MAKING OUT LIKE BANDITS

We can never understand the modern history of war in this country, without looking at who benefits. I strongly urge everyone to read a most amazing book, which we've talked about before. WAR IS A RACKET written in 1930 by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC. He wrote this book after serving in the Marines for decades, and participating in many "expeditions" to countries in Latin America. He wrote about those experiences, and World War I, why they happened, and who benefited. His words, unfortunately, are just as true now, as they were then.
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

Then of course, are these famous sayings from men who have participated in and experienced the full horrors of war.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron." ~Dwight D. Eisenhower, speech, American Society of Newspaper Editors, 16 April 1953

"What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world." ~Robert E. Lee, letter to his wife, 1864

Our corporate media, and corporate-controlled President continues to report news from Iraq as if it was just an every-day, ordinary occurrence. And not the criminal, unprovoked act of aggression against a powerless country, whose crime it was to lie atop the World's second largest pool of sweet crude oil. Yet, this is coming at a great price to the US now, as our economy unravels due to the spiraling greed that the deregulated capitalism of the past 25 years has encouraged.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8206433.stm

And so it was that I came across this article today, and just had to share it with you. This is why the US is, and has been, nearly continuously at war overseas since 1898 (longer, if you count the theft of land from the Indigenous peoples of this continent).

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/17-9

Iraq War's Winners and Losers
by Sherwood Ross

"On my last day in Iraq," veteran McClatchy News correspondent Leila Fadel wrote August 9, "as on my first day in Iraq, I couldn't see what the United States and its allies had accomplished. ... I couldn't understand what thousands of American soldiers had died for and why hundreds of thousands of Iraqis had been killed."

Quite a few oil company CEO's and "defense" industry executives, however, do have a pretty good idea why that war is being fought. As Michael Cherkasky, president of Kroll Inc., said a year after the Iraq invasion boosted his security firm's profits 231 percent: "It's the Gold Rush."
What follows is a brief look at some of the outfits that cashed in, and at the multitudes that got took.

"Defense Earnings Continue to Soar," Renae Merle wrote in The Washington Post on July 30, 2007. "Several of Washington's largest defense contractors said last week that they continue to benefit from a boom in spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan..."
Merle added, "Profit reports from Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin showed particularly strong results in operations in the region." More recently, Boeing's second-quarter earnings this year rose 17 percent, Associated Pressreported, in part because of what APcalled "robust defense sales."

But war, it turns out, is not only unhealthy for human beings, it is not uniformly good for the economy. Many sectors suffer, including non-defense employment, as a war can destroy more jobs than it creates.

While the makers of warplanes may be flying high, these are "Tough Times For Commercial Aerospace," Business Week reported July 13. "The sector is contending with the deepening global recession, declining air traffic, capacity cuts by airlines, and reduced availability of financing for aircraft purchases." The general public suffers, too.

"As President Bush tried to fight the war without increasing taxes, the Iraq war has displaced private investment and/or government expenditures, including investments in infrastructure, R&D and education: they are less than they would otherwise have been," write Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes in The Three Trillion Dollar War.

Stiglitz holds a Nobel Prize in economics and Bilmes is former assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce. They say government money spent in Iraq does not stimulate the economy in the way that the same amounts spent at home would.

The war has also starved countless firms for expansion bucks.
"Higher borrowing costs for business since the beginning of the Iraq war are bleeding manufacturing investment," Greg Palast wrote in Armed Madhouse. And when entrepreneurs -- who hire so many -- lack growth capital, job creation takes a real hit.

We might recall too, the millions around the world who filled the streets to protest President Bush's impending attack on Iraq and who have quit buying U.S. products, further reducing sales and employment.

"American firms, especially those that have become icons, like McDonald's and Coca-Cola, may also suffer, not so much from explicit boycotts as from a broader sense of dislike of all things American," Stiglitz and Bilmes wrote.

"America's standing in the world has never been lower," the authors said, noting that in 2007, U.S. "favorable" ratings plunged to 29 percent in Indonesia and nine percent in Turkey. "Large numbers of wealthy people in the Middle East - where the oil money and inequality put individual wealth in the billions - have shifted banking from America to elsewhere," they said.

Because the Iraq war crippled that country's oil industry, output fell, supplies tightened, and, according to Palast, "World prices leaped to reflect the shortfall."
What's more, Palast pointed out, after the Iraq invasion the Saudis withheld more than a million barrels of oil a day from the market. "The one-year 121 percent post-invasion jump in the price of crude, from under $30 a barrel to over $60, sucked that $120 billion windfall to the Saudis from SUV drivers and factory owners in the West," he said.
Count the Saudis among the big winners.

The oil spike subtracted 1.2 percent from the gross domestic product, "costing the USA just over one million jobs," Palast reckoned. Stiglitz and Bilmes said the oil price spike meant "American families have had to spend about 5 percent more of their income on gasoline and heating than before."
Last year, the Iraq and Afghan wars cost each American household $138 per month in taxes, they estimated. Count the Joneses among the big losers.

Palast wrote, "It has been a very good war for Big Oil - courtesy of OPEC price hikes. The five oil giants saw profits rise from $34 billion in 2002 to $81 billion in 2004...But this tsunami of black ink was nothing compared to the wave of $120 billion in profits to come in 2006: $15.6 billion for Conoco, $17.1 billion for Chevron and the Mother of All Earnings, Exxon's $39.5 billion in 2006 on sales of $378 billion."

Palast noted that oil firms have their own reserves whose value is tied to OPEC's price targets, and "The rise in the price of oil after the first three years of the war boosted the value of the reserves of ExxonMobil oil alone by just over $666 billion...

"Chevron Oil, where Condoleezza Rice had served as a director, gained a quarter trillion dollars in value...I calculate that the top five oil operators saw their reserves rise in value by over $2.363 trillion."

Who's surprised when Forbes reports of the ten most profitable corporations in the world five are now oil and gas companies - Exxon-Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron, and Petro-China.
"Since the Iraq War began," Matthew Rothschild, editor of The Progressive wrote, "aerospace and defense industry stocks have more than doubled. General Dynamics did even better than that. Its stock has tripled."

