Arctic Adventures

We don't really need an excuse to go camping; however, we have been without sewer/draining for a few weeks and kind of figure we'd might as well be out.  (The sewer pipe got crushed when a sink hole collapsed....or something along those lines.  We have water coming into the house, but have to collect the drain water to dump outside and use honeybuckets in the bathroom.). We went down to the Eli the other weekend and found a good camping spot near some lakes we could hike to.  The weather was absolutely beautiful.  It. was. hot!  On our way down, we saw an eagle on a nest, but as soon as we got close, it started circling and squawking at us.  We found a good rocky shore to set up camp right across the river from a good hiking spot.   After we got the tent set up and the kids were so energetic (read: wild and crazy).  They made up all kinds of versions of tag.  This little stick teepee was "base;" they'd run around and then slide und

"There's nothing better than camping in Alaska."  -Oren James  This is the first Spring that we've had the boat in the water, so we made the most of it and camped last weekend.   On the way down we saw a moose on the river bank.   The water was pretty high so we went down to Nunakruk (totally didn't spell that right) and took a creek into some lakes.    We looked in the large lake first, but there was still lots of ice.  .  Specklebelly Geese on the big lake. We found a smaller lake to set up camp on.   Can you spy our tent? After we had camp all organized we hiked to a pingo (permafrost hill). This picture makes me smile because it's so typical.  There are so many plants and little creatures on the way that capture the boys' attention.   Our hikes end up being quite slow placed.  Anya typically rides in the backpack, but she is getting better at walking on the tundra.  When we got to the hill she climbed up on her own.   Hiking up the hill. We love spring