Hiking in Dutch

working at the Plant in Dutch Harbor is wonderful, mostly because of the hiking opprotunities. I managed to get out a few times to enjoy the summer weather and the tundra around the town.
Pictures: Taken from the valley south of Captains bay, on the way to an unnamed peak, point 2699 ft on the USGS map.

4th of July

I got assigned to a plant for a few weeks so I was around Dutch Harbor for the fourth of July. The fireworks started at 11:59 PM on the 4th; it was almost dark. The low clouds absorbed most of the fireworks but there were a few low ones that we got to see. The Russian Orthodox church is in the forground of the picture.

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.