Hike up Eagle Crest

The Eaglecrest ski area is about 8 miles from where we live on Douglas Island. You travel up Fish Creek Road to the very top. There are two lodges, one at the base and one at the top. From the base to the weather port at the top is about a 1400' elevation gain.

We thought we'd hike up and see what it looked like. We have been to the lower lodge a couple of years ago when we came up to pick blueberries. If you get off the packed areas it is wet and soggy. It was such a beautiful day that we had already decided that if we had to wear rubber boots or put on a jacket because of the alpine temps we would turn around and head to the beach. We had our beach chairs and sandals in the back of the truck.

The walk up is very steep but if you can take your eyes off the trail where you are walking for a few minutes, or when you stop to catch your breath, the wildflowers are gorgeous!






and then it happened:


No battery - I forgot to charge up the camera battery before heading out on this hike. dang it!

This last year the sky folks put in a new lift and punched through a road to the top. The road is very wide and some places are packed nicely while other spots have large, loose rocks on it. Road to top.

We met up with Mitch who was riding his bike up the road. We didn't want to interrupt his momentum going up the hill but we caught up with him a bit later on his way down. He gave us a good suggestion to head up towards the weather port that you can see on top of the mountain. At that time we didn't know there was an upper lodge so that was good information.

Since my camera was no good, you'll have to image if this was a summer shot (Winter view). The trees are in various shades of dark green, the sky was very blue with just a bit of haze (from the Interior fires) which softened the view of the various peaks of mountains. The slopes are a blanket of green grass, pink, white, yellow, blue, and purple wild flowers with some patches of snow and meandering creeks here and there.

On the way up we spotted a beautiful pond area with a shallow creek running through it. There were several small boulders in the pond that looked like perfect little seats. We had already decided to stop here on our way back, take off our boots and do a little wading while we ate our lunch. Pond

Here are some other summer/spring pictures from the eaglecrest website.

Information Graphics

Hellmann’s - It’s Time for Real from CRUSH on Vimeo.

We often see sailboats on the channel - this is from this spring:


Wednesday night is one of the sailing clubs weekly "meetings" where they all sail out about the same time and do whatever sailors do - tow that line, sit on the poop deck, you know.

This passed by the house today and I thought it was a cooling looking sailboat:

Herbert Glacier 09

We had a nice ride out to the Herbert Glacier last sunday. The weather was so nice and sunny. Most of the ride goes through the forest so it was nice a cool. The trip in is very fast and the trail was in really good shape.

This is the earliest in the season that we've come out here. With all the warm weather the river was really high and the low section where we can usually get across without getting too wet was to high. You can see across the to the beach in this picture and we usually drop our bikes and continue on foot over the base of the glacier. The only way around would have been to scrabble over the rocks and boulders ad we didn't really feel like doing that.


So we found a wide spot in the trail that had a breeze to keep the flies away and had a picnic. The trail is only about 4.5 miles one-way and you don't realize that most of the trip in to the glacier is uphill until you are breezing along on the way out. You hardly have to peddle at all!

My bike is making a clicking noise so I need to take it in to get it looked at and Tim needs new tires or maybe just a new bike that has suspension. Going over rocks and roots are hard on your limbs without suspension.

Tribute to Michael

Some of you have probably already seen this clip of "Thriller" performed as a tribute to Michael by some Arctic researchers up at Toolick Field. Bet even Michael couldn't have orchestrated the visual effects of the giant mosquitoes!

Beach Party and 4th of July

Hey Rune - here is someone who has your taste in haircuts!



As I've said before, Juneau really celebrates the fourth of July! Its a several-day event in normal years and this year it was combined with a celebration of statehood.

In this year's parade, a float with some of the same princesses from 50 years ago drove down Egan Drive. Along with the marching band, antique cars, fire engines, Veterans for peace - you name it - they were there (ho, everyone except for the governor). And the candy that was thrown or passed out - every kid walked away with a grocery bag full!


And then there was the beach party and games at Savikko park - always a hit with foot races, gunny sack races, dog frisbee throw, lots of food booths, face painting, tailgate barbeques and more.

