Sunsets

My parents give me a hard time for it, but I love taking sunset pictures. I’ve been keeping busy during the day up here this past week preparing for the upcoming season, but the sunsets have been nothing short of spectacular.

Back in AK

Last Monday I flew back up to Alaska, and the past week has kept me incredibly busy. Despite a few hiccups here and there, I’ve stayed safe, and made it back to the lodge in one piece. As always the scenery hasn’t disappointed, and I’ve already seen some incredible sights.

It’s hard not to be a tourist when there are so many things to see, so of course, I’ve taken lots of pictures. That being said, I only have time to share a few for now.

This Mink was extremely curious, and walked right up to me in Yakutat.

This Bald Eagle was sitting right outside the airport when I got in to Yakutat. I had forgotten how abundant they are up here, and how much larger they get.

Out in Icy Bay there is a pod of Whales that has been milling around for a few days now.

And of course, the sunsets up here are still magnificent.

There is still a lot of work to get done up here this Spring, but hopefully I’ll be able to sneak away again soon to snap a few more pictures, and maybe catch a fish?!

A busy week

Last Saturday and Sunday my buddy Rod and I fished a walleye tournament here in Denver. We had plenty of confidence in our plan for the weekend, but unfortunately it didn’t pan out the way we expected. We caught plenty of fish over the two days, but finished outside of the top 10.

On Tuesday I went fishing at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal here in Denver. I had been told the fishing was slow, but I managed to land about 10 or so Pike on my fly rod, and I broke off on a few as well. The fish here have never been very healthy looking, but they still put up a great fight.

You can read more about the RMA here: Rocky Mountain Arsenal

Wednesday morning I had a meeting in Parker, so I made it a point to get in a few casts at a lake I used to frequent. I knew the water was still a little cold there to really get into the resident Wiper, but I still managed to find one. My first Wiper on the fly rod I might add.

Today Pete and I are heading up to Aspen to give a presentation about the lodge, and of course get a little fishing in.

It might be a week or so before my next post, I’m heading back up to the lodge on Monday.

The Yakutat Attack

Ok, so there really wasn’t any type of attack in Yakutat, but it sounded right…

John (our maintenance guy), Doug (cook), and I headed to Yakutat in the boat Tuesday morning to pick up some lumber for a garage, a new four wheeler and trailer, and some other miscellaneous items. About twenty minutes in to the boat ride John informed me one of the motors wasn’t pumping water out like it should, so I turned the boat around and headed back to the lodge. After fixing the motor we decided it was best to head out on Wednesday morning instead, with hopes of getting in to town, loading the boat, and then heading back home all in the same day.

Our trip in to Yakutat took about 3 hours, and the seas were calm. When we arrived in the harbor we headed over to the Yakutat Lodge for some grub. Eating establishments are hard to come by in Yakutat, but the Lodge, which is located 100 feet from the Airport, always has a good burger. There are also quite a few good mounts inside, and this one really caught my eye.

We ate fast, and then headed back to the Harbor to load up the boat with approx. 8000 pounds of lumber, the 4 wheeler, and the trailer.

We were ready to set sail again by 6. After adding oil to one of the motors, we decided it was best to wait until the morning to head home so we didn’t have to run in the dark.

I headed over to Leonard’s Landing, which is situated right on the Harbor, and talked to the managers, Pete and Annette, to make sure they still had a flew rooms available for us.

As I walked over I couldn’t help but admire the nice line of boats they had on the dock.

Leonard’s Landing is a lot like a hostel, with no locks on the doors, and an open area between all the rooms. The bed was small, but I slept great.

Around 6 am the next morning we were ready to head home, but within a few minutes we knew we were overloaded on the boat, so we headed back to the Harbor. We were all very eager to leave Yakutat, and I wonder how many times this boat that was in the harbor tried leaving before it finally just gave up.

We offloaded all of our plywood, which was about 3000 pounds worth, and then finally started heading home. We could only go about 11 knots, so we had a long trip ahead of us. On the way out of Yakatut Bay we saw some dolphins.

and a Cruise Ship

After about 5 and a half hours we finally made it back to Icy Bay, and it greeted us with another incredible sunset…

After unloading the boat this morning, Rob and I headed over to the West side of Icy Bay to research a few streams that could possibly hold a salmon run. None of the streams looked promising, so we spent the afternoon walking some meadows, and the beach, to see what kind of wildlife we could find. None of the animals in the area presented themselves, but we came across some cool sights.

These trees had been scraped up by a bear.

Lots of ice gets pushed to this side of the bay

Mount Saint Elias is starting to get a good coat of snow

Starting tomorrow we’ll have clients at the lodge everyday until September 30th. I’m looking forward to taking them out to catch fish, and showing them all of the incredible scenery Icy Bay has to offer.

Don’t forget the Gas.

I have a couple great stories from the past week, but most of them would be better told around a campfire. The only thing I can tell you is that it is always best to top off your fuel tank, and carry a gun if you plan on leaving the lodge. It took me three different events for me to finally learn my lesson.. Also, Icy Bay has very cold water. Before I came up here Dad told me to be ready for an adventure, and after the past week, I now know what he meant.

In other events that can be documented here…

We have two clients at the lodge this week, and we’ve taken them all over the area looking for fish, beach combing, and sightseeing. The glacier area always provides some incredible scenery.

It looks like someone was trying to make a snowman on top of this iceberg.

We were able to go up the Taan Fjord for the first time, and the waterfalls were incredible.

This is Rob (left) and Doug (right)

Rob has guided up here for quite a few years now, and has also guided safaris in Africa. Doug is our chef and has some hilarious stories about growing up in Texas. He was the starting tailback for Oklahoma in the early 70′s when they won two national titles.

Our current group leaves tomorrow morning, and then we will have a week off to work on a few items that need maintenance.