Hiking with dogs in deep snow

Last weekend was very snowy with a storm that kept me inside until Sunday when my friend Allie invited me for a hike. The snow was very deep around the dredge lakes area and the moraine ecology trail we hiked. Maple the golden retriever and Bob the black lab were having a great time busting through chest deep snow for several hours while I huffed it on my snow shoes and Allie cross country skiied. The snow was so deep that it took quite a bit of energy to break trail in some places and the dogs soon figured out that they could have an easier time of things by following in our tracks. After a while they followed so close that I kept feeling a very heavy weight on my snow shoes and would have to catch my balance. I was amazed at how much engergy the dogs have and surprised we didn't see the "romeo" the local black wolf that Juneau Residents have been feeding and allowing their dogs to play with. This is quite a problem and has caused the wolf to become very brave around people especially when they bring their dogs along. I've been keeping my fingers crossed that the wolf doesn't harm a human or eat any more dogs(than it has already). In the mean time it seem seems to really like Maple and has surprised my friend with close encounters on several occasions. This whole doesn't seem to have a pack and often acts like it prefers the company of dogs which some folks gladly encourage despite the fact that it has killed at least a couple of dogs already and last winter it picked up a pug and tossed it much to the chagrine of it's panicked owner. Luckily the pug played possum and wasn't killed. It's fascinating and frustrating to see the types of problems that occur when people don't use common sense with wildlife. Oh well at least we had a fun day in the snow before the rain came back the next days:)

Crazy Commercial Fisherman

It's a been a while since I've had a chance to update and I haven't had a chance to take too many photos but I was sent an email today with some of the craziest photos I've seen yet. First of all boating in Southeast Alaska can be quite dangerous with very rough seas, ice bergs, rocky shorelines and lots and lots of "dead heads" which are basically big logs that wash out with the high tides and storms that you can collide with and severly damage a boat hull. All summer long there were almost daily messages from the Coast Guard looking for missing boats, etc. Okay so now it's Febuary and we had a severe storm warning all weekend with about 18 inches of snow and winds 45 up to 80mph gusts at times the worst of which occurred on Saturday. One of my coworkers Lavern Beier lives on an awesome boat down at the harbor which isn't uncommon in Juneau. He relayed the following crazy story and photographs. Apparently a this commercial fishing boat drove 14 hours on Saturday from Cape Fanshaw to Juneau with salt spray and snow blasting across the vessel with higher winds coming from the starboard side of the boat. It was dark and they were using instruments and so much ice built up that they had to hold a heater against the windshield to keep about a 6 inch hole for visibility. The fact that there was more water hittting the starboard side and the weight of the ice was surely thousands of pounds didn't phase these lunatics despite the fact that an experienced captain like LaVern immediately recognized the fact that the boat was listing because of the weight of the ice and could have very easily capsized with one wrong wave. When he walked up to the boat they were taking photos with their cell phones to send to their girlfriends and when he mentioned that it was risky business they said something like "that's what fishermen do".LOL! Here's a tip for anyone who wants to visit AK. Most of the locals are much more adventurous than people from out of state(including me) so if they people here say that what your doing is crazy then your life expectancy is probably greatly reduced! Enjoy!

Note the small "viewing hole" in the windshield that was made by holding a heater against it for most of the 14 hour trip! I'm not sure how they got of the boat as the doors were probably frozen shut? LaVern told me a story of a many years ago when a mail delivery boat arrived in Juneau and the mailman couldn't get out of the cabin after it froze shut so he had to weight until someone happened along and "broke him out" gotta love fighting the elements. Kind of puts shoveling 18 inches of snow this weekend in perspective eh?LOL!

Winter Fun in Juneau

I drove "out the road" the other day all the way to the end only to discover that the last 6 or 8 miles are barely maintained and I was driving on about 1-2 inches of ice. The parking lot at Point Bridget State Park wasn't plowed and had about 4 feet or more of snow so everyone had parked on the road. I snowshoed in a few miles and met some folks who were on the way out from one of the cabins you can rent. They were skiing but were towing lots of gear on sleds which looked like fun but a lot of work. It was a rare sunny three day weekend. On the way back down the road I came upon a beautiful sunset that began at about 3:30 PM and lasted for almost an hour. I took a bunch of photos since I'm still getting used to my camera. I played around with the cameras exposure settings in an attempt to keep the sunset from looking burned out. As I was finally getting the hang of it the sun had dropped down enough to send more horizontal light across the canal. It was too pretty to do justice with photos but I made a pretty good attempt I think.


This one is "downtown" Juneau a few miles from where I live. I stopped in for groceries after taking advantage of the sunshine and doing some photography. It was about 4:00 PM and the sun was still shining with blue sky and the moon was out over the mountains. I decided to take a few quick photos. I'm beginning to gain a lot more respect for professional photographers.

