Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 136

Sam and Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 136

Alaska

6/26/09 – Valdez, Alaska – Glacier Tour  (cont.)

On the way out through the passage, on the other side of several islands of various sizes, we are told how trees and vegetation can thrive on rocks that have no soil. No matter how it happens, it is very impressive.  The first animal we see is the sea otter.  Not just one or two, but a lot of them.  We have not seen sea otters just ‘out there’ before.  They are so unique, so much larger than in my memory.  They were just floating on their backs with their big feet jutting out of the water.  When they wanted to move, they would just slowly reach out with one of their feet and paddle.  If they wanted to leave, they would roll over and be gone.  They are quite hairy and the older ones are much whiter and obviously they are the smarter ones.  Mothers would have a pup on their tummy, just basking.  Just living.  We then came across one big, big sea lion sunbathing.  He was so big that he barely fit on the base of the large sea buoy.  We circled him and he struck several poses for us to capture. He just needed sunglasses to look real cool.  He even scratched his chin with the claws that are tucked into his back flippers. 

I Be Happy! You?

Then one of the big surprises of the trip hits us, figuratively.  Icebergs! I don’t think any of them were of the size that took down the Titanic, but they were huge to us.  They started out small, got larger, got looking like some were sculptured.  We were amazed.  Icebergs of many colors, including brilliant blue.  Ask Mike why – he’ll be able to explain color to you in a way you will understand.  These are excellent examples of this phenomenon.  We could not stop taking pictures of them.  Even though we knew we were on a glacier tour, we thought we were going to see more of the kind that are up in the mountains – so icebergs were not even a possibility.  Besides, every one of us knows that icebergs can only be seen in the wild in the Arctic or Antarctic.  Right? Nope! We saw lots of them.  They start the process of melting as soon as they break off, as the water in the sound is about 55 degrees.  Beats me how the waters can be full of them.  Come to think about it – it is pretty amazing that the mountains, that can only be about 2000 feet above sea level, are so ice/snow topped.  I know that there are explanations for all of this – but isn’t it amazing anyway?

Cool!!

We were taken first to the Columbia Glacier.  We see the glacier before the boat reaches the ‘battle site’ in the sound where it ran into difficulties.   Columbia glacier is one of the few in this area that are no longer growing.  That is because it lost a battle. The glacier was forcing itself down its mountain path, pulling up rocks, gravel and silt – pushing it in front of itself for cover - like it was trained.  Then the rocks, gravel and silt got so massive on their own that they stopped the glaciers attack. Just refused to go forward. The glacier then decided to retreat, leaving the rocks, gravel and silt behind.  So now, whenever a piece of ice ‘calves’ or breaks off from the glacier – it goes only down as far as the rock barrier and gets stuck.  There is a nice huge line of impressive icebergs right there, touching the sound, but stuck.  Except – little pieces can break off and become smaller icebergs.  There are names for all sizes of icebergs.  On one of the smaller ones, that normally have ten times the mass under water compared to what can be seen above, an eagle sat.  Imperial. impervious. Impressive. We took pictures. We are not done. We have lunch.

Cold Feet?

After a nice, hot sit-down lunch, we get fairly close to the shore.  A small boat comes out and picks up a young man who works for the salmon fish hatchery that is right there.  They have no other way to get to the hatchery or to get supplies there, than by boat.  So the young man, who will stay there for three weeks, jumps from one ship to the other, very carefully.  The transfer is done very safely.  And we are on our way.  We are still heading towards the open sea, but two large islands will keep us well protected and in the sound.

Glacier

The first clue that we are getting close to the second glacier came into sight.  Many more icebergs.  As we are slowing down, we notice scads of harbor seals on many of the icebergs, along with various sea gulls.  I have no idea why they were here.  I forgot to ask.  The seals were cute, but we Oregonians have mixed views on them.  I will leave it at – there were many of them on the icebergs. Then we see Meares Glacier. We were still expecting another mountain glacier, so were enthralled by a barrier wall of glacier – right over there.  Our captain got us pretty close by pushing some icebergs gently out of the way.  We sat.  He told us to listen and although I am convinced he was the only 13 year old in a crew of 12 year olds – I heeded his request.  I heard thunder. Rumble, rumble, CRACK! Thunder.  At the time we heard it, maybe a little before-we saw ‘calving’.  A bunch of ice would fall into the water and after the waves, general turbulence was over, a new iceberg would bob to the surface.  Demure they are from the start and only show their best feature.  I am not sure how long we stayed.  Long enough to see three episodes.  I was willing to stay several hours, but was overruled.  The captain was driving. 

