Hooked on Fishing

It didn't hurt I swear!

In early June I learned that if you go to Providence Hospital in Seward to have a hook removed from your arm they give you a neat T-shirt. The person on the other end of the line shall remain nameless. Although in Tanya's defense it wasn't her fault the fish threw the hook and it ended up in my arm.

This is a picture of the shirt pinned to the wall in my office as a reminder not to try and net Tanya's fish even if you are on a rock in the middle of the river.

Angoon, Part 2

On day 2 our path took us to a lake about 100 feet above sea level. We hung a left and walked along a drainage past two more lakes where we found the angry goose.


The fisheries guys were finished with their work and decided to go fishing for the day. Before they drown any worms they dropped us off on the other side of the bay.


Our first full day in Angoon took us to a site near the road, although you wouldn't have guessed that if you were off the road. This is Panda. He followed us the whole day, through the woods and back to the lodge where he made himself at home, ran inside, and found the bowl of dog food. We later learned Panda had been a village dog and would probably be dead if the owners of the store hadn't taken him in, gotten him de-wormed, and given him a place to stay. He was very friendly and we were happy to have him along with us.

Angoon, AK

Angoon is a small village on Admiralty Island in Southeast Alaska. Currently it is accessible by boat or float plane. There is no airport or gravel strip. Some people like it that way some people don't. I honestly think most people that live there don't care one way or another.

In early June one of our Geologists and I traveled to Angoon to scout possible locations for a future airport. There were 4 possibilities, three WAY off the road on the other side of the bay.

Our second full day was spent bushwhacking through the rain forest. It took us about 14hrs to go 7.5 miles on an island with the most dense population of Brown Bears in North America. Armed with only my .40, two cans of bear spray, and our voices the only angry animal we encountered was an upset Canadian Goose. While we didn't see a single bear I'm sure more than I would like to imagine saw us.

The owner of the lodge where we were staying told us he always figured that a mile hiked on Admiralty Island equaled between 4 to 7 miles of hiking in Wyoming, and that there were bets between him and the fisheries people that were there whether or not we'd cover all the ground we expected to. We did, they were impressed, and they never told us who won the bet.

Below are a couple pictures from our treks through the forest.


There was a lot of dead fall to crawl over. Some of the logs were easily larger than 4 feet in diameter.
There were times that the brush was so thick Callie (the geologist) couldn't push through. Lucky for us my mass is about twice hers and was able to clear a path. The picture below was taking standing on a log about 4 feet off the ground. You can get an idea of how thick it was.

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Jen,

I promise that I'm going to post pictures again soon but tonight SmugMug is down for maintenence or something.

Don't forget to check tomorrow!

Brian

Back in the Great White North, but its kinda green this time of year.

I'm Back!

I made it from Watson Lake, YT to the Alaskan border Sunday night around 8:30pm Sunday night. It was approximately 587 or so miles I think. A long day on the bike but when I stopped at the Border Lodge the sun was still high in the sky and I still felt good. I thought about trying to pound out the last 400 miles to Anchorage but decided against it. Mostly because I knew I would get tired down the road and need to find a place to stay.

I had a great trip with great weather and I met a ton of great people and took a lot of pictures. There will be good blog material for a while so check back in a day or so.

Thanks to everyone who didn't think I was crazy and encouraged me on this adventure. Thanks even if you thought I was crazy too!

Oh Canada!

Brian is in Canmore, near Banff, AB. He's headed towards Grande Prairie to take the ALCAN back to Anchorage. He's been meeting cool people along the way-- today a 60-year-old man on his way to Chicken to do some gold mining. The weather's been good so far, hope it holds all the way to Anchorage!

Good night from the Canadian Rockies!

Montana

Brian is in Sidney, Montana tonight.

He's having a hard time finding internet on the road.

Sunday, he almost ran over a beaver in Duluth!

He's having a good trip and is making good time.

(as dictated to Aimee)