Sunrise at Green Lake, WI 11/20/2012

Completely calm, A bit foggy and a spectacular sunrise this morning.

My brother Phil & I cut several box elder and locust trees this past spring to clear an area for the 4th pond at the farm.  We stacked the brush to be burned later and stacked the logs into piles to be cut up for firewood. We spent 2 1/2 hours each Tuesday & Wednesday cutting up the logs into firewood.  The locust was cut into 26" lengths for sale to a guy with an outdoor wood burner and the box elder into 16" lengths for splitting and burning at the farm.  A job well done....Let the splitting begin:)

Here is a picture of a load of box elder (1 of 4).

We are enjoying our stay on the shores of Green Lake.  Here is a picture looking east across Green Lake about 5 minutes before sunrise this morning 11/01/2012.

October 22, 2012

Hello All,

Thought I would give an update about our goings on.  Last week we canned salmon and smoked 1 batch in our new smoker.  The last rain showed the smoke shack roof continues to leak, so I did some more caulking   and hopes that fixes the problem.  I still want to put a door on the shack, but otherwise an happy with it.

We spent much of Friday cleaning and winterizing the trailer, I still need to put anti-freeze in the lines and we would like to wash the outside, at least the bugs off the front and then it should be ready for storage.

Yesterday the weather presented us with a great day for an ATV ride with our old time friend David Boehmke.  We used Davids trailer to take 3 machines up to Clark County.  Our original plans were to ride the Millston trails, but they closed the 15th so we continued northeast to Clark County.  The trails were in good shape and we had a great 35.4 miles ride.  We started our ride around 11:30 a.m. and ended about 3:30 pm, stopping for lunch along the trail.  we saw some fresh beaver activity where they dragged branches across the trail to a feed bed and 4 grouse.  The fall colors were still enjoyable and the temperatures were nice for riding.  On our way home David treated us to supper in Wisconsin Rapids and ice cream in Westfield.  We dropped David off at home about 8:00 pm, so it was a long, but enjoyable day.

This week we plan to finish winterizing and store the trailer, can and smoke some more salmon, run some errands, go to appointments in Madison and maybe fit in some hunting and wood cutting.

Sorry, no pictures this time, but now you know what we have been up to.

October 12, 2012 - What Have We Been Doing?

Since we got back to Wisconsin we have kept busy visiting family & friends, hunting, doing some farm work,  remodeling a smoke shack and moving.  Our push to make it from Sterling to Pardeeville in eight days was about as short of time we could do especially with 2 dogs and pulling the trailer.  It was an uneventful trip and the fall colors were at their peak.  The truck now has over 14,000 miles on it and is running good, but needs a good cleaning.

It has been good to spend time with family and friends and getting caught up on what we missed since we left in May.  We still have many friends and co-workers that we want to meet with as time allows.  Ken has made it out duck hunting a few times and had some success.  He has not made it out deer or turkey hunting yet, but maybe in the future.  Ken also did some brush hogging around two ponds and some trails on The Farm and tore down the old horse shed and remodeled part of it for a smoke shack.  He hopes to try smoking some salmon next week.

Our biggest project was packing up the trailer, storing some stuff at The Farm and moving the rest to our rental on Big Green Lake, it is the same place we stayed at last year.  The house and view hasn't changed much and it nice to be settled in.  Rebecca & Dad helped us load the Trailblazer and truck Sunday night and we took our first 2 loads to the Lake on Monday.  After unloading we headed back to The Farm for the last 2 loads.  We spent Tuesday getting things put away and set up and put the finishing touches on things Wednesday.

As mentioned before we will ad posts to the blog, but probably not as frequently as we did when in Alaska.

Thanks for looking

The view from our deck looking north/east on Big Green Lake

Back in Wisconsin

Good Morning from The Farm - Pardeeville, WI!

We left Sterling, AK last Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in the rain, saw the sun between Glenallan, AK and Tok, AK and then had sun all the way to Pardeeville, WI.  We drove 3913 miles in 8 days, which averages out to 490 miles per/day.  We pulled into The Farm at 4:00 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

We will be staying at The Farm until October 8th, at which time we will move into the house we are renting for the winter on Green Lake, then we hope to repeat our trip to AK next spring.  We are looking forward to seeing family and friends and enjoying fall in Wisconsin and the winter on Green Lake.

Thank you to our faithful followers and we invite you to continuing watching us on our blog as we intend to keep posting updates and photo's of our lives.  For now we are going to keep our blog name "North To Alaska 2012".

