Exploring Eklutna near Anchorage with Teal and Russ from BlueWater BaseCamp

Teal and Russ from BlueWater BaseCamp join Jennie to share about bringing their dream of building an independent, luxurious adventure base to life near Eklutna Lake and how they built it from the ground up.

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Music credits:  Largo Montebello, by Domenico Mannelli, CC.

Transcript

Jennie Flaming: 0:05

Are you looking for a slightly off the beaten path Deluxe adventure cabin experience in Alaska? If you are, then this episode is for you. Welcome to the Alaska uncovered podcast with me, your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming my occasional co host and full time husband, Jay and I bring you accurate, helpful and entertaining information about Alaska travel, and life in Alaska. Before we start the episode, we would like to thank our Patreon members for making this podcast possible. You can join them at the link in the show notes. We are so grateful for your support of independent podcasts. Enjoy the show. My guests today are Teal Sky Heller And Russ Carpenter from Blue water base camp near Eklutna lake. Teal is a born and raised Alaskan and Russ is a general contractor who moved to Alaska from northern Minnesota. And they brought their skills and teamwork together to create a unique getaway near including a lake, which by the way is not far from Anchorage. Welcome to Alaska uncovered. Thank you for being here.

Teal: 1:22

Absolutely. Thanks for having us.

Jennie Flaming: 1:24

Yeah. So to why don't you start with telling telling me a little bit about how you got to Alaska, and then we'll have rest share that too. Well,

Teal: 1:36

so I'm a third generation Alaskan. So my grandparents on both sides came up, either before or right when they had small children. My both my parents were raised up here. And so I was born in the Eagle River Valley up on my parents, my grandparents homestead. Awesome. literally born and raised in these mountains.

Jennie Flaming: 1:57

Yeah, like very close to where you are now. That's so cool. Russ, how about you? How did you make your way from northern Minnesota up to Alaska?

Russ: 2:07

Well, I originally came up to work on the oil spill back in I believe 89. Oh, wow. I just loved it so much. It was it was just like home only a little bit more wild. So I decided to stay and I've been here ever since I

Jennie Flaming: 2:24

love it. That's awesome. So tell me a little bit about Blue Water base camp where where did you get the idea? How did you bring this together?

Teal: 2:37

So having an adventure company of some kind was a lifelong dream, I think for both of us. Russ can speak to his plan how it worked into it.

Russ: 2:47

Yeah, but actually, we're in probably the 11th year of my 10 year plan. So that's awesome. 11 years ago, I decided it'd be fun to have like a, you know, some type of adventure company where it was different than you know, just the people getting off the tour bus and being walked through the lions like cattle and just do something different. So, you know, through the years, we've been looking at property coming up with ideas bouncing stuff around. And then finally, I think it was three years ago, we got serious about looking at property and found this place and just been going since then.

Jennie Flaming: 3:29

That is awesome. And

Teal: 3:30

while we were looking we had a tiny cabin in our backyard in Peters Creek. And so we kind of tested this business model and had that for several years made it through COVID Wow. So practice a lot of the marketing a lot of the characteristics of the experience on a single cabin until once we bought this property here in the Eklutna Valley and expanded to eight.

Jennie Flaming: 3:57

Love it that's so cool. So when you bought this property were there any structures or cabins they're all or have you built everything from scratch?

Unknown: 4:07

Oh, it

Teal: 4:08

was it was very overgrown. Nothing here. So yeah, everything is from scratch. In fact, we when we first bought it, we built a fire pit in like what we thought was the middle of it. And now it's still our community fire pit, but it is like surrounded by cabins now.

Jennie Flaming: 4:29

Yeah. Oh, that's so fun. I love it. So that's really cool that you both kind of had this vision you know a long time ago and now you're bringing it together. That's really cool. So what can guests expect when they come to Bluewater base camp? What's what makes it kind of a unique accommodation and experience in south central Alaska?

