Jen & I joined 9 others in Yakutat and paddled down the Russell Fjord for a ways, before deciding that only 4 hours pause in the rain in three days was trumping our ability to enjoy ourselves. We turned around the next day and everyone else continued on. Snow accumulating on our packrafts made us happy we were headed back, while the others continuing down the fjord wondered what they were doing going closer to the glaciers.
The night we got back, I started moving into a new cabin located 3.5 miles closer to town. It's way nicer than the old place and that much closer to work, which is huge in the winter when it's -35F. I somehow scrambled to move out of one cabin and into another in 5 days, just in time to leave for two weeks.
The next fifteen days were spent on the Yukon River, between the town of Circle and the Canadian border, surveying peregrine falcons nesting on the bluffs above the river. A great, long time out on the river (my old stomping grounds) and we got to watch a lot of birds... pretty much a nesting pair on every bluff.
The day after I got back, it was re-pack and turn around to boat down the Yukon, orienting four co-workers to Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. The Yukon was at flood stage and it was like being in combat, navigating the boat on the river.
After being car-less for a month, I made the decision to keep it status quo and buy a new bike instead of a car. The Fargo 3 got the nod over the higher-end Fargo 2, which lacks bar-end shifters and is only a 2x10 with a really lame paint job. I'd feel snobbish running 10 in the rear, like a real road biker, which I am not. A couple other little things, ironically, make the 3 nicer (IMHO) than the higher price point 2, outside of the bane of my existence, Avid BB5 brakes, which are easily replaced for cheap. Overall, I like the Fargo over the Surly Ogre because of the drop bars, the road gearing up front and a mountain cassette in the rear (all mountain on the Ogre), and having been not so impressed with the feel of the Ogre, either.
Now, only four days after returning, it's the eve of heading down to California with Jen to do a mini road trip to Nevada.
The point of all this is I have countless photos, stories, gear reviews, etc, to share from as far back as February... or maybe even earlier. But, with a lot of time off the rest of this summer and lots of big plans (plus a GF, lonely dogs, and a new cabin to move into), it may be fall before I even get a chance to go through all the photos, much less put together a post worth reading.
All I can say is thank you and semper fidelis.
Now, go get some, yourself!