January in Juneau

Well it's good to be home again after about two days in airports a week ago and weather delays, etc. I finally made it to Juneau Airport with a snow storm. Everyone keeps asking me for photos of where I live so I thought I'd finally take one with snow instead of rain. The picture doesn't do the driveway justice. It's so steep we don't park the cars there during winter and I often have to wear creepers(spikes) on the bottom of my boots to keep from breaking my neck on the way down to the house.

This photo is looking out the sliding glass door in the back of the house. The woods do a good job of hiding the "highway." We had all this snow when I took the photos and then after I rested for two days due to jet lag it was rained quite a bit turning the whole place into a slushy ice festival. It's interesting driving on inch thick ice almost made me feel like I was back on the ALCAN last winter.lol












After the slush fest the following weekend was bright and sunny and Monday was overcast but cold enough to avoid any possibility of rain. I found out there was still some snow out tby the glacier and lots more "out the road" so here's one photo I took while attempting to learn how to use the new camera(Nikon D40). I'll have more photos in my next post. Since everyone has been asking me for pictures I wanted to add this quick update.

New Favorite Place

Hi Gang,
If you want to see a true Alaskan Adventure checkout my new favorite place titled Journey on the Wild Coast. I don't think I've seen many greater adventures than the one this couple is on. Great photos and great stories and it's for a good cause!

Happy New Year!

Lots of people told me that Laird Hot Springs is a must stop when driving the ALCAN on the way to or from Alaska. It was cold and dark when I arrived in mid January but it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I pulled into the lodge parking lot after an amazing day of seeing lynx, caribou and a wolf.

After dinner I put on my headlamp and walked down the trail listening to the crunching snow beneath my feet and considering taking a dip in the naturally heated hot springs. As I got closer I could hear voices of several others and I was afraid I would shine my headlamp on some skinny dippers or kill somebody's mojo. Also it was about -3 degrees so I chickened out.

The next day I got up early and decided to head back to the springs for some photos. It was amazing to see. Probably in the top 5 most beautiful things I've ever seen. I don't think I did it justice with my little point and shoot. Everything covered in snow and frozen except the warm water of the hot springs which can be up to 108F. There's steam everywhere from the springs which then freezes and falls down like snow on all the trees and other vegetation.

So it was less than ten degrees and the changing building isn't heated! I decided that you only live once, stripped off many layers of clothes, put on my bathing suit and made a run for the springs. What a great feeling to be soaking in the hot water looking at the beauty of nature all around me. After a few minutes a nice guy from Ft. Nelson and his ten year old son showed up. We got to talking and then his son told me I couldn't leave Laird Hot Springs without doing the most fun thing of all. Being adventurous I stand over in this warm spot with frozen overhanging branches of a huge tree above me. He stands nearby and counts to three then his father hurls a rock high up in the air knocking icy snow from the branches covering his son and I with ice! Talk about a wake up call.LOL! It was too funny:) I moved away while the kid made his father throw rocks until there were none left. Finally I climbed out of the water and went to the shack to towel off and realized the puddle forming at my feet had frozen causing my feet to stick to the floor and my bathing suit was stiff as a board while I walked back to the car. My New Years resolution? Find more beautiful places like this and go visit them! Have a Happy and Healthy New Year and thanks for visiting!

Winter Fun at Mendenhall Lake

Well I had just gotten done complaining about not enough snow here in Juneau as it's been very warm(high 30's low 40s) through most of November. Then it hit single digits for several days and we had winds up to 68 MPH even knocking some boats off trailers in down town Douglas. That allowed the Mendenhall Lake to freeze and today I went there for some exercise and to see how close I could get to the glacier. There are always iceburgs but I didn't realize how huge some were until I today when I was able to walk right up to them.

This wasn't a very big iceberg but these kids were hanging from the ice axes and taking all sorts of fun action shots.

Here's two more adventurous folks(the tiny figures in the middle of the photo). I zoomed all the way in on these guys who were waking around about a thousand feet away on the Mendenhall Glacier. Seemed a bit risky as visibility was getting low with all the snow falling and the glacier making everything on top look white. The longer I live here the more toys(outdoor gear) I think I'll need to buy but then again maybe it's better if I stay away from ice climbing until I find somebody who knows what they're doing.

This one is the Glacier with a skier in front for perspective. It's tough to see with all the snow falling. There were many Xcountry skiers around the lake area today. I think that's my next investment. It seems like good exercise, lots of fun and probably less likely to cause me to use my health insurance.lol

Then I turned around and couldn't see the visitor center with all the snow falling. You can see the snow covered iceberg with the people on the right but the visitor center is only about 1/4 mile behind them and at this point was invisible until I got much closer. It was not even close to a white out but certainly gave me a friendly reminder to use caution.