The 2010 hunting season was sort of a bummer for D (and me, since it left us without a lot of meat). Normally, our two garage chest freezers and fridge are filled with bear, caribou, shrimp, salmon and halibut - plus anything D brings home from his trips back to the Midwest. With his 5 week across-the-inlet construction job in the spring, the wedding, and a busy fall season at work, he wasn't able to commit as much time to hunting last year and we went without bear and caribou meat. This year I'm saying GO FORTH AND HUNT! He'll take the boat out this spring for Prince William Sound black bear and probably hunt for grizzly up north using the snowmachine. This fall it'll be either caribou or moose.
D wanted to moose hunt up north near one of the lake systems, so we packed up for a September weekend trip. The temperatures at night were below freezing but these fall days still held a bit of warmth to them, enough for us to strip down to our t-shirts during the day.
(If you are my Facebook friend, these photos may look familiar since most were posted last fall.)
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| During our drive north to the lakes. |
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| Juvenile bald eagle watching the boat launch. |
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| Beautiful fall Alaska day. |
Since we have a v-hull boat (and not a flat bottom river boat) D had to be careful at the launch and while we explored the lakes. Some parts were very shallow and the last thing we wanted was to bottom out and get stuck. Having a prop engine is great for deep rivers and our forays into Prince William Sound and Kachemak Bay, but a jet boat would be safer on lakes and shallow rivers.
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| Summer is officially over when fireweed looks like this. |
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| Successful launch - we're on our way! |
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| The channel crossings between lakes were extremely shallow. At one point the depth was around 1.5 feet! Needless to say it was slow going through these crossings. |
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| Old Alaska sourdoughs would keep foodstuff in a high cache to deter bears and other wildlife from breaking in. Don't see them so much anymore. |
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| Blue skies, not a cloud to be seen. |
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| The lake water was clear and cold. |
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| Fallen leaves and spongy moss. |
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| Perfect little mushroom and a very delicate shell. |
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| The blueberries were at the very end of their season. We had plenty at home courtesy of D's previous hunting trip, so we ate the ones we picked during the weekend. |
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| Drift was one happy puppy. |
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| It was obvious the blueberries had gone through a freeze/thaw cycle - but still tasty nonetheless. |
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| More end-of-season fireweed. |
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| Shore break! |
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| Muskrat house. |
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| Muskrats EVERYWHERE! At night they were circling the docked boat and I'm pretty sure one came into camp. |
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| We tried fishing for lake trout and burbot but they weren't biting. |
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| Our fish and muskrat early warning system. |
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| Loved seeing the pops of color from aspen and birch trees. |
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The puppy was so tired at the end of the day and didn't want to jump out of the boat. He napped in the bow for a bit before dinner.
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Luxurious moose camp. We had a fire and everything. Kept me warm while D glassed for moose.
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Beautiful evening. Sad to see the sun go down earlier and earlier every day. Was very dark around 9 p.m. And cold.
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| Must save up for a lake house. |
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We brought out the down sleeping bags for this trip and were cozy in the tent even though outside temps were about 30 degrees. The dog had frost on his back in the morning! When D left early to hunt I hauled the dog in the tent and let him warm up and snooze.
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| Brrr, frosty morning. |
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| Ready to go home! |
I didn't post these photos to my blog at the time because when we returned to Anchorage after the trip I found Pepper to be very sick. She ended up passing away after a week-long stay at the vet's office. It still makes me sad to not have her around, but she is running around in kitty heaven now. :-)
