Winner Creek Near the Hand Tram in Girdwood, Alaska
Sometimes I make the wrong decision, usually I am perfect in my decision making skills, but there is always that outlier that screws up everything. I usually forget about those situations because they are insignificant, but occasionally they are very memorable and I deem them necessary to share with others. My time in Winner Creek near Girdwood, Alaska is one of those situations that is necessary to share with others.
The day started like any other day, with me deciding what I wanted to do with the day, and actually my brother called me and we had a chat. I told him about how the day prior I had been mountain biking at a location just outside of town in Anchorage called Hillside/Hilltop. I told him a brief story about how a woman who was racing in a mountain bike race had been mauled by a bear days prior. As I am from Wisconsin, bear attacks are rare, and even more rare are deaths by the hand (or paw) of animals. So, as I make this observation that in Alaska bear attacks are not that ridiculously uncommon he makes the comment "Alaska is real, you really need to be on your guard at all times when you are in the wild, or something bad could happen to you."
Now bear attacks are not the only situation when Alaska can become even more 'real' than other places in the world; people can get lost in the wilderness (http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=8519242)
This is a photo from the 1st day of sunshine after literally 31 days of rain in Anchorage, Alaska. This is the Turnagain Arm just south of Anchorage on August 20, 2011. On this same day I saw multiple beluga whales coming up the arm fishing for some Eulechon fish which are also known as 'Candle Fish.' The fish are so oily that natives used to use them as candles after they put wicks in them.