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 135

Sam and Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 135

Alaska

6/26/09 – Valdez (val-deez), Alaska – Columbia And Meares Glacier Tour/Prince William Tour By Stan Stephens Cruised

How Great Is Our God!

Are you ready?  Sam is ready to make another declaration!! Here it comes…Valdez, including the area out to and including the glaciers, is the most beautiful place we have seen to date.  No question. No argument.  Declared!

Waiting To Board

Every view, every uplift of the eye, every every.  We had no idea.  We are so thankful that we are able to see and experience with all of our senses this adventure as a whole and these most awesome places of massive splendor. Even if none of the other areas we have shared has captured your interest, please come and see this area some time in your life.  Your spirit will be lifted. It will be an experience of a lifetime. 

Ours On The Left

We are on a nine hour cruise scheduled to view two glaciers and all the local wildlife. We expected rain.  It rained last night.  The locals said rain.  Sam’s phone said rain.  We expected rain.  The clouds were out this morning, some with dark centers, some with dark edges.  Either way – we expected rain.  We had to be at the dock by 9:30 am.  Although Sam and I had awakened several times over the last ‘sleep period’ in anticipation, we barely made it. We get our boarding passes and after a short wait, we board.  The craft we got on was a large, lush pontoon boat. It can carry about 250 passengers. Comfortably. We have about 75.  We have room.  Room to sit inside and eat our two meals, room to stand at the front rail, room at either side, up or down and room in the bathrooms.  We were warned not to shove people aside or push them overboard, as it was not considered good etiquette.  I listened to all the safety information.

Ooooh!

We leave the dock and set course through the sound out towards open sea. I take pictures of our trailer and our new neighbors as we pass. Our skipper plans to turn before we reach open water, which apparently is a good thing. The water is flat.  Slight ripples. Some sun shining through the clouds, causing the water to shine back.  It is not freezing. Since we have brought all the layers we could carry and extra provisions, we opt to make our main nest in the open back of the top floor of the boat.  If you are nautical, please insert the right words in the right places so your spine does not tingle, causing your interest to wane.

Aaaaahhh?

As I indicated before, the mountains rise straight out of the water.  Having even a foot of beach line is unusual. The water next to the mountains usually involves sheer drops from the waterline straight down about 400 feet. This phenomenon creates a pristine beauty of it’s own.  Other than Valdez, the other local villages are more restricted in travel.  Either the roads available are restrictive in some major way or there are no roads, and boats must be used to access them.  

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 134

Sam and Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 134

Alaska

6/25/09 – Valdez (val-deez), Alaska

Since Sam cannot fish for a while, we discuss the alternatives.  We remembered talking to some kids back in Tok, who were traveling with their grandparents. They had told us that Valdez was the only good part of their trip.  Although they did not get a chance to tell us why, we decide to go there and do some sightseeing.  Sam has read only fishing things about the area, so we pick up some pamphlets in Glennallen, try to pay de-hooking bill, eat breakfast and start out for Valdez. All by 12:30.  The good thing is – it is still daytime.   Turns out we are both good at dawdling.  We watch for critters, enjoy the scenery and relive yesterday – yet again.

Taking The High Road

Since we will be returning to Glennallen – I will hold off until later on what I could relate now.  The road to Valdez is very nice, except for the road.  The roads would be catastrophic if we were trying to get to work in less than 30 minutes.  Since we have a lot of time (until 7/1/09), we slow down.  The roads are much better that way.  At one of the side-of-the-road information panels, I learn much more about the Alaska Pipeline that has decided to shadow us again.

