Early May in PWS 4

Last set of photos from our lovely weekend in early May...

This was actually the earliest that I had camped in the Sound and it was not nearly as cold as I expected. The temperatures out there vary so dramatically that it's hard to predict what to wear or bring, so we err on the side of caution. The down and heavy-loft sleeping bags came with us on this trip and I brought a winter fleece as my mid-layer.

Another ferry - not the fast one.

Sea creatures on top of more sea creatures.

Tell the dog to fetch a stick and this is what he comes back with. Over-achiever!

Rained on and off Sunday. Took a nice beach walk while we waited for the shrimp pots to soak one last time.

Pretty green water.

Do you see D in his yellow rain coat waaaay off in the distance? He was checking out a skiff that had washed up on shore, maybe during a storm?

Shrimp!

This is our friend Clark. We finally caught up with him after a year or so of being in PWS around the same time! His wife was working so he took a solo weekend trip.

This crazy octopus snuck into one of the shrimp pots and sucked a few of them dry. I hate to lose even one shrimp to a interloper. They are slippery suckers and it was hard for D to get a good grip on this one. My mom says we should have kept this and sent it to my grandma. Asians love octopus (it's pretty good with some hot sauce, no lie) but I'm not quite sure how we would have kept it fresh. Alive, they can get out of any container and I didn't feel like cutting off the head!

D released the octopus JUST IN TIME. It hit the water, squirted ink and bolted! Can you see the pinkish/orangey ink in the water?

View from the door of the tent.

Seal-watching.

My weekend beach-combing  treasures: starfish, scallop shells, mussel shells and sea glass.

Early May PWS Trip 3

Laying back and taking a break. It was nice until the mosquitos starting buzzing about.

Our half yellow/half chocolate lab. He was all muddy shortly after this photo was taken.

Signs of spring.

My thighs are burning from all of the hiking we did. And now that I think about it, the hiking isn't what killed me - it was the high-stepping over logs and trees and up the side of cliffs. Forget stair-climbing at the gym - all you need is a weekend in the woods!

These rocks are a lot bigger than they appear - most were larger than me or D so we had to scramble up and over them. The dog didn't like it at all.

The sun made a short appearance.

Evidence of otters - mussel shells everywhere.

Early May PWS Trip 2

It's still winter in most parts of Prince William Sound. The snow lingers, but here and there we saw signs of spring. Trees and grass emerging from a snowy canopy and green buds appearing on trees and plants.

Always in attendance? Creatures from the sea...

Sideways heart. I found a smaller version and brought it home to live on a bookshelf in the living room.

An abundance of moisture means moss grows everywhere. This was big enough for me to crawl inside. Tried to get the dog in there but he was not interested in cooperating.

Drift always has a good time in the forest.

This photo didn't turn out so well, but I was attempting to document my many layers.

I'm so temperature sensitive and tend to wear lots of layers so they can be taken off or put on, depending on my current state. The hike overheated me and I had 3 layers to take off: Marmot rain jacket, Arc'teryx fleece layer and Smartwool long sleeve. I was walking around in a tank top! On the bottom I still had my Smartwool long underwear, REI hiking pants, Marmot rain pants and Xtra-tuff rain boots.

 

Some of the snow in these areas won't ever melt - the piles get smaller but cool temps usually prevail out here.