Alaska
Groundhog Day
Arghhhh!
I sat bolt upright at 5 am, eyes windowshading open, heart racing….”s%^, f$%^, d^&#, I’m going to miss my plane…” then tried to breathe through the forest fire smoke clogging my nose here in Sun Valley, Idaho and realized that it wasn’t yesterday, this isn’t my bed and that I’m not, in fact, Bill Murrey. Brain, re-boot. I’m in Hailey/Ketchum pumping up rafts and prepping food supplies to leave by noon (yeah, right) for a trip down the Middle Fork of the Salmon river….but I am getting way ahead of myself and way behind in journaling so….looking back over the blur of the last two weeks…
Photos to follow the river trip. Let’s see: spare oars- check, fly rods-check, PBR-check, 1000 dry flies-oh yea…..
Greenland Training Camp
For the last 7 years Qajakusa sponsors a unique Greenland style kayaking event right here in NW Michigan. It usually sells out within two weeks of opening registration in April. This year was no exception. For this event, I’m the food guy. Cooking for 70 for four days…okay, planning the menu and shopping it all also. You can’t drive to training camp…you have to paddle, or in my case, use a pontoon boat loaded with 1800 lbs of home-made soups, steaks, salmon, chicken, pies, apples, fresh peaches and a bushels of greens. This year we managed to host quite a few new folks as well as some teens. Greg Stamer joined both to teach and share stories of his recent, high speed Newfoundland circumnavigation. Others came from Walden Pond, Ontario, Vermont, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the wilds of Ohio. Thanks to the Vermont crew, Jane, John and Emmet for inspiring a new superhero…”Sphincterman”…representing the anxiety level of the populus and the bran lovers community. You just know you’re going to have a good day if you can get a good sphincter reference in before breakfast!
Weather perfection on Isle Royale
Michael C and Tom Mac met me in Copper Harbor for a trip that’s always been on their wish lists…kayak Isle Royale National Park…the biggest Island in the biggest lake in the world. Until this week, they’d never seen Lake Superior, but being from Baltimore and Chesapeake Bay, they came with some serious miles under their belts. They also came armed with carbon/kevlar kayaks and three quarts of Maker’s Mark…should travel with these lads more often! Tom managed just fine at his goal of catching a fish with about an 8 lb Steelhead from the outside of Amygdaloid Island (say that 3 times fast, I dare you). Michael C. came equipped with a nice set of Steiners to glass all sorts of birds including watching an Eagle chow on a baby loon…life is tough in the real world. All week we never had a wave over 18 inches, a raindrop, a chilly morning or a bad meal. Okay, the ferry ride back may have been a little lumpy…..