chilkoot trail...more pictures

as the days pass i remember less of the loss of my friend and more of the fun of the trip we all took together. a mixed bag of people hell bent on completing this trail. i have my book by archie satterfield to help remind me of the histoy of the chilkoot. i love that it's called the "longest museum". there is a great deal of history all along the trail. remnants of a gold rush that sent over 20,000 people over a mountain and through the woods as it were. most were never rewarded financially for thier quest and a great many animals perished and several men. many hiked the chilkoot in the winter and many died in an avalanche that occured one day. there was always talk on the trail as to which would have been the easier climb. in the winter the snow could be formed into steps, and was, which made the drive up a bit less taxing, but it would have been extremly cold at times.

my pack weighed a good 50 pounds and i did the 32 miles once, the men from 1898 carried much more weight and had to repeat the process over and over. in order to get past the canadian border the men had to have a set amount of gear. the loads were moved section by section. there was all sorts of shenanigans on the trail. criminals charging fees to get past, some made money hauling packs for others..needless to say lots of crap was left by the side and remains there still.

of course these pictures are in no particular order. i'm not that organized. the train station is in bennett and this is the end of our journey. not for those of years past. large settlements sprung up with businesses where now just nature and historical remnants remain. at bennett the hiking was ceased and the boat building began. it's a boat trek from bennett to dawson city. we took the train back to skagway...the train is another interesting tale. it's called the whitepass rail. an impressive feat. they reserve the back car for the backpackers so we are seperated from the tourists. not sure if this is because of the odor we emit or to save us becoming part of the attraction. as we walked in with our packs we were greeted by tourists who had road the train out. they were excited to talk with us about our trip.

above is the group in happy camp as we left for bare loon camp. there are three camps between happy and bennett. deep lake is beautiful, lindeman is more sprawling and functional...was pretty packed back in the day i guess. bare loon is quite picturesque. happy is the camp after sheep and the summit thus the name. the below picture is that glorious moment that we spotted happy camp after a long day of hiking. it was a great site to see.

martha takes a moment en route to happy camp. i forgot about that yellow cup. she gave up worrying about giardia and just kept dipping it in any fast running water we passed. there was lots of it that we waded through. i know she was probably tired, but as you can see, she was happy. some say the canadian side is more beautiful...i think it all had beauty. it's amazing how many different types of ecosystems you walk through. rain forest before summit, more dry after, even a small dessert to cross. it's a great way to see alaska...and part of canada.

below is another picture i love....all the packs tossed aside at the bennett station while we all happily go off to explore without the 50 pound weight. i hope you have enjoyed this stroll down memory lane. i think it has helped me to leave behind the sadness and take the memories forward....thanks...

just finished 4 nights of work. not too bad. some pretty sick people, but i didn't have the worst of it. i had confused patients. my one heart guy was pretty funny now that i'm not scared he'll fall out of bed or pull anything important out. he was probably just goofy from the meds and anesthesia remnants. i believe he thought he was on a caribbean cruise. at one point, i asked him if he was still hurting and he responded with, "do i want a hickey...?....yes!!" and preceeded to attempt to pull me in the bed. the next night i asked if he remembered me cause he was all smiles and seemed to recognize me...his response was "you were the one that was this close to getting mad at me". i let him know it was because he tried to pull me into the bed. i know he was mortified. we had a much better night. i ran into him when he was off for a morning xray and he smiled and asked if i'd forgiven him. of course...just funny. just another night in the icu.

in between work i got the pups out for several walks. the bog and the dog park are weekend favorites between shifts. today i was back out at kincaid. it's drying up fast. it's all this sunshine. i also was on the computer trying to decide on a new camera. i need a digital slr. i was thinking of one of those canon 50D....but after reading all i just don't think i need that much camera. i take good pictures with my little powershot. an slr will just give me more options to play with,but if i get some major camera i know i'll just spend lots and not use much of the gadgets. photography is mostly about setting up a shot and you can do that with any camera. more mega pixels will make it easier to blow pictures up larger for my wall. so now i'm looking more at a canon rebel Xsi. i think that will work well for me. my friend tanya has some super fancy camera, no doubt costs lots of bucks, i can tell it kinda drives her nuts and she has mentioned wanting more of a point and shoot. plus i go to some places where weather can be brutal and scenery spectacular. i don't like the idea of having so much money in camera gear that i'm all stressed about the gear and forget the beauty. i figure the camera will be a great birthday gift from me to me!!!

the mosquito's feasted on me today. i left my camera and bug spray in my dog park pack...dang! my blood is apparently very tasty. had lots of those things one has to do in life to do today...pay bills, plan the kayak trip for this coming weekend. we're off to kachemak bay for some fun. i had to arrange my water taxi and kayak rental. i've never kayaked down there. should be cool. i am totally unprepared right now so i should get off the computer and work through my gear. i'm sleepy though so i suspect i will just put on the jammies and crawl into bed. good night all...