Rain

We have been getting too much rain lately, a sunny day is rare this summer. Many visitors through lately, some of my mom's friends from Montana are up, good family friends are down from wasilla and a smattering of others. They all have one thing in common. Oncorhynchus Nerka, Sockeye, Red salmon. Picked strawberries for my ice cream tonight. training for the Lost Lake Run all week. Denali posts will continue.
Cheers,
Josh

Day 3 Denali Basecamp to the base of the Northwest Basin Route on Hunter

We woke up early on the 7th of May in Denali Base camp which was fairly empty as we packed up our stuff onto the sleds and made our way out of camp. We hauled the majority of the bulky stuff in the sleds and kept the essentials for survival in our packs should we have to cut loose a sled in a crevasse fall. Our route snaked out of base camp, down heartbreak hill(named that because it's the last hill to ascend into base camp after a long Denali climb)and left (west) toward the base of our route on Mt. Hunter. The weather was amazing and we finally got great views of all the mountains we have read about for years and years. While the distances look relatively short, the massive layout of the Kahiltna glacier is super deceiving. Our move took about 4 hours of navigating through crevasse fields and dealing with 70 degree temps on the glacier. TJ led the way and we learned a lot about rigging our sleds properly for downhill travel and probing for snow bridges over crevasses. We set up camp in a safe spot that evening, built our kitchen and dined on mashed potato's with cheese, peperoni, bacon bits and crushed chips for crunch.
Lessons learned that day - snowshoes suck, shake out the tent in the morning to get out any lingering frost and moisture, good sled rigging is essential.

Birdbath by Amanda Motonaga

Last year I had a birdbath incident that ended up in a multi piece birdbath that wasnt very good at holding water. I knew Amanda was a potter and asked through Gregg if she would be willing to create a new one for the yard. A few weeks later she produced this beautiful piece that really compliments the work my mom has recently done in the yard. I have been waiting for some good light, but with all the cloudy/rainy days lately I bagged the waiting and took a few photo's of it last evening. Thanks Amanda!