Afognak Intertidal

 

Our trip to Afognak coincided with mid day low tides. This made it a lot easier to walk on the beach. And at low tide the beach on Afognak can get pretty broad! The beach at low tide is a whole other world. A world that is only exposed to land mammals for a couple of hours each day. Pink coral, anemones, masses of periwinkles, giant kelp, and the beautiful, barnacle-covered rocks.  I particularly like to admire the patterns the waves leave in the sand (top photo) and the grain in the rocks. Low tide offers an opportunity to look closely at a seldom seen world.

Patrick

Afognak Teepee Time

 

Some 'teepee time' pictures from our time on Afognak last week. On Afognak we spend a lot of time sitting by the woodstove in the teepee. This is especially true when it is just Stuey and I - like it was on this trip. 

We both like to read and there is nothing better than reading a book while sitting next to a hot stove. On sunny days we would keep the door to the teepee wide open.  In the evening the sun would shine into the teepee, and the smoke from the woodstove would get lit up in the sunbeams as it filtered through the trees (see above photo). Then on rainy and windy days we keep the door closed and it is all cozy and warm inside by the stove. We did have one storm, and we huddled by the stove reading books while it raged outside.

Another form of teepee time entertainment is cooking on the woodstove. Cooking on a woodstove takes time. It is 'slow food'. I liken it to one of those cooking shows where people sit at the counter and watch the master chef at work. Quesadillas, red beans and rice, pasta and pesto, eggs and hash browns - it all gets cooked slowly on the woodstove.

On this trip we also played cards. We have a piece of plywood that we put on a bucket in front of the woodstove to make a table - a little rickety but it worked.

Patrick

PS at bottom there is a quick 'teepee time' video.

Dogs in the surf

 

Lately I've been taking the dogs to Buskin Beach for their afternoon walk. It is not a long walk to the end and back - even at low tide. But they run around so much, and swim in the surf that they get the same amount of exercise that they would on a far longer hike.

There are also always other dogs for them to meet and on arrival off they run. They inevitably end up a part of a big pack of dogs running about in the surf.  It is pretty much a water dog's version of Heaven.

Patrick

Doggies making acquaintances

Alaska Air Jet taking off

Afognak Hikes

 

Stuey and I did a lot of hiking on Afognak. Our best hike was up along a ravine in the forest. It was basically a cascade in the bottom of a canyon that went on for about 1200 vertical feet and about 2 1/2 miles. By the time we got to the top we were in the alpine. What's amazing is that despite going to Afognak for almost 20 years we have never done the hike before. The canyon was so pretty in the trees, but I took barely any pictures because it was almost impossible to capture. It's a hike that you have to experience to appreciate and pictures will never do it justice.

All of our other hikes were along the coast and were also often in the trees. I love the great big sitka spruce whose trunks soar up into the canopy. All the devils club in the understory is bright green. And all the green, green moss.

Patrick

Brats on the Beach

 

Stuey and I spent most of last week camping on Afognak. The first 3 days were sunny and spectacular while the last few days were foggy 'by the woodstove in the teepee' type days. We both did a lot of reading (we each read 3 books!), hiking, soaking in our hot tub and - our favorite activity - cooking brats over a campfire on the beach.

We'd wake up in the morning to the bird calls and sea otter squeals. The oystercatchers and eagles were particularly noisy. Then it was breakfast on the woodstove. Stuey got his 4 eggs every day. Then we'd read a bit before going on a hike. One day we hike up along the edge of a ravine to the alpine. In the afternoon we'd have our brats on the beach and collect wood for the woodstove. Evening was dinner in the teepee and a soak in our 'red neck' hot tub (a tub filled with seawater and heated with a propane 'crab cooker' stove).

No internet, no phones - just us, the trees, the beach, the birds and the otters. Heaven.

Patrick

Hearty breakfasts

woodsmoke in the trees