Catch-up (Eagle 2 weekends ago)

I took this photo from the bluff overlooking the Yukon River
near park headquarters.

Even though I left Anchorage yesterday for great adventure… I am playing catch up on the last two weekends. Summer is busy!

I last blogged about my Eagle trip. It was spectacular. I got to visit with old friends, make new friends and… well… fall in the Yukon River.

Fort Egbert is one of our national historic landmarks and Eagle is a historic district. The opportunity to take photos of this area and also Calico Bluff was one of the driving forces to come out this way. The other major driving force was to get a chance to visit and say hi to Pat and Lou in person. Every year I get to talk with Pat on the phone about the goings-on for the Yukon Quest staging out of Slaven’s Roadhouse. I thought the Taylor Highway would be good practice on packing for the Inuvik trip, and the chance to say hi.

I got the opportunity to get out on the Yukon River to photograph Calico Bluff and ride along with the ranger to visit a couple of homesteaders. Calico Bluff was gorgeous in all its geologic wonder. We landed near the homestead and while the ranger visited with Andy, Jaz and I got to chat with Kate.

Kate is originally from Newfoundland, and their homestead had a great setup with solar/wind generation. Greenhouses, hunting and a fish wheel (the biggest damn fish wheel I have ever seen!) State of the art setup to live off the land. Kate runs a blog.. learn more about her lifestyle here:

http://alaskayukonadventure.blogspot.com

One of Kate and Andy's greenhouses on their Yukon homestead.

When we left her spread, and headed back to Eagle, I was helping the ranger bring the boat back onto the trailer… and I lost my balance… between that and my waders stuck in the silty mud, I basically sat down in the Yukon. This river is COLD! Frigid cold to be exact. I got back up and headed towards shore. The ranger followed and asked if I was wet… I said I was.. and he commented that I needed to get out of those clothes right away… I said “of course… I am right now” and started stripping on the beach… you never saw a ranger run faster… lol! I had an emergency change of clothes handy right on my bike..

We pressed on from Eagle straight to Valdez and took the ferry back to Whittier. It gave us the opportunity to unwind on the boat and process photos… it is all about the photos. I decided to get a business license as a photographer.. I have created a new website. Someday I will build it. Until then Jaz and I wanderer the Alaska countryside aimlessly…

Catchup #2 – Last weekend I went to Barrow. But right at the moment.. I’m too drunk to talk about it… lol.!