Jay and Phinn Camping Trip

 With Amanda out of town Phinn and I loaded up the truck and headed east toward Glennallen.  We put over 500 miles on the truck and had a blast.

 Can you see the sheep?

 Wrangell-St. Elias is the largest National Park with over 13 million acres (the entire state of Massachusetts is 5 million).  This park was formed in 1980, there is limited access (charter planes only),  they allow hunting for rural inhabitance (very unique for a National Park) and with the bordering park in Canada make up the largest wild preserve on the planet.

 Old fish wheel.  The current of the river spins it, then it scoops up the salmon, then when it is at the top of the cycle the slanted basket dumps the fish into the hold.   wicked smart.

 Just south of Glenallen is the Klutina River where it meets the Copper River.  The Red Salmon were there and so were the fisherman and women.  I saw a bald eagle swoop down and steal a fisherman's catch and this overweight guy screaming and chasing the eagle (ha!).  I could not get a bite.

 Fresh Red Salmon

 Then we drove north to the Denali Hwy.

 Phinn loves this road

 2 Bald Eagles

 In flight

 Campsite for the night

 When we were cooking dinner we heard some wolves howl.  Had to keep the 44mag by my side.

 What a nice night to fish

 Arctic Grayling.  Coming to Alaska my goal was to catch Salmon (which I have done).  My next goal was to land a Grayling.  They call this the "sailfin of the north"  I will remember this fish my whole life.

 Grayling #2.  That is a really big one.

 Phinn chasing the ducks.

 Midnight Sun

 Feelin' the love of Alaska summer (despite not having Amanda near).

 Jay and Phinn in the bed of the truck for the night

 Sunday Morning.

 It is 48 degrees, but the sun was shinning.  I was wearing flip flops, sunscreen and short sleeves.  It feels like 75 degrees in New England

Ride home.  Notice that line below the mountains, that is the Alaskan Pipeline.  We had 275 miles to drive home.  Made a phone call to Dad for fathers day and got to talk with Uncle Dann, Grampa and Dot.  Then I headed back over to the Klutina River to fish for 4 hours.  I had one fish on, it was an awesome fight for a minute but I could not land it.  The grocery store is selling Copper River Red Salmon for $19.99 a pound, so going home empty handed was a little disappointing.  All in all it was a stellar weekend.  Summer in Alaska really is something to love.