained by the pika, i happened to turn and look to see these three rambling down the mountain towards us and only 40-50 yards away:
"HOLY SHIT- BEARS!" is what jean-baptiste says came out of my mouth, and insists that i'll be famous in france because of it. our lunches and camera gear were spread out all over the side of the road. we gathered it all up as fast as we could and headed up the road to get the park's mandatory 100yds distance between us and the sow and her two cubs. we then watched and photographed them as they ate blueberries for the next hour and a half. experiences like this are one of the many reasons i missed alaska so much the past two years. despite being tired, sore, and our feet feeling like they'd been walking on cheese graters, jean-baptiste and i smiled the entire 10 miles back to our vehicles. oh, and on our hike back we ran into two guys on bikes returning from spending the past couple nights in the park. oddly enough, they also happened to be from france. they and jean-baptiste then spent the next 20 minutes speaking in french while i sat on the road and smiled at the serendipitous meeting of the three:
so back to the original thought about jean-baptiste's last night in anchorage. i picked him up after he dropped-off his rental car and took him to the moose's tooth for the pizza and beer he owed me for getting him up close and personal with the bears. after dinner we went back to the house i was dog-stting at and settled in for a night of editing photos on our laptops. the northern lights forecasts had been quiet the previous several days, but i thought i'd check anyways since it was jb's last night and it was the other sight he was hoping to see while in alaska. it was 930p, anchorage was covered in low clouds, and we had to be up at 4a to get to the airport for his 6a flight back to france- but i checked anyways. the 1-hour forecast was "active++". i'd only seen the forecast that high one other time, and the lights were spectacular that night. jb and i threw some warm clothes on, tossed our cameras and tripods in the car, and headed north in hopes of getting out from under the clouds. we stopped for our first cup of coffee in wasilla. still cloudy and raining. we went further north. it stopped raining and by the time we got past willow we could see green through the clouds. the northern lights were out but the clouds were still thick enough that we could only make out the colors. we stopped at the side of a lake and set up our cameras. from what i could see at that point, the aurora covered 80% of the sky and directly overhead i could see green, red, pink, and purple through the clouds. we were missing possibly the greatest aurora borealis display i'd ever seen in person or in pictures. we shouted and cursed and raised our fists at the clouds to get out of the way, but they didn't listen. we hopped back in the car and drove to talkeetna, hoping that there was less cloud cover there. we arrived at talkeetna at 1230a, the clouds were thicker than back at the lake, it resumed raining, and jb had not packed for his 6a flight yet- so we turned south and headed back to anchorage. feeling sore about missing such an amazing display, we barely spoke on the 2+ hour return trip. this is the best view we got of the northern lights that night:
if you haven't already, search out photos online of the aurora display from that night. they were seen as far south as oregon and south dakota- and to call them stunning would be the understatement of the day.
later this week i'll share a couple photos from my bike trip through denali.
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