6.13.2014

seward 2

No work for me this week (I've been flagging), so after catching up on a lot of post-Iditarod work, visiting friends in Talkeetna, and running errands in Wasilla & Anchorage, I headed down to Seward to hear my friend Dan play at the Yukon Bar & go for a hike with my friend Sarah. Seward is a really lovely little town by the mountains and the sea, with a surprisingly impressive array of good restaurants and Made-in-Alaska focused tourist shops, only 2 hours from Anchorage. Sarah runs Seward Helicopter and Dog Sled Tours. Last time I was in Seward I got to hop on the helicopter for a flight tour of Seward and visit their dog camp on the glacier. That was fun! Need to post those pictures. Tekla Seavey (who I last saw in Nome), joined us for cocktails before Dan's show (which we ended up mostly missing due to the aforementioned cocktails. oops) and hiking the day after. I loaded up Mygga's dog pack with some small water bottles for her to practice lugging around. Eventually, I'd like to be able to take some of the dogs on longer trips into the mountains and have them carry their own food and water. I attached a jingle bell on the pack, ostensibly to alert bears of our presence (I always think of the Tundra cartoon in which bears lounging behind a bush are excited to hear the "dinner bell") and tried walking the beach (no-go, high tide), the Iditarod Trail (nope, trail has been replaced by a river), and finally to the trail along Bear Lake, where we jingled merrily along to a small cove with a beach, our turnaround point.

Mygga, playing at being a pack dog.
Mygga on the beach.

Looking towards Seward.
The Iditarod Trail, washed out by spring flooding.
Lisbet & Mygga on the remains of the original Iditarod Trail. 
Vetch
Mygga on the trail we shared with a creek.
Little water dog.

Tekla & Sarah on the way to Bear Lake.

Mossy trees.

Emerald ferns & a many tiered waterfall.
The trail is carved into a steep hillside running the length of the lake.

Overlooking Bear Lake.
Mygga and her buddy Arthur.

Tekla & Sarah take a break on a Bear Lake beach.


Mygga in the grass.
Lush mosses everywhere.

2 comments:

  1. What kind of dog pack do you use and would you recommend it? I have been trying to find a sturdy one that will hold up to a lot of hiking for when my pup grows up.

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  2. This is a Outward Hound pack and I wouldn't recommend it, it has weak stiching. I have friends who have some Ruffwear packs they are pretty happy with. I would really love to know where I can get the old style Norwegian dog packs with leather collars... those are the best.

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