Oh dear and patient reader. I would like to open this entry with the sad forewarning that I have not yet figured out how to hook my camera into the computers up here. But know that there are pictures waiting and I should have them up here in a week or two.
This has been a crazy week on and off the glacier. We had two WXCL (weather cancellation) days due to snow up on the glacier. On the first day we got at least a foot of snow in less than 24 hours. Because of the low clouds and bad visibility the helicopters could not make the trip so we just hung out around camp. A few of the boys started going stir crazy so we decided to approach our second snow day differently. We went outside in the morning and played snow volleyball for a while then went out on snow shoes for a bit. We spent the rest of the day digging out a big fort then piled a bunch of snow and started working on an underground room which was orchestrated by our Colorado girl, Cori. There were four of us working on it diligently and were planning on sleeping in it but then we were notified that the weather was good enough for a crew flight to be sent down and so a group of us had to leave half way into building an igloo over the front room. Hopefully the weather will not blow it over before we can get back to our creation! Now a group of us have been weathered down into town for 3 days.
On the helicopter ride down the winds were so strong that we were basically flying sideways all the way down the valley. Once we got out over the water the winds were too strong for the pilot to drop altitude so we got to spin around in circles to drop down which gave us an awesome view of everything. Now we are safely in town and planning on going to dinner then to a show about the history of the town (which we get into for free for being ‘locals’). Since we have been in town for so long we have been adventuring all over this place both through the town (aka delightful little diners, gear shops to ogle, goofy tourist shops, ridiculously priced fur coat stores and diamond shops) and all around the trails reaching out in all directions.
My first order of business was to acquire a pair of rental x-country skis to facilitate quick travel across the glacier. Necessary for my job of course. . . I was excited to be returning to the glacier by the next day but we were informed that we would not be flying up until later so Travis from Bed Oregon and I decided to hitch-hike out to Dyea, an old abandoned mining town about 8 miles down the fjord. The funny thing is that for as eerie as an abandoned mining town sounds, there is actually nothing there at all because these Northerners, being the practical people that they are, took their houses with them. So we walked along a trail through the woods along the highway and then, along the hill that rose we were picked up by a bussely buoyant looking old lady driving a large yellow tour van Chillkoot Trail Guides. Her name was Ruth and she had been here year round for 5 years and was a wealth of information about every thing we passed. She even stopped for us to identify some edible plants I had been curious about. She drove us all the way out to a trail head and dropped us off before turning her van around in one of the many, convenient ‘large vehicle turn around loops’ available.
There we stood on a ban
k 20 feet over the Taiya River, winding through a wide low rocky damp bed of rocks. The rain misted down on us. The only really significant drops were the ones that came from the branches of the trees as we brushed through them. We came upon several other groups of people like ourselves, just out wandering the trails in the rain. Some camping, some carrying backpacks and layers of weather gear. We walked across an old framed bridge and watched the water flow underneath us before we dropped to the pebble beaches lining the river. We found old shards of colored glass and wondered where they came from. We came across an old red brick and wondered what house upstream was missing such an integral piece. But we spent most of the time wondering up at the trees and mountains and the low coiling, wisping fogs which snaked through the treetops along the low ridges. In the distance we could see a tall, round snow covered mountain. The snow billowing off the top in a wind which undoubtedly rocked the world above tree-line. After a few hours of wandering we realized we were decidedly hungry and made our way back to the road. We were eventually picked up by Tyler and Clifford the Big White Dog. A Montana farm boy with a big green truck who also knew a good deal about the area. Such as that this fjord is the second deepest in the world, the deepest in America. Also that, while most tourists are led to believe that this is a canal, it was actually named after a man whose last name was Canal. A locals’ prank on the herds of wealthy old people who trample their streets for at least 8 hours a day before retreating back onto their lit boats and dining halls and deck top pools and Jacuzzis.
We rolled back into town and made it into a tasty little Thai shop with delicious tea and spicy food. I am proud to say that I now volunteer to eat lettuce. Just like real adults. But nothing can change the fact that peppermint fudge will always be more appealing to me. At the end of the day we came back to the campers and settled down on the floor with the mushers and watched a goofy movie, ‘More Dogs than Bones’, before climbing into my sleeping bag and reading Calvin and Hobbes until I fell asleep.The next day (today) we all got up and went for a cheap warm breakfast. We then wandered along an old gravel road beside the river and railroad and looked up at the hill-sides, collapsed into rock slides. Rocks bigger than my car settled 200 feet below where they probably once fit. Sometimes we would see and hear small cascades of rocks which made us hurry on down the road.
We began to run into trails sneaking off from the main road and found ourselves climbing over mossy rocks and fern padded dirt. We came out into a clearing at the bottom of a deep, gorge-like valley and looked up hundreds upon hundreds of feet to the top of a narrow, raging waterfall. We traversed the rocks and explored a cave before wandering back down the hill into the graveyard where the heroes and legends of the town were buried and where funnily colored tour busses bring visitors for a few minutes of silent reverie of a foreign history.
Walking back we saw a train coming along the rail and I borrowed some change and now we each have a flattened coin to commemorate our voyage. One warm package of ramen later I am feeling dry enough to venture forth to town before the market closes. Upon our first tour of the town we found a small funny shop called Port of Call populated mostly by people from very strange sounding countries but which carries the funniest, most random foods. I happened to spot some nutella and of course had to procure some. Also, somewhat jostled into it on a matter of dignity I purchased a jar of ‘Srikaya’ whose label sports a coconut, some kind of sprout and eggs. The matter inside the glass resembles something you would expect to encounter coming from a sick baby. But we are going to try it and that requires a loaf of bread. So I would like to leave you with some little poems and reflections I jotted while exploring.
Reid Waterfalls
Breathe deep the Alaska dream
Let the air filter through you
Clean you
Cascading towering waterfalls
Caves & nooks
Water. Still. Though settled on a precipice. Foaming.
Eddies. Swirling foaming bubbles
A gargledsong
Happy currents leap
Tiny streams, out along-side
Findtheir own way
Kamikaze Droplets launch.
Gold Rush Cemetery
Cemetery sleep
Along the broiling river
Nestled in the hill side
Intermingled with tree roots
Interlocking in a slow hug
Earth take me back
Wind carry my ashes
Across the wide land.
That I may nestle with all that I love.
Rain and snow, still fall on my face.
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