Deer Mountain Cabin

Well folks, it won't be long and you'll be tired of the title "Deer Mountain Cabin." Deer Mountain is the backyard mountain with some good skiing in the right conditions AND it has a wonderful little cabin. In other words, the "North Wrangell High Country Shelter" of Ketchikan but a lot more plush. This was my first trip up the mountain and I decided to make it an over-nighter just for fun. The weather wasn't all that great but the greens were lovely, especially if you were coming from outside SE AK.

This is actually the morning after my stay in the cabin. If you look closely, you should be able to make out the A-frame outhouse. The outhouse has seen better days, hopefully the recreation group will find a way to replace it. hint, hint :-) This day was much nicer than the evening before when the wind was blowing 40+ mph. The wind may have been a bit stronger than that. I tried every trick I knew to start the stove and keep it going but nothing worked (very strong back draft). It wasn't really that cold but it was cool enough that when the wind became calm the following morning, I was happy to start the stove and enjoy its warmth.

The cabin interior. Excellent workmanship. I was very impressed with the quality construction. Not a leak in the place even with driving rain. I even had the honor of being the first person to sign the log book after they completed the interior and placed the log book on the table.

Another angle of the cabin interior and the Xtratufs that got me there. For the camera folks out there, I brought a couple flashes with me to illuminate the interior. I was hoping to bounce the flash around but the wood was too red and gave the interior a noticable tint.

Rotary Beach

Here are some of our first beach pictures in Ketchikan. This is a popular beach. It doesn't have real sand, but smaller rocks. That's pretty good for the beaches here!


Christina with some kelp that washed up on shore.

Random

For you dog walkers and your dogs (as says on Creek Street):

There's a Starbuck's here!

And cozy kitties!

Ward Lake

Ketchikan has a lot of really neat hiking trails. I'm excited about them because they are nice to my knees because there's not a lot of board steps. The Ward Lake trail is one of our favorites. When we were in Ketchikan a couple of years ago we camped here and walked on the trail.


When we were here two years ago we saw a bear crossing that stream that's in the picture.

But on this very day, which was sometime in early August of 2009, we saw a bear print from an adolescent bear. This was right next to the trail. I'm glad we didn't have to meet.

Welcome to Ketchikan!

It's almost Christmas, and here we are finally blogging about our move to Ketchikan, which took place August 1st. Whew!

We moved from one island to another, and the only way to do that with a vehicle is by barge or ferry. So we ferried over to Ketchikan after a many, many hour delay. We left Wrangell at about 1:00 am and arrived in Ketchikan around 7:00 am. Southeast Alaska had beautiful weather this summer! Even rainy Ketchikan! Here are some of our first photos of our new home:


Christina on Creek Street. There were lots and lots of salmon spawning in the creek. One time we saw harbor seals diving in after them in the creek. It was a pretty stinky place at times with the decaying fish.

Here I am in front of one of the many tourist shops on Creek Street.

Another view of Creek Street.

And it wouldn't be Ketchikan without the cruise ships. Thousands and thousands of people cruise Alaska and stop in Ketchikan. We lived in an apartment right above where the horses would get hooked up to their trollies to give tourists rides around town. So we would hear the clippity-clop of the horses each day, several times a day. It's pretty active in town every day of the summer. There are SO many people! I believe they can dock 4 cruise ships at one time. This is a picture of one of the biggest cruise ships I saw this summer.

Mountain Scouting by Air

On July 28, 2009 a couple friends (Bob and Britta) and I chartered a flight with Sunrise Aviation out of Wrangell to check out Castle Mountain and the surrounding area. Our goal was to get an idea of how we could approach the mountain without bringing a boatload of technical gear. Ironically, we will be bringing a boatload of gear no matter what. Our route to the mountain took us over some the familiar Stikine River. Here a Stikine River slough mixes with a clear water stream.

Clear backwater and a slough nearby.

I have an almost identical photo from February. Identical in the sense that is a very similar perspective. The Shakes Slough Cabin #2 where we spend a couple weeks could be spotted in this photo... but I'm not sure it is visible at this resolution.

The Castle

The earthy tones of Shakes Lake differ significantly to the white world we experienced during the winter. The icebergs floating in the water near the beginning of the Castle Creek valley marks one of our winter campgrounds. The turrets of Castle Mountain rise in the background.

Castle Mountain and Shakes Glacier. This was the first time I had seen the bottom of the glacier without a thick covering of snow. It was interesting to see the many bands of gravel.

Castle Mountain and what I had previously thought may be a route to the mountain. It was a route but certainly not an easy one (lots of rock climbing to ascend the face of Castle.)

A Different View

I've frequently seen Castle Mountain from its valley below, from a distant mountain, from the air between Petersburg and Wrangell but never have I laid my eyes on the mountain's north face until now. I only took a couple photos of the mountain because I was simply in awe of the scale... That and we flew close enough to the back wall of the mountain that I felt like I could stick my hand out the window and touch the rock. The sense of scale was on a level I had not felt before. I was awestruck. This photo isn't quite Castle Mountain proper, simply a small peak nearby hiding the true peak.

I did manage to fire the camera a few times. Castle and its turrets break through the ice encrusted north face.

A saddle. Castle is on the right and this was one of the routes we had eyed during the winter. Well, the actual chute is hidden from this angle. Pretty daunting.

Glaciers

I believe this is a view of the upper reaches of the LeConte Glacier before is begins to crumble.

A study of fluid mechanics. The rugged ice on the right is LeConte Glacier dumping its contents into LeConte Bay. The smooth ice with dirt bands is the Chief Shakes Glacier flowing the opposite direction toward Chief Shakes Lake. The lake in turn drains into the Stikine River.

Another view of the photo above. That's LeConte Glacier in the background.

Ahh, this is a familiar sight for me. I was on the peak and ridges seen above the Popof Glacier a few years ago during an August goat hunt. A lot of good memories came back when I saw the familiar terrain. Sure was a nice flight and I can't wait for the next opportunity to explore this rugged terrain on foot.

Cruise Ship

On one of our last nights in Wrangell there was a cruise ship docked in Wrangell. There was this beautiful sunset. I encouraged Quent to go down and take pics of it and we are both so glad he did. I just think this picture is gorgeous!!

Leaving Wrangell

Toward the end of 2008 Quent shared with his supervisor about his desire for more challenging work. He offered an opportunity to move to Ketchikan and work more closely with him. So final decisions were made, the movers were scheduled to pack us up, our house was put on the market, and we did some mental and emotional preparations for leaving our beloved Wrangell. This post is for all of those amazing people in Wrangell who we miss so very much! There will never be another place like it! We are so blessed to have been part of such an amazing community!

Here are a few of those amazing people:


This was my 2009 stamping club. There are some missing from the picture! I really miss these ladies! It was really hard telling them I was moving. You should have seen their faces! But I was fortunate to come back the last 3 months of the club to finish out my commitment to them. I was very thankful for them!

Me and Jenifer Gerald. So many people would mix us up. It was kinda hilarious! We were both pretty excited about the thunderstorm that rolled through Wrangell in early July. We were waving to one another from our decks. Miss you, Jenifer!

I could go on and on about this amazing lady. She's Susan, the wife of our pastor. (I should have gotten a picture with Kem, too!) I miss her so much!

Clay & Christopher (Susan's son). These guys are like brothers to me. Christopher reminds me SO much of my brother Matthew, so I even refer to Christopher as 'brother'. These two were always up to some prank. When I worked at the church as the secretary they would find ways to scare me. Christopher got me really good one time and I let out a shrill scream. Clay will always have a special place in my heart! Miss you guys so much!!