An Associated Pressaccount published July 23 observed: "With the military fighting two wars and Pentagon budgets on a steady upward rise, defense companies regularly posted huge gains in profits and rosier earnings forecasts during recent quarters. Even as the rest of the economy tumbled last fall, military contractors, with the federal government as their primary customer, were a relative safe haven."

Among the big winners are top Pentagon contractors, as ranked by WashingtonTechnology.com as of 2008. Halliburton spun off KBR in 2007 and their operations are covered later. Data was selected for typical years 2007-09.

Lockheed Martin, of Bethesda, Maryland, a major warplane builder, in 2007 alone earned profits of $3 billion on sales of nearly $42 billion.

Boeing, of Chicago, saw its 2007 net profit shoot up 84 percent to $4 billion, fed by "strong growth in defense earnings," according to an Agence France-Presse report.
KBR
Northrop Grumman, of Los Angeles, a manufacturer of bombers, warships and military electronics, had 2007 profits of $1.8 billion on sales of $32 billion.

General Dynamics, of Falls Church, Virginia, had profits in 2008 of about $2.5 billion on sales of $29 billion. It makes tanks, combat vehicles, and mission-critical information systems.
Raytheon, of Waltham, Massachusetts, reported about $23 billion in sales for 2008. It is the world's largest missile maker and Bloomberg News says it is benefiting from "higher domestic defense spending and U.S. arms exports."

Scientific International Applications Corp., of La Jolla, California, an engineering and technology supplier to the Pentagon, had sales of $10 billion for fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2009, and net income of $452 million.

L-3, of New York City, has enjoyed sales growth of about 25 percent a year recently. Its total 2008 sales of $15 billion brought it profits of nearly $900 million. Its primary customer is the Defense Department, to which it supplies high tech surveillance and reconnaissance systems.
EDS Corp., of Plano, Texas, purchased by Hewlett-Packard in May, 2008, had 2007 sales of nearly $20 billion. Its priority project is building the $12 billion Navy-Marine Corps Intranet, said to be the largest private network in the world.

Fluor Corp., of Irvine, Texas, an engineering and construction firm, had net earnings of $720 million in 2008 on sales of $22 billion.

The good times continue to roll for military contractors under President Obama, who has increased the Pentagon's budget by 4 percent to a total of about $700 billion. One reason military contractors fare so well is that no-bid contracts with built-in profit margins tumble out of the Pentagon cornucopia directly into their laps.

The element of "risk," so basic to capitalism, has been trampled by Pentagon purchasing agents even as its top brass rattle their missiles at supposedly enemy governments abroad. If this isn't enough, in 2004 the Bush administration slipped a special provision into tax legislation to cut the tax on war profits to 7 percent compared to 21 percent paid by most U.S. manufacturers.
Former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, according to author Pratap Chatterjee in his Halliburton's Army, raked in "more than $25 billion since the company won a ten-year contract in late 2001 to supply U.S. troops in combat situations around the world."

As all know, President Bush's Vice President Dick Cheney previously headed Halliburton (1995-2000) and landed in the White House the same year Halliburton got its humungous outsourcing contract. Earlier, as Defense Secretary, (1989-1993) Cheney sparked the revolutionary change to outsourcing military support services to the privateers. Today, Halliburton ranks among the biggest "defense" winners of all.

Halliburton's army "employs enough people to staff one hundred battalions, a total of more than 50,000 personnel who work for KBR, a contract that is now projected to reach $150 billion," Chatterjee wrote.
"Together with the workers who are rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure and the private security divisions of companies like Blackwater, Halliburton's Army now outnumber the uniformed soldiers on the ground in Iraq."
Accompanying Pentagon outsourcing, Chatterjee wrote, "is the potential for bribery, corruption, and fraud. Dozens of Halliburton/KBR workers and their subcontractors have already been arrested and charged, and several are already serving jail terms for stealing millions of dollars, notably from Camp Arifjan in Kuwait."
There's likely no better example of how Halliburton/KBR literally burned taxpayers' dollars than its destruction of $85,000 Mercedes and Volvo trucks when they got flat tires and were abandoned.
James Warren, a convoy truck driver testified to the Government Affairs Committee in July 2004, "KBR didn't seem to care what happened to its trucks...It was common to torch trucks that we abandoned...even though we all carried chains and could have towed them to be repaired."
Bunnatine Greenhouse, once top contract official at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, made headlines by demanding old-fashioned free enterprise competitive bidding. She told a Senate committee in 2005: "I can unequivocally state the abuse related to contracts awarded to KBR represents the most blatant and improper abuse I have witnessed" in 20 years of working on government contracts.
Greenhouse was demoted for her adherence to the law, Chatterjee said, but she became a cover girl at Fraud magazine and was honored by the Giraffe Society, a tribute to one Federal employee who stuck her neck out.

Tales of Halliburton/KBR's alleged swindles fill books. Rory Maybee, a former Halliburton/KBR contractor who worked at dining facilities in Camp Anaconda in 2004 told the U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee "that the company often provided rotten food to the troops and often charged the army for 20 thousand meals a day when it was serving only ten thousand."
Food swindling, though, is small potatoes. Say Stiglitz and Bilmes: "KBR has also been implicated in a lucrative insurance scam that has gouged U.S. taxpayers for at least $600 million."
To fatten profit margins, contractors who cheat U.S. taxpayers apparently think nothing of underpaying their help.

"While the executives of KBR, Blackwater, and other firms are making profits, many of those performing the menial work, such as cooking, driving, cleaning, and laundry, are poorly paid nationals from India, Pakistan, and other Asian and African countries," Stiglitz and Bilmes wrote. "Indian cooks are reported to earn $3-$5 a day. At the same time, KBR bills the American taxpayer $100 per load of laundry."

Blackwater, the security firm repeatedly charged with shoot-first tactics, fraudulently obtained small-business set-aside contracts worth more than $144 million, the authors asserted.
According to Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill, the security firm in 2004 got a five-year contract to protect U.S. officials in Iraq totaling $229 million but as of June 2006, just two years into the contract, it had been paid $321 million, and by late 2007 it had been paid more than $750 million.
Scahill reported an audit charged that Blackwater included profit in its overhead and its total costs. The result was "not only in a duplication of profit but a pyramiding of profit since in effect Blackwater is applying profit to profit," Scahill wrote. "The audit also alleged that the company tried to inflate its profits by representing different Blackwater divisions as wholly separate companies."