Nice And Slow

 In addition, there was something about the road heaving frost and ice wedges over permafrost.  Very interesting information and to make sure I don’t get something wrong – ‘googling’ is a good thing.  The water has started dripping from the snow-topped mountains, making wonderful waterfalls.  In areas where lakes do not want to take in the extra moisture – swampy, boggy areas appear.  I look for more moose.  In the plural. The road goes up and then down. We pass trucks and other rigs parked beside the road, the missing occupants obviously fishing. I tried to distract Sam from thinking about fishing by talking to him about getting material to cover the trailer windows to give us a semblance of night.  I’m sure it helped. 

Melting Ice

We drive to the State Campground nearest to Valdez, with the plan that if it is full, we will backtrack.  What we find is a surprise.  Valdez is not on the ocean!! It’s on a sound.  Which means it can be an ocean town without having to be exposed to the open ocean.  We turn left before the old town (destroyed by earthquake) and drive almost to where the pipeline ends.  This road is on spit about 15 miles long.  The spit is across the water from the new town of Valdez.  Along the spit, there are pullouts on one side or the other that have been turned into camp spots.  This has basically been done by pounding posts into the side of the shoulder turnouts and adding numbers.  If you park – you pay.  They added outhouse, drinking water station, garbage barrel and a pay station.  We grab one that is one of the last spaces on the water side, furtherest from town.  Our main window overlooks the water and once again, big snow-striped mountains are on all four sides.  In fact, mountains grow straight out of the waters edge in most places.  Valdez is lucky that a mountain did not want to build where the town is located.  Very beautiful spot, but cold and windy.

Our Window View

We set up camp and then go to check out the town, just as it starts to rain.  Valdez is not large town, but has it does have that good coastal feel, mainly because of the marina. It has everything you would want – except we had trouble finding a regular seafood restaurant.  We ran into an Italian restaurant by accident. Since Sam can’t fish (I’m not willing to clean them), we booked passage on a glacier tour for tomorrow.  We called it a night, even though it was still daylight.  The water was very close to the top of its designated area and lapping at the road, but there was no apparent recent water damage, so we ignored it. 

One Of Several Neighbors

There are two eagles camped across the road, up the mountain, in the treetops.  I got pictures while they were posing, then again when they were swooping the waters edge, right beside us.  Fell asleep smiling.  

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 133

Sam and Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 133

Alaska

6/24/09 – Sourdough Creek BLM Campground – Gulkana River

We really like Quartz Lake Campground.  Sam and I had a lot of fun here, even though the weather did not always cooperate.  We spent much of our time here with locals and it was great. The campground site was fabulous and the low price made it even better.  But we want to see more – much more.  We pack up and head back to Delta Junction. 

Rain Ahead

This time at Delta Junction, we turn right and travel towards Glennallen. We hope to meet up with Dave.  He will be here to visit his parents and we plan to interrupt that a tad.  Our meeting with him is set for July first.  We have a few days.  We decide to fish and I choose Sourdough Creek State Park Campground. Information in the Highway Angler, a fishing Alaska’s road-water book, said it had scads of fish.  The trip there provides time for Alaska to grow much bigger mountains, with what looks suspiciously like glaciated areas. Very pretty.

Iceful

At one roaring river, Sam pulled over to a wide spot and took a break.  When we finally focus downward, we both see the same thing.  Shades of South Dakota.  Mica, iron pyrite, and quartz all over.  I have vowed not to look too hard at rocks- until we are headed back to Oregon.  Sam has made no such vow. Out of Brutus, over the road’s shoulder he goes, heading towards the raging water.  He came back up with two stupendous rocks.  I smile since I did not hunt for rocks – but got them anyway. 

OK, Just One

We pull in to the campground, find a nice space and walk around a little to test for blood-thirsty buggies.  There are some, but they do not seem to be swarming.  There are nice elevated paths that connect the camp sites to the fishing sites and the boat launch area. We decide to pay the $8.00 per night fee and stay.  Hummmm. After getting set up, we talk to fellow fishpersons and to the camp hostess.  All indicate that the King salmon are running and that trout and graylings are also plentiful.  Hummmmmm!  We set up and rush down to fish on both the Sourdough Creek and the Gulkana River, since they meet right below our trailer.

