September 11th

Steve left today. A bunch of us had breakfast at the airport to see him off. Now it's just me and Reece. The dorms are rather quite except for the running of the feral child.

I wanted to add a few pictures of the salmon that have been piling up outside of Sheldon Jackson. Every day more and more fish make there way to this point and realize that there is nowhere else to go. Poor things, their journey was all in vain. It really smells around here.


-Pile of dead salmon by S.J.

September 10th

Movie night at Ronda's! I have been talking up the Drop Dead Gorgeous movie now for at least two months but it's no where to be found on the island. So Ronda ordered it from Amazon and it had arrived today. I set the bar pretty high for this movie so I was a bit nervous she wouldn't enjoy it. However after many outbursts of laughter from Ronda my fears were abated.-Thanks for the word Reece.

I had forgotten to mention earlier that Ronda has a new member of the family. His name is Bandit the chihuahua, who was purchased from a garage sale. We had a photo shot the other day, the pictures turned out pretty well. He's a fast little booger, hard to catch on camera.


-Ronda and little Bandit.

September 9th

I received the smoker from Lacie today. She brought it to Miranda's house where Miranda, Raptor Jen, Steve and I were having a movie sleepover night. We watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind while the smoker cooked my salmon from outside the house. Every time the door opened the smokey odor of burning apple chips filled the air. I replaced the smoldering chips every 3-4 hours and made sure to set my alarm once in the night to replace them so the salmon would continue to cook. By morning they still weren't done, but when I checked on my lunch break they were almost there. They were fully cooked by the time I was done with work. I was very pleased as I removed the fish from the racks. The taste is fabulous! Thank you so much Lacie!


-Big Chief. How!


-Salmon in the smoker.

September 8th

I have been reading up allot lately on smoking salmon. Ange had given me a book about the process with some different recipes and instructions. I was dead set on smoking the salmon Pa and I had caught when he came to visit. I spent my breaks at work today checking how my fish was marinading downstairs in the staff kitchen. After ten hours of soaking in the brine consisting of salt, sugar and meat seasoning they were removed and placed on paper towels for another 4 hours. When they were sticky to the touch I covered them in brown sugar. They were ready.

September 4th

The Pink Salmon are defiantly dieing out. There are still hundreds of them swimming up the Indian River but not in the thousands as seen in previous weeks. There dead body's line the waters edge and rivers floor. Their stench also fills the air. You can smell the decaying flesh from just about anywhere in Sitka if the wind is blowing right.


-Dead salmon line the banks of the Indian River.

I have been observing the salmon lately at the mouth of Indian River where Dad and I had fished the previous month. Along with the continuously running Pinks you can also see a few Kings, Silvers and Dog Salmon making there way on their last great journey. While watching this amazing event one night I caught a glimpse of a Halibut swimming among the others. What a weird looking fish, I was confused at what I was seeing when I first laid eyes on it. The fished moved so strange through the water with its large flat body. Kind of looked like a clumsy stingray of some sort. One of the fishermen there told me that the halibut have a tenancy to grab the dead salmon carcases from the rivers bed. This same guy pointed out to me the many different types of salmon in the river and how to identify them.

September 1st

Raptor Jen, Tex, Miranda, Reece and I went to the Rec. tonight after work. It was a beautiful night, the pinks, purples and blue of the sky shown brightly. We had heard that two bears have been hanging around in this area so we kept a look out. It was confirmed that the bears were in the area when two cop carrying two bear size guns were seen talking with a family. As we made our way to the small bridge to look at the running salmon a bear walked out right in front of us. No less than 30 feet away! We all stopped and staired in surprise as he lumber by. The bear didn't care we were there at all as he entered the stream and began to fish.


-Reece and Miranda at the Rec.


-The Coppers! Blow this picture up, it's worth seeing large.


-Brown bear fishing in the stream.

