Eklutna Lake—July 2-4
On Sunday the 2nd Michelle and I birded the Twin
Peaks Trail at Eklutna. This is a very
steep hike and there were not many birds, mainly yellow-rumps, varied thrush
and some black-capped chickadees. After
covering a portion of the trail we decided to turn back for lack of action and
try the lake shore edge again. About the
only thing new we encountered along the lake were a few Savannah Sparrows,
Spotted Sandpiper and a Belted Kingfisher.
We were very disappointed our immature suspected goldeneye was no longer
in the small pond where we spotted it a few days ago. What did surprise me was
a group of teenagers heading to a small swimming hole nearby. I can’t imagine going swimming here. It was in the upper 50s and the water is very
cold. The water is so cold in the lake
that many people who have turned over in the kayaks or canoes have died of
hypothermia. Oh, well, if you are from
here there probably is no good time to go swimming. I returned in time for lunch, built a small
campfire in the late afternoon and was once again visited by Asher and Journey,
Michelle’s children. Actually they didn’t
come to visit me but to visit and hold Dulce.
Journey (the young girl) is
particularly taken by Dulce. She sat for
a good hour with her in her lap. I think
Dulce likes this.
Today is the 4th of July and it is time for me to
get packed and ready to head to Kodiak tomorrow to be with all the Still’s. I’m looking forward to spending some time
with Colton and Carter (two of my grandsons).
I understand that Colton was so excited about coming to Alaska that he
packed his suitcase a week in advance. I
have seen some pictures on Facebook of him fishing and I understand he visited
the Seal training camp in Kodiak and scaled the 50-foot vertical wall by
himself. So tomorrow afternoon I will be
flying to Kodiak for 6 days. Today has
been spent mainly in getting things together for the trip and packing up camp
for a departure in the morning. I have
made arrangements to leave the trailer nearby for the time I’m gone and will
come back get it, and take it to Anchorage on Monday morning when I return to
have the awning fixed. That will
complete all the
repairs and on that same day my daughter and her husband and two more grandchildren
will be joining me for a week before I begin to head back to Texas. The next blog will come from Kodiak.[JH1]
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