So, with Friday out of the way Rob and I headed up the Steese again for a bit more stupidity. Didn't get out real early, sevenish. That's okay, what's the rush, right. Yeah, started off the trip with a visit to Helen's. She and Sarah, (both ARCUS people I think) just got some baby chickens for eating. Apparently no one from the FDA had approved their pen and the chicken's water supply so I investigated part of the water delivery unit (try #1, try #2) try #3:

(... and why is stuff like that such a magnet for my head?)

So, once we got out of town it was a pretty nice night. A quick stop near Boston Creek (where I sort of have a data station still) scored us a ton of wood from the recently trimmed power line trail:


...Thanks for wondering about the status of our previous wood source. It remains unfilled and it looks like some little animal might have some trouble at the pearly gates:


So, we headed back to the 12 mile camp from a couple weeks ago. Incredibly, despite arriving around 10 no one was camped there yet. The food was good (although perhaps overly meaty again... since coming back tonight to balance all that out I've eaten 1/2 pound of baby carrots and started eating a head of lettuce like an apple until I couldn't do it anymore... yeah, it doesn't work all that well to begin with):


The scenery was awesome like always:


... The dogs were happy:

You might notice Bergey's on the leash here. My dogs rock. I love them to death. At this campsite here it's a big gravel pit. Bergey's been so annoying with her barking at strangers that she's scared away three of four redneck would-be camper types. But I started putting her on the leash until they left. Midge even got in on the act last night. Her bark is woeful. She's such a sweety she never barks so when she does it sounds like a person trying to sing first thing in the morning just after they've woken up. Quality.

Of course, as the night went on things went downhill:

Earlier in the day Rob had picked up this flint & steel from in town. I think it's the new flavor sensation sweeping the nation. I picked one up last year and use it to start everything now and I highly recommend it. They may seem a little scary survivalist but if you get a cool one that has a huge flint then they're the best. You can start your coleman stove or even a regular fire pretty easily with the flint and scraper and don't have to contend with wind like you do with a lighter or matches.

Finally, a bit of healthy breakfast from this morning before the rain and hail started (we waited it out rather than fleeing back to Fairbanks in the vehicles):


...and check out who's getting along now:

How funny is that! That stick's a bit of a peace offering. The dogs loved that stick even if they couldn't move it very far.

Today finished up with a quick trip to Eagle Summit. The bugs were annoying (even by my lower than low standards) but the cool part was seeing my first Steese highway caribou today. Hopefully there's more to come but this guy was a cool first start. He ran alongside the road for a quarter mile or so:


So, I guess another high quality full summer weekend... back to Nome Tuesday and Wednesday and who knows what next weekend! So, catch you later in the week maybe.