This is actually a very early morning shot. All the dogs and people who usually congregate in the middle of the street are still sleeping. Citizens of this town stay up late and sleep late. Very little is open before 1o or 11 am.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Downtown McCarthy, AK
This is actually a very early morning shot. All the dogs and people who usually congregate in the middle of the street are still sleeping. Citizens of this town stay up late and sleep late. Very little is open before 1o or 11 am.
"1 2 Many Corronas"
Came across this car about 10 miles out of McCarthy. I had met the one of the guys who was driving it at the local bar in McArthy a few nights earlier. Seemed they were drinking and headed into "town" the previous night when they got a flat tire at about 10 pm. They put the donut spare on and tried to continue, but the road ate that up as well. They walked the rest of the way. He didn't seem to fazed about it when I talked to him. Said he would make the 300 mile round trip to Glenallen and buy a new tire, after a few more days in McCarthy. Beats the standard $1,000 towing charge from the nearest service station.
Blue Ice
The only place were you can find this color of blue in nature is in ice calved from glaciers. Something about the mineral content and the crystalization patterns, I think. 
Columbia Glacier, 5 miles away
We kayaked about three more miles from this spot. The camera actually stopped working soon thereafter.
Beautiful Valdez Alaska
This is the view of Valdez Alaska from from the water. Except for the day of kayaking, the weather was pretty much like this the rest of the time.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Rain, rain and more rain
Here we are, back in Anchorage. Twelve days into the trip, and solid rain for ten of them. Was supposed to take the ferry from Valdez to Whittier, then up the Seward Highway today. But on account of the weather, got a standby spot on yesterday's ferry. A word to anyone planning a trip to Alaska: Valdez is not a place to be when it is raining. Particularly during the heaviest rain in 25 years. There is absolutely nothing to do. They don't even have a movie theatrer.
At least I had a book. Jeff Shaara's "To the Last Man", a novel about World War I, is a good read, as are all his books. But I could be doing that at home.
On the one nice day, Monday, I took a sea kayak and a guide up to within two miles of the Columbia Glacier. Since it was the nicest day of the summer, we paddled up five miles closer to the glacier than even the guide had ever been. The Columbia is the second largest tidewater glacier in North America, and is truly a freak of nature, with a 3 mile face that is 300 feet high. We paddled within two miles of the face, which is as close as one wants to be as the glacier is prone to calving stadium-sized chunks of ice from the bottom 1,000 feet below the surface. We did see huge chunks calving off the face. Saw lots of sea otters and seals, including one seal who kept popping up around the kayaks. Afgter a totoal of twnty miles of kayaking, I was completely burnt out by day's end.
Yesterday the weather was nice for the ferry ride and drive up to Anchorage. I even saw a moose. But I awoke to more cold rain this morning. Now I'm just poking around Anchorage, but don't have any interest in being outside in this weather. Too bad, as the Cugach State Park is right outside of town, and there is no end to the great outdoor activities within an hour of here.
Will post pictures when I get home.
At least I had a book. Jeff Shaara's "To the Last Man", a novel about World War I, is a good read, as are all his books. But I could be doing that at home.
On the one nice day, Monday, I took a sea kayak and a guide up to within two miles of the Columbia Glacier. Since it was the nicest day of the summer, we paddled up five miles closer to the glacier than even the guide had ever been. The Columbia is the second largest tidewater glacier in North America, and is truly a freak of nature, with a 3 mile face that is 300 feet high. We paddled within two miles of the face, which is as close as one wants to be as the glacier is prone to calving stadium-sized chunks of ice from the bottom 1,000 feet below the surface. We did see huge chunks calving off the face. Saw lots of sea otters and seals, including one seal who kept popping up around the kayaks. Afgter a totoal of twnty miles of kayaking, I was completely burnt out by day's end.
Yesterday the weather was nice for the ferry ride and drive up to Anchorage. I even saw a moose. But I awoke to more cold rain this morning. Now I'm just poking around Anchorage, but don't have any interest in being outside in this weather. Too bad, as the Cugach State Park is right outside of town, and there is no end to the great outdoor activities within an hour of here.
Will post pictures when I get home.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Out of the Wild
Got back to McCarthy in one piece Friday. Very wet and cold backpacking trip. Huge, desolate country out there in the Bremner district of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The Chugach mountains are about as spooky a place as I've ever been. Didn't see any grizzlies, but their signs were all around - footprints and scat in many places. My boots are basically destroyed - hiking up 1000 foot scree slopes isn't the best thing for one's feet.
Hung around McCarthy Friday night and went to a party with a bunch of locals. About 30 pounds of freshly caught Copper River red salmon was on the grill. This is the best salmon in the world. A good restaurant in the DC area would charge $30 for an 8 oz serving. We had so much piled on our plates that we could not eat it all. The local dogs ate the leftovers.