On the Road Again

We left Sterling, AK in the rain where it had rained for the past week or more.  Our first day of travels took us to and across the Canadian border to Beaver Creek.  By the time we set up camp at the Beaver Creek Campground the stars were out and it was unseasonably warm.

Friday we traveled through the Yukon in sunny skies and warm temperatures enjoying the great scenery.  Our second night was spent in Teslin YK, along a beautiful lake in a nice RV Park.

Saturday was spent going through the Rocky Mountains lots of ups/down/curves, but no snow.  The color contrast of the fall aspens and pines perched on majestic mountains is humbling.  Although we didn't make as many miles today, the scenery was great.  Our 3rd night was spent in a wonderful campground in Ft. Nelson, BC.

Sunny Sunday skies and warm temperatures continue as wind our way through BC, we are mostly out of the mountains now and the road has got smoother. We spend Sunday night in a great RV park just outside of Valleyview, BC.  We are getting back into a routine for set-up and take down of the rig.

Monday, is the day of the Big Push (644 miles - 12 hours) to make it the rest of the way through Canada and back into the lower 48.  We complete our journey through BC and coast into Alberta.  Lots of 4 lane hwy and not as inspiring scenery.  We have left the hills/mountains behind and traded them for rolling farmland and oil wells.  There are lots of ducks/geese on the lakes and ponds we pass.  The border crossing at Sweetgrass MT at 8:00pm was painless ,and we are back in the US.  We make it another 40 miles to Shelby, MT, where we spend the night.  Tuesday we start to head east towards home.......

We have our cell phones on and at least for now have great internet access.

Sterling Hwy. east of Sterling  09/20/12

Tern Lake @ the Sterling and Seward Hwys.

Tern Lake @ the Sterling and Seward Hwys.

This guy was in a covered trash barrel and greeted me when I  threw the trash away, he then checked out this butter container.

Beautiful - along the Alcan Hwy.

Aspens & Spruce in the Mountains

Destruction Bay

"Purple Mountains Majesty"  

Tatanka - Buffalo

Close Tatanka - Buffalo 

Caribou

More Aspens & Spruce

The sun sets as we prepare to leave Canada

We Are Starting For Home!!!!!!

Good Morning from another rainy start in Sterling Alaska.   We are up at 6:30am and getting things stowed,anchored and in their place for our return trip to Wisconsin.  It took us 9 days to get here and we are planning on that many to get us home.

It is a bittersweet time as we have met so many great people since we have been here, made new friends and seen and experienced so much, but we have also missed family and friends in the lower 48.

As we did on the way up we will try and post on our blog as we travel home so our followers can track our progress and see some of the scenery we are seeing.

See you all in a little over a week

Another Hurricane

Hurricanes don't only happen along the southern gulf coast.  We are in the middle of our 3rd wind storm in as many weeks.  We currently are experiencing 30-50 mph winds with rain and it is supposed to blow all day.  Below is the weather bulletin from the National Weather Service.

845 PM AKDT TUE SEP 18 2012

...High wind warning now in effect until 6 pm akdt wednesday...

...Flood watch in effect from late tonight through thursday afternoon...

Tonight... Rain. Lows in the 40s. Southeast wind 15 to 25 mph with local gusts to 40 mph becoming southeast to northeast 15 to 30 mph after midnight. Along turnagain arm and higher elevations...southeast winds 50 to 65 mph with gusts to 75 mph.

Wednesday... Rain. Highs in the 50s. Along turnagain arm and higher elevations...southeast winds increasing to 85 to 110 mph during the morning then diminishing to 60 to 85 mph in the late afternoon. Lower hillside...east anchorage...and eagle river...southeast winds increasing to 25 to 35 mph with gusts to 65 mph beginning late morning. The rest of anchorage...southeast wind 20 to 35 mph with gusts to 50 mph by late morning.

Wednesday Night... Rain in the evening...then numerous showers after midnight. Lows in the 40s. Southeast wind 10 to 25 mph with gusts to 40 mph becoming variable 15 mph or less after midnight. Along turnagain arm and higher elevations...southeast wind 20 to 35 mph with gusts to 55 mph decreasing to 10 to 25 mph after midnight.

Otherwise all is well and we are thinking of migrating back to Wisconsin soon.

Smile

Good Morning from a rainy windy day in Sterling, AK.  It has rained for 3-4 days now and last night about 10:00pm the wind picked up and blew all night.  They had 100+ mph winds forecast for Anchorage,we have sustained 20mph with gusts to 40+ here.  Rain continues in the forecast through Thursday.

