Messing about in boats

Nora drives the whaler

Ryan and Stuey kayak on a foggy day

Stuey says goodbye to Afognak for the summer

Stuey drives the whaler all the way home

Brewster actually slept the whole way home

Life about the teepee

Ryan and Stuey hard at Colorku

Brewster and the Stove

Stuey and Ryan untangle a rope found on the beach and later. ...

Strung between trees rope is hell of a good entertainer

Dishes

Hikes

Labor day weekend hike pictures.   Rainy days made for good hikes in the rain forest.
Patrick

Some alone time with Nora and Bruno

A highlight for me of our Labor Day weekend trip to Afognak was hikes in the woods with just Nora and Bruno along for company.  Depending on how tired he was Bruno would either run along beside us, or out ahead scouting out the trail.  Every once in a while I'd stop and take pictures of the trees while Nora told herself stories.  Companionship without a lot of talk.  Patrick

Setting up camp with Ryan

Picking up Ryan from the Whaler at anchor

For our Labor Day Weekend Afognak trip Ryan and I took the whaler up a day earlier while Zoya, Molly, Brewster, and the kids arrived by plane a day later.  We arrived at Lipsett Point in the late afternoon and took our time setting up camp.  After setting up camp we went on a water run up the bay. Then it was woodstove and teepee time.

It was all total 'guy' time, and a relaxing start to a great weekend.  Patrick

Paddling to the whaler to go get water

Water run

This was not staged - I really was digging with high anticipation for a piece of jerky

And YUCK it had all gone bad - I can't believe I stuck my hand in there!

Filling up with water from the waterfall

Dawn

Hunting and Fishing

Leaving camp at dawn

Our Labor Day weekend trip to Afognak was more than just a camping trip.  It was also about filling the larder, and we came home with both deer meat and canned silver salmon.

Ryan and I went out a day early in the whaler to set up camp, and the next morning before the rest of the crew arrived we climbed up the mountain and went deer hunting.  It was Ryan's first deer hunting trip, and right away on top we found a nice little buck for him to harvest.

We got back to camp with the meat before the others arrived.  So when they did arrive we were able to send the meat back to town. My friend Gregg picked up the meat and put it in my fridge to chill until our return.

On Sunday it was raining but we still made it to 'silver salmon' beach and tried our hand at fishing.  There were plenty of silvers, but events conspired against us and we only harvested one (boat kept on floating back onto the beach, fish popped the hook, and a couple of fishing line birds nests).

 Back at camp, I canned up the silver on the beach.  Zoya had already heated up her 'Afognak hottub' and she watched from the tub while I filleted the fish and put him into jars.  Patrick

dawn in the woods

Sun came up before we got to the top

 

Hike back down with meat aboard

canning silvers right on the beach

Pictures of Trees & Glyphs

On our recent trip to Afognak I brought along my 'good' camera.  My 'good' camera is a fragile SLR, and I've found I tend not to use it because it is inconvenient to get out of the waterproof case etc.  Numerous times in the past I've brought it along on trips and then only used the indestructible, waterproof, point-and-shoot camera instead.  But it does take gorgeous pictures.

On our last trip I had noticed that the harlequin ducks perch on the petroglyphs at high tide, but it was too far away to photograph with my point-and-shoot.  So I was bringing along the big zoom and pixel power of my good camera, hopefully, to capture this image.   I also wanted to take some low light tree pictures under the forest canopy.

Anyway, it almost worked.  In the forest based on what I was seeing on the camera screen I thought I was taking GREAT pictures.  But then I got home and noticed that in the low light I often had not held the camera steady enough and that I had depth of field issues.  I should have put the camera on a tripod and upped the aperture to get a deeper field of focus.  If you look at some of my stitched together forest panoramics you'll see these issues, but they still look compositionally good.

As regards the petroglyph and ducks photo - the light was never right.  The harelquins did perch on the glyphs, only the light did not cooperate.  The petroglyphs only 'pop' and become visible in certain light conditions, and it just did not happen.

Oh well, I guess I'll have to lug along the good camera to Afognak once again.  Maybe the third time will be the charm.

Patrick

Roasted Garlic & Luci lights

Stuey liked sawing wood with Ryan!

Bath heaven :)

This afternoon we returned from 4 days on Afognak with our friends Molly and Ryan. This was our first time to Afognak with them and what a fun mix of energy we shared. Together we boated, hiked, hung out by the woodstove, played Color-ku, ate roasted garlic and turned on the bright Luci Lights to light the cook tent when the sun went down at 9:30. 

Its hard to believe this trip wraps up our season of Afognak adventures~ just seems like yesterday we were heading out just shortly after my mom had passed away. I"m thankful to the magestic trees, the adorable sea otters, soft moss, lapping surf and beautiful sunsets for nourishing my soul this summer.

Zoya

Brewster is "squirreled-out"

Big smile~heading home on glassy waters with Ryan and Stuey.