Toured the abandoned copper ore processsing plant yesterday. It is a massive facility in an extremely remote location that was abruptly shut down in 1941. Everything is still as it was then - no restoration has been done. It's just a massive time capsule. Very cool. Saw a band at the local saloon Saturday night, again hanging out with locals and a few other travellers. The band was playing original material plus several Wilco and Uncle Tupelo numbers. The bartender was playing Will Oldham amond other good selections on the 25 watt sound system before the show. I was getting to like McCarthy quite a bit, so it was good that I moved on this morning before it started to wear on me.
Drove to Valdez today. Very rainy. Missed the spectacular views at Thompson Pass due to the clouds. Will go sea kayaking tomorrow. Weather is supposed to improve.
Hung around McCarthy Friday night and went to a party with a bunch of locals. About 30 pounds of freshly caught Copper River red salmon was on the grill. This is the best salmon in the world. A good restaurant in the DC area would charge $30 for an 8 oz serving. We had so much piled on our plates that we could not eat it all. The local dogs ate the leftovers.
Toured the abandoned copper ore processsing plant yesterday. It is a massive facility in an extremely remote location that was abruptly shut down in 1941. Everything is still as it was then - no restoration has been done. It's just a massive time capsule. Very cool. Saw a band at the local saloon Saturday night, again hanging out with locals and a few other travellers. The band was playing original material plus several Wilco and Uncle Tupelo numbers. The bartender was playing Will Oldham amond other good selections on the 25 watt sound system before the show. I was getting to like McCarthy quite a bit, so it was good that I moved on this morning before it started to wear on me.
Drove to Valdez today. Very rainy. Missed the spectacular views at Thompson Pass due to the clouds. Will go sea kayaking tomorrow. Weather is supposed to improve.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Post from McCarthy, AK (pop. 40 (Winter), 200 (Summer)
Arrived last night after 8 hour drive from Anchorage. Dusted off the boots for a "warm up" hike today from Kennicott (a mining ghost town slowly being restored by the park service) to almost the top of Bonanza ridge to the old mine ruins there. 3,000 foot climb in 4.5 miles. Was a little unnerved by the Park Service bulletin posted on the trail head saying "Beware of problemmatic Bear in the area". It had been posted two hours before. It seems some campers had one of their tents ripped apart by a black bear while they were somewhere else, and this bear was exhibiting other signs of having lost its natural fear of humans.
I ran into the campers, two college students and a girl from Quebec they picked up somewhere along the road, near the top of the mountain. They and a remarably pretty girl decending the peak alone were the only people I ran into the whole day. She was acting like it was a walk in the park - which I suppose it was in a literal sense. Anyway, the kids were nice, and didn't seem too fazed that one of their tents was shredded and unusable. They seemed more interested in finding hot food and beers when they got to the bottom - that and the cheapest room around. I got a head start down the mountain at about 2:30 - the wind was picking up, and it was in the upper 40s by this time.
The park rangers had advised me, since I would be alone, to sing loudly to myself while I walked through the trail that went through dense brush. So I tried that, and the feeling of awkwardness soon wore off. Problem was, it took too much focus to think of lyrics, so I went back to the boy scout standby, "99 bottles of beer on the wall. The final count was something like 3,000 bottles of beer on the wall by the end of the day". Toward the end, the college students and their Quebecqois girl friend had caught up with me. Except they didn't tell me for a while that they were about 50 yeard behind me giggling as I sang. When they finally let their presence be known, they were right behind me. This was in a particularly spooky part of the trail with lots of overgrowth and twists and turns. So the split second I heard a noise, I was I spun around with the bear spray, finger on the trigger and safety off pointed in their direction. We all had a good laugh.
I'm all showered up now, and about to grab dinner. The big trip is tomorrow. I'll do my best to post as soon as I'm back either Friday night or Saturday. Right now, I'm on a porch of a 100- year old mining office (or bordello, I'm not sure), and the mosquitos are starting to swarm.
I ran into the campers, two college students and a girl from Quebec they picked up somewhere along the road, near the top of the mountain. They and a remarably pretty girl decending the peak alone were the only people I ran into the whole day. She was acting like it was a walk in the park - which I suppose it was in a literal sense. Anyway, the kids were nice, and didn't seem too fazed that one of their tents was shredded and unusable. They seemed more interested in finding hot food and beers when they got to the bottom - that and the cheapest room around. I got a head start down the mountain at about 2:30 - the wind was picking up, and it was in the upper 40s by this time.
The park rangers had advised me, since I would be alone, to sing loudly to myself while I walked through the trail that went through dense brush. So I tried that, and the feeling of awkwardness soon wore off. Problem was, it took too much focus to think of lyrics, so I went back to the boy scout standby, "99 bottles of beer on the wall. The final count was something like 3,000 bottles of beer on the wall by the end of the day". Toward the end, the college students and their Quebecqois girl friend had caught up with me. Except they didn't tell me for a while that they were about 50 yeard behind me giggling as I sang. When they finally let their presence be known, they were right behind me. This was in a particularly spooky part of the trail with lots of overgrowth and twists and turns. So the split second I heard a noise, I was I spun around with the bear spray, finger on the trigger and safety off pointed in their direction. We all had a good laugh.
