Stumbled off the plane at 6 AM this morning.... exhausted, dirty, smelly
& immensely happy. Alaska is everything I thought it would be and
more...

First the letterboxing news... my brother-in-law and I hunted and found
Skyline #1... the easiest of that series of 5 stamps. We also looked
for #2, but after about an hour of scrounging in the detris, we came
away empty-handed. We were expected for dinner, so we had to abandon
our search then and there... but I did come away with the one stamp &
passed my printed clues along to an orienteering guy I met. We were
very close to the other Kenai stamp series, but our schedule was just so
packed it was not possible to allocate anymore time.... next year I'll
take 10 days & devote one to l-boxing.

Advice on hunting Kenai boxes... the Skyline trail gets fairly steep...
good shoes/boots are in order. Also, the disclaimer about bear & moose
is accurate. Didn't see any bear, but we did spot 8 moose in the
vicinty. Moose have a nasty tendency to run TOWARD you... so be nice &
be safe. Also.... mosquito repellent is a MUST.... these critters will
haul you off to their nest to feed their young. They are big and
voracious.

Other highlights of my trip... fished with friends of my bro-in-law.
They are commercial fishers who use small set nets. Matt has permits
for 9. They pull nets 4 times a day... always at slack tide, otherwise
it would be even more dangerous. We caught mostly sockeye salmon and a
very few King salmon, the largest weighing in at over 70 pounds. These
people live on the beach in pretty primitive conditions. We camped in a
tent, they have the luxury of a plywood cabin that leans badly. A
tough, tough way to make a living. I learned how to fillet salmon &
between the three of us, we brought home over 80 lbs of filleted
salmon!!! yum!!

The other part of the trip was in the lap of luxury... an immaculately
maintained 1937 cabin on the shore of Kenai lake. The owner (a
childhood friend of my bro-in-law) flew his floatplane down from
Anchorage to cook gourmet meals for us all weekend. Too rough!!

We saw many glaciers & the wildlife list included the aforementioned
moose, Dall sheep, Mountian goats, orcas, sea otters, stellar sea lions,
myriad of waterfowl, bald AND golden eagles... and other stuff that will
haunt me for years.

Glad to be home & read that you have all been busy.... pictures will
follow....
--
Thom Cheney
tcgrafx... among other things

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