Dirty River Kids on the Klutina

Well since I wasn't able to race with my team, the "Dirty River Kids" at the 24 Hours of Light this year in Whitehorse as planned, I rightly represented the team as a dirty river kid on the Klutina River this weekend fishing for reds with Josh and Debbie... and scouting out a killer bike trip.
Fishing is Josh's hobby, hands down. It was fun to go with these two and I learned a lot of basic fishing techniques that I never picked up in past trips.
After the salmon run seemed to hit a lull in the evening, we decided to hit the road south another 100 miles to the end of the road in Valdez. Once we got there, we decided there wasn't a whole lot for us to do there.. so ended up making some food and peaced out back north a bit to Blueberry Lake where we hid like bandits in the trees for free camping. I had not been south of Glennallen ever, so it was exciting and kind of strange being in a completely new place where I didn't know where the highway went around the next corner. I love love LOVED going through the Worthington Glacier area, up Thompson Pass (awesome views!!) and through Keystone Canyon.. rightly named for an awesome state with lots of little "canyons" in which I was born in. ;)

Here's a view of Worthington Glacier in the state rec area.
This is the first thing I did that the doctor would say "no" to.. but was very careful and took my time hiking up to the glacier. It was WAY too close to not go up to.. you have got to be kidding me to not go up and get close and personal with that ice.

These signs made me laugh. From the road the trail this sign refers to did look awfully steep but definitely doable.. esp. if you go around it and take a different route.

Here's some flowers and mountains at Thompson Pass!! A snapshot doesn't do it much justice... the whole 360 view makes Thompson Pass all it's cracked up to be. Hopefully this winter I can get down there for some skiing.

There are a few waterfalls along the Keystone Canyon. This one is Bridal Veil Falls.

And we made it to Valdez! Reminds me a lot of the marine towns on the Kenai Peninsula. Boater heaven, for sure!

Ha ha.. just you wait til I bike to Valdez....

This speed limit sign is for my sisters... they will know why it's significant.

We had dinner at Allison Point along the ocean. Those seagulls were really talking.

Blueberry Lake. North of Valdez just below Thompson Pass.

"So you went fishing, huh? How about the fish you caught?" Uh, we'll just say I think I should stick to biking as my main hobby and leave the fishes to someone with a little better luck and with a longer attention span. Though casting was therapeutic for a short time, I was happier hanging out with a book in my hand, watching other people catch fish out of the beautiful turquoise water and making the fishes mouths pretend they're talking when they were being filleted.

Here's Debbie catching a fish - see it flopping in the water???And then the rain poured down... hard. I got to test my new rain pants and they rocked.

The rain drove everyone out. Even us after awhile.. it was time to go home and call it a weekend!