Sharry Miller

Big Odyssey Attempt

It's not really a hike if you don't fear for your life, right? Oh, maybe that's a better definition of a death march. Or, in my case, either. The two often seem to be one and the same. After a failed attempt to find Marshall Pass with Don several days ago due to excessive (in my opinion) vertical bushwhacking, Scout demanded a mulligan. Who am I to say no do such a sweet dog? I... Read more →

Delinquent Baker

Fine, fine, I confess: I've been a bad blog writer. It's been 18 days since my last post and I haven't told you anything about the last four recipes I've baked from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. Please forgive me. Honestly, while I'm still enjoying baking all the recipes, I start to wonder how much I can really say about baking water, flour, salt, and yeast. And then a recipe like Weissbrot Mit... Read more →

Oil Spill Bread

Oil tankers loading at the Valdez Marine Terminal Dang, I didn't realize it had been almost a month since I last wrote. I'm such a slacker. I do have one excuse. For the past 12 days we've been out on our fishing boat working on the response to a small oil spill at the Valdez Marine Terminal. What that's meant is that we've been driving back and forth along a mile of shoreline dragging one... Read more →

Sourdough Musings

Since yesterday's Scottish Buttermilk Bread didn't meet our bread needs for the week, and since I haven't used my sourdough sponge (starter) in a month, I decided to make some sourdough bread today. Actually, I made that decision late last night and added two cups of white flour and two cups of water to the cup of sponge I had in the refrigerator. It needed to sit on the counter overnight to get well activated... Read more →

Crow Pass 3 Icicle Creek to Eagle River Nature Center

After a completely sleepless night on the gravel near Icicle Creek, I was ready to be up at 5:00 and on the trail. With oatmeal and coffee to sustain us, Jenny and I were off before 7:00 to complete the last six miles to the Eagle River Nature Center and the end of the trail. Within half a mile we figured out that we could have had a comfy campsite at Heritage Falls. If we’d... Read more →

Crow Pass 2 Turbid Creek to Icicle Creek

“I saw the brush moving in the middle of the night and was sure it was a bear going after our food,” Jenny said after I’d pulled our intact food bags up from where she’d hung them off the side of the bridge over Turbid Creek. “I kept imagining that we were having a huge earthquake and the bridge got taken out. We were on opposite sides and couldn’t hear each other over the river.”... Read more →

Crow Pass 1 - Girdwood to Turbid Creek

As Jenny Kelly and I posed for a photo by the Chugach National Forest sign at the Girdwood end of Crow Pass Trail at 10:00 on the morning of July 29, I was giddy with excitement and nerves. We were about to embark on an adventure that would accomplish two things for me: put a tick mark on my life bucket list and fulfill my July Year of Fear goal. The other end of the... Read more →

At One with the Caribou

I understand how the caribou feel. The madness that causes mid-summer herds to careen across the tundra and plunge into icy rivers. The drive to keep moving, moving to the point of starvation. I understand. ***** One of my Year of Fear goals has been to hike Crow Pass. The hike itself doesn't scare me, although any time I sleep in a tent in bear country I get a little nervous. No, what really makes... Read more →

Driving Denali

It was like a minor miracle: the first time we applied for a permit to drive our own vehicle into Denali National Park, we got one. I have a friend who's been applying for 20 years and never gotten one. Normally, the only way to get back into the park is on one of the official National Park Service tour buses, but then you're subject to where they stop and for how long. In their... Read more →

Lost on the Wagon Trail

Okay, I wasn't really lost. I just didn't know how to get to where I wanted to be. I should know better. It was the first hike of spring. Let me start at the beginning. Cold nights followed by warm, generally sunny days have given me the idea that spring has finally deigned to make an appearance in Valdez. I've put almost 100 miles on my bike in the past week - a truly wonderful... Read more →