Dipnetting In Chitina

Adventure. Lots of it in Alaska.

This past weekend I was able to enjoy the process of dipnetting for salmon. Julia was kind enough to let me run down to southern Alaska with some of her friends from the ski team and they were kind enough to let me tag along.

It is an enjoyable process. Here is a rundown.

1. Go to Chitina.
This involves an incredible drive, mostly following the Richardson Highway and the Alaska Pipeline. Pictures from the car do not provide enough detail. In short, it is gorgeous.

2. Camp
This is a picture.














3. Wake up and hike.
We got up around 4 AM and got the gear together for the hike. We followed an old railroad bed that was built for the purpose of transporting copper from mines in the area (Link for your enjoyment: Kennicott - Julia and I would like to visit this place soon.) to a port in Cordova, AK. It was a pleasant hike, somewhere around 3.5 miles. There was steep portion of the hike that brought us to the edge of the river.

This is a picture.


This is another picture. Scott, Julia's coach, is down by the river and Ingrid, Julia's other coach, is climbing up the bank.


















4. Fish
This involves several steps:
a. put net in water; we found a nice area where salmon can rest due to a current reversal in the river.
b. wait.
c. wait; when many fish are running, this step can sometimes be avoided.
d. catch a fish; the river is full of silt from glacial rock flour; thankfully, if a fish is in a net, it is very obvious and exciting.
e. pull the fish out of the water and bonk it on the head.
f. slit its gills, cut its tail fin, and stick it on the stringer; more on this later.
g. put net back in water and repeat.

We did this from 7:30 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon. There were not too many salmon at this point in the Copper River but there were enough for us to catch right around 20 and keep 17. It was still very fun.

This is a picture. It shows a bend in the river near where we stuck our nets in the water.














5. Hike back out.
The sun came out in the afternoon. Very pretty place.

This is a picture.














6. Fillet Fish
There is a nearby creek that sends fish parts down river in order to avoid attracting bears.

This is a picture. It shows my group cleaning fish.














Optional Steps.
It is possible to make dipnetting even more exciting by wearing a climbing harness and tying off to a tree. This allows a dipnetter to perch themselves in a productive spot along the river and catch a fish. Our group attempted this on a nearby rock where many salmon pass by. I tried it and caught a fish.

This is a picture. It shows me tied to a tree with a salmon in my net. There is some urgency due to the fish making a valiant effort to squeeze through a hole in the net. Ingrid, Julia's coach, was kind enough to pull her net out of the water and take a picture.


















Unfortunately, after scrambling off the rock, over to the club for bonking fish on the head, bonking the fish on the head (This fish received 2 bonks; very humane), untangling it from the net, snipping its gills and tail fin, and wandering down to the stringer, I managed to struggle with the carabiners on the stringer and eventually drop the dang thing into the river. Crud. Never saw it again. Killing a salmon and releasing back into the wild is also optional.

This is a picture. This fish will be eaten by someone. It made it onto the stringer.



Come to Alaska. It is very fun.

Happy Father's Day.

The Kenai Peninsula: a monumental post

Sorry to all of our loyal blog followers, Joel and I have been a bit busy lately so it has been a while since the last post. I hope to get caught up with this one. 

Two weekends ago Joel and I headed down to the Kenai Peninsula for a wedding. On our way we hiked Mt. Healy. But, we forgot the camera, so you'll have to trust me on this one. And if you don't believe me, we'll happily do it again sometime, and maybe we'll make you go with us. It took us four and a half hours to do the 10 mile trail. The mountain is just north of Denali National Park so at the top we had great views of the park and the Nenana river. 

After the hike we jumped in the car and drove four hours more to Eagle River, a town just north of Anchorage. 

We camped at the Eagle River Campground in the Chugach State Park. It's now one of my favorite campsites ever (Mom, a lot like the one in Whitehorse, YK). We camped right next to river, which I was thankful for because the rolling rush of the river drowned out any chances of me hearing a bear come into our site, or me thinking I am hearing. These are actually thoughts I have.  

This is the other view of our site. I am pretending to be hardcore, but Joel actually did all the wood chopping. The axe was an awesome gift mom and dad. 

Joel and I had big ambitions to go hiking the next day in the Chugach before making the final leg to Soldotna, AK for the rehearsal dinner. However, I woke up around 7:30 to the pitter patter of rain. It was a light rain, but it kept coming for 2 hours. I decided to go back to sleep and knew that Joel wouldn't mind the extra sleep.  We very much enjoyed sleeping to the soft patter of  summer rain on our tent. 

