AKBrian's pics

Week off in September

One of the good things about working for the State is that I get a fair amount of leave (OK, I'd rather have money, but I'll take what I can get!). I decided that I wanted to take some time off in the summer while it still WAS summer, so I took the second week of September off this year and enjoyed wandering around the state. I've been kind of bummed that I didn't get around to going camping this year, but at least this week made up for it a bit.

I thought I'd put this pictures in a secondary page, since the main pictures page for 2003 is getting a little long. I'm going to be doing a major overhaul of the web site when I get around to it, so there isn't a lot of "design elements" on this page, but certainly more narrative than you usually get. Live with it. :-)

	September 6th I went for a nice walk on the Coastal Trail and ran into this guy, munching on a tree (he was munching on the tree, not me). I usually walk the other end of the Coastal Trail, which has a lot more people, but this end (the south end, near Kincaid Park) almost always has moose around.
	September 6th That night I found myself again on the Coastal trail, even though this time near Westchester Lagoon (the north end). This was right after a cute young couple asked me to take their picture. awwwww....
	September 6th My favorite place to take sunset pictures (you've seen other shots from there on this site), but it always takes my breath away.
	September 7th A great place to go on an easy hike nearby is Byron Glacier, right next to Portage Glacier, about 40 miles south of Anchorage. This is looking up at Byron (clinging to the mountainside). It looks kind of dark in this picture, but it turned out to be a nice day a little later. For a Sunday, there were very few people around.
	September 7th This is not Byron, but a packed snowfall in front of the glacier. As usual, there was a cavern, carved out of the snow and ice by the river. You can see a few late-summer tourists tramping around on the snow (yeah, I was hoping for an "action shot" here, of the snow collapsing and them tumbling into the river, but no such luck).
	September 7th A tip of the ice, against the thinning clouds at Byron Glacier.
	September 7th A little trouble on the trail! The normal trail was flooded, forcing me to cram my 6'6" frame through the underbrush to go around. Damn nature!
	September 7th That night I went for a walk near my house (over in the rich neighborhood) and was rewarded with a great sunset.
	September 7th Yeah, this one looks like the previous picture, but the sun has just gone behind the clouds in this one.
	September 8th 36 years I've lived in this state and I've never walked up Powerline Pass! Well, I decided to rectify that situation this year. Powerline Pass is the valley right to the north of Flattop mountain, with a trail that goes right up it. A very popular place for hiking and biking. This shot is looking up the valley at the start of my walk.
	September 8th These are some blueberries I sat in. Their friends stained my pants.
	September 8th On my way up the trail, there were two bull moose off the trail. On the way back, I only saw this one, but I heard the other one on the other side of the trail in some bushes, apparently "getting busy" with a female moose. This one was staring in that direction. Needless to say, I didn't stand between them very long!
	September 8th This is another shot of the end of the valley. I wanted to go all the way, but I didn't have any water with me, and wasn't wearing hiking boots (yeah, I'm not exactly an Eagle Scout), so I turned around here and promised myself that next year I'd walk at least to the top of the hill.
	September 8th That night I had dinner with my parents, and this little guy had dinner with us. OK, he stayed outside on the back deck, but I think he enjoyed his food as much as we did.
	September 10th Yeah, I took the 9th off from tramping around and did some errands in town! Anyway, on the 10th I headed up to Hatcher Pass, about 40 miles north of Anchorage. This is the Little Susitna river, coming out of the valley.
	September 10th Looking down an old railroad trestle at Independence Mine, in Hatcher Pass. I was surprised to find that they've paved the road all the way to the mine. They're also improving the crap out of the mine itself (well, the buildings in front of it).
	September 10th This fat little guy ran away when I chased him. Hmph.
	September 10th Looking down some of the old mine buildings. I took this shot right after the varmint above out-ran me and left me a wheezing, gasping mess.
	September 10th Looking up the road to the mine. See? I TOLD you it was paved!
	September 11th This is Lake Eklutna, where Anchorage gets most of it's water. The level of the lake was far higher than I've ever seen before, but as the helpful interpretive sign informed me, the lake it always high in the fall, and low in the spring (since the rivers are largely frozen and don't replenish the lake in the winter). I didn't have a lot of time this day, so I didn't walk back very far. Once again, I made myself a promise that NEXT year, I'll bring my bike and bike to the end of the lake.
	September 12th McHugh creek, about 10 miles south of Anchorage.
	September 12th. Also at McHugh. I thought this was very medieval-looking.
	September 12th. Boy Scouts Rocks, near McHugh. I didn't see any bratty boy scouts around, but I did almost kill myself on these damn rocks, so I almost needed a boy scout that could have tied a tourniquet or splinted a broken leg!
	September 13th This is Beluga Point, about 15 miles south of Anchorage, along Turnagain Arm. I decided to leave my comfy couch and take some sunset pictures (go figure). It was damn windy that night, but quite nice.
	September 13th Just some lichen and a little wind-blown plant. I thought the sun shining against it created some interesting colors. Hey, don't think I'm weird...YOU'RE the one looking at lichen pictures on the Internet!
	September 13th. The train heading north, with a load of tourists, no doubt.
	September 13th It was pretty hazy that day, but it made for an interesting sunset.
	September 13th One of the interesting things that night was the wind was blowing south along the arm, and it was blowing so hard, I could SEE the gusts of wind before they got to me! I didn't get a good picture of this phenomenon, but I could see the wind roughing up the water as it moved along. Neat.
	September 14th Last day of my vacation. My friend Marilyn and I drove to Homer (220 miles south of Anchorage). The weather was great the whole way, if darn windy in Homer. This is Mt. Redoubt, across Cook Inlet.
	September 14th Standing in about the same place (about 40 miles north of Homer) looking at the beach, below the bluff.
	September 14th About 3 miles out of Homer, looking out at the Homer Spit-a gravel pad that juts out into Kachemak Bay.
	September 14th Taken from the spit, just a boat passing.
	September 14th Some bird circling overhead. I think it was a hawk, but I don't know all that much about birds, so for all I know it was a chicken.
	September 14th Bird Point, about 20 miles south of Anchorage.
The end of my vacation. Drat. Fortunately, I'm going on ANOTHER vacation in a couple of weeks, this time I'm going to Vegas and Southern Utah desert for another little photo-fest. Don't worry, I'll torture you with lots of pictures from that!