Mom's Visit

This weekend my Mom flew up for a visit from Boulder, CO. She endeavored to experience Crab Fest and anything else we could cram into the four day weekend. After a long flight on Thursday, we took her for a short evening hike at Fort Abercrombie State Park. On Friday we experienced Crab Fest and dined on a plate of crab legs and the famous bruin burger during the last dry weather of the festival - as we learned from everyone in town, "it always rains on Crab Fest."

Mom and me enjoying fresh crab

After eating crab Mom and I took a tour of the NOAA research vessel Oscar Dyson. While the instruments and scientific studies discussed on the Dyson tour were interesting, Mom really enjoyed a behind-the-scenes tour of another vessel a local fishing vessel by our friend Dirk. With more than two decades of fishing experience, Dirk had lots to share including harrowing stories of sea lion encounters and the icy Bering Sea - Mom loved it.

Mom and Dirk aboard the Ocean Hope 3

Perhaps the most exciting activity of the weekend was a full-day kayak adventure provided by Orcas Unlimited, an excellent local guiding company. During the paddle we were "stalked" by two curious harbor seals swimming close enough to hear their breaths, while shy sea otters kept their distance in the open water. Our guide Casey shared her wealth of knowledge about the bird life during the trip - Mom's favorite. In addition to the occasional arctic tern, we floated past islands full of kittiwakes, parakeet auklets, and puffins. By the end of the paddle rain had soaked us throughout - we were wet, Kodiak wet.

Ready to paddle before the rain

On Memorial Day Mom and I took a drive out to Pasagshak to watch whales and a nesting pair of bald eagles. The weekend sped by and before we knew it Tuesday, and the sun, arrived. A zoology major in college, the wildlife that Mom saw was definitely worth the trip. Hopefully, she will return soon.

Deadliest Paddle Episode 2

The bad news: we missed another episode of our favorite reality show last night. The good news: Rob, Hal and Jeff treated us to another late evening kayak experience. This time we added a few more paddlers to the mix. Hal's neighbor James and Phil, his coworker just up from New Zealand, and another Kodiakan Amanda. By the time we got the gear and the group together, picked up some food to eat at the beach, and launched everyone it was near 7:30. We put in at Mill Bay and paddled out and around Miller Point - part of Fort Abercrombie State Park. Usually teeming with comorants, eagles and puffins, the rocks off of Miller Point were eerily quiet. Once we reached the point we rafted up and enjoyed a Rainier "loud mouth malt." Calm water allowed us to drink, eat and be merry while the sun slowly slid toward Kodiak's mountain peaks. After rafting we paddled between rocks that punctuated the shoreline to find a small beach. Meghan was excited to find anemones, crabs, and chitons in the tide pools. I chatted with the Kiwi about skiing in New Zealand and we made plans for a mountain bike ride later in the week. Soon we all geared up and shoved off to return to Mill Bay. I lingered in the kelp beds soaking up every moment of the sunsetting pink light on the silvery sea. By the time we landed our boats we saw a couple of otters, no one went for a swim and it was past ten o'clock. The Deadliest Paddle it sure wasn't.

Blizzards and Volcanoes

We were under a blizzard warning yesterday afternoon-a total of twenty inches have fallen from this storm! Bruce got a call last night that his office would not be opening, but I still planned to go in to work...at least until we woke up and saw 5 cars stranded in the snow on our road. It's now 4PM and the plows have not made it to Shahafka Circle, yet. The forecast calls for more snow overnight and flood warnings for tomorrow when all this powder starts to melt. At least the Redoubt ash hasn't blown our way!

Bruce and I headed out the front door for a "ski to the sea." It was the first time we've been able to ski out from the house-it felt like life on the farm in Wisconsin!

We made our way around the multitude of stranded vehicles to Island Lake. We skied over the river and through the woods to Fort Abercrombie, which was deserted.

Trail's end.

The road out towards Bell's Flats was closed this morning due to an avalanche. A large shipping container also blew up from the lot where it was sitting and across the road during last night's storm. We ran into a friend on our ski who was working to get shoveled out so that he could head down to the harbor to check on his boat-there were reports of boats sinking in their slips due to the snow accumulation.

Below is a great shot from the Anchorage Daily News. Mount Redoubt erupted 5 times late Sunday/early Monday. Thus far, the prevailing winds have sent the ash fall to the east, well away from Kodiak.

So, if the floods, the snow and the ash don't get us, we might survive springtime in Kodiak!

Hiking with the Queens of Kodiak, Missy and Alicia, near Miller Point on Monday evening...

Low Tide

After work today Meghan practiced yoga while Reb and I took a hike around Fort Abercrombie State Park. Although we've hiked in the park dozens of times, we found our way to the shoreline about an hour after low tide. The receded water level revealed new colors and points of view. Rebel and I were able to step out past our usual paths to climb beneath cliffs often guarded by cold surf. A result of the sun, moon and earth's rotation, tides are stronger during the new and full phases of the moon when the sun, earth and moon line up to form a syzygy. As you can see from the image below the moon is in the waxing gibbous phase on its way to full on Tuesday. As the days grow longer we can feel our energy levels increase and the urge to explore seems to strengthen daily. At 11 hours and 4 minutes of daylight, we have gained 2 hours of light in the last month. For an individual who is constantly amazed by the power of natural forces, living in Alaska is like living in playground.

Tonight's sunset, Fort Abercrombie State Park

Hello Reader:
A new development on the last frontier-Bruce has ceded some of the composition authority and asked me to contribute to N2Future, as well. So here goes nothing...

This weekend we took to the SNOW! It was a glorious two days-truly Kodiak on its best behavior. Snowflakes falling on Saturday and Sunday sun shining on soft snow.

Saturday I snowshoed with some friends at Heitman Lake while Bruce climbed up Kashevaroff Mountain seeking some turns. He says that he had gotten tired of sitting in his office looking out at peaks he had not climbed. Although our Kodiak hiking guide describes Kashevaroff as "one of the most straightforward hikes in the area," Bruce became disoriented in the windy conditions near the summit. This reinforced my desire for him to find a skiing buddy. We snowshoers, in the meantime, were not able to discover the lake, despite our best efforts. So, we're both hoping for more success on our next excursion...

Today we joined a friend for some quick loops on our x-country skis around Lake Gertrude at Fort Abercrombie State Park. It felt wonderful to be out gliding on the frozen water, sun shining on our backs.

We drove out to White Sands Beach in Monashka where we found the tide was out. I discovered a treasure (tubular barnacles) while Bruce took artful photographs. It was too cold to linger for long-on our way back to the car we passed a family building a fire at the forest’s edge.

The moon (which will be full tomorrow) was rising as we returned to town. There is nothing like a moonrise, no matter where you may be.

Sweet Dreams,
Meghan