Water All Over

We have all four of our poles and all are set up with different gizmos, complete with hooks.  I start in the stream for trout, but Sam goes right to the big river and the salmon set up.  The King salmon season has been shortened on this river and Sam only has until Sunday to fish for one.  We will be going for Sockeye and Silver later.  So Sam has his heart set on the King.  We fish long and hard – throwing every combination of shinies and nums at them.  I know it is not going to get dark, so I use the old excuse “I am hungry”.  We take a break and I start the food preparation.

More Pipeline

Then...Sam catches the big one.  I can almost guarantee he will never catch one as long or as heavy as this, ever again.  It is over 6 feet long and 200 pounds.  He is grinning sheepishly as he brings it to show me.  He had the spinner that I had picked out connected to a treble hook.  I was glad it was this one, and not the monster spinner he had picked out.  The hook will be easier to remove.  He could not remove it himself and asked if I could try.  I could not and found the camp hostess, who just happened to be near our camp.  She had experience with this, and could not get it out.  We, meaning Sam with me watching,  ended up driving the 35 to 40 miles to Glennallen, so a physician’s assistant could use wire cutters (from a fish tackle box) to snip the hook prongs and push it on through.  Sam cannot fish for a week, as fish slime can cause a particularly nasty infection that fishermen – not fisherwomen – are prone to.  No more King salmon fishing for now.

All Treble Parts Helped To Hook 'The Big One'

As a side note:  On the way to Glennallen, we saw a second moose.  The medical assistant told us that the moose in Alaska are much bigger and taller than those in
Canada.  Which made me feel better because Sam teased me when I calmly pointed out “Watch out for the horse!”.  I am not sure why He was teasing Me in the first place -considering where we were and why. 

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 132

Sam and Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 132

Alaska

6/23/09 – Big Delta, Alaska – Quartz Lake State Park

One man, pitted against the raging force of nature in the form of weather and fish. The Old Man And The Sea or Moby Dick-this is not.  But some parts might apply.  The weather turned from ‘bright sunny day and day-night yesterday’ - to windy, cold, rainy, cold.  Sam makes ready the fold-a-boat for a long voyage using power other than … Sam.  We are worried about all the weight.  There is a weight limit to how much the boat can take – and we are playing with that limit. 

Big Lake!

Sam motions me to get into the boat.  I cringe.  It is cold even though the rain has stopped.  He pushes us off from shore and the wind picks up. I look towards Brutus for comfort.  Sam is oblivious to my fear.  Uncontrolled it is.  He is grinning.  He needs his ‘Indy Sam’ hat sitting on his head, just to take my mind off this activity. We are on our own.  The motor is pushing us around and the boat decides that the manufacturer is under-stating it’s capacities. We begin to fish. 

Our Private Path To Lake

I start to have fun. It starts to rain.  Sam decides to troll a little.  Does he know that I am in the front of the boat and now I become his wind break?  Can’t be!  I am not sure, but I think I am now colder than the wind.  I call it, and in Sam takes me.  He says that although he is not cold, he will come in with me.  The fold-a-boat has handled itself well. After a hot lunch, Sam goes back out again.  The fish are calling him. 

Way Out There. No, I Don't Know What He Is Doing.

As soon as the door closes behind Sam, it starts to rain in earnest.  It does not stop.  I’m busy and do not worry.  Several hours go by and Sam is not back.  I start to worry.  I know that it is not going to get dark and I am not sure that Sam has any other cue to stop fishing and come out of the rain, other than darkness.  I get my coat on and walk down to the lake.  Sure enough – no other boats on the lake.  There was one being taken out of the lake and they made a guffaw noise when I pointed out that ‘that is my husband out there’.  It takes a while for Sam to see me, and another while for him to come in. I think hypothermia – he claims he was having lots of fun, even though no fish.  He comes in to warm up a bit.  The weather turns even uglier.  He concedes.  But the fold-a-boat is now a full-fledged part of this adventure. 

