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UER Forum > Archived US: Pacific Northwest > Impromptu mini-adventure south of Anchorage, AK (Viewed 368 times) crows  Location: Eastern Iowa Il est interdit de faire smashy smash  |  |  Impromptu mini-adventure south of Anchorage, AK < on 12/30/2012 2:58 PM >   So, despite my staunch insistence that there would be no adventuring whilst in Alaska this winter (cold! Dark! Lots of crap going on! Mostly cold!), the eventual restlessness won, as it usually does. Catalyzing factors were having met up with AKphill earlier in the week and a chinook blowing in an above-freezing temperature for me. So I found out he was free, threw some gas in the car, and down the coast we drove. First, he was kind enough to conduct me to this little place, which I've driven past hundreds of times. Given that my penchant for doing this and the associated keen eye for jank didn't develop until after I left the state, I'd always made the natural assumption that, whatever it was, it was in use and not to be interfered with. It's right on the Turnagain arm, fairly clinging onto the rocks. Out there it's always windy to begin with, but with the chinook chinooking away, we picked out way down in a pretty stiff breeze to say the least. It's still pretty full of equipment, but it's also seen a fair amount of abuse. Most of the graffiti that was dated was from '11 and '12; I don't know when the facility was decommissioned. Maybe it was still functional when I lived here and that's why I never noticed it. Most of my interior shots came out a little grainy and blurry. They're not atrocious, but since he took much better ones and will likely post them, I'm only going to stick a few here. A little ways further up, the other drum is laying battered on the rocks among the stray railroad spikes and other detritus. The train went by on the tracks between us and the road shortly before we climbed back up the bank and made our windy way back to the car. And then we headed off further down the coast. To these! Which had been my only goal. I knew they weren't going to be much to see, and probably not feasible to actually reach given that they're in the middle of half-frozen marsh, but I wanted to add them to my dossier of crappy collapsed farm and homestead houses anyway. Especially since it's not any old crappy farmhouse. This ground sank several feet during the 1964 earthquake, bringing ocean water from the arm rushing in, which is why it's all brackish water marsh now. All along this stretch of the Seward, one passes through stands of dead spruce on either side of the road. Along with the occasional half-sunken shacks poking up from the swamp, they've been one of my favourite features of the landscape out here. There were a couple of other buildings out there but they were fairly obscured by trees. AKphill might have gotten some better ones; the zoom on my camera isn't fantastic. While we discussed that a closer inspection might be doable during summer months with a pair of good waders, neither of us were keen to tromp down in there from the shoulder yesterday. And then we went home. Thanks for the company and the guidance, AKphill! I hope we have another opportunity to go exploring at some point. input: bacon | output: fiction Tenebrae  Location: The Wild West Life's short; eat dessert first.  |  Re: Impromptu mini-adventure south of Anchorage, AK <Reply # 1 on 12/31/2012 5:58 PM >   Geez, reading your (nice) writeup has made me feel cold - what a stark landscape! crows  Location: Eastern Iowa Il est interdit de faire smashy smash  |  |  Re: Impromptu mini-adventure south of Anchorage, AK <Reply # 2 on 12/31/2012 9:36 PM >   It's a good 40 degrees warmer than it was when I got here. We were hovering around 0F the week before xmas. Brutally clear nights full of unwavering stars. That's when it's REALLY nasty. Chinook weather is above freezing, if blustery... I was out in just a sweater for this little field trip . I really hope I get a chance to come up in summer this year! (Well, technically next year as of, you know, tomorrow.) input: bacon | output: fiction AKphill  Location: Anchorage, Alaska Gender: Male Exploring the 49th state.  |  |  |  Re: Impromptu mini-adventure south of Anchorage, AK <Reply # 3 on 1/1/2013 7:38 AM >   Nice shots. I really should post the pics I took last summer of the first location. crows  Location: Eastern Iowa Il est interdit de faire smashy smash  |  |  Re: Impromptu mini-adventure south of Anchorage, AK <Reply # 4 on 1/1/2013 12:25 PM >   Well I, for one, would certainly love to see them. I've got good commemorative and reference photos, but you've witnessed the sum total of my equipment and process and I very much admire folks who have a sense for putting more into it than simply recording. input: bacon | output: fiction TomUE  Location: Mukilteo WA. Gender: Male  |  |  |  |  |  Re: Impromptu mini-adventure south of Anchorage, AK <Reply # 5 on 1/2/2013 3:01 AM >   OMG in #7 those are vacuum tube sockets. Wow that's some outdated equipment. -Tom Freak  Location: Usually Alaska, now MSP. Gender: Male Hypocrite  |  |  Re: Impromptu mini-adventure south of Anchorage, AK <Reply # 6 on 1/4/2013 7:09 PM >   I remember those spots! I think the comm tower site looked about the same in ~2003. There was a sort of impromptu rail yard near Portage where a bunch of rusty train cars and some maintenance trains were parked, is that still there? http://dfgis.dyndn...ttier2/portage.htm Turn off the internet and go play outside. http://spamusement...hp/comics/view/137 crows  Location: Eastern Iowa Il est interdit de faire smashy smash  |  |  Re: Impromptu mini-adventure south of Anchorage, AK <Reply # 7 on 1/4/2013 10:28 PM >   ! We totally stood on the side of the road, looking into the half-melted, snow-covered marsh and lamenting the fact that we couldn't go down there. Awesome to see summertime photos of the place. I'd like to go back. Down just before Bird Point as you're coming from town, there's a row of maintenance equipment and rusty box cars parked on the rails; AKphill and I noticed them on our drive, and I took myself out that way this morning for some sunrise mountain-absorption action before I return to the flatlands and people were actually using said equipment. I thought about stopping and asking the crew guys if I could take some photos of the jank old cars but then... didn't. There was something further on, closer to the dead earthquake house, on the other side of the road in a Portagely-direction that I think he said was an old (or extant?) train yard with some cars in it, but they were a ways off and we didn't venture out into the open country to get any closer. input: bacon | output: fiction UER Forum > Archived US: Pacific Northwest > Impromptu mini-adventure south of Anchorage, AK (Viewed 368 times) All content and images copyright © 2002-2024 UER.CA and respective creators. 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