"As of summer, 2007, there were more ‘private contractors' deployed on the U.S. government payroll in Iraq (180,000) than there were actual soldiers (160,000)," Scahill said. "These contractors worked for some 630 companies and drew personnel from more than 100 countries around the globe. ... This meant the U.S. military had actually become the junior partner in the coalition that occupies Iraq."

And each Blackwater operative was costing the American taxpayers $1,222 per day. The Defense Department remains, of course, America's No. 1 Employer, with 2.3 million workers (roughly twice the size of Wal-Mart, which has 1.2 million staffers) perhaps because America's biggest export is war.

"Who pays Halliburton and Bechtel?" philosopher Noam Chomsky asked rhetorically in his Imperial Ambitions. "The U.S. taxpayer," he answers.

"The same taxpayers fund the military-corporate system of weapons manufacturers and technology companies that bombed Iraq. So first you destroy Iraq, then you rebuild it. It's a transfer of wealth from the general population to narrow sectors of the population."

It's also been a body blow to Iraq, killing an estimated one million inhabitants, forcing two million into exile and millions more out of their homes. Incredibly, the U.S. proposed to reconstruct the nation it invaded with their oil revenues - and then, after taking perhaps $8 billion left the job undone. (Since the U.S. kept no records of how the dough was dispensed, it is not possible to identify the recipients.)
As Stiglitz and Bilmes remind us, "The money spent on Iraq could have been spent on schools, roads, or research. These investments yield high returns."
In an article in the Aug. 24 Nation, policy analyst Georgia Levenson Keohane cites the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities to the effect that 48 states are reporting deficits totaling nearly $166 billion, projected to reach, cumulatively, $350 billion-$370 billion by 2011.
"Although many states have attempted tax increases, these are politically challenging and often insufficient to close the gaps. Consequently, statehouses have been forced to cut vital services at a time when the need for them is ever more desperate," Keohane wrote.

In the same issue, reporter Marc Cooper notes the poverty rate in Los Angeles county borders on 20 percent; that California's schools are ranked 47th nationally; that the state college system has suspended admissions for Spring 2010; that thousands of state workers are being laid off and/or forced to take furlough days; that unemployment has reached 12 percent; that state parks are being closed; that personal bankruptcies peaked last; that one in four "capsized mortgages in the U.S. is in California."

Plus, California's bond rating is just above the junk level and it faces a $26 billion budget shortfall.
California's woes need to be examined in the light of the $116 billion the National Priorities Project of Northampton, Massachusetts, says its taxpayers have shelled out for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001.

Those same dollars roughly would put four million California students through a four-year college. Bear in mind, too, outlays for those wars are but a fraction of all Pentagon spending, so the total military tax bill is far higher than $116 billion to California.

In calling for a reduction in military spending, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, said, "The math is compelling: if we do not make reductions approximating 25 percent of the military budget starting fairly soon, it will be impossible to continue to fund an adequate level of domestic activity even with a repeal of Bush's tax cuts for the very wealthy....

"[American] well-being is far more endangered by a proposal for substantial reductions in Medicare, Social Security or other important domestic areas than it would be by canceling weapons systems that have no justification from any threat we are likely to face."

On the other hand, maybe Americans want to keep paying to operate 2,000 domestic and foreign military bases and spend more money on armies and weapons of death than all other nations combined. Maybe they like living in the greatest Warfare State the world has ever known.

My hunch, though, is a lot of Americans haven't connected the country's looming bankruptcy with the greedy, gang from the military-industrial complex out to control the planet, its people and its precious resources.

After the long-suffering civilian population of Iraq, whose crime was having oil - a country Steiglitz says that has been rendered virtually unlivable - the big losers are the American taxpayers who are bleeding income, jobs and quality of life, not just sacrificing family members, on behalf of a runaway war machine.

California's plight is being repeated everywhere. A great nation is being looted and millions of its citizens are being pauperized before our eyes.
© 2009 Consortium News

Sherwood Ross formerly worked for The Chicago Daily News and other major dailies and as a columnist for wire services. He currently runs a public relations firm for “worthy causes”. Reach him at sherwoodr1@yahoo.com

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

Cheers.

CHILKOOT TRAVAILS [and] INCIDENT AT KOIDERN

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilkoot_Trail

On every outdoor-oriented Alaskan's to-do list at least once is the Chilkoot Trail. The old route followed by thousands of Klondike Gold seekers in the 1897-98 gold rush and immortalized in the works of Jack London and Robert Service, among many others.

 

I never had the chance to hike this amazing 33 mile trail when I lived in Juneau from 1998-2001, so this year my friend Erik and I decided to do it.

Only we wanted to do it in just one day, as a fast-pack, rather than the 3-5 days most people take. Fast-packing means carrying only emergency shelter (bivvy sack, therma-rest, sleeping bag), and food/water, plus a little extra. Meaning, no tent, cookstove, bottle of wine :), or other goodies.

Traveling light and fast, with just 15-20 lbs. on our backs, barely enough to really affect our agility and speed. With our schedules though, we planned on only hiking the 29 miles to Bare Loon Lake, then 7 miles down the White Pass and Yukon Railroad tracks, back to the highway, for 36 total, so we could get on our stashed bikes. Which we would then ride 27 miles back to Skagway on, much of which would be steep downhill. That was the plan anyway, and we reckoned it would take a total of 15-17 hours. One thing we had working in our favour, and a big thing, was perfect weather. The terrible drought affecting all of interior Alaska and the Yukon, responsible for large wildfire growth, promised to hold through the time we'd be there, bringing clear, dry weather with light winds. Not bad for late summer!

We met up for dinner thursday evening 30 July in Tok, then drove down a few hours to our first camp site of the trip, near Kluane Lake, which is the lobster-claw looking one there on the map. Very beautiful with it's clear blue glacial-fed water, surrounded by mountains.