There has been a significant increase in bear activity along the river and I finally got some good shots of bears.  I will keep the camera out and hope to get more pictures.

Taken at Catch Em River Front Lodge Sterling, AK

See the smile??????

This is probably a 2-3 year old

Ain't he cute

Silver

Good Morning from Sterling, AK, yes we are still here.  Sunny and 51 degrees at 11:30am.  I just got back in from fishing from the 2 piers here at Catch Em's.  I caught 2 pinks and had a follow up or two.  The river has dropped about 18 inches in the last week.  We are seeing several dead fish on the bottom and along the banks as well as seeing some float by, all of this means the salmon run is coming to an end.  There was a big dead king salmon by the end of the pier yesterday, it was 45-50 inches long, it must have weighed 40-50 lbs when it was alive.

We have pretty much picked all of the cranberries along Elva Drive from our place to Jim & Donna's.  We have 18 cups frozen and gave about 3 cups away.  The aspen trees are changing and things are starting to look golden yellow.  Fall is a great time here, birds are migrating and things are not as busy as the summer season.  People are getting ready for winter and out enjoying the nice days.

It won't be long and we will start our journey back to Wisconsin, we checked the road conditions in Canada and there is some snow in the higher elevations and roads can be slippery in spots, something to look forward to.

Cranberries

6+ Cups of Wild Cranberries

The wild cranberries are ready to be picked  We picked 3 cups yesterday and 6 cups today.  It took us 1 hour to pick the 6 cups.  We are "Food Saver" bagging them in 1 cup portions and then freezing them. 

We also finished painting Jim and Donna's picnic table and deck today.  It was a beautiful sunny day with temps in the high 50's.  The fish bite has slowed, I fished about 1 hour today with no bites.  I can still see the fish swimming past and surfacing once in awhile, but no bites.  I tried spinners and eggs.  I am also starting to see more dead fish washing to shore, which means we may get more bear action.

Our hosts gave us a homemade salmon pie that we had for lunch/supper it was scrumptious.  We will get the recipe as it is worth having again.  Thanks Carl & Yolanda of Catch Em River Front Lodge - Sterling, AK.

Grin & BEAR It!

Bear Update........

Last night around 9:30pm, just before dark I grabbed my fishing pole and was on my way to make a few casts from the west pier before dark.  As I was walking past the cabins there was another guest sitting outside for a smoke break.  While talking with him I noticed a bear down near the end of the pier, I quick went and summoned Rosalie and Carl our camp host.  While looking for/at the small bear the Moma (BIG) bear stepped onto the pier with her front feet and looked at us.  She didn't stick around long before jumping over the pier to join junior.  Needless to say I did not fish last night.  If I hadn't stopped to talk with the guy I would have just got to the end of the pier and maybe got one cast before the bear would have come through.  Yikes!!!

Then...Around 5:00 a.m. we were awakened by a man yelling "Hey Bear" and heard some commotion coming from the bathhouse area.  Investigation revealed that a guy walking to the bathroom startled a bear that was about to get into the garbage cans there.

Here are some pictures of the "startled bear" walking onto the east pier and past my trail camera.

Yeah!!!!!   We get to see more bears....

09/02/2012

Happy September!!!!

I thought I would post some pictures and give an update on what we have been up to.  We have spent much of the last few days indoors as it's been rainy an d cool outside.  Last night was another cool night with temps dipping into the 30's.  Today's high was 54.

The pink salmon are in full run and I have been able to catch a few off of the pier using artificials.  Yesterday a family was on the pier and a young 6 year old girl was able reel in 8 pinks in about an hour.  She was using fresh shrimp for bait.  Nobody up here speaks highly of the pinks, but I have cleaned and froze 2 to decide for myself.

There has been a bear tromping around between the 2 piers here.  I put my trail camera out 1 night by each pier, but all I have been able to capture are people and a dog.  I will set again tonight in hopes of getting a picture.  On our walk up to our friends house this morning we saw fresh moose tracks crossing the road, but no moose.  They have been scarce lately as the hunting season is open.

Yesterday we went to the Soldotna and Kenai farmers markets and bought some local produce which we are eating some of tonight.  We are having grilled pork tenderloin, broccoli with cheese, pork stuffing and a fresh cucumber, tomato and broccoli salad with ranch dressing.

We have not decided on a date yet to start home, but think it will be late September.  Our friends Jim & Donna always host a Thanksgiving dinner before they head back to Wisconsin late September/early October, so we would like to stick around for that.

The place we are staying at had the busiest Labor Day since they opened up, with 5 units with guest last night.  After this weekend things were slow down considerably, we are looking forward to that.

