Summer In Alaska 2009

The great thing about Summertime in AK is that there is so much going on that you really don't have time to mess around w/ some silly blog. So, the catch up. Great visits w/ all the Fam back in the South. I got to return to the Chatooga river in N. Georgia for some fun runs w/ Joseph and Thomas. Then out to Utah and down the Bruneau river in S. Idaho. Hard place to get to but well worth the effort! Finally got back to Haines towards the end of May and had just enough time to high five all the pards and start packing for the Arctic. DD and I loaded up the Kaiser van and hit the road a few days early so as to have plenty of time to plan for the trip and hang out with Phillup!
The Kong was spectacular as always. We didn't see as many caribou in the begining, but had some walk right into camp on a chilly sea-fog morning. I sat up in my frost covered bag and snapped a couple shots of two bulls nosing around in our kitchen, then my camera died and they heard the beep, look straight at me, and then bailed out back up the hill where they looked back on the scene with stupified gazes. We later hit the mother load of Boo down near the pass. It was like the jolly green giant had stirred up an ant hill, except they were all caribou, swarming the hillsides in all directions! Sweet! The return drive to Haines was slow and chill and we camped along the way w/out a care in the world.....the way it should be!
Had a week off and then back out on the Tat w/ the Sierra Club. Fires in the Yukon had blown smoke down the valleys and painted the sunsets an even deeper shade of orange and pink, accompanied by a great full moon that traversed to top of Netlandia all the way from the Melbourne to Rock and Roll gully. The water rose steadily on this trip, but nothing like it would on the next one!
So, August. Things have slowed down a bit and we are all getting fired up about our private Tat trip. This is the first private Tat in 4 or 5 years for most of us and very long overdue. Dispite attempts to bring more of our close pards, we ended up w/ a fantastic group of derlicts who all shined out there. As always, we camped at new spots, hiked to new places, and kept the spirit of adventure alive. Highlights included a classic AK bushwhack up the Noname'/Stoned Goat drainage. Great views back up the Tat and all the way down to the Nose. Our decent was especially tasty as we got to scree ski about 2000 feet of vertical straight down to the drainage. Much better than fighting devils club! On down to the Confluence, we picked our way thru some pea soup fog and made it to Walker Glacier. Then it began to rain. Except, it was RAINING. Rain, rain, rain, and then....more rain. We hunkered down for 2 days and watched as the river doubled in size from somewhere around 48,000 cfs to almost 100,000cfs! Amazing. Our boats were almost floating in the kitchen at the middle Walker camp. We had nice high water for the remainder of the trip and made record time down to the lake, stayed a night a Flowers camp b/c the Knob was under water! Then down for the easy cruiser in the slew and a sunny flight back up the river and over the passes to Haines. This trip was the best therapy one could every ask for.....so sweet to be out there w/out so many responsiblities.
Upon returning to Haines, we had the juice still running in our viens, so we got after it some more climbing 3920 back to town, Tugaho x2, and then a paddling trip across to Katzehin and up Mrs. Claus' slip en route to the ridgeline facing Mt. Villard aka Santa Claus. There on the ridge, we found some amazing clear and somewhat warm (for AK) pools that were over your head deep, with great launching rocks, and mindboggling views of Haines. We saw no need to continue to the top of Santa Claus after such a day. Had a standoff with some mountain goats that were quite attatched to the snow patch that they were laying on to keep cool. The big daddy Billy gave us some entertaining hoof stomps and snorts, so we let em be and headed back down to the beach for creek chilled PBR's and shots of fine whisky around the rip-snorter we built to heckle the passing cruise ships. And, after they had all passed by, we put more wood on the fire and sang songs, played music, danced around the fire, and basked in all our drunken glory! Ha.

As the end of the season inevitably came around, I packed up Yoda and Hawthorne and I headed South down the Cassiar. We stopped when we reached Nelson, BC and hung around for a few days with some funny ass Canadians that are living up in the woods in some sweet yurts. They showed us their laid-back routine of working on their places, cliff jumping, and beach volleyball, or as they call it....Bump, Set, Smash.
After we couldn't handle the pace anymore, we said our goodbyes and headed to the border, only to find out that the guard didn't know the difference between Yerba Mate' and marijuanna. We endured over an hour of unjust questioning and intimidation from ill informed border guards who would be better off working the door at Walmart.
Alas, we made it thru and stopped in to see Cara in Sand Point, Idaho, then Hawthorne hopped a train to Seattle and I continued down thru Idaho, sticking close to the rivers and backroads, until I finally was forced to get on an interstate in Boise. Stayed a week in SLC tryin' to hang some with Em and gettin' all my ducks in a row to go back to Antarctica.
So, here I am, October, sitting in Denver awaiting 20 plus hours of flight time to get from here to LA to Sydney to New Zealand. One word for this flight.........Zanx....thanks D!