Hardcore Alaskan gifts, lupine, and a pack-test

After sitting out this last storm smoking eulachon (sp?) hoolagain with my roommate Chris before he heads out to Naknek and Bristol Bay commercial fishing for the summer. Maggie and I have tried them pickled, fried and smoked, and smoking was by far the best way to eat these minnows.


The rain broke in the afternoon so BBG and I did the Post Office run. The cottonwood trees have that sticky sweet smell in the air the grass is growing inches a day and the Nootka Lupine (Lupinus nootkatensis) is blooming.


I took the bike for a spin after the walk and headed north to Indian. I only saw three other bikers in their new rain gear and money bikes on the trail. Why don't people say hi back to me? Must be the second hand clothes and the bike from the 1970's or it is just the summer crowd. It took just over an hour to get to the Brown Bear and Diamond Jim's in Indian. Mary Lou is a riot at the liquor store, she will talk your ear off and try to sell you some hardcore Alaskan Gifts.

As I'm lamping in Indian before I head back to Girdwood ~14 miles left to ride I get a call from the Girdwood Fire Department and they tell me that the pack test is tomorrow at 8am sharp for my Red Card Refresher. Well this is going to hurt as I have not trained at all. I bike home and hit the sack dreading tomorrow. The Pack Test went well I still was 5 minutes under the cut off. Three miles with a 45lb pack in 40.30 minutes with a cut off time of 45 minutes. It was good to see many of the summer seasonal friends that I used to work with. Noonan said he beat me by a beard because his is longer and mine is all trimed up, but he was still behind me. I'll add pictures of my walk and bike soon.

fireweed, fiddle heads, taraxacum.

What a start to summer. Maggie a.k.a. nanerpuss a.k.a. BBG a.k.a. big baby girl got tangled up with a pitbull on our walk last week. She is getting better after a trip to the vet and some pain pills and is starting to get back into her game. She acted as if this was the end for her. BBG lost most of her will for two days. This is going to be a major setback for her in accepting other dogs. She has always been alpha female in our house. Our daily walk to the Post Office has been suspended as we are exploring other trails around Girdwood.

We took a ramble up the beaver pond trail. The flora is greening up with every day sitting around 18 hours of sunlight. I started to collect some fiddle heads and dandelion greens for a salad. On the way home I started to notice that the fireweed was now taller than all the other plants. Thinking to myself this is the beginning and end of summer wrapped into one vascular plant. The new tips of the leaves have the crimson red that light up the mountain sides as the flowers, stalks and leaves change color. I plucked the plant from the ground, adding it to my bag of greens. BBG is grazing on any forb that tickles her nose as she bulldozes through the brush.

She and I are still dreaming about winter. A winter with light deep snow that she can dive her face into taking bites as she mows it down. I'm dreaming of lines, friends, long skis, and that greedy feeling that I should not be doing this because people care about me. I had that feeling yesterday as I tried to boot up a couloir. I made it to the narrows with 7 feet of snow on top of a rushing creek. I held on as truck sized chunks of snow settled and collapsed into the creek. I backed down and put my skis on for a run down the fan that was full of suncups and debris.


Back at home I decided that I will embrace this summer and started fixing the old road bike. This is time to enjoy new/old friends and fresh fish on the grill with a foraged salad.