Week of Camping and play in the AK Part III

July 27th-30th. We awoke at the Glaciers edge and eager to get the ice climbing gear on and head out so we went back up to where we stashed the gear to find that we had been visited during the night.  Likely a smaller black bear but at any rate, it had put a couple holes in various things we had at the stash like Erin's jacket and my water bottle.  Our food was still high and dry though.  I was glad we had decided to camp down off the trail. Bears are lazy creatures of habit. We ate a quick breakfast and got the climbing gear situated and headed out onto Root Glacier for a day of climbing and hiking.  We wondered a mile or so up on the ice, taking breaks here and there for some short, less than vertical climbing and prussik use/technique schooling. I definitely got fried between the sun and the reflection from the ice. I wish we had found some larger walls of ice to climb but I was satisfied we found something.  Its probably better to get them on something they can climb rather than something that is difficult so I think it went well. We did look for some large bottomless blue pools but all we came up with was some small ones. I surely was not complaining since afterall, its AK and a nice sunny summer day is always welcome!  Before long we had noticed the day was waning and it was time to start to head back down towards our camp. We settled in for some dinner and all found the sleeping bags quite comfortable for the second night down by the Glacier.  I woke up real early to pee and stepped out to see that the clouds had lifted off the mountain tops and had shown us the summits. I woke up the rest of the crew to check it out.  A quick, "wow thats pretty" *click of the camera and then back to bed they went.  We got up the morning of the 28th and were in a bit of a discussion as to what we were going to do with today.  During dinner the night before, Erin had managed to spill hot coffee onto her foot (don't ask me how) and she now had a huge blister on the side of her foot that needed draining every couple hours or so. rather discusting I might say.  Anyway, we all wanted to go up the trail to the Kennicott Mine and check out the rocks.  By the time we had gotten down so the Root Glacier access trail, near where the fork for the mine trail was, it was looking like we were going to be in a rush to head up to the mine in order to get out in time.  We ended up bailing on the mine trail.  It would have to wait for another time. We headed back into Kennicott and found the shuttlebus down to McCarthy were we checked out the little Potato Restaurant and then hit up the museum and walked the half mile back to the foot bridge.  Sixty miles of dirt road later just as we were about to finish the drive out I came around the corner to find a small land slide just covering the road.  The two options are to stop, grab the shovel out of the back and clear it or try to drive over it. worse case scenario is you have to get out and dig out the truck too!  This slide was easy enough and I made it through with a puff of dust getting a thumbs up from the SUV stopped on the other side of it. So with that we were back in Chitina. We walked out to Salmon Point to see how

the dip-netting was going.  I talked with a guy who was almost limited out in a few hours.  I got all giddy and I wanted my salmon for the year so I made the crew check out the Copper River while I put my net in the water.  Erin had to work the next morning so she took off but by two am, 22 Salmon were on the stringer. By now, John and Magdalena were sick of the Copper and tired so we went and cleaned up and crashed at the Fish and Game bunkhouse in Chitina. We didn't manage to get to sleep until nearly three am due to the cleaning and getting out of fishy clothes.  seven am came all to soon with Erin's arrival at work booting us out of the Bunkhouse. We found ourselves no more than a block away at the Chitina Cafe ordering coffee and Reindeer sausage and eggs.  It was Friday morning now and the week is winding down. Hitting the road yet again, we traveled to Valdez and stopped at Worthington Glacier and Bridal Veil along the way to check it out. A beautiful day, we couldn't complain.  We walked along the docks and checked out the boats, ate a nice dinner, went across the bay to see the hatchery pinks returning to the creek and by evening we were driving back up into Thompson Pass.  We parked at a pull out near the top of the pass and hiked in for fifteen minutes and found a nice little spot up on the hill above the road far enough we couldn't see or hear it. We enjoyed the last evening with nice views of a clear evening in Thompson Pass.  Early Saturday we yet again hit the pavement and drove back to Chitina to grab the Salmon that I had left in the deep freezer the other day and then drove to Anchorage. I did manage to get pulled over for speeding but the Tropper let me go. I think he thought I was just tired since I was pulling the boat with dipnets in it and I looked like I had been camping for a week.  I got a warning to slow down and get a soda or coffee if I needed it.  Fair enough, I was tired, just not from dipnetting!  We stopped at the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer but weren't intrigued enough to pay 10 dollars to see one so we just peeked over the fence and then headed up to Eklutna Lake for a little bit just to get out of the truck and walk. Skipped a few rocks and looked at a clouded out Bold and Bashful Peak.  We headed into Anchorage and went up to the Flat Top parking area and Anchorage look out. It was a last ditch effort for a Denali viewing since I know you can catch a glimpse along the road on the way up but alas, it remained elusive. The view was nice enough, just not that far. It was time so I dropped my two old friends off at the airport and started to drive once more.  I made it Honolulu Creek before I pulled off the road and crashed for a few hours.  I managed to get back to Fairbanks by mid-morning on the 31st.  Back to work on the 1st and then off to the Yukon River on the evening of the fourth. I had a few days to clean up the gear and re-organize...  It was a good trip I thought. Fun to get out and about, I have seen most of that stuff before here and there but I always enjoy sharing my little world with people from back home.  We didn't get to do the two things I REALLY wanted them to do.  Denali Flight Seeing Trip and Valdez Salmon Shark Fishing but hey, just the more reason they have to come back I suppose.