07/18 -07/19 With it not getting dark here until after midnight, perhaps our decision making ability was a bit impaired. The first couple of photos were taken the night before we left at 11:12 pm. We were headed down to McCarthy & Kennicott to explore these remote towns in the Wrangel-St Elias National Park. We had heard the 60 mile road into the area was rough but we figured if we took it easy, our rigs could probably handle it or perhaps we were just feeling a bit cocky after driving the road to Chicken. We stopped outside of Chitina and loaded up on fuel and water and proceeded carefully and slowly onto the McCarthy Road through a single lane carved through solid rock that was a portent of conditions to come. Well after about 10 miles of bone jarring, teeth rattling, screw loosening, rough road, Jimmy thankfully got on the radio and brought us all to our senses. We were happy somebody said something as all of us were thinking the same thing. “We can’t keep this up for another 50 miles!” We drove just a little further to find a place to turn around and came to the turnout for Sterling and Vann Lakes. We decided we would just make camp in the turnout for the night and head back to the highway in the morning. We walked down to the lake. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was warm so we took a swim and did some fishing. Mike caught and released an Alaskan Grayling. We slept well and Sierra and I woke early and took another walk down by the lake. In front of me a large bird took off silently from a nearby tree, then and second and a third and flew a short distance before landing. Sierra sat quietly while I spent the next 20 minutes filming and photographing this wonderful family of Great Horned Owls. I got some fun shots and wanted to let the others know what I had found, so I went back to the camp and brought Jackie down to see them. She held Slim as he would have made a nice meal for these guys. On our slow drive back to the Highway we stop to watch some subsistence dip net fishing for Copper River Salmon, They used nets on long poles as the river currents are very unpredictable and dangerous and can pull a person under quickly. The fish is supposed to be some of the most expensive and delicious salmon on the market. We were really happy to be back on asphalt and headed down the road to Valdez. We stopped just past Thompson pass at Blueberry Lake State Recreation Site and were able to see some beautiful and dramatic vistas just before the clouds settled around us.
Living the Dream 