http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/beinak/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from beinak en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:38:30 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:38:30 +0000 After the float plane left we tried to paddle to the head of Lituya Bay. I learned this never try to paddle into an outburst flood. Seems ridiculous that we even tried but it was easy for a while. The tide was with us and the wind at our back we made good progress. Then we hit a wall of small icebergs where the outburst flood waters met the incoming tide. We got through them into a semi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Glacier-Bay/blog-449755.html 34He says Lituya Bay is full of ice and we won39t be able to land.34 I sat in the copilot39s seat in shock. The float plane was over Lake Crillon and we would reach Lituya Bay in minutes expecting to land and begin a week of wilderness adventure. Seems the adventure was already in full swing. 34I39m on the radio with another pilot and he says it was clear yesterday but today it http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Glacier-Bay/blog-445853.html Excursion Ridge it looks so close. On a clear day you can see individual trees quite well from Gustavus. ldquoLet's go there How hard could it berdquo Turns out it can be quite hard. Getting to the top of Excursion has a local history of colorful tales of slow uphill struggle and overnight bivouacs on steep wet slopes. There's no trail but there's nothing technical. It is more like bushw http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Glacier-Bay/blog-439816.html Mud and plenty of it. It is not so easy getting to the Brady Glacier... The Taylor Bay intertidal is a place to tread lightly very lightly. Craig and I learned this a couple years ago when we tried to paddle up the eastern tributary at low tide. Quicksand more accurately 'quickmud' is alive and waiting for you in the low intertidal. When our kayak 'grounded' out we tested the bottom by pro http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Glacier-Bay/blog-436976.html This morning I put on my dry suit to go skiing. My kayak buddy wrote on his Facebook status line last night that he was digging his kayak out of the snow. This morning we had to use hot water to liberate the pump bungeed to the kayak and held fast to the frozen ground. But the ocean was flat calm. We kayaked over to Pleasant Island and skied 5 blue sky sunny hours through the open muskeg to the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Glacier-Bay/blog-377666.html ldquoWhat is it like in Alaskardquo I was watching the lighting flash across the Buenos Aires night sky as we sat on a covered terrace in Palarmo last weekend. My Argentinean friends Javier and Griselda were curious... I described a landscape so different... cold snow very few houses a town were just about everyone knows each other. They made me promise to write a blog about it... this http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Glacier-Bay/blog-374352.html In Zimbabwe a couple years ago... gazing at Victoria Falls the Spanish fellow I was chatting with said 'It is nice but you should see Iguazu Falls.' Well... OK.I spent 2 days at Iguazu Falls last week. As one of my hostel roommates said 'That is too long you only need one day' but this fellow also thought I'd wasted a day reading in a hammock under the palm trees by the hostel pool. H http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Iguazu-National-Park/blog-368502.html The worlds most perfect icebergs... Antarctica I vote for Lago Argentino. I did a day long boat trip billed as 'All Glaciers'. Well we didnt go to all glaciers but it didnt matter. We saw a good selection of glaciers and the icebergs were spectacular. It was a day of contrasts. Rain sun huge lake stunning blue icebergs with just me and a couple hundred tourists on a small packed boat. St http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/Los-Glaciares-National-Park-/blog-365752.html I like to walk on ice. Buried down in my list of blogs there are... 3 other blogs with glacier walks all in Alaska. So when I saw excursions onto the ice offered at El Chalten and El Calafate I just had to go...There are at least four glacier walktreks available at El Chalten and El Calefate. I went on the mini ice trek in El Calafate and the Viedma glacier ice trek out of El Chalten. Both http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/Los-Glaciares-National-Park-/blog-365756.html The thing about maps is that the trails look so short on paper. I arrived in El Chalten on a blue sky day at about 630 in the morning after a 30 hour bus ride. After finding a hostel I glanced at a map picked a likely destination and started walking. Tee shirt and jeans were comfortable and the day looked great. I didnt know much about the place... my new travel philosophy is founded on la http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-363758.html I design space telescopes. I engineer lasers for eye surgery. I am a translator for the UN. I design wind farms. And today the beautiful Argentine woman in my hostel said to me I am a high altitude archaeologist I only work above 5000 meters 17000 feet. Wow Ive met some amazing people...On the trail in El Bolson I met two young German women who had hitchhiked all over Patagon http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/blog-363066.html I spent 6 days hiking around El Bolson. Each night sleeping in a different refugio. Refugios are rustic buildings and the surrounding areas that function as combination campsitesdormsrestaurantkitchen facilities and crash pads. Basically they are little communities in the wilderness populated by a couple caretakers and a daily rotation of trekkers. They are located in areas of interest alon http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Rio-Negro/El-Bolson/blog-361220.html The days dawn blue. Day after day. I spent a week in Bariloche and did something different everyday boat trip to the forests at Puerto Blest road tour to a glacial lake and waterfalls a kayak trip a long day hike to an alpine lake a rafting trip and a canopy tour via zip lines. The town itself is a bit touristy but theres a lot to do in the area. In the evenings I ate chocolate and beef.. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Rio-Negro/San-Carlos-de-Bariloche/blog-356759.html I watched families walking through the penguin colony families of humans... and I thought what would it be like as an Argentinean kid to grow up thinking 200000 breeding penguins are just a regular summer vacation experience. Cool... Normal vs. extraordinary depends on your perspective and life experiences I guess. I also kept thinking of the lone wolves Id seen scavenging empty beaches in http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Chubut/Punta-Tombo/blog-355715.html The right whale was right under the boat. The head was just below the gunnel the rest disappeared beneath the hull. The head nearly broke surface it was so shallow. The captain laughed at my concern as I stepped off the seat to the 'safety of the deck. At the start of the cruise the naturalists on board cautioned us that it was the end of the season and we might not see any whales. Once unde http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Chubut/Valdes-Peninsula/blog-354854.html I blend in here depending on what I wear. City residents occasionally ask me for directions and quickly switch to another passerby when I respond in my stumbling Spanglish. This is really different and good. In many countries the skin color and clothes are a neon signTourist Beg Here or Traveler Sell Curios Here... I spend a lot of time in a few of Buenos Aires many Plazas the lit http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-352808.html Three out of eight travelers in my spanish class have been robbed here in Buenos Aires. All in the last three weeks. One had her big backpack slashed at the bus station the day she arrived one had his day pack taken from beside his chair in a cafe and one as in me had their room broken into and all electronic gear liberated. My friend whos day pack got thiefed was distracted by one of the ro http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-352838.html Order a Ferrari then step across the street and buy a weed wacker. This is diversity. Everything you need or want in walking distance. At home in Alaska I have to get on a small plane just to browse a bookstore or visit a bakery. In Buenos Aires its all here at your toetips. Lets take a walk around one city block four sides of a square a single block on Avenue Uruguay and a rather smal http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-349414.html The whale room was awash with grade school students. Staring wideeyed at the stuffed gorilla sitting on the floor sketching and taking notes on the okapi. The three whale skeletons hanging from the ceiling were the capstone. A sperm whale fin whale and a right whale. I see humpbacks in the wild all the time and we have some bones lying around the office waiting for a display to be built. Bu http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Massachusetts/Boston/blog-346620.html Dripping nanochromatic ads are everywhere. Boston's South Station is flooded with them giant banners hanging from the ceiling along the walls. Double sided single sided backlit... Standing in one spot in the main hall of the train station I counted 40 nanochromatic iPod banners and 20 of those were double sided. More were visible as I moved through the station. I bet they pondered the poss http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Massachusetts/Boston/blog-345949.html