I'm all showered up now, and about to grab dinner. The big trip is tomorrow. I'll do my best to post as soon as I'm back either Friday night or Saturday. Right now, I'm on a porch of a 100- year old mining office (or bordello, I'm not sure), and the mosquitos are starting to swarm.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Back in Business!!
After a nine month hiatus, the Factual Dog has officially reopened its doors.
As some of you may recall, we promised that the re-launching of this blog would be accompanied by a new moniker. Upon many hours of deep reflection and deliberation, we decided to retain The Factual Dog on our masthead. True, the Dog does not live with us anymore. She is happily ensconced in a new dog house about 75 miles away. She is being well taken care of and is feisty as ever. Yet, the fact that she is no longer here has no material bearing on our ability to produce a quality product.
You see, the Dog never actually talked to us. Simply put, she was – and is – an animal: a furry, constantly shedding, tail wagging pooch. This may come as a shock to our readers; but we were merely using her as a cheap literary device to represent our own alter-ego in an allegorical dialogue between two imaginary parties.
Now that we have that off our chests, some further disclosure is in order. A few weeks ago, we posted a topographic map under the heading “Into the Wild”. No explanation was given. The significance of this map is that it shows the route that we will be hiking in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park on August 15-19. We are very much looking forward to this adventure. As a special treat to our readers, we will be keeping a log of this trip, which will be posted in its entirety along with plenty of photos upon our return.
In the meantime, we will be very busy with preparations for the trip. We have wanted to do something like this for our entire lives, and now is the opportunity. Still, there is a fine line between an exhilarating outdoors experience and disaster. The best way to keep on the safe side of that line is to be prepared for every possible contingency. Dangers include hypothermia, disorientation, injury from a fall or rock slide, stream crossings, and encounters with aggressive moose or bears. We take these risks extremely seriously, and are taking every measure to ensure our safety. No corners are being cut.
We have had an exceptionally rough year, and need a break. We urge you to not misunderstand us – we do not want to “escape” from anything or put ourselves at unnecessary risk. We want – we need - fresh air, open spaces, complete solitude and a truly unique physical and mental challenge.
We read Into the Wild, which described the ultimately deadly journey of a troubled man into the woods in Alaska. We also saw “Grizzly Man”, which was also about an end-of-the-roader who rejected society in favor of living with bears in the Alaskan bush. He eventually became their meal. We understand, to an extent, some of the motivation and even pathology of these men. But they were completely off balance, and did not care whether they lived or died. The complete opposite is the case with us. Those men saw Alaska as the end of the road. For us, Alaska is just another place that the long road passes through.
Keep checking in, and we’ll post all the details as soon as we get back
As some of you may recall, we promised that the re-launching of this blog would be accompanied by a new moniker. Upon many hours of deep reflection and deliberation, we decided to retain The Factual Dog on our masthead. True, the Dog does not live with us anymore. She is happily ensconced in a new dog house about 75 miles away. She is being well taken care of and is feisty as ever. Yet, the fact that she is no longer here has no material bearing on our ability to produce a quality product.
You see, the Dog never actually talked to us. Simply put, she was – and is – an animal: a furry, constantly shedding, tail wagging pooch. This may come as a shock to our readers; but we were merely using her as a cheap literary device to represent our own alter-ego in an allegorical dialogue between two imaginary parties.
Now that we have that off our chests, some further disclosure is in order. A few weeks ago, we posted a topographic map under the heading “Into the Wild”. No explanation was given. The significance of this map is that it shows the route that we will be hiking in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park on August 15-19. We are very much looking forward to this adventure. As a special treat to our readers, we will be keeping a log of this trip, which will be posted in its entirety along with plenty of photos upon our return.
In the meantime, we will be very busy with preparations for the trip. We have wanted to do something like this for our entire lives, and now is the opportunity. Still, there is a fine line between an exhilarating outdoors experience and disaster. The best way to keep on the safe side of that line is to be prepared for every possible contingency. Dangers include hypothermia, disorientation, injury from a fall or rock slide, stream crossings, and encounters with aggressive moose or bears. We take these risks extremely seriously, and are taking every measure to ensure our safety. No corners are being cut.
We have had an exceptionally rough year, and need a break. We urge you to not misunderstand us – we do not want to “escape” from anything or put ourselves at unnecessary risk. We want – we need - fresh air, open spaces, complete solitude and a truly unique physical and mental challenge.
We read Into the Wild, which described the ultimately deadly journey of a troubled man into the woods in Alaska. We also saw “Grizzly Man”, which was also about an end-of-the-roader who rejected society in favor of living with bears in the Alaskan bush. He eventually became their meal. We understand, to an extent, some of the motivation and even pathology of these men. But they were completely off balance, and did not care whether they lived or died. The complete opposite is the case with us. Those men saw Alaska as the end of the road. For us, Alaska is just another place that the long road passes through.
Keep checking in, and we’ll post all the details as soon as we get back
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