Unknown: 4:56

So I think the two

Teal: 4:58

things that come to mind are convenience and spoiled rotten comfort. So all fun. So the convenience, we're technically in Anchorage, we are part of the MLA. Usually when I describe it, I say we're in the mountains above Anchorage. And so we're just a short drive. And that makes it really easy for access. Especially if you have a group coming in from the airport, we are just about an hour from the airport door to door. Awesome. So that piece there's nothing that close to Anchorage that has all of the cabins the event venue, and and everything that we have on our property. I think the other pieces that we have kind of a spoil your rotten comfort attitude. And that includes accessibility. So we made a commitment early on in our building process to make as much of our property handicap accessible as possible. So are large and you know, using a tiny cabin model, that's, it's been interesting to figure that out. But I'm

Jennie Flaming: 6:11

sure it has. Yeah. How have you figured that out in a tiny cabin?

Teal: 6:16

So we have two different sizes of cabins. And so the larger cabins, the macros, which are still on the tiny scale, they are completely wheelchair friendly on the first floor. So rest, what kinds of things he can probably speak to the construction side of that

Russ: 6:37

that right? Well, it's, you know, following the ADA rules in the real small ones is nearly impossible. Just the door approaches. Yes, negate that, on the on the larger cabins. You know, we we just expanded the footprint enough and keep a fairly open floor plan. You know, the bathroom is really the only challenge in there. Yeah, we got to take enough room. And then we also made it two stories. So the first floor is all handicap accessible. And then any traveling companions or support that they need, would be able to stay on the second floor just keeps the footprint smaller. Yep. You're

Jennie Flaming: 7:17

awesome. And then really cool. Yeah, in

Unknown: 7:20

our site.

Teal: 7:21

We had we were, I guess privileged, honored to be chosen as the Alaska Travel Industry Association, one of the Shark Tank Shark Tank winners. Yes. Yes.

Unknown: 7:37

That was so cool. Yeah, so

Teal: 7:40

we have the opportunity, and some help to get a kind of like a off road wheelchair. We won't, it won't be motorized. But we're looking at something like a grid chair, that allows people with mobility issues to just check the chair out while they're here on site and use it to get around the five acre parcel. So that the site becomes more accessible, not just the buildings. That

Jennie Flaming: 8:06

is really cool. Can you tell? Can you just say, share a little bit about what the Alaska travel industry Shark Tank is? For people who are like, Okay, that sounds cool, but I don't know what that is. Yeah.

Teal: 8:22

So we went in totally blind. But you can't lose if you don't try. So there we go. All right. So it is a contest. It's very informal. So much fun. Now that we've done it in retrospect,

Jennie Flaming: 8:40

it was probably less fun when you were getting ready to do it.

Teal: 8:43

It was rocking and going first. And like we'd never seen it, we we had no idea what we were doing. But what it is, is you present a challenge in your business, you know that you were needing some extra funds to overcome. And we had to submit this all beforehand. So the judges have our whole proposal. And then it's judged by some leaders in the tourism industry in Alaska. The Alaska railroad was represented. One of the larger banks was, yep. First National, I

Jennie Flaming: 9:18

think, yeah, that sounds right. Yeah. And

Teal: 9:21

then there was one other person up there. The judges were very kind. Because we were very nervous. Oh, and then so about, there was about five different businesses that presented ideas that they wanted to grow their company with, and asked for funds. And so there were three winners and the funds were split between the three companies.

Jennie Flaming: 9:45

That's so cool. And so you're using that specifically for the off road wheelchair that people can borrow to explore around the around Bluewater base camp, right? Yes. Yeah. That's awesome. that's, that's really cool. You know, I'm glad that we're talking about that. Because for people traveling to Alaska, you know, anything that's connected to the cruise ship industry is very accessible, which is one thing that's great about the cruise industry, but it can be much it is much harder to find accessible spaces outside of that. And so that is so cool that you have this very unique place that is wheelchair friendly. It's so awesome.

Teal: 10:31

Yeah, and we've so our main office is also wheelchair friendly, or, you know, handicap friendly. And the Event Center what we call the gathering house, which is our event venue that holds up to 75 people. It is also fully handicap accessible.

Jennie Flaming: 10:48

That is awesome. Really cool. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about where you are. You're, you're near including a lake which is part of the you know, Anchorage borough I guess would be grid the greater anchorage area even though it's not urban at all where you are. One thing by the way, that's really cool that Anchorage is it's a city that you can get out of very easily. It's so anyway, alright, so what are some of the cool things that people can do either at Bluewater base camp or nearby?

