Not all of my amazing adventures were in far away places.  One of the most fun journeys was through the Kenai Peninsula.  As with all trips – it takes a bit of pre-planning to pack the right assortment of clothes, sundries and equipment.  For this trip, I knew that I was 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 it 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 – you don’t want to pack the gamut, so it typical fashion I looked to weather forecasts to give me a decent range to shoot for.

I never learn –  forecasts do not  help much. From day-to-day, forecasts for Alaska changed from temps in the 70’s to  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 looked most promising:

As of June 29 (trip dates were July 4-12):

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Addendum:  I can’t help myself – of course I looked at the forecast once more:

As of June 30:

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

This trip would last  a week, but since sunset would not occur until 11:30P it would seem a lot longer.  More time for adventures! More vistas to photograph!

To whet your appetite – here is a teaser sampling of photos:

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 Tune in next week to see if  I had “Naammaktsiarit” (a good journey)!

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