Midnight Sun

Sunday, June 19th

Big weekend in Haines, the "Kluane Chilkat International" bike relay was held. This race is run by relay teams (with some solo riders) down the Haines highway from its junction with the Alcan to downtown Haines, 150 miles later! Unfortunately, Lori & I had to work so we could not compete, however, the race had over 1,200 riders this year and the Hitch Up set a record for occupancy. The riders came right past the Hitch Up as they traveled the last 2 miles to the Fort. Some were in silly costumes trying to win the "crazy uniform" event.

No, that is not the winner. That is some crazy Haines hippy cab that hauls mostly cruise ship passengers when the one ship per week docks on Wednesdays. He usually has some reggae (no really) blaring when he whiz's by on that electric pedi-cab. I think that's his wife and kid in there today greeting the racers as they ride in.

 This guy looks like he might be the winner cause he was going so fast he was just a blur. Seriously, the fastest time for the 150 miles was posted by 2 two-person teams at 5 hours and 56 minutes! The fastest solo rider was Lori...just kidding...but that dude above did the whole ride in 6:08:20.

This is how we ended our race day, with fresh caught Sockeye salmon. Of course I didn't catch it. It was given to us by our old neighbors (Jason, Christy and their kids) from across the street in Las Vegas. Some of you may recall us talking about them moving up here a couple years ago. Well, we found them, they are doing well (including their 5 kids) and were surprised but happy to see us. Jason had just caught a 37 lb. sockeye the day before while gill netting in the river, which all Alaska residents are free to do.They call it "subsistence fishing" and are allowed to harvest lots of fish per person. I hope to go with him to help set the nets one day when the salmon really start running. They also get to "long line" for halibut and set crab pots.

Wednesday, June 22nd

Land of the midnight sun - Alaska

Our weekend began with the first day of summer. The photo above was taken at midnight on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice. We get about 3 hours of darkness between 1 and 4 am this time of year. However, the days will get shorter from now until winter when we (if we find a way to stay) will only get 3 hours of daylight.

We did our first real hike this morning. A beautiful 4 mile roundtrip trail to Battery Point. The trail basically starts in town, goes through this lush forest full of ferns and comes out on a great pebble beach on the shore of the Lynn Canal lined with tons of driftwood in every size. The forest edge at the beach is covered this time of year with many types of beautiful wildflowers including wild irises and wild strawberries. When we got to the point, we were alone with sunshine and stunning views of the calm sea down the inlet towards Juneau.

On our way back to town we remembered it was Wednesday when we saw the cruise ship at the dock.

We ended the first day of summer fishing. First, since it was high tide, we cast "pixie" spoons in Alaska's shortest river (only one mile long) the Chilkoot river. We were hoping to hook a sockeye salmon which are just beginning to journey upstream to the lake where they will spawn and die. I did manage to hook one and I also managed to lose him after a fierce 15 second battle when he snapped my 10 lb. test line. That was also our last pixie so we went to the lake to fish for (not catch) Dolly Varden. The mosquitoes were so bad even with repellent we could only stand it for about an hour before we went buggy.

Thursday, June 23rd

After doing some chores in the morning, we headed out to the fish cannery to see if we could get some fresh produce (you thought I was gonna say crab right?). It sounds like a strange place to get fruits and veggies (unless you are in Alaska) here's why it's not. The cannery has a deal with Whole Foods in Seattle who will buy all the live Dungeness crab they can supply. They fly a turbo prop up once a week to get the crab. Instead of flying up empty, they load the plane with produce to sell up here...pretty smart huh? It is also the freshest because it only takes it a few hours to get here, unlike the grocery store whose comes by ship.

Cannery with Rainbow glacier hanging in background

There are LOTS of bald eagles that hang out in this area. Aside from the cannery, they are here because this is one of the best inlets around to fish for King salmon. There is a small marina, a boat launch ramp and plenty of King salmon being cleaned by the lucky guys who sometimes toss the guts and heads too close to shore. At low tide, they are on shore and like an eagle fast food joint...cheap and easy. This leads to some great bird watching and free entertainment. There are often turf wars going on over the choice spots like the one in this photo between 2 male juvenile bald eagles (they don't get white heads and tails for a couple of years).

Turf war - eagle style

This raven is no match for the eagle

Later we went on a really fun tour, once again courtesy of our generous Vegas neighbor Christy. She has a very cool summer job working for "Takshanuk Tours". They run a "mule" tour 3 miles and 1,500 feet up an incredibly steep dirt road on Mt. Ripensky at the edge of town.

Halfway up is Christy's "office", a log lodge with spectacular views where she cooks lunch for the tour patrons. She cooks halibut, chicken, potatoes and most important...cookies, all in a wood fired oven.

Christy with Lori at her office

Ever see an ass riding a mule ??

Road side scenery