Russ: 11:29

I know for me, what I like to do in the winter is a lot of snowshoeing, it's very quiet and solitude up here in the winter. Not much traffic and really no one else around as far as the summer. Definitely a lot of hiking around here. Yep. And there's companies up at the lake for a lot of other activities.

Unknown: 11:49

Yep. Yeah,

Teal: 11:51

so one of my favorite things is Fat Tire biking. And so including the has the lakeside Trail, which is a trail that goes all the way down the length of one side of the lake. And that trail is really fun both single track and larger trails because there's a gluten has divided the trails into motorized days and non motorized days. So users if you want to explore with a motor, then you come on the motorized days and if you want peace and quiet you come on the days that are non motorized. The lake itself is the watershed for Anchorage so there is no motors allowed on the lake. You can only kayak paddleboard swim, I guess, if you want. It's a glacier fed Lake and it

Jennie Flaming: 12:39

will be very brave. But if you are

Teal: 12:43

we partner well with lifetime adventures up at the lake. So they have kayaks and bikes for rent for people to use. And then guided hiking with rebel or go hike. There's a couple different companies that do the guided hiking trips. Yep. That are really exciting. In fact, with rebel treks and tours, we're putting together a tour that is a car free tour. So you can come to Alaska for four days, be up in the mountains with guided hiking, guided experiences, and stay at Blue Water base camp and not have to rent a car. That's

Jennie Flaming: 13:17

pretty awesome. For various reasons. That is a really cool thing to offer. That's awesome. That's actually something that I wanted to ask you about is if there were options for people to get out there other than driving and it sounds like there are at least part of that tour. Yeah,

Teal: 13:35

it's pretty slim, slim pickins like I do recommend people get a car to come up here. Go hike and lifetime adventures. They are putting together a shuttle from downtown up to a Clinton a lake that that will include a stop at Bluewater, but it's not. Like it's very set times. Yes. So it's not like you'll be able to just call them whenever. Yep.

Jennie Flaming: 14:04

And by the, by the way, the company Teal is talking about is Matt who has been on the podcast about a month ago to talk about hiking in the greater anchorage area and Chugach State Park. So you could go back and listen to those episodes to to hear more about those options. And I believe he did mention that they were going to start that shuttle out to michelina so awesome. Okay, is there anything else? Nearby you that is kind of a must do in your opinion. So I think for our

Teal: 14:45

folks with military connections, the hike up pow Mia to honor any fallen soldiers you may have in your life is a really powerful experience.

Jennie Flaming: 14:56

Yeah. So say little more about that. Yeah,

Teal: 14:59

so That's a nearby hike. We are probably the closest place to that Trailhead that you can stay at. We are, we are. And it's now the gold star, nonprofit. They do guided hikes up there for Gold Star families and soldiers, but any individual can just hike up there. And there's a monument at the top. It's really a unique experience. That's and so that's something that is here in in a Clinton Valley and the Gold Star LLC has gold star peak LLC has taken like upwards of 5000 soldiers and Goldstar families up the mountain. Wow. So it's a pretty cool nonprofit and we do partner with them in terms of offering support for their hikers here at Bluewater base camp.

Jennie Flaming: 15:53

Oh, that's really cool. Awesome. Okay, anything anything else? As far as things that are close by that people shouldn't miss?

Teal: 16:06

Yep, there's some formula tours up here. Fun. It's definitely it's a beginner trail. So like no one's highlighting up the mountains up here. It Clinton is just a unique it's a unique place in that when you think of a seven mile lake. You know, you might think of a lake lifestyle, but there's no private property on the lake. Yep. And it is so quiet. And just amazing place to immerse yourself in nature without the distractions. Yeah, also cell service up here. So you randomly get it from like, the far end of the lake because it's of course, you know, so you get it, but overall, you can't rely on it. So it's just this whole valleys designed to disconnect and recharge and relax. Yep.

