It’s travel season again and I am off on my first of two major trips, to Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.  My friend Lenore and I will be joining Classic Journeys on another trekking adventure (see here for my first CJ trip) which is sure to be astonishing, with never-done-before activities as well as breathtakingly beautiful photo ops.

Here’s a classic Alaska song from John Denver to get us in the mood:

As with all trips – it takes a bit of pre-planning to pack the right assortment of clothes, sundries and equipment.  At the outset, I know that I am going to need some specialty items – hiking poles, waterproof slip over pants, rain slicker, hiking shoes and sandals, lightweight mesh gloves, bug repellent, sunblock, sunhat, extra camera memory cards, batteries, etc.  It may come as a surprise to some of you, but the Kenai Peninsula has very moderate temperatures in the summer usually hovering in the mid 60’s to mid 70’s degrees F. and very recently has seen temperatures near 90 degrees (global warming, much?).  Best clothing plan is to bring layers that can be peeled on or off as some mornings could be chilly followed by a warming trend by afternoon.  Sounds good – in theory, but the kind of layers is tricky – don’t want to pack the gamut, so I look towards weather forecasts to give me a decent range to shoot for.

As usual, these forecasts are not helping much. From day-to-day forecasts have changed from temps in the 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s, days sunny and hot, to cool and rainy.  To make decisions even more difficult these varying forecasts appear on the same day. Perhaps the sites are using different weather models – during the winter meteorologists looked at US and European models to try to gauge the severity of impending snowstorms and the forecasts were also very different. The below forecast looks most promising so perhaps I should stop checking:

As of June 29:

Addendum:  I can’t help myself – of course I looked at the forecast again and once more it has shifted:

As of June 30:

Fun fact:  through my research I have learned NOT to bring an umbrella.  Supposedly the locals never use them and deride tourists who do.  Fine by me – one less thing to pack.  And there’s still time before I take off for these forecasts to change again.  Good thing I am not an early packer.

This trip will last a week, but since sunset will not occur until 11:30P it will seem a lot longer.  More time for adventures! More vistas to photograph!   I am anticipating that there will not be much down time so I will post daily teaser photos on my other social media sites and resume my blog once I return – so please check in on them:

Instagram and Twitter: @cgurmann

To whet your appetite – here is a teaser sampling of areas that I will be visiting; you’ll have to read my blog to find out where they are  🙂

As for me – I am going to gaze at the following to get used to the sun hovering near the horizon:

However, just in case of emergency, I am packing this:

“Tavvaujusi” (Goodbye to you all) for now – Here’s hoping for “Naammaktsiarit” (a good journey)!

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