The boys continue to behave and enjoy their daily walks and outings.

Cabins/Rooms @ Catch Em River Front Cabins - Soldotna AK

Bathrooms and Kitchen Bldg at Catch Em's

Our Rig at Catch Ems

Dwarf Dogwood or Bunchberry

Wild Cranberries

Our dirty truck AGAIN!

4.4 Kenai Peninsula earthquake felt in Anchorage

An earthquake centered on the Kenai Peninsula was felt as far away as Anchorage and Eagle River.

The Alaska Earthquake Information Center says the earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 4.4 and was centered 15 miles south of Sterling. It occurred at 4:50 a.m. The quake was felt widely on the Kenai Peninsula as well as points north. There were no immediate reports of damage.

We slept through it.....We awoke this morning to news that there was an earthquake only 15 miles south of us.  Several local residents told us they felt the quake and it even shook houses and rattled glass etc.  I'm not sure, but maybe being in the trailer lessened the effects or we are just used to the trailer moving and didn't pay attention.  My thought is that since the trailer is sitting on the ground and not anchored into it it probably just moved with the earth.   Oh well I would have liked to have at least felt it.

Other than that the past two nights we have had frost.  It doesn't seem enough to kill flowers etc, but you can see it on the windshield and rooftops.  The trees are changing color fast now and in another two weeks all the aspens should be a golden brown.  The fireweed is turning red and starting to spew cotton, the wild cranberries are getting redder and the tourist season is rapidly coming to an end, except for us:)   After this coming weekend traffic will be down to a minimum.

I Fed Exed some fish to Steve in Arbor Vitae yesterday and he received them this morning around 9:00 a.m.  This freed up some space in our freezer to make room for other stuff.  The freezer was so full I couldn't even get a pizza in it.  I added another fish tonight, a pink salmon that I caught off the pier by the place we are staying.

Our friends from Wisconsin left this morning for a caribou and moose hunting trip near Cantwell, we are not sure how long they will be gone, but are keeping an eye on their place while they are gone.  This afternoon we painted a deck and picnic table for them.  We are also checking on another neighbors house as they left this morning for Anchorage for a couple of days.   We covered their plants this evening, to ward off the frost.

Other than that we are fishing and enjoying early fall in Alaska.  We haven't taken any pictures lately, but will try to get some soon.

Dem Dare Iss Bar Tracks Ma Son!!!!!!!

Came across these on my way home from fishing this afternoon.  After they crossed the road they climbed this sand bank.  This is about 1/2 mile from our trailer.  Wish I could have seen him, just not while I was taking the pictures.  This is near Sterling Alaska....

Russian River/Fish On/BEAR!



Note Brown Bear in background




Jim, Ken & Donna fishing the Russian River




Ken flipping a Russian Fly




Russian Fly




Bull Red Salmon




Jim & Donna with the Ferry in the background




Ken landing a red



Ken with a Red

Reds swimming upstream



Fisherman and bear

Our friends Jim & Donna Meacham from Wisconsin and Rosalie & I went to the Russian River fishing for red salmon today.  Once you get to the boat landing you pay to take the "hand-pulled" river ferry across to the other side and then we walked a couple hundread yards upstream until we found a fishing spot.  After we got rigged we started "flipping" for the salmon we could see swimming less than 10 yards out from shore from us.  It wasn't long before I got my first red.  We fished for about 2 hours and I caught 2 keeper reds, that are actually silver and not red, the red ones are to mature to eat.  I also caught 10-15 other reds that I released and had that many more hooked, but couldn't land them.  Just before leaving I spotted our FIRST grizzly on this trip, about 300 yards upstream.  Rosalie walked upstream and got a couple of pictures along with a face to face visit with Mr Bear.  Rosalie had climbed the stairs along the river in an attempt to get closer to the bear, but did not know that the fisherman on the shore below were throwing rocks and yelling at the bear to scare it up the bank, before she knew it Mr Bear and her were face to face (30 feet) looking at each other.  Rosalie decided the bear had right of way and slid down the bank onto the rivers edge.  Of course by this time her camera batery had run out, so we don't have close up pictures, but the story is still good.  Jim and Donna also hooked and landed fish so it was a good day for all........

In case I haven't mentioned it we are now parked/staying at Catch-Em Fish Camp at Sterling AK and plan to be here at least until the end of August.   Still no frost here and days continue to be in the 60's with nights in the 50's.  Casper & Spirit are enjoying there time here as well and look forward to their daily outings.