Joys

Buckbean at Lower Lake

View from Sam McGee Trail

Working, hiking, biking, yoga and socializing keep me living in the moment, mostly.  After work at nine pm, my daily delight is to walk my circuit UP to Lower Lake or bike UP the southern Klondike road toward the pass.  By then I’m always emotionally tired from all the people I talk with inside the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park/Alaska Geographic Museum Store and I’m just ready to be alone.  The trees, flowers, mosses are all the company I can handle.  They ask nothing and give me great delight.

Okay, so Bill was a little hesitant in his owl costume at first.

Our “Owl Be There” team for the Kluane Chilkat International Road Relay was a hoot.  Bill flew up from Seattle and we were joined by new friends, Leo and his son, Alex.  Willing to wear a brown cape and owl eyes on their helmets, they proved themselves as crazy as Bill and I are.  I’ll never forget the encouraging wave I received from my team mates each time I biked past them.  The squawky duck horn took up the action a notch, too.  Another bizarre touch was the US Customs agent who looked at my passport and said dryly, “Lady, do you know you have an owl on your head?” *

I've always got to add a bear photo, right?  I saw these triples breastfeeding last year and now they are GINormous.

Other highlights have been weekends with my friend, Yukon Jim, in either Whitehorse or Skagway, socializing with friends my age and various Interps from the Park, hiking up the Sam McGee Trail in the Yukon with Joy, watching July 4^th fireworks on the boat with Cindy and Helene.  In Skagway we have weekly concerts at Seven Pastures. 
 

Helene wondering about Cindy and me.

Blue teeth from the blueberries at Lost Lake.  Selfie with Bruce and Sara!

Quiet moment after the 4th of July

Once the relay was over I started climbing trails for the Duff Trail Challenge.  Karl Von Halle helped me get my worst one out of the way;  that was AB Mountain which requires as much arm strength as leg work.  Not only were there many vegetable belays but also a fixed rope used to haul oneself up over the slick rock.  Next week I’m off on the Chilkoot Trail, probably alone.  After that comes the SE Alaska Fair with Jim, Glacier Bay with Meadow and hiking each weekend to meet the Challenge. The Floozies will be back on the road, too.

Skagway from AB Mountain with Roxie keeping guard

* Laura Anderson wrote a poem about our bike event:

KLUANE-CHILKAT INTERNATIONAL BIKE RELAY

When raven krooaaaks and light spins gold,

And dew is cold upon the ground,

And the day is ours to hold,

And the whirring wheels go round,

And the whirring wheels go round,

Alert and warming her bright wit,

The owl upon Charlotte's head doth sit.

When determined cyclists pedal past,

And bear lifts her gaze in wonder,
And the crow hath called ahead 'go fast,'

Cold rain fog, do not fall under,

Cold rain fog, do not fall under;

Alert and warming her bright wit,

The owl upon Charlotte's head doth sit.

-sincere apologies to Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Owl"
http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/alfred-lord-tennyson/the-owl-4/

Arrival

Jasper National Park in BC

The summer is half way over and this is my first blog entry.  Judging from quizzical emails, I realize my friends outside of Helena don’t even know where I am.  It’s time to get in touch even if I prefer to live in this lovely hole of a valley with little contact Outside.  Charlotte Henson, P.O. Box 608, Skagway, AK  98840

Lots of Boo on the road between Watson Lake and Teslin

Before it snowed, I had a lovely time with Greg and Dougal in Missoula and with dancing friend, Astarte,  in Cranbrook where we hiked up Myrtle Mountain in most excellent fall weather.  The sunshine held all the way until Grand Cache at which point all the trucks from the oil fields deluged me with slush at every passing.  With the price of oil falling, camps were moving south.




Jim and I reconnected and hiked in Whitehorse.  Then I was off down to Skagway where it felt like coming home to a place of comfort:  same apartment, same friends, same routine.  Now that I’m not a first-timer I feel even more welcomed.

Miles Canyon on the Yukon near Whitehorse

I drove up alone for the first time and was grateful  to have no company because with the ice and snowy conditions,  my passengers would have been screaming, something disconcerting when one is entirely focused on staying on the road. I love my 4x4 Toyota Matrix!!

Museum Store in the restored
Martin Itchen house.

My work at the Museum Store is much the same.  I enjoy the tourists while at the same time get worn down by the constant interaction.  I worry about doing a good job, not getting enough product, or annoying bosses by expecting too much.  I want to sell books but end up ringing mostly pins and patches and soft plush salmon.  Do people need this “stuff”?  I want to bring money into the park for the Junior Ranger program which I totally support.  Tell all your 4^th grade friends that starting in the fall they can get free park passes for themselves and their family.

While Skagway is in no way “wild”,  I still love the birds, fish, whales, mountains, canals and bears.  We all walk or bike in town and there is a specialness about knowing we are surrounded on all sides by land barely touched by humans.


My apologies for not keeping in touch with each of you individually.  I hope to see all of you in the fall for a walk and some lovely “catch-up” time.

Great Eulachon Run on the Taiya River, went out with Cindy and Rachael to see birds.
.