I don't think the float plane will make it today either.... Oh well!

Or today.....

Float plane! Float Plane!

12:00 midnite out of Soldotna

1:00, and my last picture....

 

 

Alaska, July 19th, 2001...
I have always been very conscientious of being on time for things. Airline flights, especially, and I have everything in order the night before I leave. No wait, I have everything in order the month before I leave!
The tickets, itineraries, rental car information, all at my disposal in a manila envelope.
Imagine the feeling of being stuck in a remote area of Alaska the day your flight is supposed to depart in another city! This is tough for us obsessive- compulsive traveler types.
Whatever slight hope I held that I still might make it to my flight that day, vanished. I pulled the curtains open in the early morning to find thick, dense fog that hid any signs of that a lake existed 100 yards from my cabin.
My ERA flight and my Alaska flight would depart without me. Guess I'll have to fish.... Darn!
A shower! My first soul purpose in this day was to take a shower. It had been three days, and three layers of mosquito repellent and dust.
My hair! Ish! Where was the nearest beauty salon? Manicurist? Mall? Movie house? :)
I had planned on showering the night before, but Chris and I fished too late, and the generators were off by the time we returned to camp.
I left Chris to his shower first, and when I came back he was shivering and refreshed. The hot water wasn't working? Leave it to Chris to take one anyway. Brr! Not me!
I reported the problem to Steve and he had it fixed and running hot in no time!
Ah! Hot showers! Shampoo, conditioner and a razor! What a luxury!
I felt SO much better. I grabbed a piece of hot sausage to go out of the kitchen and hopped in the boat.
We took a two way radio in the boat in case a flight was to come in.
The lake was still and glassy, high, and a bit murky, but the fish were still showing all around us.
We fished the current seams of the Crescent river with K 16's in hope of a chinook, but hooked several lake trout instead.
Lake trout and dollies it was. We switched to spinners and threw to their rises.
What a blast these fish are, and so compliant! Any spinner you choose produces!
We noticed some clearing in the sky, and listened for the sound of a float plane or radio alert, but no news yet.
While throwing spinners, I noticed Chris standing tall with a 'what the heck' look, staring up river.
"What is that? A bear!"
Oh boy! I thought! It is! It is a bear! The bear that we had all been waiting for! Let's go!
I was scared a bit, but excited!
Pull the rods in, start up the engine, let's go!
A small black bear was swimming across the river. I was O.K. with this.. I was... really!
Then we got nearer. Ignorance on bear watching, and then the resulting fear entered my mind. Do bears jump out of the water into your boat? Do they tip boats? Are they faster than a 35 Yamaha four stroke?
All trust in Chris vanished. Trust in the bear never existed!
"CHRIS!" I yelled... I knew at the moment that I was about to ruin our bear experience. Half disappointed and even more half, hating myself for my fear and failure, I showed my fear to Chris.
I need to be forced, sometimes, to do something I am afraid to do. Most often, afterwards, I am grateful to those who force me. Forced to trust. I was depending on Chris to shut me up so I could have this experience.
Imagine my surprise when Chris, being the gentlemen he is, turned the boat around and sped off. Gentleman, yes.... But... disappointed in me for ruining his opportunity for photographing this bear he was also.
His disappointment was very apparent and like the fog around me, the silence in the boat was thick. A few choice words were shared between us, and I decided to go back to camp.
Maybe it was the constant togetherness in this wild Alaska, the stress of missing my flight. Maybe it was my sense of failing to be brave, and the resulting embarrassment, but I needed some time alone.
I did get this nice picture though! :)

Back at shore, I meekly crawled out of the boat, sad that I had caused a conflict, and sadder yet that I had missed a real bear experience. I wussed out on the bear test! Am I a sissy city girl or WHAT???
Time for a pedicure and a facial!
Chris sped off for more fishing. I walked to the lodge to visit with the girls in camp and eat some of Shan's famous chocolate cake.
I slowly walked back to my cabin, lay my body down on those soft flannel sheets and fell fast asleep.
As I drifted off I remembered thinking... I will wake to someone pounding on my door to tell me a float plane is here.
What seemed like moments later, which was actually two hours of solid sleep, I heard a beating at my door.
"Jennie! The float plane is here!" Shan repeated, over and over....
Yeah right, I thought... I'm dreaming!
I wasn't! The float plane was there!