Public Use Cabin

Left Half Of Our Space

White Pretty

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 131

Sam and Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 131

Alaska

6/22/09 – Fairbanks, Alaska – Day Trip

We are so close to Fairbanks. We decide to leave the trailer at Quartz Lake and drive to Fairbanks to spend the day.  We leave – not too early.  The sun is shining.  The campground almost totally emptied out after we got here last night.  We drive leisurely north, pulling over when someone is in a hurry.  Boy, are we in adventure mode.

It Says It All

 We enter Fairbanks North Star Borough first. We have no idea what this means, but guess that it is like the ‘metro’ area around Portland that includes neighboring towns.   It takes a little longer to enter Fairbanks.  We had not prepared for this visit. 

DownTown Or UpTown

Traffic Jam

We had no agenda and therefore did not see a lot. We drove around the area and noted that it is one of the larger cities we have seen in Alaska. We shop. We are very impressed with the jet, helicopter and other aircraft movement – mostly in the air.  We pass two military bases – one air force. It looks like maneuvers are in full swing.  I hope it is maneuvers. 

Pretty Birds

We also stop at North Pole, Alaska.  Good sales idea and  very cute.  No, I am not going to tell you how much I spent.  We returned ‘home’.  Enough time for one more walk around the lake, one more checking out of what everyone was catching and the making of plans to go fishing ourselves tomorrow.

North Pole, Alaska

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 130

Sam and Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 130

Alaska

6/21/09 – Big Delta, Alaska – Quartz Lake State Park

We ate sourdough pancakes for breakfast.  I truly hope they were not the ones we tossed last night. Included in the meal was either regular sausage or sausage made from reindeer.  If you were ever a little kid and heard about little ‘red-nose’, you will be happy to know I had regular.  If, on the other hand, you grew up - you will cheer for Sam, who ate him. We got full and hit the road. 

One Of Many Goals On This Trip

Sam has set course for Quartz Lake State Park, just on the other side of Delta Junction.  We were not too impressed with Tok. We felt more at home in Delta Junction.  It is the official end of the Alaskan (AlCan) highway.  I know we hit the official end of the road for a fact – because the sign said so. We stopped for groceries and headed northly towards Quartz Lake.  We are hoping to find the perfect place to try out the electric motor on the fold-a-boat. We bought a battery and case to go with it.  If we don’t sink the unsinkable, we should be ok.

The Pipeline Crossing The Tanana River

We finally see some big mountains again. The road is heading right for them.  We enter the Tanana State Forest.  The Tanana River is a large riverbed filled mostly with islands of silt and gravel, with an extensive system of water arteries running all over the place, with one – sometimes two- main river channels. It is hard for me to picture a full Columbia River and place it over what I am seeing of the Tanana.  You should check it out.  I have my first glimpse of the Alaskan Pipeline.  It actually crosses the road and the river right here.  I got pictures.  Its circumference is a lot smaller than Sam or I imagined.  The water pipeline in Malheur County is much bigger around.  The length of this one is just oh so muchly bigger.  We turn right, just after the pipe sighting, onto the road that leads to our campground.  Turns out, the pipe goes through this too and we understand that it will be near us on some of our route ahead. 

Quartz Lake

The Quartz Campground begins at the edge of Quartz Lake and includes a boat rental shack, boat ramp, lower campground right at water’s edge, a day use park and an upper campground in the trees.  It also has hiking trails and at least two medium sized cabins that can be reserved.  We choose the upper section as we can get a nice and level oversized space. We also get no neighbors and a really cool fire pit.  The trail to the water goes right from here to there.  It is $10 a night.  We check out the skeeter situation before we make a final decision. The high population of dragon flies, huge ones, keeps them in check.  We grin and stay. 

Friend #1

Friend #2

Friend #gazillion!

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 129

Sam and Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 129

Alaska

6/20/09 – Tok, Alaska – Sourdough RV Park

We see the ‘Welcome to Alaska’ sign, and get ready to go through border-crossing activities.  Instead we drive on. The American office is way down the road.  We finally make it through and are officially back in the US.  The road signs change back to normal- but it takes us a little longer.  We glimpse some tall snow-topped mountains, but due to the trees lining the road we don’t get a good look. Out of sight – out of…  Rivers, lakes, creeks and ponds continue to dot the area.

