Gull Rock

I spent this past weekend in the woods outside Hope, AK.  The time was absolutely incredible.  We (me and Arnie) hiked about six miles in and set up camp next to a cliff overlooking Cook Inlet.  The weather was okay the first day and the views were still incredible.  Waking up there this morning with sun out in full bloom was something else entirely.  An entire pod of Beluga Whales swam through the inlet, passing right below me.  The sounds and sights of the whales made it an experience that is difficult to describe.  I did my best to catch some pictures, but the whales surface only briefly and in unpredictable patterns.  You can see what I have below, along with the rest of the pictures from the trip.

The key to proper outfitting for any trek is the right adventure hat.  Sure, food, water and shelter are all important, but you can last without them if need be.  The adventure hat not only serves as a deterrent to bears (creates an intimidating look), it also increases sperm count, so if one is left is some sort of doomsday scenario, it is easier to repopulate the earth.  It also looks cool. 

Practicing my "bear glare."  I am looking at nothing.

 View of the mountain side of my campsite.

Cliff side.

This is the best I could do as far as the whales go.

He steals my beef jerky, I take it away from him and somehow I'm the bad guy.



Flattop Mountain

Flattop Mountain is a few miles outside of Anchorage and a pretty nice, short, hike up and down.  We somehow failed.  Between the rain and Arnie's decision making we made it about halfway.  He saw a couple of other dogs at the bottom of the mountain that he really, really wanted to play with so he run full speed down the slope - I didn't actually think he could run that fast.  Anyway, by the time I caught up to him, we we're both pretty wet and had backtracked about a mile, so I decided to thrown in the towel.  Still, good time overall.

The Adventures of Arnold Beauregard Baynard

 I recently adopted a basset hound from Anchorage Animal Control.  His origins and exact age are unknown.  All we know is that he was found wandering around somewhere outside of Wasilla.  I call him "Arnie" for short.  Of course, in more formal settings, he prefers Arnold or Mr. Baynard.  We've been going to less black tie events recently, however, because Arnie really, really likes to pee on stuff.  He's housebroken, but considers anything that's not the inside of my apartment outdoors. 

Arnie is a surprisingly good hiking partner.  We went about four miles and though he got a little tired towards the end, considering the terrain and the incline he did pretty well for a basset.  And, he's got a great heart.  He'd start to lag behind a little bit, but as soon as I turned around to look at him, he'd put on a smile and jog right up.