The Calling of Glacier Bay

Hello to all the lovely peoples out there from AKTeam5!

It's been such an amazing experience here in Alaska that I am having trouble adequately describing the magnificent country around me. I figure some eloquent wording might just be the best thing,with tons of pictures.

The low clouds caress the Fairweather Mountain Range like a long lost lover, slowly obscuring them from view. A fog glides over the creek-like waters of the slough allowing but trickles of sound through its thick curtain. The eerie laugh like call of a snipe calls out echoing across the camp. The sunset around eleven casting an orange glow over all in its shine and painting a picture of hues on the horizon. Eagles screaming nearby as they begin to nest for the night. This is how our nights generally were while in Dry Bay.

Days were spent working in a relentless bug infested work that not even the exhaust from a chainsaw could keep them away. We worked on the trails doing as we had been the previous weeks, clearing the corridor of ATV trails so the commercial fishermen of Dry Bay could haul their catches to the processing plant. We were blessed with clear weather all of our stay in Dry Bay except during the last week. Even then the weather wasn’t as bad as many had told us to expect. One day we had a light rain to work in all day, and the other we had only half of a morning with light showers as well.

On our ‘last’ night there we had packed up all of our belongings and were prepared to leave the next day. However after a morning of chores and picking invasive daisies, we learned that we weren’t leaving that day due to high winds in Gustavus, so we spent another night. That night after we had finished all of our chores, we looked like bums hanging out on/in the maintenance cabin eating, and just generally relaxing. It was a pleasant way to spend our official last night in Dry Bay.

The next day we had one plane arrive for us, and were told that some of us would be left behind, for a return trip of the plane. Scotty and I volunteered so that we might get to hang out with the fisherpeople as they celebrated the fourth early. It was interesting talking with the different peoples and learning their stories.

On our flight back to Gustavus we flew over the mountains instead of around. The views were spectacular and indescribable. Only seeing it for yourself can you truly understand, however some pictures might help you to see a little better. 

We spent the 4^th of July in Gustavus, Alaska. We all rejoiced in being in a town after having been in relative backcountry for around three weeks. Since there were so many activities going on, we decided to participate in the different events: a 5k race, 3-legged race, slow bike race, and a greased pole event; all of which happened after the parade.

We started the morning off right by eating ‘Pie for Breakfast’. I bought a piece of each the beaver pie, a bacon quiche of sorts, and a peach rhubarb, absolutely delicious. After was the Declaration of Independence reading (should definitely happen everywhere) and the parade. While small, the parade participants were extremely festive, including the preschoolers, Indian Islands Institute, a local inn, and various officials in their designated vehicles. After the parade began the events, which were just as exciting to watch as they were to participate in.  

I personally did the greased pole, which my body is still recovering from. The pole was a fresh cut spruce that had been debarked and all its nobs taken off. It was around 25-30 foot long and was suspended from a bridge over the Salmon River below at high tide. It was absolutely frightening to do and I had to conquer many fears in the process. I had already watched 4 other participants go, two of them successful (and really young) and the other two not. The two who succeeded had stayed on top of the log, and the others had fallen victim to the grease and were trying to climb underneath. I decided to try and take the winners’ approach and stay on top. I slowly inched my way out on the log taking almost 5 minutes to complete, but I came away victorious winning $100. At one point the guy in charge of the forklift had decided to shake it with me on it, I hollered out that I was afraid of heights and the guy seemed to not do it anymore. I barely made it to the end and when I splashed in the water, I had a smile on my face that couldn’t be wiped off.

Our Sunday was spent checking out the town and relaxing. We utilized the fact that we finally had service to catch up with relatives and check essentials in our home lives. We knew that the next day our work would begin in Bartlett Cove, so we decided to make the most of the day.