a walk along the lake

Over the weekend things at Lake Clark National Park went pretty quiet. Jerry the ranger cruised the near reaches of the lake to check the locals' fish nets to make sure they were legal. Most everyone else had the weekend off, and they were fishing too.

Back at the NPS Alaska Region Office I had been helping out Page, Lake Clark’s chief of natural resources - classifying thousands of digital photographs she had taken in the national park, by adding keywords in a computer program I’d never used before. It was a confounding yet enjoyable task - the program shyly revealed itself over subsequent sessions while the photos instantly spoke volumes of the wonders of the park. I had difficulty trying to decide on the appropriate keywords for some shots- ice; coast; lake; mountains; montane; landscape - as far as I could tell with my keen summer eye, the winter vistas melded together. Photos of bears, wolves, bald eagles, salmon, moose carcasses and wolverines were much easier to distinguish - and were very entertaining - in the absence of seeing the real thing. So on this quiet Saturday afternoon, after a 3 hour ‘walk’ around the lake edge, I continued on with classifying the photos. My walk had not been without excitement. As I wandered toward the lake I was aware I was probably trespassing through much private property, unable to distinguish driveways from roadways, or know allotment boundaries from unfettered lands. At least I was cognisant of my tenuous position and I was on the ready to apologise profusely in the event I was challenged by someone with a shotgun as a persuader. It also occurred to me, as made my way through the forest, that I hadn’t packed bear spray and I was by myself and no-one really knew what I was up to. I added ‘annoyed bear’ to the ‘angry landholder’ watch and continued on, all six senses on high alert.

After a while I spied a young woman near a well hidden, yet impressive, two-storey log house who was packing luggage in a golf cart - the preferred mode of transport around Port Alsworth, (next to the runabout and the float plane) and I realised the road I was walking along was actually a driveway. “Hi” I said in a friendly tone - “I’m trying to get to the lake”. She introduced herself as the niece of one of the founding Alsworths and pointed out a well used narrow track down a steep bank to the lake. She suggested I walk along the shore ‘til I reached a cliff, when she explained I would need to turn back and retrace my steps. I introduced myself, thanked her and then continued on to the lake.  

The shore was haphazardly flagged by a two metre wide margin of book-sized, flat, white rocks that looked remarkably like sandstone, thrown all askew. A rainbow of lichens grew in selected spots along with wildflowers that sprang from neat green beds of mosses, framed artistically by driftwood brought ashore by wind driven waves. As I took photos I considered my possible personal classification system of the pictures I had been capturing on this trip...nature’s art? crazy american stuff! the joys of experiential travel!! and self indulgence!!!...oh well it is my journey! Sooner than I had expected I reached the cliff and I was annoyed. I wasn’t ready to stop here! Surely there was a way around. I considered climbing up. Nope. I mentally added ‘brains dashed out on rocks while foolishly climbing around slippery cliff’ to the ‘annoyed bear’ and ‘angry landholder’ hazards. After a moment of argument between ‘logical me’ and ‘adventuresome me’, we, that is me and ‘Ms Adventuresome’, ignored the voice of reason and clambered around the cliff. I nearly fell off once and it was only sheer bloody mindedness that spurred me on past what was actually logical and reasonable, in order to prove ‘Ms Logical’ a needlessly irritating worry-wart. Hmmm. 

Past the cliff test and I wasn’t going to let a thick tangle of alder bushes growing in water stop me from my quest to continue around the lake to my mental finishing spot, back at the 2nd runway at Port Alsworth and in doing so claim a victory over Ms You-Know-Who. A high bank prevented me from avoiding all this unpleasantness and to add injury to insult every branch I pushed aside, stepped over, or shimmied under yielded a cloud of miniature biting insects that were happily disturbed to find their favoured prey item: one chemical free, Australian woman with exceedingly thin, white skin. 'YUM!!' I could hear them all buzz in unison! Add bug dope to the list of things I had omitted to provision myself with on this quest that was becoming more ludicrous by the moment. ‘Bug dope?’ I can hear you asking? It’s personal insect repellant - the more chemicals the better! In fact you can buy ‘sport’ clothes infused with DEET - and at Walmart what’s more! As it happens Alaska is renown for it’s suite of biting insects including 35 species of mosquitos, tiny insects known as “no see ums” and “white socks” that both draw blood and enrage your skin with an allergic cocktail of acid saliva and believe me - they are all voracious. Some people resort to head nets to protect their face from the uncomfortable and temporarily disfiguring effects of these tiny monsters.   

Undeterred and doggedly determined, I struggled through the alder, my boots becoming saturated, as the drone of a motor boat approached. It was Jerry. I smiled cheerfully from under a particularly large and heavy alder bush, clouds of insects buzzing around my head, ankle deep in the by now, muddy lake edge. ‘You are bush bashing!‘ he unhelpfully observed. “Yes, the lake is certainly beautiful” I countered, hoping all the while that he would pull the boat up to my side, forcing me to abandon this lunacy I seemed so wedded to, and I would have no choice but to get in the boat through sheer politeness. Nope! That was it, with a wave and purr of the motor Jerry released me into my own recognisance. 'All good' I thought as I jollied myself along - it can’t be too much further around. Well, a good hour later with squelchy boots and in full view of a group of tourists waiting for a guide to take them fishing, I made another, although much shorter cliff scramble, then retreated to an accessible but possibly bear infested forest behind the alders and emerged victorious! I hastily beat my retreat, removed my sodden boots and enjoyed the overheated office and the photos that comfortably and safely toured me around the park for the rest of the afternoon.  

(photos to be added when internet speed allows)