Man Week!!! (girls allowed)

This year Beth and I hosted our first ever MAN WEEK (note: in 2012 women may attend and excel at man week activities, if they so desire)!!! My uncle Rob, cousin Austin and my dad all came into town for the last week or so of June to hike, see wildlife, fish and sightsee. I would add eating and drinking to that list as well, but I have a feeling that those things would've happened whether these guys were in Alaska or not.

When people arrived we were in the midst of one the our most spectacular stretches of weather that I have seen since I arrived in Alaska. For over a week we had temperatures in the middle and upper 70s with clear skies. Rob and Austin arrived first and then took off again the next morning for an excursion down to Seward. My dad arrived that evening and the following morning he, Beth and I headed off for a hike along the Eagle River. We had perfect conditions, spectacular scenery and well... that's actually all we could really say we were looking for.

One of many excellent views, looking up the Eagle River

Bella mid-leap, chasing a very important stick

Dad and Beth on "The Perch" a rock outcrop that was our destination for the day

82 degrees in our backyard! I'm not sure I've ever seen that before

Of course, the weather couldn't stay perfect forever, and by the time the 4 guys headed off for our big backpacking adventure conditions had taken a turn for the worse. As we drove down the highway south of town it was pouring rain with gusts so strong they were shaking the car. I was keeping my fingers tightly crossed that this was just the famously crappy weather of eastern Turnagain Arm and that conditions wouldn't be so bad by the time we reached our destination, but I wonder if the non-locals simply thought our plans to go outside in this were crazy.

Fortunately by the time we got to the trailhead things were much better. The rain had stopped and winds were light, so we set off hiking. One thing we quickly noticed was that water levels were high, and not because of the rain. Record snow last winter plus a cool spring meant that there was much more snow than usual in the mountains entering mid-June. Our Alaskan heat wave the previous week had set all of that snow to melting and now every creek was threatening to spill over its banks. We even hiked across one bridge where the water had risen so high that one end of the bridge was actually becoming a dam! Once again I was crossing my fingers, this time hoping that the bridge would still be there 2 days later when we hiked out.

After a 9-mile hike we made it to our cabin, which was just as I remembered it from a few years ago. Nothing even close to fancy, but well positioned with a nice view out to the lake, wood stove, campfire ring, a couple axes and saws, a canoe, sleeping platforms (essentially 2 bunk beds with no mattresses) a table and a small counter with a metal area on top for lighting a camping stove - essentially all the comforts you can ask for in a backcountry cabin. Austin and I collected some firewood - he seemed to catch on quickly to my method of finding dead trees and pushing them down - and built a fire. Then fishing rods were assembled and most of the rest of the evening was spent fishing, having dinner, trying to burn the extra 4 pounds of Mac 'n Cheese from Austin's dinner...

The next day we mad a quick breakfast, grabbed fishing rods and headed back out. My dad locked up the prizes for first, biggest and most fish when he caught a trout, then he rubbed it in our faces by catching another. I pretty much caught one trout - brought it to shore but not out of the water, and it slipped off the hook while I was getting out my camera - and lost another after it put up a beautifully acrobatic fight, but my dad was obviously the fishing champion.

As it approached lunchtime I spotted a moose in the clearing across the lake. My dad and I watched it for a minute or so before it disappeared into some brush, but when it reappeared a couple minutes later I ran back to the cabin to grab Rob and Austin. They ended up taking the canoe across the lake and getting some closeup views before coming back for lunch.

After lunch it started raining, so for the rest of the afternoon people would intermittently head outside to fish or take pictures and then come back in to get warm (we had a more-than-adequate fire going in the wood stove). I went for a couple mile fishing/hiking jaunt up past the end of our lake, but turned around when my route was completely underwater where it crossed the main creek. I ticked off some funny looking birds - they looked like shorebirds but kept landing on the very tips of trees - and they spent more than enough time screeching at me as I apparently hiked too close to their nest.

That evening we had an epic cribbage throwdown. It was your standard 4-person team cribbage, played sometimes with kings wild, sometimes with 9-card hands and sometimes with your opponents taking cards from your hand to make up their crib. I didn't have enough whiskey to take the edge off of the whipping that the old guys put on Austin and I, and even though we saved some face with a single late win the situation as a whole was pretty lopsided.

The next day's hike out was pretty non-eventful. All of the bridges were still in tact. Rob's feet were really bothering him but aside from taking maybe 4 extra 30 second breaks than we would have it didn't slow us down a bit. Near the end we saw a ptarmigan or grouse (someday I'll bother to figure out which is which) with her brood, and by early afternoon we were back at the cars having survived our adventure.

The falls on Juneau Creek were thundering!

Our home-away-from-home

The two brothers discuss fishing strategy

Austin's reflection fishes while Austin watches from the lake

My dad fishing

The moose, taken through binoculars

Rob and Austin on their way to go mooseviewing. They
got much closer than I did, so I can't wait to see Rob's
pictures next time I'm in Arden.

Some pretty lupines

This guy was so mad at me!

The last morning, before we say goodbye to our cabin

On the trail

I had everybody cross this bridge seperately, so I could get pictures of all three individually, but then I didn't like them as much as when I photoshopped them into a single frame.

1

2

3

We were actually all together for this one, though.

And this one

Ptarmigrouse?

After the backpacking trip I headed back to Anchorage to check in at the office while the 3 visitors headed to Homer for some halibut fishing and bear-viewing/flightseeing. While they were in Homer, my mom arrived for her part of the visit. The boys got back the next evening and on Friday morning I took the visitors back to Eagle River - this time to see where Linda lived during her time in Alaska in the 80s. After stopping by her old homestead, we took a detour up a road in the front range outside of Anchorage hoping for some sights to see. And we saw two bears! The first didn't stick around long and was still really cool. But the second one hung out for 10 minutes just mowing through dandelions while we parked beside him to take pictures. This time even the cell phone was enough for full-sized pictures, although I'll still be eager to see Rob's photos.

That night we had grilled halibut for dinner, fresh from the guys' fishing trip in Homer. We also got to enjoy cocktail hour in the backyard with a small campfire to keep the bugs at bay. Then for dessert we had some champagne and homemade limoncello, too!

The next morning I took our visitors up to Glen Alps, a popular entry point for Chugach State Park right on the southern corner of Anchorage. We were hoping to see more wildlife and although we didn't it was still a fun time. But on the way home, I spotted a cow moose at the side of the road. We circled back and she had a little calf with her so we watched and took some photos as they ambled up someone's driveway.

Rob and Austin left that afternoon and my parents followed the next morning, but not before we put them to work for a bit on our new workshop and they put on a little pre-birthday dinner for me. Burgers, salad and homemade cheesecake, oh my! 

All in all it was a great trip. Our house is a bit small for big crowds, but everything worked out fine and I can't wait until they all come back!

Mr. Bear goes to town on the dandelions... can I hire him for the neighbor's yard?

Momma moose was looking awfully skinny, but I wonder if that's because until just now she's been putting all her calories into making milk instead of putting on fat...

...and now that the little guy's eating his vegetables she'll be able to start bulking up.

One shot of the whole group in front of our house