We decided to camp in Eric's 1984 Volvo DL station wagon, which he bought last year for $600.00! It has 320,000 miles on it, and is still going strong! Eric lives in it in Valdez! Yes, that's right, he is our highest paid vagrant in AK. As an engineer for a large corporation, he could certainly afford a real place, but he has a nice cabin in Copper Center above the Copper River, and never intended to stay in Valdez for too long. And since the Volvo is shaped like a coffin, it sleeps one or two perfectly.

Volvo Camp I was established late thursday night at Burwash Landing, on the shores of Kluane Lake. We got to bed around midnight and had a restful sleep in it's padded, lengthy rear section. One thing I really dig about it, is that it has the original AK license plate, BPG 116. In AK, the oldest cars had plates beginning with A, then B, then C, etc.. We're up to F now for new cars. So, this car is an AK veteran, worthy of respect!

One definite item on our agenda was to try out our new Alpacka pack rafts, which we had both just gotten a few days before. These are very durable, tough inflatable rafts that fold up into a bag that then weighs 5 lbs. You can then pack this and a collapsible paddle into a backpack with your other gear, opening up many options in AK back-country travel in the non-frozen months.

They inflate quickly using a light, inflatable squeeze-bag, which takes only a little practice to learn.

After Erik's good coffee and breakfast, we drove about 35 km down the road, and put our rafts in at the Congdon Creek campground, on Kluane Lake. It was a beautiful warm, sunny day with south Chinook winds. These were producing about two foot swells on the lake with a few small whitecaps. Perfect for me, because I plan on using my Alpacka alot for coastal paddling when I'm in San Diego, Florida, or anywhere else I happen to be. It's going everywhere with me. They performed magnificently, and we spent a couple hours having fun paddling around in the relaxing swells and bright sun.

Seeing this though, reminded me how bad a drought year this is for interior Alaska and the Yukon. The first of a couple large wildfire plumes we saw, driving southeast toward Whitehorse, on Friday, 31 July.

After a brief stop in Whitehorse for dinner, we kept heading south toward Skagway. Of course, we had to stop at the chain of beautiful lakes just north of White Pass, the border between the AK panhandle and British Columbia.

For those who can remember, one of our favorite movies, Never Cry Wolf, was filmed here. All the scenes in the movie where the wolf researcher sets up his camp and interacts with the wolves were filmed in there. Just for the scenery alone, that movie is worth seeing, though it is a good story too. If you liked that movie as much as Erik and I, as soon as you see these lakes, and their sparkling blue colour, you'll remember.

We got into Skagway friday evening, and set up Volvo Camp II in the parking lot of the boat docks, where fishing craft and sail boats tie up. It seemed ideal, as it had bathrooms at one end, but unfortunately, a small building nearby had an annoying generator which came on at odd times all that night, disrupting my sleep. We had to get up at 0530, as we wanted to be on the trail at 0700. We had a ride pre-arranged to the trailhead in Dyea, 9 miles away, which picked us up at 0630. So, we got to the trailhead on time at 0700, though I was a little groggy.

The first several miles of the trail were alternately swampy, with boardwalks, like this.

Or, had short, but steep, uphill sections like this, as it followed the Taiya river upstream in it's canyon. Overall though, a slow ascent, with decent footing, allowing us to make good time. We early-on decided to hike 2 hours, take a short break for food/water, then another 2 hours, etc... with a lunchbreak and a dinnerbreak, when we felt like it, over the course of our long planned day.

It was kind of humid, and in the 60sF

that morning, and as we stopped, about four hours in, I was pretty sweaty. Right after this stop, our only real potentially serious incident on our hike occurred. I was walking briskly, and looked backward to talk to Erik. The trail curved a little, and I didn't see it coming, because of my grogginess from the previous night. I fell straight down into a hole. Shit, ten miles in, if there was a serious injury, we'd be in trouble. My left leg got folded up and jammed into the trail, and was hurting behind the knee. I decided to just hold it right there for a minute, collect myself, and slowly pull back out onto the trail. Once I calmed down and did that, I realized there was no serious injury. Just some bruising. So after a few minutes rest, we continued on our way.

As we got higher, towards 2000 feet or so, at miles 14-15, the trees began thinning out. We had our lunch resting on some boulders in the bright sun around here, very relaxing.

After lunch, in the next mile or so, the actual Chilkoot pass became visible in the distance. Here Erik is on the approach up to it. This pass is where that famous scene of gold-rushers winding up a steep, frozen slope is from. The one that is on many Alaska license plates and memorabilia.

Here is the actual pass, the notch in the middle. About 600 vertical feet of boulder hopping to it's summit of 3525 feet. All around from it's base to summit, were the remains of old cables and hauling systems that were used to haul the mandatory 1000 lbs. of supplies the Canadian government made prospective miners bring north with them in 1898.

It was quite steep and precarious at times. I sure glad to have a light pack on, with dry, non-slippery rocks!

This is the view looking back to the south, at the base of the pass. Now to ascend the "Golden Stairs" as that rock face is called. It took us a fair while. I went very slow, my leg was hurting a little, and after a fall in 2007, where I smashed my left knee on a pointy rock at the base of the Gulkana Glacier, I was being very careful. Here we leave behind the milder, wetter, maritime climate of the coastal fringes, and head in to the much colder (in winter) and forbidding interior.

It took us at least an hour to come up and over the pass. At the top is a Canadian Ranger Station, staffed by a trail ranger. Heading up the face, on the American side, we ran into his US counterpart. We chatted with him and commented on our great fortune with the perfect weather. He patrols from Sheep Camp station, at mile 12, right before the trail starts steeply ascending, to the border at the top of the pass.

Coming up and over the pass was great, the first 16.5 miles were over, and we knew it would be mostly downhill from here on out. Here is the view looking north on the other side of Chilkoot pass. The cold, interior side. Note how barren it looks, and the beautiful blue lakes. It is rarely ever above 60F here in the summer. The interior far to the north heats up, and pulls the cool maritime air inland through the pass, air which at 3000 feet is usually only 45-55F during the day. This day it was 60-70F! Walking on these snowfields was sketchy in our running shoes. We wore these for speed, but the traction on the slanted melting snow patches was not good, and we had to go very slow on them. The possibility of sliding into a shallow icy lake was there on some of them, or holes filled with rocks.