We spent the rest of the night talking, walking the beach and watching Tex roll rocks into the tide. Once again we observed our bear friend in the distance appearing on the rocky beach fishing by the rivers mouth. It was getting close to dark so we figure it would probably be wise to head to the car and call it a night.


-Tex and his rocks.


-I'm pretty sure Miranda and this Humpy have the same expreshion on their face.

August 31st

I said good buy to Lindsay this morning and hopped into a cab headed to the fairy terminal. Lindsay was spending one last day in Juneau before hopping on the ferry back to Bellingham, WA where she would then head home to Origin. Good luck with everything Lindsay. I hope our paths cross again someday, your an inspiring person with some awesome story's about your adventures in Alaska. Anyone can talk and fantasize about their life goals and dreams but you are truly living them. You have an amazing passion for exploring Alaska the way it's mean to be explored, that's for sure. Keep in touch.

I almost missed my ride as a very hippie cab driver drove right passed the hostel. We had an interesting conversation on the way there. I was very tired when I got on the ferry. It was very foggy and the ferry repeatedly blew its horn waking me as I began to doze off. I awoke and to my surprise the sun was shinning and the fog had lifted, it was as if I woke up a day latter. The rest of the drip was just wonderful, I really did feel like I was heading home.


-Scenery on ride back to Sitka.



Raptor Jen was there at the ferry terminal when I arrived. I love that girl always ready to lend a helping hand and let you borrow her dog for a hike. We exchanged story about the three days passed and I was curious to hear that Debbie had called the cops on a group of French Canadians who refused to pay our admission fee when stopping by the Raptor Center.

Later that night Reece, Miranda, Rostaa and I headed down to the very end of the island to explore a new hiking path. This area is amazing with its breathtaking streams and waterfalls. If you continue walking long enough on this trail you will make your way to Beaver Lake and that's exactly what we did.


-Rostaa.


-Cool tree.

August 30th

Today was the big day of exploring the Tracy's Arm! Waking up very early we headed downtown to grab a quick bagel/coffee breakfast and to purchase our tour tickets. Not long after we were on the ocean aboard the Adventure Bound boat tour. I have never experienced anything like this trip in my life before. We left around 9:00 am and didn't return until almost 7:00 pm. From the time we lift to the time we returned was like being in another world. We experienced gigantic icebergs, the biggest waterfalls I have ever seen, traveled through the glacier carved fjord of the arm, and finally arrived at the Sawyer Glacier.




-A painting downtown.


-Juneau's waterfall backdrop.


-Leaving Juneau.




-Passing a cruise ship headed to Juneau.


-Iceberg.














-In the fjord.


-Up close and personal with a giant waterfall.










-Markings of the past.




-This iceberg make these large rafts look very small.

I was awestruck by the majesty of the brilliant blue glacier. I felt humbled in it's presence. The blue of the ice seemed so unnatural , as we gazed upon it watching as it's color changed from the oxygen entering the dense ice. When the ice began to calve a sharp crack echoed through the fjord and resulted in a giant chunk falling hundreds of feet into the water bellow. It was a unique experience being in such a small boat in a huge environment. At times the caption got so close to the glacier I felt a bit nervous it would calve. We were the only ones viewing the glacier if anything happened there was no one else around.


-The Sawyer Glacier.



Much wildlife could be found. Hundreds of harbor seals floated carelessly on the ice that has fallen from the glacier while gulls spotted the blue of the ice as they flew passed. We gazed for two hours before heading back to Juneau.


-Harbor Seals.














-Calving.


-That's a big splash!


-Gulls.


-Amazing ice formation.



The way back was an adventure all in itself. I had the privilege of seeing a black bear, a pod of porpoises, tons of sea bids and wound up in the middle of a group of humpback whales. I could here their song as they cried out to one another. Far in the distance one even breached. It was as if dynamite had just exploded in the water as the whales huge body leapt into the air and landed full force on it's surface.


-Black bear on the beach.


-Humpback Whale.






-Our boat, The Adventure Bound.




-Governor's mansion at dusk.