August 31st, 2009

One final day of the summer at my little home-site. Emily and I were planning to camp out there but arrived to Talkeetna at darkfall - around 10pm - and camped instead at my favorite little hostel by the airport. After a beautiful and rainy week in Denali NP, the hostel was a lot comfier and a lot easier than trying to clear out a campsite amongst all the beautiful and heavy brush on my land.

Also, the hostel is always full of interesting people and this time was no exception. We met two Lithuanians who inspired us to grab the mushroom ID pamphlet. And we met ???? who ended up not only giving us a lift but also accompanying us to Golden Pond Circle. And it was still
as beautiful as when I first saw it. This time, the scraggly bushes on the edges of my trail had sprouted with a million cranberries, and, lame botanist that I am, I can now add High Bush Cranberry to my Flora list. And blueberries! Yum! The watermelon berries were already gone. But a ton mushrooms had sprouted with all the summer rain - we found false chantrelles and some type of boulin? and a few non-edibles as well. After spending some time figuring out which was which, we traipsed to the pond. Quiet today - no ducks.

I didn't do any calculations today, since I had company, but we did chat about possible homesites and ???? gave me the name of a woman builder in Talkeetna who I might try to contact next year.