man i am glad this week is over, just not feeling that great....but better today just in time for the weekend :-) i still rallied for a birthday dinner that Kristen made.
and a night out on Ed and Trevor for the car shuttle we did while in the Brooks Range, can't pass that up.
last night lisa and dan had a bbq to welcome anna and alister. they are from Australia and are taking two years off to bike from Prudhoe Bay to Tierra Del Fuego, South America...tip to tip. they had great stories so far and we look forward to keeping up with them on their website:
ben and i headed up the haul road to the brooks range. the brooks range is remote and farther north then the farthest most tree(no i didn't take a pic of the sign). farther north than the Arctic Circle at mile 130, see map below. most of the brooks range is only accessible by plane, unless you start your hike from the haul road. we did the drive north for my birthday to go camping and hiking, it was another amazing trip. the picture above is on the dirt haul road at Galbraith Lake, we camped near Atigun River Gorge on our second night.
Atigun River Gorge goes into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, hiking up the gorge is a must if you come to the Brooks Range.
the start of Atigun River Gorge. there is a waterfall 4 miles in.
there are no trails, you just head out with your map, here is a giant tussocks on the sponge like wet tundra that makes hiking slow going.
ben, pella and i up the Atigun River Gorge on night two.
the light was great in the late evening and we did some fossil digging because this area used to be under water before the Brooks Range was formed.
the Yukon River, 3rd largest river in North America and empties in the Bering sea, we stop here to visit Jeremy and Dorthy whom Ben photographs for his haul road work. they make local jewelry out of birch bark and porcupine quills.
ben at Finger Mountain near the Arctic Circle late at night (click for a larger view of the mosquitoes) . this was the longest day of the year, and the Arctic Circle is an imaginary line around the Earth above which the sun does not set until August. pretty cool to spend solstice north of the Arctic Circle.
lunch near the Koyukuk River.
north of the Brooks Range, near the Sag river confluence, mile 292.
hiking up the river at Galbraith Lake.
of course we saw the usual moose with calves, fox, grizzly bear, dall sheep....but this time we saw a musk ox! i can't believe these guys still roam the tundra, they are so prehistoric and cool looking. above is my poor picture, it is the brown dot in the middle.
we also had a hail storm on the Elliot on the drive home. we packed a lot in this weekend and plan to do a big backpacking trip in the Brooks Range after dialysis.
it was one crappy week this week, from pella being sick to bad transplant news and more postponements....so kristen and i headed to lavelle's afterwork. trevor and ann joined us later on and we had a great night out!
walking home at 2am or sunset/sunrise in Fairbanks.
after an unsuccessful day of beaver spotting with lisa and dan we headed over to ed's for a deck party to celebrate chris's arrival from South Africa. ed and dan just got in from another crazy 85 mile trip near tok and ed is demonstrating the bush buddy stove, pretty cool.
I discovered when I am really excited I yell yeehaw(like on the rapids leaving upper shoup bay), so that is the title of our amazing weekend in the Prince William Sound. We had a very adventurous crew and started with a 1 am hike up Worthington glacier on our way into Valdez in the pouring rain. It poured rain all night and into the afternoon. Here are Kristen and Ted getting ready to shove off into the windy, wavy sea.
Ben and I just leaving Valdez.
Heading out to Shoup Glacier.
Kristen and Ted paddling in the rain.
The weather gradually improved and as we rounded the bend into Shoup Glacier, Dan was there with his pack raft. He hiked in this crazy steep 11 mile trail that was suppose to be impassable. He also took caz and sky. He beat us to the cabin and blew up his pack raft to come and paddle. Caz is in the boat and sky is swimming next to him.
The view from our cabin, seriously, look at this awesome view!
after settling in at the cabin, we paddled up close to the glacier and drank wine and cheese.
the crew at the Kittewake cabin. Kittewake is a bird and the cabin faces an island of Kittewake's nesting.
the kayak out was blue bird skies, in Valdez no less! here is Audrey and Ann happy to be kayaking in the sunshine.
of course what sea kayak trip is complete without bringing your skis and tele skiing on Thompson Pass. Here is Dan hiking up with Caz and Sky. It was a great weekend to get away!