The first 2-3 miles below the pass had many shallow stream crossings, so in spite of my best efforts, I got totally soaked once. I changed my socks, and got partially soaked again. From now on, I will always wear my neoprene storm socks and multi-sport shoes on fast-packs. These shoes are almost like sandals, but with nearly as much cushioning as running shoes, allowing all day cruising over rocks and through streams, even running, if need be. My favourite view and picture of the whole trip is this, to the right. The clear blue lakes are incredible. These stunted mountain hemlocks only grow near the coastal passes to the interior, because they need alot of moisture. They can tolerate the winter cold, but not too much summer drought. This was a little further down, around mile 20. A mile or so back from there, I passed two women around 50 years of age or so, taking a rest break, and said hello (Erik was up ahead of me a bit). They were clearly doing a multi-day outing, judging by their heavier packs.

We stopped at the Happy Camp camping area (there are five of these at different places with outhouses and wood tent platforms) for a break. We were not happy, it was 5 pm, 10 hours after our start, and we'd only hiked 20.5 of the 36 miles we needed. To be followed by a 2 hour bike ride to Skagway. I had miscalculated, I didn't figure the trail would be so rocky and rough, it was very difficult to keep up a sustained fast pace because of that, without risking serious injury. So, we considered our options. Finish hiking at Bare Loon lake, at mile 29, sleep there, then walk the tracks, and bike the next day, seemed to be our best option.

There were about ten other people at this area camping, and some commotion appeared. A couple people came down the trail hurriedly to camp. One of the two women I had seen earlier had broken her leg badly, both the Tibula and Fibula, the bones of the lower half of the leg. There was no satellite phone, and since we were the only ones heading out, it was our job to get word to the Rangers at the Lindemann Camp at mile 26. We knew the poor woman, who I think I was the last one to see before her accident, would be in great pain. Fortunately a couple people were staying with her. We took off down the trail.

The trail got progressively less steep and rocky as we descended toward the Deep Lake camp at mile 23, with boardwalks in sections. We only stopped for a short water/energy break, knowing we had to get to Lindemann.

On the way down, around mile 24, Erik stopped and held something up. A toad! We were both amazed, it was so dry there, and gets so cold in the winter. Apparently they have some sort of special anti-freeze in their blood.

We got to Lindemann at 730 pm and immediately talked to the Ranger, Diane. She got on the radio to the Ranger at the Pass. While talking to her, two hikers who had hiked back from Happy Camp and up to the injured woman, reached the Pass Ranger and confirmed the injury. An airlift from the Whitehorse hospital was called for, then the Ranger lit out for the injured woman's position, after some EMT coaching from Diane. Since I used to be an EMT with our local VFD, I listened intently. They were doing the same things we would have done, except, she forgot to tell the Pass Ranger to check the woman's foot on the injured leg for PSMs (Pulse/Sensory/Motor functions). If these were impaired in any way, major artery/vessel/nerve damage could be present, which if not treated quickly, could result in the loss of the limb. This took over 30 min., and by that time, after 8 pm, at only mile 26, we were bummed. After telling them of our plans the Ranger and her assistant, a First-Nations man from the area named John, recommended we stay there in one of the tents. So we took them up on it, and chatted, between radio traffic.

Fortunately for the injured woman, the Pass Ranger reached her at 9pm and splinted her leg. The helicopter from the Whitehorse hospital had a 45 min. flight time to that area, and took off at 930 pm, plucking her out just in time! Because they won't fly after 2300 hours. Otherwise she would have had a very painful night, with risk of losing her leg. Even luckier for her, the weather closed in overnight, a weak front came through with low clouds and smoke from the interior. The helicopter may not have even been able to make it in there the next day. So she got to the Whitehorse hospital by 11pm, about six hours after her injury.

We had a pleasant evening at Lindemann chatting with Diane and John, and slept exceedingly well in those wall tents with foam beds!

After breakfast around 0730, we hit the trail around 0800 for the last 10 miles of walking. We were disappointed we couldn't do the whole thing in one day, but at least we were able to help in the rescue efforts.

The last three miles to Bare Loon Lake and the cutoff to the railroad tracks were through a mix of lodgpole pine and pacific silver fir. Beautiful trees, but showing signs of severe drought stress, just like in interior Alaska. Bummer.

There were some bridge crossings, over nice fast-moving streams. Would have been nice to float down these in our Alpackas, but they were moving a little fast for our comfort.

We got to the railroad tracks around 0900, and just started heading down.

It was a cool grey day, with low clouds, a few sprinkles, and smoke from the interior wildfires hazing things up. Good thing we made the pass yesterday! It was probably foggy up there, and quite cool.

It took us two more hours to hike the six miles back to the highway, and our bikes stashed there.

Along the way, a passenger train, the one from Skagway to Whitehorse came through, and everyone waved and took our pictures.

There was alot of bear scat along the tracks! I'm guessing it was mostly black bear, but it could have been brown too, some of it. Any prospective scatologists out there? What's in it? Alot of berries, for sure, and other plant material.

We reached our bikes around 1100 and took an energy/fluid break. Our bikes were still there, three days after we stashed them. We had twelve rolling miles to pedal to White Pass, 3212 feet (we were around 2800 there), then 13 steep downhill miles, then two level ones, coming into Skagway. It was somewhat tiring for those first 12, neither of us are real cyclists, and we went very slowly uphill. With the monstrous RVs and Semis roaring past us.

It was sure nice making the pass, knowing it was all downhill from now on. Cold up there too, probably 45F or so, had my gloves and shell with hood on. Even so, as I zoomed down 3000 feet at 30 mph or so on the bike I got quite cold. When I got to the US border station, six miles north of Skagway, I was thoroughly chilled. After checking through, I had a water/energy break, and waited for Erik, who was taking longer. He showed up 15 min. later, and we rolled into town around 1330.

