June 12, 2009
Mt. Healy
Did a hike of Mt. Healy, seen on most drives from Fairbanks to Anchorage, with my friend Andy.
The GPS said the knob there wasn't the real Mt. Healy. It was a less showy bump a bit south. Here's Andy reaching the summit.
Only a 10-mile hike or so, but most above any vegetation and all up and down.
Up high, about 5,000 feet, still lots of snow on the ridgetops.
A few castles of rock up there, on a hike Andy has wanted to do since he lived at Otto Lake, a decade of rock and roll ago.
Finished our weekend hike by popping out on the Denali Park Road in gorgeous 9 p.m. light. A few rides hitching and we were back at Andy's truck in Bison Gulch. Nice loop with my buddy.
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Comments on Mt. Healy »
Beautiful - beautiful - do it while you can.
That's just amazing.
Wish you guys were there with us!
N
Just read your article in the Alaska Magazine about flying squirrels. We have them here in MN and I have been lucky to have encounters with them. Amazing creatures they are. Years ago I had one coming regularily to my feeder on the deck at night. I would hear him and sometimes get up to admire him. He/she was so tame and allowed me to admire him from less than a foot away. You nailed the teddy bear eyes in the article. They are rare here and I feel blessed to have him as company for a few winters. It is incredible how far they can drift from tree to tree.
Another interesting tidbit I once saw while out surveying in the winter. Sat down on a stump to eat lunch and give my crumbs to the whiskey jacks, (Gray Jays or Canadian Jays) and observed them pluck a bat out of a tree from under some birch bark. The bat fell to the ground in a blowdown pile of debris, and lucky for the bat they couldn't get at him. They worked for about 10 minutes trying to reach the bat who had fallen too deep into the pile for them to reach. Always something learned when one goes into the woods. Thank you for your articles in the Alaska Magazine. Someday I will get there to visit your beautiful state! Julie
Hey Julie;
Nice message. Thanks.
The flying squirrels haven't been so frequent around our place since we remodeled, but we'll lure them back yet with some peanut butter.
And a cool observation about the bat and those gray jays. Am just now sending in a piece about bats to AK, for the October issue.
Saw a flying squirrel tonight, as I worked on the woodshed near midnight. Glided over the parked truck and banked hard into the woods. Yes!