{"id":22306,"date":"2019-06-12T08:10:58","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T14:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=22306"},"modified":"2019-06-16T09:23:41","modified_gmt":"2019-06-16T15:23:41","slug":"lupes-last-mile-west-revisited-anchor-point-alaska-8-30-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=22306","title":{"rendered":"Lupe’s Last Mile West Revisited, Anchor Point, Alaska (8-30-18)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 27 of Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska!<\/em><\/p>\n

4:50 AM<\/em> – Not raining!\u00a0 That was all the encouragement needed to hit the road out of Soldotna.\u00a0 Still dark out, so it was hard to tell what the day was actually going to bring, but may as well think positive until proven otherwise.\u00a0 Lupe needed to get to Homer early, if she wanted to have a chance at an adventure in Kachemak Bay State Park<\/strong><\/span><\/a> today.<\/p>\n

6:45 AM<\/em> – Despite 20 miles of road construction, part of it following a slow pilot car in the dark, the Carolina Dog arrived in Homer with time to spare.\u00a0 However, things weren’t looking good for Kachemak Bay State Park.\u00a0 From the Homer Spit, Lupe saw dark clouds hanging over the mountains across Kachemak Bay.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Arriving early at the Homer Spit, Lupe was disappointed by the dark clouds visible across Kachemak Bay. Photo looks ESE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The gloomy sky wasn’t the only problem.\u00a0 A fierce wind out of the NW was roiling the ocean into big breakers crashing against the windward side of the spit.\u00a0 Mako’s Water Taxi<\/strong><\/span><\/a> wasn’t open yet, so Lupe had time to check out the roaring surf.\u00a0 Over by Grace Ridge<\/span><\/a> (3,136 ft.)<\/span><\/strong> where she’d had a fabulous time 2 years ago, the skies were brighter and much more encouraging.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Grace Ridge<\/strong> (Center) from the Homer Spit<\/strong>. Photo looks S.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Are we going back to Grace Ridge<\/strong> (L) SPHP? I sure hope so! Grace Ridge was spectacular!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ocean was exciting, and everything looked so beautiful!\u00a0 What would Mako’s say about the forecast, though?\u00a0 A day of rain and wind would not be worth the water taxi expense to get across the bay.<\/p>\n

Lupe was outside Mako’s ready and waiting for the moment they opened.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
At Mako’s Water Taxi<\/strong> headquarters on the Home Spit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The phones were already ringing, when a pleasant young woman opened the office.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP were willing to wait for her to take the calls, which she expertly handled.\u00a0 However, calls kept pouring in.\u00a0 For a while she was simply inundated.\u00a0 No rush.\u00a0 SPHP wasn’t expecting good news.<\/p>\n

During brief breaks between calls, the young woman began giving SPHP a rundown on the situation.\u00a0 Mako’s wasn’t taking anyone anywhere.\u00a0 The wind was crazy at 35 knots.\u00a0 10 foot seas.\u00a0 Tomorrow was supposed to be better, no rain expected and lighter winds, so the water taxis ought to be running.\u00a0 The best day, though, was 2 days from now.\u00a0 Calm and sunny!\u00a0 Could Lupe come back then?<\/p>\n

Sure.\u00a0 Lupe would be back.\u00a0 Maybe not such a bad thing to rest up for a day or two, anyway.\u00a0 SPHP tentatively scheduled a trip across Kachemak Bay for Looper tomorrow morning.\u00a0 It all depended on the weather, and at least one more paying passenger turning up.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The area of interest for Lupe’s possible water taxi trip over to Kachemak Bay State Park tomorrow morning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So that was it.\u00a0 What now?<\/p>\n

Anchor Point!\u00a0 In 2016, and again in 2017, Lupe had done her Last Mile West trek along the ocean there.\u00a0 Only 15 miles from Homer, Anchor Point is the farthest point W on the North American highway system, and likely as far W as Lupe would ever be in her whole life.\u00a0 May as well go there again to walk the beach, and stare out over the sea toward the world the American Dingo would never know.<\/p>\n

10:30 AM, Anchor Point<\/em> – After a breakfast of iced raspberry-filled cinnamon rolls bought at Safeway in Homer (Lupe generously let SPHP have all the raspberry parts), Lupe visited the Anchor Point sign over by the campground entrance, then headed down to the beach.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Cook Inlet of the North Pacific Ocean is just beyond this sign.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The tide was way out.\u00a0 A flock of seagulls rested on the sand, perhaps not eager to have to contend with the wind which was still fierce out of the NW.\u00a0 Cook Inlet was beautiful!\u00a0 Watching the waves roll in was great fun.\u00a0 Exposed out on the windswept beach, though, Lupe agreed with the seagulls.\u00a0 This sea breeze was a bit much!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Seagulls on the beach at Anchor Point<\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The tide was way out, exposing a vast shoreline of wet sand.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

20 minutes on the beach was enough.\u00a0 The NW wind was simply too strong and cold to be enjoyable.\u00a0 Maybe Lupe could do her 2018 Last Mile West trek later on?\u00a0 In the meantime, a nap sounded good.<\/p>\n

3:00 PM<\/em> – Conditions had improved.\u00a0 The day had warmed up.\u00a0 Still windy, but not as annoyingly windy as it had been earlier.\u00a0 Recharged by the long nap, Lupe and SPHP returned to the beach for another Last Mile West attempt.\u00a0 The Carolina Dog had to get it done!\u00a0 A visit to the Rock of the West was an Alaskan tradition!<\/p>\n