After stashing things in the Volvo, we drove to a seafood restaurant for a good meal and lots of coffee! We were both smelly and gross, so we told our waitress. After that, we found coin-operated showers at the boat marina, perfect! Man did those feel good. Ten minutes for two dollars.

We decided just to head north then, and as we went north back into Canada, it got smokier. Into Whitehorse, it was quite bad, about a mile visibility. We had a great dinner at a new restaurant called Ernie's, which seemed very upscale and urban for Whitehorse, not bad. We were anxious to see how far we could get though before establishing Volvo Camp III, and if the air would get better.

Sure enough, about 30 or so miles west of Whitehorse, the smoke thinned, and the air was much better. We both saw something up the road, and a few cars were stopped.

Elk! About thirty of them on both sides of the road. They sure were beautiful in the dim evening light, around 2200. My camera took interesting photos. I hadn't seen any since I left Montana in 1998. They are not native to the Yukon, but were introduced many decades ago, and now thrive. We spent about 15 minutes admiring them, then pressed on.

We wanted to set up Volvo Camp III at the Congdon Creek campground, near Destruction Bay, around 2330. It was basically dark now, but the campground was closed, due to brown bear sitings! So we just drove a mile back to an old construction camp, and set up VC III. A big yellow lab from a house nearby came up barking. I tried my best to get him to come up to us, but the best he would do was roll around. Still, at least he stopped barking. Then, we heard him get called back.

 

The next morning we heard him nosing around, and then he was all over us! Erik says I am a "Dog Whisperer". He is right, in a way, I relate very well to all animals, but seem to have a special way with canines. They sense your intent and feelings, and if you use the right tones of voice and gestures, and are sincere, good things always result. I've defused many dog attacks when running. And fights between strangers, and Mattie and Homer, when they have been attacked. This big, fuzzy guy just couldn't get enough of us, but we had to pack up and head home, so we said goodbye. Fortunately he didn't try and follow us. We got back to Tok, Alaska in the afternoon, where we split up, Erik heading back to Valdez, and me to Fairbanks. Both grateful our trip went well, and happy for the memories. But something happened between Kluane Lake and the Canadian Border.

INCIDENT AT KOIDERN

After leaving our VC III, and driving for a few hours north, we were both a litttle dazed, and needed a rest stop. Erik wanted some coffee, since he was driving, and to go pee. I just wanted a diet 7Up, since my stomach was a little tense from all the coffee I had earlier. We stopped at a little run-down place called the Koidern Lodge, about 40 miles south of the US border.

As a little background, Erik is growing longer hair, after undergoing a "Paradigm Shift" last year, living more for himself now, rather than caring what others think. So, he wears a bandanna around his semi-long hair now to keep it out of his face. It's not quite long enough yet to tie back. Does he look dirty or dangerous to you?

I noticed there were a few other people at the Koidern Lodge, and it also said Rock Shop. As one who's always been obsessed with crystals and minerals, an added attraction. So we stopped and went in, and browsed. We were both tired and dazed, and I didn't really look at my surroundings much, other than to check out the crystals, many of which I already had. Erik noticed there was no coffee, so he headed out to go pee. I walked over to a small drinks cooler, but all they had there were colas, which I didn't want. I didn't really notice the older couple, in their 70s, running the place, until I made my decision to leave. I just nodded to the woman at the register. As I turned to leave, she said to her husband, who I hadn't really noticed before, "What do you think they want?"

He said "Who knows what the f..k these rude people want!" very loudly. I barely glanced over to him, and just strode out. F..k that! As I strode past him, he bellowed out "Have a great one" very sarcastically. I just walked out, and he followed me.

As I came out the door, he spied Erik looking for a pee spot. The man immediately yelled "You, you over there, get out of there!". Erik wasn't sure he was even the one being yelled at, so he asked. And the man said again, "get out of there!". At this point, I just couldn't help it, and bust out laughing. At the absurdity and surprise of the situation. Who'd of thought? The man was clearly not happy at that, but I made sure he heard me! I wished I'd snapped a picture of the old sourpuss, but wasn't thinking fast enough. He might have run for a shotgun though, if I did that! So, beware all you Yukon travelers...of the Sourpuss of Koidern Lodge!

 

Erik and I both agreed, it's better if you look different, that way if people are that biased, at least you know right away. Rather than, if you fit in visually, and then get to know someone a little who then casts abuse because they find you are different, you've just wasted alot of time and energy. I feel sorry for that man and his wife, they must have a very unhappy life there!

Cheers!

WARNING LIGHTS ARE FLASHING II - Wilting in Cascadia, Trouble in the Taiga

Friends and family are suffering down in the Northwestern lower 48 states. Summer heat as bad as any ever recorded is afflicting Western Oregon and Washington:

Excessive Heat WarningURGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR
230 PM PDT WED JUL 29 2009

COAST RANGE OF NORTHWEST OREGON-
CENTRAL COAST RANGE OF WESTERN OREGON-LOWER COLUMBIA-
GREATER PORTLAND METRO AREA-CENTRAL WILLAMETTE VALLEY-
SOUTH WILLAMETTE VALLEY-WESTERN COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE-
NORTHERN OREGON CASCADE FOOTHILLS-NORTHERN OREGON CASCADES-
CASCADE FOOTHILLS IN LANE COUNTY-CASCADES IN LANE COUNTY-
UPPER HOOD RIVER VALLEY-SOUTH WASHINGTON CASCADES-WILLAPA HILLS-I-
5 CORRIDOR IN COWLITZ COUNTY-GREATER VANCOUVER AREA-
SOUTH WASHINGTON CASCADE FOOTHILLS-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...VERNONIA...JEWELL...TRASK...
GRANDE RONDE...TIDEWATER...SWISSHOME...ST. HELENS...CLATSKANIE...
HILLSBORO...PORTLAND...OREGON CITY...GRESHAM...SALEM...
MCMINNVILLE...DALLAS...EUGENE...CORVALLIS...ALBANY...HOOD RIVER...
CASCADE LOCKS...MULTNOMAH FALLS...SANDY...
SILVER FALLS STATE PARK...SWEET HOME...GOVERNMENT CAMP...
DETROIT...SANTIAM PASS...VIDA...LOWELL...COTTAGE GROVE...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE...OAKRIDGE...WILLAMETTE PASS...PARKDALE...ODELL...
COLDWATER RIDGE VISITORS CENTER...MOUNT ST. HELENS...FRANCES...
RYDERWOOD...LONGVIEW...KELSO...CASTLE ROCK...STEVENSON...
SKAMANIA...VANCOUVER...BATTLE GROUND...WASHOUGAL...TOUTLE...
ARIEL...COUGAR

230 PM PDT WED JUL 29 2009

...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM PDT
THURSDAY FOR INTERIOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND
NORTHWEST OREGON...

AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM PDT
THURSDAY.

WITH A STUBBORNLY STRONG UPPER LEVEL RIDGE FIRMLY IN PLACE OVER
THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST...HIGH TEMPERATURES THIS AFTERNOON ARE
EXPECTED TO REACH OR ECLIPSE TUESDAYS RECORD BREAKING MAXIMUMS.
TEMPERATURES IN THE 105 TO 110 DEGREE RANGE ARE EXPECTED FOR
LOWLAND AREAS. THE COAST RANGE AND CASCADES WILL ALSO BE
HOT...WITH TEMPERATURES REACHING 95 TO 105 DEGREES TODAY. THE
WEATHER WILL BE LESS HOT ON THURSDAY...HOWEVER MAXIMUM
TEMPERATURES WILL STILL BE NEAR 100 DEGREES.

IN ADDITION TO THE HOT AFTERNOONS...LITTLE RELIEF FROM THE HEAT
IS EXPECTED OVERNIGHT TONIGHT. WITH LITTLE TO NO COOLING
INFLUENCE FROM THE OCEAN...AND A SOMEWHAT HUMID AIR MASS IN
PLACE...NIGHTS WILL REMAIN QUITE UNCOMFORTABLE AWAY FROM THE
COAST. THIS WILL ESPECIALLY BE THE CASE IN URBAN AREAS SUCH AS
PORTLAND AND VANCOUVER. THIS LACK OF OVERNIGHT RELIEF MAY MAKE
THIS HEATWAVE PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS IN THE CITIES...ESPECIALLY
FOR THOSE WITHOUT ACCESS TO AIR CONDITIONING.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING MEANS THAT A PROLONGED PERIOD OF
DANGEROUSLY HOT TEMPERATURES WILL OCCUR. THE COMBINATION OF HOT
TEMPERATURES AND HIGH HUMIDITY WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A DANGEROUS
SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE LIKELY. DRINK PLENTY OF
FLUIDS...STAY IN AN AIR CONDITIONED ROOM...STAY OUT OF THE SUN...
AND CHECK UP ON RELATIVES AND NEIGHBORS.
&&
$$

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...RESENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR
552 AM PDT WED JUL 29 2009
ORZ003>014-WAZ019-020-022-023-039-040-301300-
COAST RANGE OF NORTHWEST OREGON-
CENTRAL COAST RANGE OF WESTERN OREGON-LOWER COLUMBIA-
GREATER PORTLAND METRO AREA-CENTRAL WILLAMETTE VALLEY-
SOUTH WILLAMETTE VALLEY-WESTERN COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE-
NORTHERN OREGON CASCADE FOOTHILLS-NORTHERN OREGON CASCADES-
CASCADE FOOTHILLS IN LANE COUNTY-CASCADES IN LANE COUNTY-
UPPER HOOD RIVER VALLEY-SOUTH WASHINGTON CASCADES-WILLAPA HILLS-I-
5 CORRIDOR IN COWLITZ COUNTY-GREATER VANCOUVER AREA-
SOUTH WASHINGTON CASCADE FOOTHILLS-
552 AM PDT WED JUL 29 2009

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST
OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT
AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IS IN EFFECT. TEMPERATURES INLAND WILL
REACH NEAR 107 THIS AFTERNOON. OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURES TONIGHT
WILL ONLY FALL INTO THE 60S AND LOWER 70S MOST AREAS...PROVIDING
LITTLE RELIEF FROM THE HEAT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY
THE EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING CONTINUES THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING.
THURSDAY AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES...THOUGH DROPPING...ARE EXPECTED
TO BE 95 TO AROUND 100. TEMPERATURES BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON WILL DROP
TO THE 85 TO 95 RANGE.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
$$

Very hard for those living there, and the environment. Why?

The answer shows up in our satellite image from this morning. The Polar Orbiting Satellite swaths here show hot dry air with a strong upper-level high pressure ridge extending north along the West Coast from the subtropics all the way to the Arctic Ocean.

State-of-the-science numerical forecast models are showing this ridge weakening over the west coast of OR/WA, but still remaining the dominant feature over British Columbia, Eastern Alaska, and Northwest Canada even out at day 7.

Good news for those in western WA and OR, some relief from the heat is coming.

Things are not so rosy in interior Alaska as well. Fairbanks has only picked up .04 of rain since June 28. With none expected the next few days, thanks to the persistent high pressure ridging, July 2009 will rank as the driest July ever and driest summer month ever, since records began in 1904.

High pressure ridging has been dominating our interior Alaska weather since late June. First, directly over the area, then gradually moving north. Then, over the past 10 days, re-building north, to our east over Canada, up the Pacific coast. Putting the central and eastern interior under a very warm southerly chinook flow.

Our trees have been gradually showing the effect over the last few weeks. Especially in the hills, where there is no real water table for our shallow-rooted trees to draw moisture from. The reason they are shallow-rooted is that historically, July and August are our wettest months, with 2 or more inches of rain, on the average each month. And with average highs of 65-73, evapotranspiration demands aren't usually overwhelming for our Taiga, or Boreal Forest, stands of Birch/Aspen/Balsam Poplar, and White/Black Spruce. With our short summers, and only 5-6 month snow-free period, historically, the trees usually were able to obtain their necessary moisture in the top few feet of the ground. The small hardwoods adjacent to A.P.R.'s Chena Ridge Research Centre are showing the stress. The smaller willows, birch, and aspen are turning yellow from drought stress, while the leaves on the larger ones are wilting. The spruce are similarly drying, but are not quite as obvious.

