Denali Part II

It was very cold this morning. Two minutes after I walked out of my hotel it began to rain. It rained for the next hour and a 1/2 as we made our way back to Denali. It stopped raining around Healy and cleared up somewhat.

By mile 5 inside the park it was snowing. Not too bad but just enough so that we couldn't see very far across the plains. We'd seen a few Ptarmigans and an Arctic Hare but at this point we weren't holding out much hope of Bears or Wolves. We reached the 30 mile turnaround point and got out to stretch our legs as well as eat lunch. Bill and I walked out onto the big overhanging deck to check out the scenery (or what little we could see due to the snow).

And there she was... A big mama Grizzly with her cub across the river. I hollered at Bill and we both stood there trying to see them through the snow which was becoming worse by the minute. I grabbed my camera (which didn't help a bit) and took a few pictures (mama looks like a little blonde dot and the cub looks like an even smaller black dot, time to buy a new camera). I ran back and got Brian and he joined us on the deck. By this time we had yelled at everyone who was there that there was a bear on the other side of the river. Luckily, one of the guys had the biggest pair of binoculars I've ever seen and let us borrow them. Mama was extremely large and very blonde. The cub looked to be about as big as a certain 14 year old son of mine and was a very dark brown. It was so cold that Brian and I had to return to the car and get our heavier coats on before we could resume watching the pair. This pretty much made the trip for us.

The drive back to the main gate was uneventful except that the snow was REALLY coming down now and the bottom fell out of the temperature. We exited the park and proceeded back to Fairbanks.

Stopping along the Nenana River, Brian and I got out to take a few pics on the foot bridge across Nenana Canyon. I had taken a few shots when something caught my eye near the end of the bridge and up close to the highway. It was a large canine which I originally mislabeled as, "BRIAN!!! WOLF!!!". It ran down into a little gully with something in it's mouth. Brian and I moved down the bridge towards it to try and get some pictures. Once we got close enough we realized it was a fox (albeit a rather large fox) and it was munching on an Arctic Hare. As we got closer I got one last picture, he noticed us, tore the hare in half and proceeded to vacate the area. Another very cool experience.

The drive back to Fairbanks was a mix of snow and rain. We did see two Moose in a field off the side of the highway and stopped and took some photos quickly but by then we were all a little tired and it was friggin' cold outside so, off we went.

Stopped by The Pump House for supper and then I dropped the two of them off and headed back to the hotel.

Fun day.

I miss my wife and kids.

It would have been more fun had they been here. Laters...

Friday the 11th

Visited with the Aviation Brigade today to give them an Executive Overview of our software. Bill and I will be teaching 8 of their soldiers on Monday and Tuesday of next week before we pack up to fly home.

Tonight we went back the The Pump House. Had a few beers and ate some Halibut. We played shuffleboard again and Bill and Brian together were able to defeat me 2 games out of 4. Then Bill beat me twice... I'm losing my edge.

Tomorrow we are going back to Denali.

More on that tomorrow. Laters...

Wednesday
Not alot going on. Today was "troubleshooting" day in class. The students performed better than expected.

I went to a fur trading company and got me a Fox. A whole Fox. This place has furs/skins from dang near every critter in N. America.

Going to The Pump House tonight with the guys for supper. Cool place, right on the Chena River. Not that we can sit on the patio or anything (still a little chilly). It was 37 this morning and it's supposed to get down to 25 tonight. Anything above 2000 feet is supposed to get snow tonight.

Tomorrow we test out and Friday is an Executive Overview for a National Guard Unit here in sunny Fairbanks.

I think we are probably going to go back to Denali on Saturday and then play golf on Sunday at the Northern most golf club in America. http://www.northstargolf.com/golf/proto/northstargolf/index.htm

Laters...

Two Days
Well nothing exciting Monday or Tuesday. Bill and I did see HotFuzz last night. Great movie, funny as all get out.

No idea what we're doing tonight. Laters...