We got to Soldotna in the afternoon on Thursday and spent some time cleaning up because we smelled of bug spray, sun lotion, sweat, and dirt from our earlier adventures. The rehearsal dinner was a halibut and salmon BBQ at Elisabeth's house, with a great game of softball for dessert. It was a raining evening, but the next day, the wedding day, was bountiful with sunshine! The wedding was beautiful, and sadly, I don't have any pictures of it. You see, I had the camera, but was in the wedding and busy, and failed to give the camera to Joel. I will pass pictures along if Elisabeth sends me some. 

On Saturday morning Joel and I left Soldotna and headed to Seward, AK. 

Here's what we did while we were in Seward.

We took a Water Taxi from Seward to Humpy Cove where we Kayaked around with a guide and another couple. 

I think this is a glacier (prospect glacier perhaps?) picture taken from the water taxi. 

This is Orca Island. I want to go back. It's a tiny island with a couple of yurts that you can rent. People can get dropped off via water taxi or can get dropped off a little ways away and use Kayaks to get there. 

The big island to the left is called Fox Island and is privately owned by natives....Lucky! This picture is looking from Humpy Cove toward to open waters of Resurrection Bay. 

Joel and I shared a kayak, I was in the front. My Mom once said if you can canoe together, then it is likely you can live the rest of your lives together. Joel and I never tried kayaking before we got married. Oops. Does ocean kayaking count?

Joel was in the back.

After kayaking Joel and I were cross-eyed with hunger, and we decided to head into town and find a campsite. There are campsite and RV sites all over town. This was what we found for $10.00 a night, not too shabby. 

After we set up camp we biked down town and walked the docks of the small boat harbor. It's weird for me to be in a marina with snowy peaks in the background. So unlike Michigan. 

At the other end of town (about 3/4 of a mile) was a Safeway grocery store. We biked to the store and purchased a rotisserie chicken. Back at camp while I put together a Coulter (and now Joel favorite), Hobo stew, Joel made the fire. You can see one of our big stews on the fire in this picture. 

After dinner Joel and I decided to hike up Mt. Marathon. Mt. Marathon is a famous mountain with the town of Seward at its base. Years ago a Seward local bet his friend that he couldn't run to the top and back again in less that one hour. The friend took up his bet. The runner finished in 63 minutes. From then on the Mt. Marathon race has been tradition in Seward on the 4th of July and the record is somewhere around 43 minutes (I think). 

Knowing that this mountain only takes men less than an hour to run up I didn't think it would take Joel and I too long to do it. Was I wrong! Most of the hiking is on loose shale, so every time you take a step, your feet sink below you. I think the wind was blowing around 30 miles per hour, but Joel might not back me up on that. This was one hike that I wasn't beating Joel on. A couple times through out the hike I said "why are we doing this if we're not having any fun". Joel would respond by saying, "we're almost there and turn to continue climbing".  At one point I told Joel that I'd rather encounter a bear on a hike, than try to get to the top. I was so frustrated and sometimes wanted to cry, and occasionally I would stop and sit and tell my self that I was just going to wait until Joel came back down. But, then I would look up and see that he was getting closer and closer to the top and I just couldn't give up, even if it wasn't fun. 

I guess it was worth it, here is what we saw 

Mountains, Resurrection Bay, and the town of Seward below. AMAZING!

We didn't stay on the top long because it was so windy and cold. We found a safer trail on the way down, and I was glad to head back. The ironic thing is that on the way down, I saw a black bear wondering along the tree line. I laughed. And then belted out singing to scare it away. Joel and I usually sing "How Great Thou Art" while hiking. Joel is working on teaching me all of the verses. My favorite verse goes, 

"When through the woods and forest glades I wander I hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees, when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur, I hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze. 

Then sings my soul my savior God to thee, how great thou art, how great thou art". 

When we met up with the trail where the bear cross, we saw a big pile of scat. In my mild fret I asked Joel, "is that fresh". He looked at me and asked "are you kidding?". A few minutes laster I laughed and then said, "I guess my singing really scared the shi* out of that bear". You must know I can't sing worth a pinch of poop or keep a tune, but I guess its good for scaring bears away. I try not to swear often, but I at that point it lightened the mood, not its typical use it seems. 

We headed back to camp, put down a couple s'mores and hit the sac. This morning it was hard to get Joel out of his sleeping bag, can you see him?

It was a beautiful drive on the way home that Sunday. Here are a few pictures of Mt. McKinley. What a great way to end the trip. 

What a great way to end the trip. 

I'll try to keep up with the posts from now on!