45under45: Musher's Camp

Mushing Camp Day started in a weird way. I didn't wake up at my typical freakishly early hour. By the time I got to the gym and sat down, the bike's screen displayed the time of 8 something.

My view from the bike at the gym.

It occurred to me that I had heard that we were supposed to meet somewhere at 9:00 for the Musher's Camp. So, I rode the bike for only about 15 minutes. I hopped off and stopped at the thalassotherapy breakfast bar for my (now typical) cup of yogurt, berries, nuts, and musli.

My view from the pool deck.

Then I went to check in with my folks and figure out the day's schedule. Summer and Nicholas were still sleeping but my parents were up. We couldn't figure out the 9:00 thing because our excursion didn't start until 11 something. So, after some more chatting, my dad and I decided to go to the thalassotherapy breakfast bar for coffee. Their suite is two from the stern and the spa stuff is at the bow but it was worth the near 1000 foot walk just to get coffee in a nicer place than at the Oceanview buffet line.

After getting the coffee, I returned to my stateroom (midship) to change into my street clothes and a walk through the town since I didn't get to do my bike ride. I informed Shawn of the daily schedule and left for my walk with the understanding that we'd meet back in my parents' suite at 10:00.

My walk into town got sidetracked by an open marina/cruise ship pier and a lovely stream. Our ship was docked with a starboard tie at the farthest pier of this U-shaped marina. Off our bow was a massive cruise ship. Beyond that was the small boat docks. On the other end of the U-shape there were two more cruise ships tied on their port side.

I set my phone timer for 35 minutes so I would have enough time to wander out and then walk back and still be able to reboard the ship and get to my parents' room by the 10:00 meet up time. I walked the length of our dock and enjoyed the sights. But mostly I read the painted rock wall with different ships, dates, logos, captain names, etc. After a while, I was irritated that the graffiti was sucking up my attention and I forgot to look at the mountains! Grr! (Later I learned that the town didnt have a ship's registry system and this "graffiti" was how they "registered".)

Then I took a side path to a stream. I walked along the edges and took some pictures.

At a wide spot there was a terrifying looking floating giant black PVC pipe circle tied to some tree limbs. It looked like a "Glory Hole" and scared the crap out of me because it was just there. No warning signs, tied to tree limbs??? So, I left...heart racing.

I came across a tree with a QR tag and scanned that. But didn't have the time to look at what I had discovered. http://www.munzee.com/m/Deermark/17 (I scanned the QR tag, but I don't know what a "munzee" is, so I didn't register it. It appears that it has only been scanned by registered users five times in about a year. So, I think it's pretty cool that I found that.)

I walked on to the next discovery...an unattended port with big ships in dry dock, rusty cranes, and an open gate leading to endless poking around opportunities...

...but no, I didn't enter. I walked on for another few minutes until my timer informed me to head back.

On my return trip, I crossed a little foot bridge and walked on the other side of the stream. While I was looking around at the picnic pavilion I noticed a laminated paper tacked up to the post. The sign had a warning about netting salmon and blah blah blah but as I read it, I read the word "weir". Hum... I'll look that up later.

I did and...that was the "glory hole"! That is a way to corral up fish so that they will have a mental imprint on this place and return for spawning purposes later. So, it's not so horrifying after all. I had visions of people using this floating circle to put their youngsters in there for swimming so that the kids didn't get flushed into the marina by the swift moving stream. And that would keep the children safe while the parents relaxed at the picnic tables...knowing their children were not going to end up pulverized by a giant cruise ship propeller.

This is the weir/hatchery from a photo I found on the internet. Imagine my coming across this but without the yellow and the buoys!

After my walk through town

(although I never actually made it to town), I boarded the ship to meet up with everyone prior to going down to find the tour guide for the musher's camp. Once we were all organized and ready, we were off to the end of the dock to sign in with the tour guide. While waiting for our turn to get on the bus to the musher's camp, I went in to the shop for a coffee and a look-see. Casually, a small squirrel went in one door and out the other. My mom exclaimed, "Was that a squirrel?!" To which the store clerk replied, "Yes, that's Tom."

At the same time, the kids discovered a "weasel" on the rip wrap/breakwater. They went into critter over load when Tom came around to gobble up the little granola bar crumbs I laid out for him. Then there were two "Toms" AND a weasel. And we hadn't even left for the dog camp yet! What more could one want?

The ride to the top of the mountain to the dog camp was a little more than Shawn could handle! His sweaty palms soaked through my jeans and left me with a clammy leg and probably a hand-shaped bruise.

Our driver was a cute girl named Libby. She was doing her first summer in Alaska and seemed so excited to be able to share with us what she had learned so far. She also explained that she used to be afraid of heights but after doing this mountain drive several times a day, she got over it. Shawn just wanted her to shut up and drive. He was afraid she wasn't concentrating. And he needed to concentrate on not having an apoplectic fit! (Whatever that is. My grandpa used to say, "You're going to cause Grandma apoplexy.")

Tiny footpath to the camp. Note the wild irises. They were EVERYWHERE!

When we arrived at the camp, we were given a bathroom break but told to not get distracted by the puppies. So, I walked over to see the puppies and got scolded and sent back to my assigned area. But I figured that it was worth a try.

Then they put us on this converted vehicle called a U-MOG and a different lady took over the driving. That ride was equally harrowing for Shawn. Somehow I got ushered to the second row with my kids and my folks and poor Shawn had to sit in back row with strangers.

We made it to the top of the mountain quite safely and were greeted by probably six or eight teams of sixteen über excited barking and jumping dogs!

Our musher was a youngish man (although he had a lot of gray hair) who was originally from Florida.

His dogs were not Husky type dogs, they were mixed breeds with some Husky looking qualities but also quite small and ordinary looking. Our mushing experience was over gravel and not snow. We knew that going in. I guess if we had wanted to spend a gazillion dollars and fly to the top of a far away mountain, we MIGHT have been on snow. (Alaska was having a record breaking heat wave too!)

Since we happened to be in the first "sled" (really just a quad-runner with stadium style seating for six plus the driver in the very front), the musher gave some sort of guttural command and we were off! Nicholas and Summer were in the first row and got to see everything up close and personal. Nicholas even got a bug squashed against his glasses. He had his hands up like he was in a roller coaster and we were all cackling like a bunch of teenage girls. It was so fun! We raced against no one. The dogs were yipping and yapping, barking and pulling, jumping and bounding along the pathway. After a few minutes, the musher called the dogs to stop because we were so far ahead of the other folks. At that point, he stopped to talk to us, take our picture with various cameras and even made a video on Shawn's camera where he introduced each dog. Then, he explained that he was training a new lead dog and only about 50% of the time did the dog make the turn we were ready to make correctly. "Hold on...!" It was a 90 degree turn and the dog lead the team...no problem. Smooth as silk. We eased into the spot where we started and the dogs were hooked up to a stake in the ground so they didn't take off again. These dogs do this type of run a couple times a day to help keep them trained during the summer months.

This is Miriam Osredkar. She's an Iditarod racer...from Ohio! https://www.facebook.com/miriam.osredkar

And finally THE PUPPIES!

Nicholas was on overload. He ran out of steam and couldn't stay awake for the ride back from the camp.

However, once we got into town he remembered that he had heard that the yellow former hotel is haunted by the wife/girlfriend/fiancé of a musher/logger/trapper (I can't remember). She haunts the hotel because her true love died while he was out on a trip. She's waiting for him to return to her. So, I explained to Nicholas that a lot of times ghosts do not show up in real life but sometimes they show up in pictures. Hence, the zillion shots of windows.