The tide had come in a long way during the past few hours.\u00a0 The beach wasn’t nearly as enormous as it had been.\u00a0 The wind was bracing, but much more bearable now.\u00a0 To Lupe’s delight, seagulls sailed by.\u00a0 Close to the pounding waves, Lupe and SPHP wandered S.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Seagulls streaked by overhead.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Heading S along Cook Inlet<\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
By the foaming sea.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe’s home in the Black Hills of South Dakota is about as far from any ocean as one can possibly get in North America.\u00a0 So seeing the ocean is a rare occurrence, a treat always to be savored.\u00a0 With nothing else in store the rest of the day, Lupe and SPHP followed the shoreline S farther than ever before, enjoying every moment.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Lupe had gone as far as the Rock of the West, a big dark rock that had been surrounded by the incoming tide before she reached it.\u00a0 The intention in 2017 had been to return to that same rock, but it was nowhere to be seen.\u00a0 No problem.\u00a0 SPHP had simply designated a new 2017 official Rock of the West, an even bigger green stone that Lupe had gotten to climb up on.<\/p>\n

What happens to these Rocks of the West along the shore of Cook Inlet during the course of a year?\u00a0 Who knows?\u00a0 All that was for certain was that Lupe never saw them again.\u00a0 Once again, although SPHP kept an eye out for them, neither of the 2016 or 2017 Rocks of the West appeared.\u00a0 Yet Lupe had certainly gone beyond where they must have once been.<\/p>\n

Oh, well!\u00a0 That just meant that a new rock got to enjoy the honorary title of 2018 Rock of the West.\u00a0 A big gray stone right at the edge of the water earned the distinction.\u00a0 The tide was still coming in, but Lupe had time to get up on the brand new 2018 Rock of the West before the waves would wash over it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
This is it! The 2018 official Rock of the West<\/strong>! Look closely, as you may never see it again!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
For the third time, as far W as Lupe will ever be, this time on the 2018 Rock of the West.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the way back, SPHP walked as close to the roaring waves as possible.\u00a0 Lupe roamed sniffing near and far.\u00a0 For some unknown reason, there didn’t seem to be nearly as many big rocks on the beach as there had been in prior years, but Loop got up on a couple more of them, perhaps testing them out for future honors.\u00a0 In 2017, huge parts of the beach had been strewn with seaweed, but today there was almost none.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
What do you think of this one for 2019 Rock of the West?<\/em> Photo looks SSE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Beyond me is a world I’ll never see, farther W than any road will ever take me.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Oh, here’s another Rock of the West candidate! Looks sort of like a flipper or a fin.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Hmm. Might need to be higher!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Loopster had been to Anchor Point 3 years in a row now, but who knew if she would ever be back?\u00a0 Maybe the Carolina Dog ought to pick up a souvenir to remember the beach at Anchor Point and her Last Mile West treks by?\u00a0 Lupe found a dead fish and a seashell.\u00a0 Of the two, SPHP would only consider letting her keep the seashell.<\/p>\n

Loop thought that was an odd choice, since the seashell was a perfectly ordinary one, and the dead fish was mighty interesting, even if your nose wasn’t quite as keen as an American Dingo’s.\u00a0 She graciously went along with the decision, though.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
This dead fish would have been an amazing and fragrant souvenir choice!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Lupe with her Anchor Point seashell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The seashell was rather ordinary looking, but had once been someone’s home.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

5:50 PM<\/em> – Nearly two hours went by before Lupe made it back to the G6.\u00a0 By then the wind had died down even more, but the sky was cloudier.\u00a0 The tide had come in so far that there was hardly any beach left.\u00a0 The seagulls were gone.\u00a0 A shining, silvery sea had already erased all trace of the paw prints Lupe had left in the sand during her 2018 Last Mile West.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The silvery sea.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The plan was to take another trek along the beach at sunset, still a few hours away.\u00a0 This time Lupe would go N, which she had never done here before.\u00a0 However, by the time sundown drew near the wind was blowing again as strongly as it had been this morning.\u00a0 Cold and unpleasant!\u00a0 Sadly, the sunset stroll got nixed.<\/p>\n

Lupe did return to the beach for just a little while, though.\u00a0 SPHP was hoping for a splendid sunset.\u00a0 Seemingly promising for a few minutes, it never developed.\u00a0 That’s the way it often goes.\u00a0 The big question was, what would happen tomorrow?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Back on the beach shortly before sunset. The tide was going out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Waiting for sunset.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Day’s end at Anchor Point<\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
As good as it got.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Far into the night, the G6 shook in the roaring gale.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
On the 2018 Rock of the West<\/strong>, Last Mile West trek, Anchor Point, Alaska 8-30-18<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Next Adventure<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Prior Adventure<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cook Inlet, the Homer Spit & Lupe’s Return to the Rock of the West at Anchor Point, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska (8-31-17 & 9-1-17)<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Lupe’s Last Mile West, Anchor Point, Alaska (8-27-16)<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

W<\/em>ant more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska Adventure Inde<\/strong>x<\/strong><\/span><\/a>,\u00a0Dingo Vacations Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a> or Master Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 27 of Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska! 4:50 AM – Not raining!\u00a0 That was all the encouragement needed to hit the road out of Soldotna.\u00a0 Still dark out, so it was hard to tell what the day was actually going to bring, but may as well think positive … Continue reading Lupe’s Last Mile West Revisited, Anchor Point, Alaska (8-30-18)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[997],"tags":[704,105,752,106,26,956,104,954],"class_list":["post-22306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2018-yukon-northwest-territiories-alaska","tag-alaska","tag-american-dingo","tag-anchor-point","tag-carolina-dog","tag-dingo-vacations","tag-last-mile-west","tag-lupe","tag-rock-of-the-west"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/IMG_1502.jpg?fit=1651%2C1238&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22306"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23714,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22306\/revisions\/23714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}