Bears, Bears, and Bears, Oh My!

It was an interesting day in the forest...but that's what we get for going to a National Park instead of a National Forest (tongue in cheek, *wink*wink*).  We decided to go to Exit Glacier and do the 8.2 mile round trip to the Harding Ice Field.  Unfortunately we didn't make it for a number of reasons.  First, the mountains were mostly socked in, thus removing some of the point because we wouldn't be able to see a whole lot.  Second, after taking about two pictures my camera died, further removing some of the purpose for the hike (not saying that we NEED to take pictures to have fun, but how can we show you all what you are missing if we can't photograph it).  Finally, the hike wore us out in an unexpected way; we saw no less than 5 different black bears in the first 2 miles.  First we saw two first-summer bear cubs that were way up in a tree directly above the trail, and despite the fact that we did know where their mother was, we couldn't help but stop and check them out for a couple of minutes...and then go running back after we realized that we had Rachel's phone to take pictures with.  We continued up the trail and then ran into 3 black bears, fully grown this time, one of which gave us the "stomp and huff" because we got a little too close...while not even knowing it was there.  Fairly soon after that we came to the first "viewing area" of the glacier, where you get to look out over the whole of Exit Glacier...very cool!  We decided at that point that it was time to go back down, and after about five minutes wished that we had decided to head down sooner...we got stuck behind a huge group of people that were part of a guided group that went out onto the glacier.  Most of them didn't really seem like the type to be out doing something like that, but there they were, stopped in the middle of the trail because the guide did not want to go down the trail past the black bear cubs in the tree, because he didn't want to spook one of them back up the tree.  We totally understand until we have been standing between the 2 bear cubs in the tree and the 3 fully-grown black bears further up the mountain for 30 minutes...not to mention the fact that we are the only ones in what because a group of more than a dozen that had any form of bear deterrent.  But we finally got past and made it down.  IT WAS AWESOME!  Pictures of the bears to come...after we can find a way to get them off of Rachel's phone.

Take care everyone!
Rachel and Ben

The Beginning

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to the lives of Ben and Rachel Herrington.  We are very excited that you have all been able to join us on this journey that we call “life”.  For those who have just begun following us and do not understand what all of the hullabaloo is about let us be the first to tell you.  Just two months ago we decided to leave our nice peaceful home in Livingston, Montana, and not just move to another state, but move to ALASKA!  Ben was the first one to get a job working for the Forest Service out of Kenai Lake Work Center and Rachel quickly followed with a job there as well.  Ben got to enjoy a nice and uneventful trip up via airplane three weeks before Rachel and her Mom began the rugged, rough, and strung-out journey up the AlCan Highway accompanied by two dogs and two cats.  Ben luckily found a home for the family of six the day that Rachel and her Mom arrived.  What a lucky boy that he did not have to experience the wrath of two women who had been on the road for four days with animals on drugs.  

The house that we live in is quaint and will definitely allow us to work more on our relationship and force us to face each other no matter what arises.  The only place we can hide from each other is the bathroom (the only room with a door on it that still does not latch) and as we all know, unless you have a bladder infection there really is no need to be in the bathroom longer than 15 minutes with the door closed.  We have two “rooms” that encompass the whole house that we live in.  The one room holds our bedroom and living room which has been dubbed the “LivingBedroom.”  The other room encompasses our laundry room and kitchen.  We then have the bathroom, one closet, and one pantry and that is our new home.  We would post pictures (and may possibly still) but pictures make our place actually look bigger!  

As for jobs, Ben is having a lot of fun with his job.  He is still working with Developed Recreation, the same job as he had with the Livingston District, and is still really enjoying it.  His boss is a lot of fun and we have never met somebody with more stories to tell.  In just the past week he had a bald eagle attack him and the fish that he had just caught, as well as having a dog break into his garage and kill five of his nine chickens.  The whole crew that Ben works with is a lot of fun and they really enjoy their time together.  Rachel is doing well with her job and enjoying the people that she works with as well.  We have had two other of her co-workers over to the house a lot and they have been very helpful in making us feel at home and helping us find our place in the last frontier.  We get to work together some days and those are always fun days.  It has been over a year of marriage and we are not tired of spending as much time with each other as possible yet.  

The church is very small, but we are finally starting to find a place there as well.  Ben was asked just last week how he would like to help out and participate in the service.  We will both be able to hopefully do some fishing with the preacher and his son-in-law in the weeks to come.  The son-in-law has a boat that we can take out and do some pretty intense fishing (yay, for Halibut).  We have been to the Russian River and checked out the fishing there.  They just opened up the season for Red Sockeye Salmon and they call it "combat fishing" because most of the fishermen are shoulder to shoulder with the bears on the other side of the river (or sometimes right behind them).  A lot of the salmon have to come up through that river to lay their eggs and then die so it is prime fishing grounds, although very crowded.  We get our own special parking spots when working with the Forest Service and we like to take advantage of those to just watch the madness and help keep people safe.  

The wildlife in the area is amazing.  There are bald eagles all over the place, moose, bear, beaver, arctic terns, mew gulls, mountain goat, dall sheep, otters, wolverines, caribou, porcupines, dogs, and the state bird...the mosquito.  They have what I like to call “special forces” for the animals that get hit on the road.  If an animal, such as a moose, is hit there is a group that will come out as fast as possible to pick up the animal and try to save as much of the meat as possible to give to shelters to help those in need.  It is a great service provided by the state of Alaska.

 

For those of you who live in Montana, especially close to Livingston, we live in a place in comparison to Mill Creek.  The town that we live near is called Moose Pass and the population is about 250.  It is a great little town.  Last weekend they hosted their Solstice Festival which we went to experience.  The whole town came out for it and they were so excited that most people prepared at least two days in advance by mowing their lawns, hanging flags, and decorating their houses.  It is the biggest event this little town has all year.  Our one post office lady (it only has one worker) was so excited about it that she encouraged us to join in the town celebration, which we were glad that we did afterwards.  

Well, this post so far is turning into a novel and we do not want to lose all of you who are going to be our faithful readers.  We are truly enjoying our time in the state known as the "last frontier" (Star Trek was wrong, it's not space) and look forward to making it our home more and more.  Our door (and our couch/floor) is always open to those who need a place while visiting the great north, and we look forward to being able to post more about our adventures and hearing from all of you as well.

P.S. In case you were wondering why we are "aspiring sourdoughs" let us explain.  A "Sourdough" is a nickname used in the North (Yukon/Alaska) for someone who has spent an entire winter north of the Arctic Circle and refers to their tradition of protecting their Sourdough during the coldest months by keeping it close to their body.  The sourdough tradition was carried into Alaska and the western Canadian territories during the Klondike Gold Rush.  For those of you who want, please feel free to follow us as we aspire to this great tradition (minus the actual Sourdough, because that's a little gross).