That also means we are having a real fire season this year in Interior Alaska, up to near 2 million acres burned already. After three slow seasons in 2006/07/08, conditions are back to bring above average (910,000 acres 1955-2008) wildfire activity.

With another week or longer of dry weather, and records being smashed in Fairbanks, and other interior locations, we'll likely get to at least 3 million, maybe 3.5, before things slow down by September. Due to the longer nights, and lower sun angles,

shortening the daily burning period, even if rain continues to be meager.

Thus, our fire danger chart, left, shows most of the central and eastern interior in the Very High to Extreme fire danger category.

What a difference one year makes. One year ago at this time, record heavy rains across the interior brought flooding to many areas in the Central and Eastern Interior.

Including here in Fairbanks, to the left.

And, Nenana, above, which is 45 miles downstream (west) along the Tanana River from Fairbanks.

Somewhat ironic, since I was driving and working along these very same streets from July 08-July 22, providing weather forecast support to one of the larger fires in the state. The Minto Flats South fire, which is currently up to around 300,000 acres, and was about 10 miles west of Nenana.

This picture of a plume on the south edge of the fire burning at 930 pm in the evening of July 21, I thought particulary interesting. The plume extends up to at least 20,000 feet. Smoke from the Wood River fire, 27 miles south of Fairbanks, is streaming over in an east flow aloft, and capping the plume from the Minto Flats fire. Southeast winds interacting with the inflow winds over the intense fire in crowning black spruce (flame lengths over 80 feet), induced a rotation in the entire column. Eerie, yet beautiful... almost like a living, breathing creature.

This means that our graph of Alaska seasonal wildfire acreages, left, will have another spike on it, for 2009, to at least 3 million. Or about halfway up the chart. What is that saying? That higher acreage years have been occurring more often, and have been larger, since about 1986. Which agrees with data from the western lower 48 states as well, where similar trends are occurring.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/313/5789/940

How will this keep playing out? Well, that's one thing being examined heavily at the University of Alaska. Climate change research focused on the Arctic is very prominent here. http://www.acia.uaf.edu/

In fact, my thesis project for my M.S. in Forestry/Natural Resources Management, involves using a linear regression model relating upper-air weather parameters that estimate seasonal wildfire acreage accumulations in interior Alaska (Rsq=.80), with climate change modeling outputs of those weather parameters. To estimate seasonal wildfire acreages in 2060 and 2080. The results aren't in yet, but I think it's safe to say that the trend line on our actual acreage chart will continue it's upward trajectory. Which translates to higher, more frequent spikes. Thus, acting as a "Positive Feedback" mechanism, adding more CO2 to the atmosphere, adding to warming already occurring, which will melt more permafrost, lead to greater wildfires, producing more warming, etc..." Scary. What will stop it?

So far, all of the fires are far enough from the major population centres to only merit occasional fly-overs, or focused small groups of fire-fighting operations around a few cabins or timber allotments.

Meaning, they are just nuisances so far to us in Fairbanks. The daily plume from the now 80,000 acre Wood River Fire (started by lighting 7/12) pushes toward Fairbanks every afternoon from it's source 27 miles south of town. Sometimes providing dramatic shading, and the usual smell and haze. All depending on the direction of the prevailing winds.

So, I may have to go out and work on another fire, if one grows a great deal, in our continuing dry weather, and threatens designated resources or population areas. Fortunately, I will be able to fast-pack the Chilkoot Trail with my friend Erik Hursh this weekend, in near-perfect conditions, thanks to the high pressure ridge.

There is a "cutoff low-pressure system" forecast to develop off the Northern Calif. and OR coasts early next week. Those are capable of generating intense lightning events in those normally thunderstorm-scarce areas. Large and persistent fires (because of the incredible fuel loadings of the big trees) sometimes occur there which can last until November. So, it's possible that very large fires will be developing there next week as well. Especially since the preceding heat will have really dried things out.

The A.P.R. staff traveled to Denali NP Tuesday (7/28), to give a presentation to tourists in the park. About park weather and Denali weather for climbing. Which went very well, there was great interest in the park climate record, and climbing weather on the Mountain.

Afterward, we stopped at the Mt. Healy trail, that goes steeply up one of the fore-ranges of the main crest of the Alaska Range. The trail is quite steep most of the way. However, with our strong south flow aloft, being on the west portion of the upper ridge, strong chinook winds, funneled through the Nenana River Canyon, were blowing. You can see the picture above, the air is clear, thanks to those winds, but the Minto Flats fire, 40 miles north, is cooking, in the bright sun, and broad southeast flow of wind (maybe 10-15 mph). This plume easily extends 20-25 thousand feet up in the atmosphere.

We thought it highly ironic, and interesting, to see one of our coal plants, which burns low-grade lignite coal mined in the vicinity with the large fire in the background. What do you think? And interesting too, because this valley, that Healy is in, is incredibly windy, because of terrain-channeling (like Altamont and Beaumont pases in California) . Large-scale wind-power generation would be very successful there.

Since we didn't start our hike until 9 pm, we only hiked up for about 90 minutes. But the evening light and view was quite grand.

Mattie and Homer were greatly enjoying themselves, note their long shadows. The wind in most areas, wasn't too bad, 20-40 mph. Tolerable. And it was fairly warm, 65 degrees.

However, as we got higher, the winds became stronger. Finally, at a saddle to a higher ridge, probably around 5000-5500 feet (the start was about 1800 feet), sustained winds were south 50-60 mph. We snapped this self-timer picture as we and the camera were blowing around. Mattie's ears are pretty comical in the wind.

But this was too much, since I was in my Chaco sandles, I didn't want to get blown off the trail. We headed down.

Homer surprised a 20-something hippie-type dude coming up the trail. He shreaked and jumped, when he came upon our veteran editorial assistant, thinking him a wild wolf as he rounded the corner. Homer took it all in stride though. He's used to it. Being between .25 and .50 wolf (I need to do a background check), visually, he is quite striking. But as gentle and kind as any canine I've ever seen. We all laughed though, once we met up, and I explained the situation.

Cheers.