Running Around

Haines' answer to the Mount Marathon Run in Seward, Alaska is the Ripinsky Run. Runners start out in front of the American Legion hall and run up Mount Ripinsky a hill that looms over the city of Haines. Race winner Chandler Kemp is pictured as he scrambles down from the hill.

Gone Fishin'

This gentleman is helping me unload an 800 pound brailer bag full of chum salmon. It is a small fraction of our load of fish for the week. The fish numbers were promising and numbers were strong through the week. I used the slow week to take care of small projects on the boat. It is amazing how many little things you can find to do on a boat. Even fisherman with nice new boats always seem to be puttering around working on this and that. We shall see how this next week goes, but now it looks like chum salmon season is in full swing.

Goin' Fishing

For the past week I have been helping to get my father's fishing boat geared up and ready to go fishing. It is amazing how many little projects can stack up. The most important thing we had to do to get our boat ready was get a net aboard. For once, we did not procrastinate, and put the net on early in the week. My father then told me, "Once I hung a net in 24 hours on the day before a fishing opening." He had the net built and in the water in time for the opening that started at noon on Sunday.

Bike Time

Haines has been converted into a bit of Sturgis only for road bicyclist. As I write this, the local bars are filled with partying bicyclists. Riders in the annual Kluane to Chilkat Bike relay rolled into the Haines, Alaska this Saturday. I shot a few riders as they completed the final leg of the race. Because of my salmon fishing commitments I was unable to chase the whole race. This picture sums up my day. It is bicycle riders passing a salmon counting fish wheel.
It was really hard to not make an image of riders passing by some of the scenery along the Chilkat River outside of Haines.
I do a little freelancing for the local paper in Haines. This was in the images I kicked to them. Unfortunately the paper is in black and white.

The Hurry up and Wait

One of the hardest part about fishing is waiting to fish. I am currently in Haines, Alaska getting ready to go fishing. My father runs a drift gillnet fishing boat, and has done so for more than 30 year. For as many times I have hit the water to try and catch fish in bulk in the gillnet I still love to try and catch a fish on a hook and line. I decided to wash the diesel fuel off of my hands from my boat chores and pick up a rod. It was a great way to fill a little downtime before the coming opening.

I got a few nibbles but no fish. They weren't taking lures. But I plan to see if I can get one of the finning dolly varden to take a fly tomorrow.

Heaven on Bread

It was the best sandwich ever. Salumi salami, Gorgonzola cheese, peppers, onion on olive oil bread with a special sauce. It was a sandwich so awesome I had to stop myself from inhaling the thing and saved a little for later.

Meg and I hit the Salumi salami shop up for a last thing to do in Seattle before hitting the road. It was worth shirking some packing duties and heading down and back for a few hours. If I have a chance I definitely be back. When Anthony Bourdain tells you to check something out, it is worth it.

Lots of Stuff and Lots of Places to Put It

Rattle snakes, ticks, mosquitoes, Oh My! The road through Montana was fraught with peril.
Mojo explores the grass around Pompey's Pillar. We would have missed him, but the tip of his tail was wagging above the tip of the grass.

Mojo nearly blended in with the horse themed cabin in Columbus Montana.

If Alaskans ever wondered why tourists are a little unrealistic expectations involving Alaskan wildlife, it is probably because of billboards like this. This was on I-90 in Montana advertising a sort of bear interaction place. From what I could tell, it was a place that had a corral where you could play with bear. Meg and I did not stop at this road side location. Being Alaskans at heart, when we know there are bears in a spot, we tend to avoid that spot.

If there was one problem with our visit to Montana it was the heat. We just had to cut our camping short in Missoula and find an air conditioned hotel room.

After driving for about a week to get across America I have come to the conclusion that America has a lot of stuff and a lot of places to put it. The drive across the long part of Montana, lead me to the conclusion that Montana has lots of cows and a lot of places to put them.
As we cruised across Montana, the scenery slowly merged from sage to green rolling fields.