Alaska...July 20th, 2001...
Well, actually, this picks up at the end of the day on the 16th... but it's all a blur to me now, as the 120th sort of melted into the 21st.
There was no sleep in-between my nap, prior to the float plane out of Redoubt, and the nap I took on the flight home the next day.
You know there is something unnerving about a float plane flight, when you can see down, most of the time, but the clouds and fog brush the tops of the wings of the plane, and the eyes of any creatures on land are visible.
The curves in the Crescent river were the navigation points through the mountains in Lake Clark National Park.
Once we hit Cook Inlet, things cleared a bit, and breathing resumed to normal. The landing was extremely smooth.
Relief and sadness hit me at the same time. I was back on the main land. I was going to fish the Kenai again, but I also knew that my adventure at Redoubt had come to an end. Would I be back? Don't redoubt it!
I'm going back for silvers! And bears! I am going to view a bear closer than I did! I have to. I failed the first time and it bugs me. I have to beat it!
We returned to our rental car, which had been clicking away dollars as it sat, and drove to the Kenai airport to plead for my missed ERA and Alaska flight.
They were very helpful, and had no problems in rescheduling me.
In Alaska, these events are common. Another strong impression left on me that Mother Nature is in control here in Alaska, and we are but visitors, and sometimes victims of her wild moods.
We then traveled to Clam Gulch, to pick up my bags. Kim greeted us with her warm smile and a couple of cold beers. We visited on her back deck, and told the stories of our adventures, and recounted her 60-or-so pound king conquest.
Off to Kenai to meet Chris' group, who were camping at Fred Meyers. They do that! The parking lot was FULL to capacity with campers, trailers, boats and activity!
Marv had made a bed in the suburban, and Joe, a bed in the sled!
Plans to be made... It would be dark soon, should we sleep? Should we find a motel to rest until we could hit the Kenai at 1:30 or 2?
Let's see.... Two motel rooms would run us a couple extra hundred... or.... we could drive around and see the sites! I choose site seeing!
We watched the locals dip net for sockeye at midnight, saw a moose and her calf at one in the morning.
Chris taught me the lay of the land around the Kenai and the different launch options.
Then to the parking lot where we were to put in, to watch the night anglers pursue sockeye in the dark. Flashlights flashed around the river, the river was alive, even at 1:30 in the morning!
At two, we got in the boat, and took off to fish.
Before I knew it, it was time to go....
On my way to return my rental car and board my flight I was greeted my two caribou on caribou flats! Two miles further and a moose and calf casually crossed the road! A final good-bye from the wildlife in Alaska...
I have to tell you, I was totally exhausted at this point.
I boarded my ERA flight, and slept...
A two hour layover at Anchorage... I slept in the hallway....
A three and a half hour flight to Portland... I slept...!
My Dad picked me up at PDX, and returned a very tired and happy girl to her car.
The two hour journey down the Wilson River welcomed me back, and led me to my home on the Kilchis River.
As I pulled into the driveway, a flock of Goldfinch flushed away from their feeding area by my office.
The canyon lay still and windless, and as I opened my car door, the faint sound of the low river played a welcome song to me.
I stood quietly in the canyon, and the sound of my sigh, as I stretched my tired muscles, resounded against the surrounding sleeping hillside.
As I took it all in, I remembered Steve's voice, from Redoubt, saying... "I've never seen a girl so unhappy being stuck in the most beautiful place on earth".
You should see my home, Steve!
My kids opened the door, breaking the silence with welcome hugs and good cheer.
Our voices competed with each other in excitement, recounting our separate adventures.
Alaska.... I will be back! And next time I want the kids to go!
I want them to know a thrill greater than that of an amusement park, and the wildlife and the untouched beauty that no travel brochure can express.
The transition from Alaska to home has been quite difficult for me, and I know, deep down in my soul, I will never be quite the same.
It's not the fish, it's not the wildlife, it's not any one thing. It's a feeling and experience I can't explain.
I want to drive to Alaska next time. I want to gradually transition from one place to another. From one mindset, to another.
From Oregon, to Alaska.
From one beauty, to another.