Jennie Flaming: 17:02

Fantastic. We're gonna take a short break. We will be back in a moment. Hi, everyone. Jennie here. I hope you're enjoying this episode so far. I wanted to take a moment to share a few ways I can help you make your dream Alaska trip happen beyond the podcast. First of all, if you're traveling in 2024, don't miss out on getting the Alaska 2024 stickers we have in our shop designed by J. They're super unique and beautiful. If you're planning a trip in the future, there are lots of other ways I can help as well. For starters, you can take my free quiz to give you the best Alaska itinerary for your travel style. Second, I've got done for you itineraries as well as digital planners for your trip, including specific ones for cruising for driving to Alaska, and any other kind of Alaska trip you can imagine. My planners will help you make it a reality. Finally, if you want some personalized travel advice from me, I offer 30 minute planning sessions on Zoom. Dates are limited during the summer since I'm on the road quite a bit, but there are still some dates available. In the fall I will again offer custom itinerary planning and cruise bookings for the 2025 season, as well as Alaska winter trips. I'd love to work with you to make your dream trip happen to Alaska and I hope I get to meet you links for all of these different ways I can help RV in the show notes be below our patreon link. Now back to the show. We are back with teal and Russ from blue water base camp which is a an awesome Deluxe adventure cabin property near including a lake in the occlusion of valley which is about an hour's drive from the city of Anchorage. But definitely way out that way out there as far as getting away from it all which is wonderful. So a few logistics teal and rest beyond the ones we've already talked about. What about food? Can people cook if they're staying with you? Are there restaurants nearby that you would recommend? What do you typically suggest to visitors as far as what to eat while they're there? Yeah, so that's

Teal: 19:29

a bit of a challenge. The nearest restaurant would be Bella Vista and Chugiak which is not always open. Right snow Eagle River is the closest place really to get a variety of food. grote and Eagle River is about 30 minutes away. And then the grocery stores there's a grocery store in Chugiak three bears and then you know Fred Meijer and Eagle rivers so our cabins are designed knowing that it's difficult to get a quick food in a clip nuts So every cabin has the micros, the little ones have kitchenettes. With include, you're gonna have all of your basic cooking supplies, a fridge, microwave, and then a two burner stove. Awesome. The macros have a four burner little stove with a small oven. So that gives you a little bit more options. And then it's just a little bigger kitchen. So a little bigger microwave refrigerator. Little more counter space because the macro sleep four to five, yep, there's just, you know, we make it easy to cook while you're here. So we do recommend you do a grocery run before you come. We also are working on some options to be able to pre order some items to have in your cabin and that Oh, that'd be cool. From you know, preorder a charcuterie box so that it's waiting for you. You know, a lot of flights in the summer come in super late. And so it's nice to have a snack waiting for you at the cabin.

Jennie Flaming: 20:59

Yeah, that's awesome. And then

Teal: 21:01

we have like light trail snacks and such for purchase in our vending machine here

Unknown: 21:05

as well. Cool.

Jennie Flaming: 21:07

Great. All right. So are you open all year? And if so, if not, when are you open?

Russ: 21:17

Yeah. Yeah, we're we're planning on being open 365 days a year. Sweet. Yeah, so we

Teal: 21:28

definitely have a benefit of both summer and winter. And because you know, no one is roughing it at Bluewater. So all of our cabins have indoor plumbing. Everything is designed for both summer and winter use. Perfect. So it's a great place to get away no matter what time of year. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 21:47

And by the way, I should tell everyone who's listening. This episode is going live this summer, but we are recording it while some of the cabins are still under construction. So another thing is that this is a brand new property. And so that's pretty exciting to

Teal: 22:11

Yeah, and also, you know, one of our the exciting things you can do here is events as well as cabin rentals, ya know?

Jennie Flaming: 22:20

So people can rent the whole property. Right?

Teal: 22:23

Right. So yeah, yeah. So we have a property by out option that you get. You get to rent all eight cabins that sleep 22. And then the gathering house, which is our event venue, which holds events up to 75. And then there's outdoor lawns. And as we grow, we'll get things like hot tubs, but you know, our first year in business, unfortunately, we won't have that. So we do. Yeah, so you could do a property buyout for something like a wedding or retreat, a wellness retreat. Family Reunion. And in that situation, we were just talking about food and eating, the gathering house has a kitchen, a full kitchen in it so that you can when you do a property buyout, you can either bring a caterer in or you could make your meals on site.

Jennie Flaming: 23:23

Yep. So you can kind of do what makes sense for your group in your events.

