Haines

Haines, the home of the SouthEast Alaska state fair. Haines is Skagway's sister city, just 12 nautical miles down the inlet. However, there is another way to get to Haines from Skagway other than by boat or plane. You can drive. You just have to go a little bit out of the way, say about 350 miles out of the way, but hey, you only live once, why not. Myself, Shandra, Jerry Lynn, and Aimee all loaded up into the mini-van and headed out for Haines by road. Other friends came over by ferry and joined us. The first three girls headed back to Skagway by ferry, and a new crew loaded up into the mini-van for the ride 'home', Andy, Jason, Lara, and Nicole. On the way home we stopped and did some rafting on the mighty Tatshenshini River. Really, why not?


The trusty and multi-purpose mini-van.


A view on the way.


Tatshenshini-Alsek Provinicial park


Me, Aimee, and Shandra


The Haines road


Tent city


Haines, Alaska....wow!


Rafting the Tatshenshini....We had a bit of fun!

Shots from the summer...

These are just a few various shots from the summer in Skagway. It is a good time in one of the most amazing places I've ever been, with some really great friends. What can I say, SouthEast Alaska has won my heart. Yes, I will be heading back to Skagway this upcoming summer of '08 for my third summer.

Some days it does get a little foggy


But days like these totally make up for it.


One of our lovely GMC busses. They are the workhorses of the fleet.


Can anyone say whale pool?


An 'epic' day in Skagway


A shot in the Yukon...


Karate kid in Dyea...


Getting a little help washing the bus from the fire department.


I love my bus friends...


Cruising the Inside Passage...


White Pass and Yukon Route railroad. Built with the gold rush in 1898, and still running today.


This is just one of the spectacular views that I get to see each day. These are the sawtooth peaks seen from the top of the white pass. Amazing!


Skagway...you can see it is tucked in here in a very tight, narrow, glacial valley. It is at the end of the Lynn Canal, North America's longest and deepest fjord.

Atlin, BC

Another little weekend trip this summer involved a little music festival in Atlin, British Columbia. Atlin is a small little town in the mountains. It was a fun weekend, with great friends.



We greatly enjoyed the beauty of this little town, especially the sunsets and the moon. Skagway is tucked in a very deep, narrow valley, and thus we don't typically get good sunsets, and only on occasion do we get a view of the moon. And with a sunset like this, who could complain!

Glacier Bay

Yet another epic adventure of the summer. Glacier Bay National Park, located just southwest of Skagway on the edge of the Inside Passage. I had been planning this trip all winter long. It sort of all came together last second, and turned out incredible. I was accompanied on this adventure with two good friends, Nate Dodson and Paul Ranheim. We spent the first three days kayaking and camping out in the Beardslee Islands at the entrance to the park. We saw all sorts of animals; moose, black bears, whales, seals, foxes, and tons of eagles. On our fourth day we had made it back to the park headquarters and we got on a day tour boat that takes you right up to the tidewater glaciers in the park. It was incredible.

An aerial shot of the Beardslees


Paul and I





Nate and I



On the tour boat at the tidewater marjorie glacier.

Chilkoot Trail

The last two summers I have lived and worked and played in Skagway, Alaska. Skagway is famous for the 1898 Klondike Gold rush. The miners came to Skagway, and through Skagway they accessed the interior where the gold was located. However, the trek was very difficult to get up and over these magnificent coastal mountains. The famous trail that these miners hiked is known as the Chilkoot trail. My first summer I got to hike the trail, but I didn't have much time. I did it simply in one day, with two other friends. We cheated a bit as we started at the top and hiked down the trail, so that we did not have to hike up the trail. It was still a long day covering roughly 37 miles in 14 hours. As soon as I left Skagway at the end of my first summer, my friend Andy and I began to plan our trek for the Chilkoot in the early spring, in the snow, just like the stampeders of 1898. We dreamed of it all winter long. It was myself, Andy, and his younger brother Jon. We set out on May 1st. It took us three days of 12 solid hours of hiking each day. The first day, the only way we were able to stay on the trail was by following bear tracks. On the second day we climbed over the pass. It was literally a perfect day. Not a cloud in the sky, it was unbelievable. Once we got over the pass we could hike anywhere we wanted to as all of the rocks and boulders were covered with snow, and all of the lakes were frozen over. And on the third day we hiked out. It was an amazing journey of epic proportions!

Soaking in the beauty of Alaska!


Climbing the 'golden staircase'


Mountain Man



What can I say...really?


Oh yeah, I broke through the ice on one of the lakes. I was able to jump off it as it gave way beneath me, but a small adrenaline rush...


Don't forget sunscreen...we did. These are our mountain beards. Andy's is 6 months. Jon and I are a mere month.

Where to Start? - Summer '07

I've been meaning to sit down and get some pictures and stories posted for sometime now. But I feel like one of the hardest parts is knowing where to start. I've got so many great stories and pictures that I desire to share with all of you. So I guess I just need to get going. Allow me to begin with just a few of the many highights of the Summer of '07 in Skagway, AK. The summer began with an epic roadtrip from Vancouver, BC to Skagway, AK, up the famous Alaska-Canadian Highway (Al-Can).


Since it was 'on the way' we decided to swing on over and visit Banff and Jasper National Parks in Alberta, Canada. It was a good stop. This second picture here is of me and my traveling companions, Elliot Ritzema, Jason Bull, and Russell Pinson. All of them go to school with me at Regent College in Vancouver. This picture was taken in front of Lake Louise.


While here I attempted to jump a creek in some 'soft spring' snow. Luckily we got it on video. Enjoy!


And what is a road trip to Alaska without a stop at some hot springs.


After five days on the road we arrived in Skagway, AK, where we would be spending the next five months of the summer.