Alaskan traffic jam

Seaplane going down the road

Just before leaving Homer I went to fill up my truck with diesel before hitching up. And on the way I was stuck in the most unusual traffic jam. I was following a Seaplane on the road which just cleared the power lines and the left wing was going over the traffic on the other side of the road while creeping along very slowly.

Camping by a remote lake

They say the best things in life are free. And that goes for this beautiful (free) campsite by a beautiful lake we found in the Chugach National Forest. Boondocking at it's finest.

Portage Glacier in the distance (center)

This lake is about a half mile from Willowah campground and there are extensive hiking trails all around us which we've made good use of. Our site is a little more than a mile from a glacier (Portage Glacier) and the Portage Glacier visitor center. In 2008 when we were in Alaska (around the same time of year) the lake by Portage Glacier was filled with ice bergs and very cold. This year it was sunny and quite pleasant and the lake was clear of any ice.

In the morning we decided to get some exercise and hike about 3 miles to Portage Glacier. The trails had a good amount of fresh bear scat and bear/moose tracks. There are very few people hiking these trails this time of year so we were vigilant with bear spray and making a little more noise than normal while hiking.

On the way back from the visitor center we decided to walk the road back instead of backtracking on the same trail we took. During the road walk, a car pulled up and a man warned us that just around the next bend was a large black bear. Fortunately there was a trail not far from us intersecting the road so we took that trail and gave that bear a wide berth. It was a trail we walked the previous evening so we knew where it went. A nice way to start the day.