Memorial weekend at the yurt (PICTURE HEAVY)

For Memorial Day this year we joined our good friends at the Eagle River Nature Center at a yurt they had rented for the holiday. We just spent the afternoon (not enough room for us to stay all night) and it was raining so we just gathered together and had fun watching the Eagle River flow by.  It was a lot of fun and the company was awesome.
So the ERNC is about 10 miles from our house and is one edge of the Chugach State Park. There are 10 miles of trails that start there and many different views to be seen. We hiked in about 2 miles or so to one of several yurts available to rent in the Park.

 At the turn in the path we came across the notice that bears had been seen in that area the day prior. They are all around out there but the particular path we were on runs by the river and in August every year it is closed due to high bear activity as that is when the salmon runs are ending and they can get lots of salmon little effort. They are very territorial when food is scarce and the sign says two bears (grizzlies) were acting aggressively toward each other in that area.  All the years I have lived here I still am not fond of the bears. Brisk walking on towards the yurt for me.

 picture taken from the yurt down to the river, the rope is necessary as it is steeper than it looks and there are lots of rocks to slip on in the rain.

 the yurt. this is one of the smaller yurts, sleeps 4 it says-2 bunks, 2 on the floor. It has open screened windows that overlook the river.

 The path behind the yurt. Rock as far as you care to walk.

 The small green box on the right of the picture is the food storage away from the yurt. It is bear proof  for all the edible stuff to go at night.

 Coffee is a necessity for some of us and our friends teenager brought his Miniexpresso machine.  I just had to laugh. Nothing like expresso in the woods.

 We had planned to do a fire pit but the rain kept us inside. The park supplies the wood. We cooked our food over Sterno ovens and were careful to keep all the food away from the Yurt as much as possible. Bears have a strong sense of smell....we did cook S'mores over the sterno oven with metal tongs the Park provided in the Yurt. We made sure that all the crumbs were cleaned up and got the dog to do a final pass through for crumbs around the camp.

 Another shot of the Eagle River. It is glacier fed that is why the gray color to it. It is a fast moving river with rapids that are not for the faint of heart or untrained.

 Outhouse not far from the camp. With bears around I am afraid it would not be a trip I would be making at night.

 I love the mist over the mountains. Am always fascinated by watching it.

So no stitching on this trip but thought you might like to see a little bit of my corner of Alaska. Next update will have stitching updates I promise. I am off to stitch and hope you have lots of stitchy time in your day. 

Marjo