Standing in the Powder House restaurant parking lot offers one of the most stunning winter views in Cordova!
Once you move inside to dine who would want to sit with their back to the window?!?
The lakeside patio offers the same picture postcard shots as above, though I think I’ll wait till the springtime thaw to capture those!
Cordova’s harbor is the heartbeat of our remote city, especially during fishing season when the fishermen and net menders are coming and going. Now that fall has arrived the pace has slowed and things are calmer. Many of the seasonal fishermen are gone and their boats dry docked. While this may be the case, this evening view showcases the centrality of the harbor in our lives. Without it Cordova likely would not exist.
The small lakes on Pipeline Lake Trail remind me of ever changing jewels on a necklace! Just two weeks ago these lakes were white and still frozen by a long Alaskan winter. Now, as you can see, they have been transformed, seemingly overnight, to hues of blue….
Words escape me. All I can say is, It’s springtime at the harbor!!!
Pipeline Lakes Trail has become like a friend to me and spending time there reboots my week and recharges my batteries. I hike other trails, but almost feel unfaithful when I do! I’m afraid I might miss something with the passage of the seasons! Monday, two weeks ago, I thought of going to another trail but would have missed the overlap of winter and spring.
This is one of my favorite views on the Pipeline; I could stand on this spot and gaze for a lifetime!
This grassy meadow near Pipeline Lake Tail is a great place to soak up some vitamin D when weather and temperature permits. This past Monday was a glorious sunny day and it was a balmy 50+ degrees in the sunshine, a veritable springtime heatwave in our neck of the woods!
This fellow has been enjoying the grassy meadow long before we arrived in Alaska.
The view from the meadow isn’t bad either!
A home in NATURE
Since childhood distant mountains have called my name, beckoning me to them to make them my home.
Mountains and water combine forming a force that captures my heart and soul.
On the other side of those mountains lies Cordova, Mt. Eccles, Eyak Lake, Orca Inlet, and Prince William Sound….home….
This may be my last hike of the season before the snows come! I say this because every season has arrived early this year. Flowers were blooming in our neighbors yard on the last day of February! The salmonberries were here sometime in May and produced a bumper crop. Back in July the skunk cabbage was laying down and turning brown as if Fall was already here! In our three winters in Alaska snow has held off until sometime in November. I believe something is up this year, however, and I’m predicting an early winter and snowfall in October! We shall see!
These shots below were captured just off the Pipeline Lakes Trail, my favorite of the sixteen National Forest trails in and around our remote Alaskan town of Cordova.
There is something I love about Craggily Trees. It’s as if they are speaking to me saying, “I’ve endured the winds and storms of time. God has brought me through many a season. If he can do it for me, then he can do it for you!”
Can you see them? When we first moved to Cordova long time Cordovans would ask, Can you see the bear and the dancing lady? …to which I’d reply, Bear? Dancing Lady? What? Then, one day, I saw the large, black bear heading down the mountain catching a fish! A few days later the dancing lady jumped out at me! She’s behind the bear wearing a hat with a plumb. I was so excited that I immediately posted the above photo to FaceBook; a friend in Texas declared in his comment that on the left he saw a witch on a broom chasing the dancing lady! Sure enough she’s there!
During the winter all three snuggle down deep behind a blanket of snow. When spring arrives the bear comes out first looking for his fish! The lady and the witch, well they need their beauty sleep and take longer to emerge.
As summer approaches and the harbor comes alive, and the dancing lady and the witch join in the revery! If it’s a warmer than usual summer they’ll leave us all together and won’t return unit fall when the snows come again. They’ll reappear for a bit until they yawn and nestle down behind their blanket once again…
The beauty of this place astounds me…even on a cloudy day!
Photos from the Journey 
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