Back In The USA

 The trees just beyond the roadside strip look skinnier than usual.  This is apparently due to the extreme cold weather.  So far, the land seems to be a little flatter in Alaska.  The locals are similar to Canadians, in that they live close to the main highway, but you can’t see anything other then their ‘drive’ leading away from the road.  It is 93 miles from the border to Tok.  We pass Border City.  Then it hits me!  A big, big difference.  Electric Poles. These with wires attached from one pole to the next. Civilization! I was so excited! I took pictures of them.  They looked a little alien, because they were toppling in all directions, but still standing. Barely. I figure they grow their gophers big in Alaska. 

A Bit Tipsy

We cross the Tanana (Tau-nah-na) River for the first time.  This is a major river that you should read up on.  This year just happens to be Alaska’s 50^th statehood anniversary. I pick out the RV Park and choose Sourdough RV Park in Tok. Mainly because of the advertised ‘in park’ car/rv wash.  Brutus needs TLC, along with the trailer and boat.  It did not hurt that they also advertise nightly live music from local talent and morning sourdough pancakes.  We pull in and give Brutus and the trailer a good scrubbing.  That silt-mud is sticky – but the bugs stickier.  Sam decides to work a little more on the rigs and I go and do some wash and keyboarding.  The ‘hot spot’ happens to be right outside the laundry door. We get together to try and toss some sourdough pancakes into a bucket to win a free breakfast tomorrow. Not even close. We then settle in for our first sleep-over in Alaska. I did not hear any talent at all.  

Tanana River

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 128

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 128

Canada

6/20/09 – Leaving Canada – for now

This is the day we leave Canada and enter Alaska.  Although we will be back when we return home.  We get up late.  Our goal is to make it to Tok, Alaska.  This should be a fairly easy trip.  As we go towards Pickhandle Lake again, we look for eagles and find one.  We think it is the same one that was near the same location yesterday.  I take more pictures.  What a beautiful bird.  We pass more marshy land.  The road continues to be iffy, but totally doable, if you are not in a hurry.  We pass Beaver Creek, the town.  Soon after, Sam stops at a pullout that has a small lake right beside it.  In the lake were trumpeter swans.  I got pictures.  Not too much further down the road, across yet another small roadside lake – Sam spots a moose.  We got him too.  We pass the Canadian Customs building, although we do not have to stop.  We then see the Welcome to Alaska sign.  It is hard to believe that ‘they’ are ‘we’.  So far from home.  

Trumpeter Swan

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 127

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 127

Canada

6/19/09 – Lake Creek Provincial Park, Yukon Territory, Canada

As we left his area, we stop in Burwash one last time to thank the cook for her fishing information.  We are off to where she always takes her three grandchildren (grown) to fish (Edith Creek).  We bought some of her most fantastic white and wheat bread (huge, but light and soft), then pulled out and away from Kluane Lake.  Good, fun times and great people.

Gold Pan

We are going to have a long, grueling travel day again.  This time we are traveling 85 miles to Lake Creek Provincial Park.  Only a few things jump out and grab our attention.  The first occurred as we were traveling through some lower mountains. We came over a crest and around a corner and right there – a river was flowing up the hill on the other side of the valley.  I will let Sam explain that one, because I can’t.  The second happened when we hit a major road dicombobberation.  A sign said watch for extreme dust.  Instead, they were out there grading (or was it grating?) the roads, tamping them down nice with big thumpers, but in addition – they were watering them.  That left a soft, silty mud that flew everywhere.  Up and over and under and down. It covered Brutus, the trailer and the poor fold-a-boat on top.  Covered.  Totally.  Big mess. We went through a long stretch of this.  The road since we crossed the bridge into Lake Kluane has not been good and it fits the description of wash-boardy, but mud was worse. We hit some paved highway, but it was like riding a bucking bronco. Other than that, a lot of pretty flowers in bloom.

