All steamed up

SKAGWAY, AK. You can almost hear the whistle blow and the chuff-chuff-chuff of the steam engine driving the wheels.

Just a speck of dust in the universe

CARRIBOU MT., YUKON TERRITORY.. Click on the above photo to enlarge it and look for the small speck in the center of the pic which resembles a person. Yes, folks that's me and it's all downhill from here...actually from a lot higher up but who's counting. Photo by Lydia "I can climb higher than you can" Hinshaw. There's one-upsmanship and then there's really one-upsmanship. We'll tackle this climb again, hopefully in as nice weather

A bit of this and that

SKAGWAY, AK..June 25 This is one of those brown bears. He (we're assuming it's a he) showed up in a turn-out on the road coming back from our hike on Carribou Mt. (Read all about it on Lydia's blog: lydiahinshaw.blogspot.com). He was wandering among the dandelions and other plants eating some of everything like it was a buffet. He looks friendly enough.
This fellow was strolling between areas of greens just off the road in another turn-around. Looks like a well fed rascal but he could move very quickly as we saw when a piece of paper blew out of the weeds nearby and he pounced. It was a very good visual lesson on why you don't run if you come across one of these guys - - black or brown.
So here's lydia hanging out on the side of the trail which we had to scramble / climb up like a ladder to get to. Funny, but there was a much easier way but we had missed it. My thoughts once we got up to an area which was a bit level weren't on "how high can we go" as Lydia and our friend Kate were debating but more like "how the hell do I get down." I have a sort of reverse thinking process: while everyone else is speculating how far or how high we can get my mind is thinking about all the fun we'll have trying to get down. This type of thought process runs counter to Lydia's thinking quite often which makes for occassional lively debates.

We don't have any pics from our hike to Upper Dewey Lake yesterday. The trail gained 3,000 ft. in 3 miles which is about a 20% grade most of the time - - up and down. This is the same hike where 5 weeks ago - - as Lydia termed it - - I 'turned turtle' when I broke through the snow crust and tweaked my left knee. No injuries this time, but as one of our co-workers noted "must have been quite a hike 'cause your butt sure is draggin' Nothing like a few words of encouragement as you slowly make your way up to where we work / live. Of course we could have saved a bit of ridicule by driving the mile to the trailhead but then you have to find a parking spot, etc. so we just walked.

Update 2

Skagway, AK Monday, June 19 ... On-off rain showers and dark skies make this day off really dreary. Our internet connection hs been down for 5 days now so we've resorted to hitting an internet cafe near us an buying time on a provider. Sounds good until you try to upload pics which look like they are going to work and then, after 10 mins., the upload calls it quits.

So, here we are with bear pics, train pics, serious climbing pics and no way to put them up ... yet. We're told that the internet at our cabin will be back on 'soon' so stand by to see pictures of our adventures sometime.


For a place which is supposed to get less rain than other parts of Alaska in the vicinity it sure rains a lot. But that doesn't stop the cruise ships from dumping lots of tourists in town.

Water we doing today??

Today we had a day off so we jumped on the Chilkat Fast Ferry and headed off to Haines. Now, it if was more tech savvy I would have put the flag pic (below) first since that's the one which shows us leaving Skagway. It also shows us leaving the pollution which casts a blue haze on the mountains from the ships stacks as the engines run all the time.

Picture two (above) shows a cruise ship passing Haines which doesn't get very many cruise boats at all and is very nice and quiet; the harbor is scenic and surrounded by the Chilkat Mtns. which top 10,000'

Picture three is a shot of one of the Alaska Marine Highway Ferrys as it was leaving skagway on Monday afternoon. This boar is similiar to the one we watched unload a couple of days ago. You can see the on/off load door in the center of the ship near the waterline. Don't ask what happens if they don't get the door closed all the way and water-tight.

Sebastian prowls the neighborhood

SKAGWAY, AK This guy means business. This is Sebastian The Great. We're not sure Great what??? but he looks great anyway. His territory is down the driveway from our cabin. His humans say he isn't very friendly but he will come out to greet me and rub up against my legs if I call him. This is good because my cat at home, Alf, pictured elsewhere on each blog, looks similiar. However, Alf has about a two inch stub for a tail so Sebastian is ahead on the category.

Lately, we've spent time at the docks watching the cruise ships arrive in the morning and other times watch them leave at night. Last night, we watched the Alaskan Marine Highway Ferry "Taku" ease into the ferry dock and unload 21 motorhomes, 23 cars, and five other various connveyances plus a few folks on bicycles and passengers. Skagway is the end of the line from Bellingham, WA. While the ferry was pulling into port a Bald Eagle was catching dinner in the harbor, the sun was setting, it had been sunny all day and we had ice cream cones for desert.

The local newspaper publishes every two weeks and includes, among other things, a police blotter of happenings in the world of law enforcement: A white poodle was picked up for loitering; a black Lab was picked up for loitering; both dogs were returned to the owners. The police assisted 5 individuals in getting their keys out of locked cars. The police reported that in the past two weeks they found the doors to 17 local businesses unlocked during their nighttime rounds. Such is life in the big city. Hey, we have Skagway Metropolitan Area Rapid Transit system busses patroling the 7 blocks of shopping areas..Do you know of another "city" of 850, now about 1,300, which has a little bus system with a big name.

Also, when the last cruise ship departs at night they blow they deep-toned whistle which reverbs throughout the valley....as does the whistle on the special Saturday Morning Steam Train. Both are really beautiful sounds in the quiet valley.

I'm going to be the lead dog when I grow up

CARRIBOU CROSSING, Yukon Territory: This little guy is all of 5 weeks old but he's already thinking about the big sled dog race, the Yukoner, which all his older extended family wants to race in. This deep thinker doesn't have a name yet, but we'll call him "Champ" ...or maybe he isn't thinking at all about the race but how nice it is to hide in the shade under the sled and go back to sleep. He has 4 siblings - 2 with his same light brownish color and 2 with white coats. The mother dog's name is Otter and none of the puppies resembles her at all.
The 4 puppies from the litter before this one are sbout 10 weeks old and have been banished from active contact with humans because they are scamps and will bite/tug on your pants leg; go after floppy shoelaces and in general be a nusance. But they are still cute.

Bear with me, please

We call this bear the "Canadian Customs Bear" because his stomping grounds are about 2 miles from the customs checkpoint. Friday morning (June 2) he (most likely) was enjoying a late breakfast of blood and guts from a roadkill. Maybe he/she also gobbled up the remains. First we lick the blood off the road and then we settle in to contemplate our claws - - right in the traffic lane.