I hope everyone is doing well! Everything is just lovely here in Yakutat, Alaska! I've been staying busy lately with work and also a bit of volunteering with the summer school program. I think i know about all of the kids in town now. Its fun working with them and they are all pretty good kids!

Its been rainy here for about the past month straight, which seems pretty rough, but you get used to it, and just continue doing what you have to do. I have good rain gear so I usually just don't pay it much attention and sometimes it even makes things more interesting or enjoyable. This is a temperate rainforest so everything is really green and covered in moss. Right now all of the berries are starting to bloom. There are tons of Salmon berries, blueberries, and starwberries almost anywhere you go around here! The salmon berries are getting ripe and it won't be long for the rest.

I got lucky this past week and some friends I've made invited me on their overnight trip to Skagway. They were celebrating a birthday and it just so happened that the birthday girl and her boyfriend own an airline service here in Yakutat, so we just flew down to Skagway on their plane. The "Otter." You can see the view on the way down was amazing. The mountains here are without a doubt some of the most beautiful I've ever seen, and probably ever will.

Life here in Yak runs at a pretty slow pace. I've been cooking a lot in the evenings along with a few of my housemates. We've been coming up with all kinds of recipes for Halibut and I have to say it is the best fish I have ever had! you can use it for ANYthing!! I'm going to try and send a load home at some point so we can have a big fish fry for everyone. I usually run in the evenings to try and keep from getting fat from all of the big dinners we have.

Well, here's a few pics I've taken lately. I still haven't seen a bear here in Yakutat, though I know they are everywhere! Really! Everywhere I go people are telling me about their sightings, so it must be a coincidence that I haven't had an encounter. I walk everywhere i go and spend a good amount of time outdoors. Its just a matter of time I'm sure. I haven 't had a chance to do much camping yet, just been occupied with other things on my days off, like fishing, hiking, and a bit of travel. I have 6 days off beginning on the 14th though, and I'm still deciding where I want to go. Time is flying by, thats for sure! The weeks seem to go by almost like days!

I hope everyone is having/had a great 4th!

This is a snow plow used on the railway from Skaqgway from 1899 to 1964. It was used to cut through huge drifts and hard packed snow.
Skagway, AK



on our way

Breathtaking!!

Mt. Fairweather
Hitching a ride

St. Elias

Harlequin Lake

Paintbrush and Lupine

This huge iceberg still shows part of a meltwater tunnel that once ran through the glacier.

The diameter of the tunnel looked to be about 35 feet

A beaver has been working on this one!

My Jr. Birders hard at work!

A little orange-crowned warbler there on top of the tree

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Ranger Thunderbird, Thunderbolt, no, Funderburk

Sunset with St. Elias

Everything is still going very well here in Alaska!

Here's a few recent pics.

Flight out to Dry Bay to drop off another ranger.

Harlequin Lake. Its fed by Yakutat Glacier and full of huge icebergs

Approaching the gravel landing strip in the backcountry

Hubbard Glacier again from the ship tues.

Harbor Seal and her pup


Our pilot boat coming in to get us off the ship

Alaska might ruin me!

St. Elias

Lupine

Return from the Rotterdam

Hey Jeff! I see you found me! It was nice talking to you on the ship! How was the rest of your cruise? Surely Yakutat Bay was the highlight, right?? Thanks and keep in touch!

Halibut

Here's a few from my fishing trip on Sat. I had been helping a local fisherman here with a few things including his last commercial run a few weeks ago. In return, he took me out on one of his charters. It was a success to say the least! I was finally able to stock the freezer quite well!

We'll be eating Halibut for a while now! I've got a few videos but the one i tried to load still wasn't finished after leaving it for 13 hours. May just have to add a link to youtube where i might be able to actually get them uploaded.

This is the lure of choice! -not really

Caught my first Ling Cod, which is supposed to be some of the best eating fish around.

Then, there was the big one! I faught him for about 40 min. He was using the current to pull back and wouldn't budge for quite some time! Big john waiting there with the 22. It can get dangerous when you let a 120lb fish flop around in the boat with a huge hook in his mouth.

Had to post a few pics of my little buddy right before i left home! Miss that little feller!
I'm a proud "uncle."

Situk Lake

The lovely "white socks"

Taste pretty good!

Tom, Melissa, and I will never forget the sweet fragrance of this landing!! Lol

They are laughing at me because the bugs are about to carry me away!
Russel Fjord
The Hubbard Glacier has damned the fjord twice recently where it enters Disenchantment Bay, causing the water level to rise up to 90'. That's why you see all of these dead trees. Where I'm standing here is about the level the water reached in 1986. Then it broke loose at the glacier, releasing 4 million cubic feet of water per second, for 48 hours.

Shortly after this photo was taken, Jared was carried away by an unknown, alien species of insect. He has yet to return. Anyone bearing knowledge that may lead to the discovery and return of him/his remains, please contact local authorities immediately!