Back To Alaska

After about 2 months on the road I arrived back in Western Washington. I stopped in Bellingham long enough to wash my car and make a couple of border runs to get Juliette's work visa renewed. Then we headed to Seattle and briefed for another trip to Alaska.

Climbing in Bozeman

Pictures: First - Juliette climbing, with some guy hanging out in the background. Second - Karen and I up by the college "M". Karen was kind enough to tollerate a couple of guests for a couple of nights.

Yellowstone

It would have been nice to camp over night in Yellowstone, Juliette really wanted to get out where we would have a better chance of seeing bears and wolves. But we were a bit tired after the Rockys and the Tetons. We found a wonderful free campsite by the river just south of the park and spent a couple of days making the rounds of the common sights.

Pictures: First - This Buffalo wandered across the board walk by old faithful, right through a crowd of hundreds of people waiting for the geyser. Second - Me standing in front of Old Faithful. Third - Morning Glory pool.

Jackson Lake

Jackson lake is as the foot of the Tetons. We rented a canoe and canoed 12 miles up the lake to a very nice campground. There were lots of wild flowers in bloom. We gathered some fire wood and had sausages and marshmallows.
Pictures: First -- Juliette paddling hard while I sat back and took some pictures; Second: My car with a canoe on top.

Wyoming Tourist Trap

The Bait for this trap was several nice campsites that could clearly be seen down a dirt road. Of course the best ones were way down at the bottom. The road didn't seem too bad, it was a two track, but the tracks were fairly even with a few small rocks in them. We started down the hill and realised that it was steeper than it looked. When we got to the bottom Juliette thought we should try going up the hill to make sure we could get out again. On the first attempt I got about two thirds of the way up the hill before I started smoking the tires. I started to back down, but hung up almost immediately. I assumed it was a rock, but when Juliette got out and looked she came back with a horrified look on her face. The muffler had hung up and crumpled under the tire. I could not back down because the muffler was wedged under the tire and I could not go up because the hill was too steep. I put rocks under all of the the other tires so that the car would not move while I worked on the muffler. I then jacked up that corner of the car to take the pressure off the muffler and eventually dislodged it. Then I could back down the hill and take another run. Using the Cameroonian theory that the solution to all automotive hang ups is to "put more fire" I floored it and the car went bouncing up the hill.
Pictures: First- dislodging the muffler (Tip for the photographer: next time rotate the camera a little to the right, not only would this make the hill look steeper, it would keep the trees pointing straight up) Second - Juliette, happy to be in her new tent, at the first campsite nearest the main road.

Rocky Mountains

Pictures: First - Juliette and I enjoying the view and eachother's company near the top of Sprague peak.

Second - Signing the register at the top of Sprague peak. We didn't realize that we were climbing a mountain. Juliette suggested going up the side of the valley because the trail we were following along the bottom was covered with snow. So we went up. Each time we thought we were to the top of the hill we could see that there was another top just a little farther on. Finally after many false summits we found a point where ther was no more up to go, and sitting there was a cannister with pen and paper, where we found the name of the peak and the elevation: 12,730

Third - Juliette hiking along side big meadows.

Introduction

This is Juliette. She is from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. I met her in January in a 4 day training class that we are required to take every year before going to Alaska to work as Marine Fisheries Observers. She flew down to Denver and I picked her up at the airport. I thought I might introduce her here so that if you see her in pictures later on you don't have to wonder who she is.

Colorado

I wanted to drive through Colorado to check out the University of Colorado in Boulder. I had a meeting with the Graduate coordinator there and decided that it would be a good idea to go to grad school even if it meant taking some classes at Community College to be elegible for the Civil Engineering department.
I stopped by La Salle to see the Westover clan and then headed out toward Gould to camp. Passing through Cameron pass on Highway fourteen, the first thing to come into view is the square, craggy profile of Mt Richthofen.

I decided that I had lots of time and no particular reason to get to any particular place so I found a road leading off toward the mountain and parked. I wandered up some service roads and then started up a ravine until I could get up on the ridge line. I followed the ridge up to the jagged rocks of the summit started. I climbed up and down along the serrated edge of the ridge over rocks that looked solid but in some cases came loose in my hands and went rolling down the scree below. I came to a place where I would have to climb straight down about 10 ft cross about 10 ft of a tiny little saddle and then start climbing nearly straight up the last couple of hundred feet to the top. I thought I could do it but it would be dangerous with the loose rock, and I thought of a few good reasons not to risk my life that day and turned back.


Pictures: First - Mt Richthofen from the road where I decided I had to climb it; Second - The mountain from the ridge. I made it as high as the first big notch to the right of the summit, the third picture was taken in the second or third notch. Third- Looking south east (into Rocky Mt National Park) from a vantage high on Mt Richthofen.

canyonlands

Photos: First- Journal on a rock out side of Canyonlands NP. I spent an hour catching up my record of daily activities, while waiting for the sun to set. Second- Some slickrock hills near the parking lot, taken in the evening after a very long dayhike. I forgot my camera on the hike so you don't get to see pictures of the slot canyon or the Druid arch.

Third- I was trying to climb up on a rock to get a better view. A piece of sandstone broke off in my hand, exposing this tiny little bat that had been hidding in the crack.

Arches

Like all national parks, the camp sites are expensive. Fortunately I found a gravel side road that led to a more remote arch and parked along the road there for the night. In the morning I followed the road to the end and found Tower Arch. and spent some time exploring the cracks and canyons behind the arch and around the tower. In the afternoon I went to the more visited area of the park and strolled through the Devil's garden. I snuck down the gravel road again in the evening for another night of free parking. The next day I hiked out to Delicate arch.
Photos: First - Shadow of double arch. Second - Delicate arch