Day 15 A Day of R&R, throwing rocks

Dear Diary, 

            We slept like logs but were up by 7AM.  Habits of the road.  We took our time as it was very cold last night but the little furnace in the RV kept us warm and we were rolled up in blankets.  We began the morning with a fry up American style.  Sausage links, scrambled eggs with cheese and Pancakes made with vanilla yogurt and sliced almonds and real maple syrup.  Yum!  We deserve it!  Get the campfire going again.  Wearing long underwear and many layers.  It’s cold and overcast.  We put on our Merrill hikers and go for a long hike along the lakeshore.  The shore has all sizes of rocks to stones to pebbles to coarse sand.  The glaciers have made it all.  Kluane is the largest lake in the Yukon so it’s huge.  It’s also frozen but we notice spots that are thawed near the shore so we take large rocks and begin to help break-up by knocking off the edges of ice flows.  It sounds strange but fun to do.  The floes near the shore are at least a foot thick so when they splinter it’s like shards of glass.  When they break off it’s like mini icebergs. And as the floes move and when they are broken they sound like plates breaking, wind chimes or snap, crackle, pop.  We spend a lot of time doing this and enjoy ourselves.  Of course, the whole time we are hiking and having fun with rocks we are watching around us and always looking over our shoulders for bears mostly. There is every kind of rock you can imagine.  The variety is amazing.  No two alike and each a different type.  The water is so clear that the stones look like artwork in the water. Just because we haven’t seen animal signs doesn’t mean they’re not here.  The day really starts to warm and the sun comes through.  What beautiful views.  We have to remove all the layers, it’s too much now.  The Kluane range forms a wall of peaks on one side, the Ruby Ridge peaks form a wall on the other side.  And the great St Elias Range stand tall on the south.  We take our camp chairs and snacks and sit on a ridge above the beach.  We watch as the larger more distant ice sheets begin to move.  The noise gets louder as the different ice sheets start to move against each other.  There are large ice shards punching up into the air from the pressure.  We watch a huge storm form over the St Elias and can hear thunder in the distance.  The storm moves across the lake and we watch the black clouds dumping rain over there.  We get a few drops on our side but not enough to take cover.  It is hard to describe the immensity of proportion of this land.  We’re just a speck and watching nature unfold.  While the few rain drops come down we play another game of Scrabble to pass the time.  We are able to keep the campfire all day.  Rain over, we take a hike through the park designated path.  They describe various aspects of the land and the native people who inhabited it.  The sign says this side of the lake gets very little rain but when it does they have terrible floods.  This sandy, stony soil cannot hold the water.  We finally see moose nuggets (droppings), we saw where they were eating but the sure sign are the nuggets.  We also notice all the low growing tiny plants that are seen in sub arctic and arctic areas.  And we see cotton grass which we believe is a tundra type plant.  And we see what we think are soapberries growing close to the ground looking like a cranberry.  They are not ripe but there are so many, no wonder the bears claim this area in summer.  There are a variety of birds but no water fowl in this area of the lake yet for obvious reasons.  But we saw a pair of swans and wood ducks yesterday in the thawed southern portion.  The campground has practically cleared out.  We see one of the Alaska convoy pull in.  They have just left Skagway and had a great time.  It’s four men sharing the RV.  They have the largest model offered.  It would be easier to have 4 drivers and share the costs 4 ways, but that’s a man thing and too much togetherness in Pat’s opinion.  They close down their camp very early.  We figure they had a very good time in Skagway last night.  It’s warm and pleasant again.  The noise from the lake keeps us alert.  So, we go down there for a few more rock throws and another look at the incredible views.  There are no ground squirrels here or any other active animal, not sure why.  We have our dinner and sit by the fire.  Pat has to make s’mores on the super hot coals of the campfire.  A few more campers have arrived but not as many as last night.  We are lucky to still have the whole cul-de-sac to ourselves and our little beach entrance.  Chuck is really tired and is going to bed early.  We go over the US border tomorrow heading for Valdez.  We believe it is pushing too hard to try to go all the way.   So looking for a spot between Tok cutoff and Glenallen.  We have cleaned up the camp and can leave by 7AM.  We have only battery and propane so will have to turn on the generator to make our coffee.  We’re far enough away from the other campers it should be okay.  It’s our one sticking point.  Fresh brewed coffee before hitting the road.  And we make sure we have enough water supply to make it!  The sun is behind the mountain but there will be some light most all night.  Everything has gotten very quiet.  The sun basically sets in the north west and rises in the north east, not much down time for the sun here.  We arrange curtains and such to block as much light as we can.  We’ve had no Internet access for a couple days and no cell phone access at all.  Keeping the blog in WORD so it can be transposed.  But it is written at the end of every day.   Time for sleep.  Miles: 0  Travel Time: 0  Busy day as always.  Nighty night.