The Arctic Circle

You heard me... The Freakin' Arctic Circle!!! Brian, J and I left Fairbanks around 1430hrs. The drive was right around 200 miles and it took us 4 hours to get there along the Dalton Highway. Now, highway. A reletive term here in sunny Alaska. The majority of the 414 mile road is a combination of dirt, rock, mud and ice. Parts... parts of it are somewhat paved.

At mile 55 we crossed the Yukon River, very cool. It's a really big river and the majority of it is still frozen over. At this point we are 120 miles in either direction from a gas station (until next week when the one at the end of the bridge opens) which is important as you will soon find out.

At mile 115 we reached the Arctic Circle. We got out and took a few pictures and realized that there was no sound out there except for our cameras clicking. Quiet. Absolutely quiet. Nothing. Now you're probably wondering, "Stu, why the heck would you go to the Arctic Circle?" Simple... Have YOU ever been there? That's why.

We told ourselves before we left that as soon as the gas tank hit 1/2 we would turn around, even if we didn't make it to the circle. Wouldn't you know, we hit 1/2 at the circle. We figured, "No worries." So, we made our exit and headed back to Fairbanks. On the way back we stopped at Finger Mountain. We couldn't stay long because the temperature was hovering around 0 or below with the enormous wind chill. Back into the truck we hopped and proceded South.

At mile 25 the gas light came on.

At mile 12 the truck came to a stop.

We called our buddy Adam and asked for a little assistance. 35 minutes went by. Brian calls Adam and we start talking about where we are and where he is. We're roughly 12 miles outside of Fox (did I mention that we had just come into cellular range about 100 yards before the truck stopped?). We get the directions communicated and we wait. Another 20 minutes. Brian calls Adam and Adam has found a man lying on the side of the road and has stopped to render aid (turns out he's ok, just resting or something). Another 20-30 minutes passes and a truck pulls over to ask us if we're ok. Praise be to God, he's got a 2 gallon gas can that's about 3/4 full.

3 miles up the road/mountain we find a dang gas station!!

We finally meet up with Adam just outside of Fox. I owe him dinner tomorrow night...

The trip was completely worth it though. We also saw the following critters: Moose, Caribou, a Peregrine Falcon, a Vole, a Lynx and some really ginormous Ravens.

Did I mention that I've been to the Arctic Circle?!?

Denali

Yesterday we went to Denali National Park. I would have blogged this last night but Tripod was having issues and I was too tired after 6 hours in Denali (plus a 4 hour drive up and back).

Denali... Wow. Those of you who have never been, you owe it to yourself to see this place. Just wait until June. It'll be a little more green. Aside from that it was one of the most impressive places I've been to around this little chunk of rock we call Earth.

We saw Moose, Caribou, Dall's Sheep, Marmot, Ptarmigan, Snowshoe Hare, Red Squirrel, Mallard, Merganser, Robin, Winter Wren, etc.......

The Moose were really cool. We got within 20-30 feet of two bulls. J and I were standing on a low bridge taking pictures and they just walked out of the brush and into the creek. They walked towards the bridge and started posing for us. I'll post pictures at some point.

Today we are contemplating driving up to the Arctic Circle. I'll let yall know how that goes. Laters.

First time out...

Well, after thinking about this off and on for a while I've decided to create a blog. I spend a lot of time sending and receiving status reports to friends and family and I think this is just an easier way to do it (not that I don't like e-mailing yall). So, here it goes.

Friday, 04 May 07 (although technically Saturday, 05 May 07:

Class was put on hold in the afternoon due to poor attendance. Not that Bill and I minded... We went to the midnight showing of Spiderman 3 (2 was better) and we were a little bushed. It's really hard to adjust to the days/nights up here. It doesn't get dark until 2330hrs and then gets light again at 0330hrs (I'm in Fairbanks, AK in case you didn't know). Driving down the street and thinking it's 1800hrs and pulling over to go to a store only to find it closed because it's 2230hrs is a bit disorienting.

Tomorrow Brian, Bill, J and I are going to Denali National Park. Then I'm going to try and convince them to take a trip to the Arctic Circle next weekend... We'll see how that goes.

I'm not going to promise you that I'll update this everyday but, I'll try. Laters...