sep 11 golden Alaska

So quickly the sunlight of long summer days is replaced by the golden glow of leaves ...

21 August 2008 Butte

Our regional director came to Alaska for the first time for the big annual board meeting. My director asked me to show her the Mat-Su one day. He said that Karen was fit and active so I looked for something to do other than driving around all day. I've never hiked up Bodenburg Butte and thought it might give her a good overview of the Palmer and lower Valley area. The trail description said 'steep' and 'challenging' but it's only 1.5 miles so how bad could it be? Most of those trail descriptions are written for couch potatoes, anyway, right?

Thankfully, Karen is fit and enjoys hiking. She did mention recovery from ACL surgery last year but didn't suggest we turn around when the trail continued to head almost directly uphill with suspect footing on exposed geoblocks. I hadn't known that the visiting VP of Human Resources would be joining us when I picked the itinerary but she too was game for climbing to the top of the Butte. Two of my co-workers and two visiting photographers also huffed to the top.

From the top we had a good view of the farmland in the Butte area, the Knik and Matanuska Rivers, the Knik Glacier, and the rain storm approaching from the south. Back on the forested slopes we stayed mostly dry. We had earned a huge lunch at a new restaurant, Turkey Red, in Palmer.

10 August 2008 Susitna River

On Friday we boarded the flag-stop train in Talkeetna (locally dubbed the Bud Car due to appearance, not refreshments) for the hour ride to Gold Creek. There the conductor deposited 7 of us and a lot of camping and boating gear beside the tracks. We ferried the gear down a steep embankment to the Susitna River bank. Gold Creek flows in just upstream of the railroad bridge.

We were an odd flotilla -- raft, Feathercraft single kayak, Klepper double kayak, and an Aerius inflatable kayak. One way or another, we all floated back down to Talkeetna in 2 days of floating. We ended up camping 2 nights on an exposed sandy-gravelly island because Saturday was so rainy, no one wanted to pack up to move to a better spot. Despite the weather, it was a very relaxing day of bocce, reading, visiting, napping, rock collecting, and eating. A beach vacation, Alaska style.