Hello Everyone,

I have been back home now for about 2 weeks. Alaska was awesome. We counted about 27,000 sockeye salmon while I was there and had many other great experiences. I will write some more and put up pictures once I have a little more time. Check back within a couple of days.

Until then,

--Allan--

Last Night in Civilization...

Hey Everyone,

Toinight is my last night here at home base in Kenai. Tomorrow morning at 4:oo am (8:00 your time) I head out with Nathan (the other guy I will be staying with up at Shell Lake) and Paul (the guy who will be taking us up there to set up our weir) to Anchorage. Our plane leaves Anchorage at 8 (noon your time) and then we fly about an hour to Shell Lake. Hopefully we can get our weir set up completely tomorrow.

Its been fun around camp getting to know other people up here. Two girls just left for Byers Lake yesterday (farther than Shell Lake but it is in a park where there is roads so they drove about 7 hours to get there) and the left Nate and myself here with Matt (a guy from Indiana who was an intern) and Kat (a girl from Kentucky who was also an intern in the past). Yesterday we went hiking up the Skyline Trail near here was about a mile long trail that took us up a small mountain(the picture was taken from the net, but that is the view I had halfway up the mountain). The view from up there was awesome. It took us two hours to get up and just over an hour to get back down. When we got back to the car, we found someone had broken in, took some stuff, and cut the fuel line (the gas was still draining when we got there so it was very recent). It happened around 11:00pm but fortunately it was still light out and the state trooper got there pretty fast.

Anyways, I hope all is going well where you are. I will be back in Kenai around the end of August so look for an update then.

Until next time...

Allan

Switching Camps

Hey everyone,

That picture I posted yesterday was the lake I was going to be at. Now, though, I have been switched to Shell Lake. It is a little farther north and there will probably be more salmon going through (40-60,000). Also, I will not be getting a cabin at the new sight, I will be sleeping in a Weatherport which is like a large, heavy duty tent. The location of Shell Lake is in the shot below.

Until next time...

Allan

Alaska Bound...

Hey everyone,

I'm sitting here in the Minneapolis airport on my way to Anchorage and figured I would post a picture of where I will be going in Alaska. This picture is of Judd Lake but I am not sure if that is my cabin or something else. I will be flown in on a float plane though. I think I have a week in Kenai before I head up there though, during which time I hope to make a trip down to Seward (hitchhiking) .

Well, until next time,

Allan

Welcome

On July 11th, 2007, I will be traveling to Kenai, Alaska to start a 2 month internship studying the migrating salmon. Kenai will be the home base, but I will be stationed at Judd Lake, a small lake almost due west of Anchorage.

While I am at Judd Lake, I will be responsible for counting, measuring, weighing, and monitoring the salmon that come through our weir (dam). Last summer, around 30,000 salmon came through the stream that I will be watching.

In Alaska, I will be surrounded by mountains, forests, the river, and the lake. Sightings of moose and bear are common. I will be in constant contact with nature in one of the most remote and untouched parts of the world. I will be flown by float plane from Kenai to Judd Lake...it is the only means of access to the place I will be staying at.

More posts will be coming soon as I get closer to heading out. If you haven't checked out my other blog of my trip to Zambia , you can get to it here.

Until next time,

Allan