In year's past the sand castle building competition has not amounted to much. I think with the incredible weather we've been having the inspiration (or desire to be at the beach) was increased and there were some very finely crafted piles of sand around.

This was probably my favorite:


and for my nephew:


This one was fun - there were hidden toys where communities would be located, for example, Ketchikan had a little crab placed at the proper place.


After riding our bikes downtown to watch the parade in Juneau, then coming back to Douglas for another parade, hot dogs at the firehouse, watching the races, cheering on the speed racing SoapBox Derby kids and the fireworks from the night before, we were glad to spend a quiet night at home.

First Friday, Statehood Celebration, Fourth of July, Friday Concert in the Park - what a day (and night)

I think I've mentioned before that the Fourth of July is a big celebration in Juneau. It usually starts on the third and continues on. This year Juneau chose this weekend to celebrate Statehood so it seems like there are extra events going on.

The weather has been incredible! Its been in the mid 70s and low 80s with a cloudless sky that has really drawn the crowds outside!

We went to the Concert in the Park which was combined with a community picnic. Hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone!

This was one of the grills that they used - isn't it huge!



Juneau is also the gathering place for the International Juneau Family Reunion. I understand that several generations of Joe Juneau decendents have been gathering here for a couple of weeks. There are a few still living in the community along with a large contingent of Kowee decendents. Here's one of the Juneau's at Gold Rush Days joking around with some guy in a blue shirt. he he

Where were you when you heard Palin resigned?

We were out at Auke Rec enjoying the start of the 4th of July weekend at the beach. Claudia sent Tim a text message but we didn't have very good cell phone covereage where we were so we didn't get any of the details until we got back to the house.

What a shocker! Of course there is lots of speculation about the real reasons but I doubt that we will ever know for sure!

We watched three ferrys come in to Auke Bay while we had a picnic lunch, sitting in our beach chairs, soaking up the sun. We listened to the kids laughing as they waded in the cool water, the powerboat making big circles pulling wakeboards, and the crazy crows dropping mussels from the sky in hope of getting a tasty morsel for their lunch. They weren't getting any of ours!

Busy Weekend

Juneau Arts and Culture Center sponsors Concerts in the Park on Friday evenings. We've been lucky enough that the weather has been cooperating so that we can enjoy these events outside at Marine Park. There are ususally three acts that get about 30 mintues to perform. This week we had some belly dancing by the Daughters of the New Moon, a rock band called Boobie Trap, and some broadway show tunes sung by the Juneau Lyric Opera.

Probably the hit of the night was the lyric opera group singing "George of the Jungle" complete with chest beating by the tall guy shown here, in the middle, in the back. This brought a lot of applause.

Also happening this last weekend is what they called "Gold Rush Days". Not to be confused with Golden Days in Fairbanks, this is more about mining and logging and the games that reflect activities that go along with the job. Saturday was the mining games and Sunday was the logging events. More later!

Good Day to By-Pass Town

I just watched the sixth large cruise ship go by the house heading towards the docks in town. In additional the amount of people, its also been drizzling on and off all morning. That means umbrellas with sharp points. Luckily I don't have to go downtown for anything! Click on the photo to get a more clear image!

Knitting Projects

I made this little hood poncho for my 1-year old great niece. It is made from Rainbow Boucle yarn with gradients of pink to white. It can easily be thrown in the washer and dryer. The hood part looks a little big but she probably won't wear that over her head anyway.



And here are some embroidered napkins. I really like to do embroidery work and haven't done any for awhile. I thought it would be a nice break from knitting. On my trip to Fairbanks I decided to take along some lace weight yarn and make lace to go around the napkins. This pattern is only 5 rows long so it was easy to memorize and I could stop and start as I needed to. I like to take lace projects on the plane because they don't require a lot of material and come together pretty quick.






And here is a felted purse that I made for Ashley. The pattern came from a knitting calendar that Tam gave me.



I was concerned that the flap would not flatten out and curl up like it did pre-felted. But it laid right down. I didn't even have to weight it down or anything. I sewed a big snap on the inside flap so its a bit more secure but it probably didn't need it.