The Eagle Is Landing

We pass Edith Creek and know that the campground is close by.  We turn into the Lake Creek Provincial Park and find a spot next to a … raging river.  This one was a dark brownish rust color. Nope. I don’t know why.  Minerals of some sort would be my guess. We set up camp and head out in Brutus to fish.  We go to Pickhandle Lake first.  It is a little further down the road and is also a rest stop area as well.  We fish off the small dock provided and off of the deck that some information panels were located.  I take pictures first, including some of a large juvenile bald eagle  perched just across the small lake.  Then I fish.  Sam and I catch nothing. We decide to go back to Edith Creek. On our way there, Sam and I are discussing how we have been looking down and not up when looking for ‘critters’. Just as we say this, we both spot an adult bald eagle sitting proudly at the top of a dead tree right by the road.  I take pictures. Sam drives closer and I take more. Good ones.

This Is My Good Side

We make it to Edith Creek. We grab our gear and head off.  There is a swift running river about 12 feet wide.  Several long fars before it makes it to where we are, the river splits in two unequal halves and comes back together where we want to fish.  This give me a slow moving place to fish and same a fast water place to fish.  I actually chose the slower moving section since I saw more evidence of foot traffic and noticed that someone had piled even more rocks upstream to slow it down even more. After my first few nibbles, we both fished that slower part. We caught nine graylings and Sam caught a Pike.  So cool. So different.  None of the fish that we kept were under 17 inches. The pike was about 23 inches.  We went back to camp smiling.

Edith Creek Grayling

Of course we can’t go to sleep until the fish are processed and in the fridge.  I closely watch Sam from the trailer window as he fillets them on the park bench outside. He then cleans the area with buckets of water from the river.    He also cleans the windows with river water.  He does such good work and is a delight to watch. We are ready to go to bed. It is 12:30 pm and still light outside.

Mmmmm

Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 126

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 126

Canada

6/17/09 -6/17/09 – Kluane Lake, Yukon Territory, Canada

We like it here!  There are some things about the park we do not like, but everything else makes up for it. We end up staying three nights.  The second and third day, we spend fishing. The fold-a-boat stayed on top of Brutus.  We went to the Burwash Landing Resort and RV Park in Burwash and had lunch.  Sam chatted with the other customers that happened to be local residents.  Even the waitress pumped information out of the cook for us.   Bottom line was – we had fishing leads to follow.  We bought lures and things and took off around the very small, very wet town. We actually found the corral and turned down behind some houses next to the lake. The rutted dirt-mud lane ended at a spit of rocks, in front of an abandoned log cabin, complete with a busted sod and timber roof.  We both fished, but Sam caught the 17 inch Lake Trout.  We got no further action here.  We went back to our camp and we got our waders out. Maiden voyage for mine.  The wind was blowing very well and the swells were hitting me at hip level, with an occasional waist-bashing.  I was having fun. I kept my balance, got my arm wet only once (had to have that rock), but no fish.  Sam caught a total of two more Lake Trout.  One 17 inch and one 21 inch.  My first time in waders and using spinners.  I like it!

Kluane Lake, Sam, Fish, Sod-Topped Shack

We go to Destruction  Bay, on the way to Burwash, to check it out.  It has a great look and a great gas station/general store.  Some of the other ‘draws’ are closed, like the knot sculpture shop/man. I did find out that the name was obtained when a storm hit some buildings in the area, demolishing them. We go on to Burwash and go through the nature museum. Just outside of it is the ‘biggest’ gold pan in the Yukon. The museum was very good.  It had the animals, some birds and a lot of information.  We both enjoyed this one.  It lived up to it’s advertising quite well.

Twins

Wanna Play?

At the entrance to the RV park we find the cubs at play along side the road.  I got pictures, again standing on the running board with the door open.  The RV Park owner came scooting up on his “bear patrol’ ATV and scared the poor things away.  Seriously, they really have a problem with these two always returning to the park, due to the many campers in tents.  Not good.  No one feeds the bears, and garbage is no longer allowed outside of your camper or car – if you are tenting.  Cyclists are required to try to look dis-tasteful – I don’t know!  We enjoyed this place, with Sam being able to fish right outside his door and chase bears when he was not fishing.  He was grinning most of the time.  The only real sad thing – the advertised hot tub was hot, but not in use.  BoooHisss. 

Our Kind Of Park