Teal: 23:27

That's great. Yeah. So I've had groups inquire about, hey, can we just bring a bunch of crock pots and set him up? And yeah, you can do that. And can you bring in any caterer you want? Yep, you can do that. list of preferred caterers as well.

Jennie Flaming: 23:41

Right. So if someone like needs an eye needs an idea, or they're coming from somewhere else, they can get your advice on catering. That's

Teal: 23:49

yeah, we can even coordinate all the catering as part of that property. Buy out.

Jennie Flaming: 23:53

Awesome. Very cool. Okay, so let's see what um, I was going to ask this at the end, but I feel like it fits in well here. So if someone is listening to this, and we are going to talk about a few more things, but if someone is like, Oh, I really want to stay there, or I really want to have my wedding there or something. What is the best way for people to get in touch with you? And then I will also put it in the show notes as well, for this episode. Yeah. So

Teal: 24:24

our website, Bluewater base camp.com, that has a contact it will it has a link to all the booking. So for individual cabins, you can just book right through the website for events because those are custom events, all of them, like we put together a package just for you. And that way there's a event contact form that you can fill out and that comes directly to the staff here and we then we connect via phone or zoom and land what the event would look like for you

Jennie Flaming: 25:01

Awesome, that's perfect. Okay, so how how is the best way for someone to figure out how coming to blue water base camp would fit in with a larger Alaska itinerary? Like if they're also going to Denali or the Kenai Peninsula? Or maybe they're going on a cruise? Um, what is the best way? Or what are some nice ways that this kind of fits in with other with a bigger trip to Alaska?

Teal: 25:33

Yeah, that's a great question. We see a lot of people looking to fill the shoulders of their trips. So we're a great place for your first or first couple nights here in Alaska. And then, you know, we're about two hours from Matt Valley glacier, and maybe an hour from Hatcher pass. And of course, seeing all the anchorage stuff, it's about an hour back into Anchorage. So you can do a lot here in the anchorage bowl area from Bluewater Basecamp. So that, like I said, like right at the beginning of your trip, or, you know, landed for the last couple nights of your trip here. It's a good place for the bookings, so to speak.

Jennie Flaming: 26:23

Yep, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, love it. And I always encourage people to stay either when they first arrive, or when they first leave pretty close to wherever they're flying into whether that's Anchorage, or Fairbanks, just to, you know, for a lot of reasons to keep things simple, and dealing with jetlag, and exhaustion, and perhaps your luggage not arriving and all that good stuff.

Teal: 26:48

Right. Yeah. So when that's what's nice, we're close enough to the airport to be able to do those things and not have a lot of obstacles between you and your flight.

Jennie Flaming: 26:59

Yep, for sure. Love it. Okay, um, we're gonna move into kind of our wrap up questions here in a moment. But I would love to know, from each of you, what is something, maybe just one thing that you wish Alaska visitors knew before their trip?

Unknown: 27:19

I think we talked about this before that. You know, if they know that we're not perfect, you know, there's going to be bugs, there's going to be rain, and we are doing our best, you know, so understanding and being great. Yes.

Jennie Flaming: 27:36

Yeah. Part of that part of that part of that adventure of being in Alaska means there'll be some unpredictable things that you're that you're gonna have to navigate. Yeah.

Teal: 27:48

I think for me, it's the the 20 some hours of daylight in the summer. Like, it doesn't matter. If you have blackout shades or not like the light will get in. There won't be light. Yeah. And so, I know we've had guests that are like you. We couldn't get the room dark. And it's like, well, well, no, you can't.

Jennie Flaming: 28:13

That's that's life in Alaska in the summer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Those are good ones. Okay, so what is each of your favorite months in the Clayton Valley?

Russ: 28:29

Mine's April. Oh. So you know, the days are long. The snows melt things. Springs come and stuff started sprouting out. Yes. Kinda like nature's cleaning. Yeah, cleaning.

Teal: 28:48

And mine is August because the berries are ripe. Yes. And you can eat your way through the woods. And I've I've always been a hiker that like I don't really need to get to the top of the mountains. I just need to get to the blueberry patch. Yes.

Unknown: 29:05

So August is my favorite time a lot of berry picking.

Jennie Flaming: 29:09

Yes. Love it. Okay, I know we talked a little bit about food before and I know that there are limited restaurant options near you. But um, what is your favorite restaurant in Eagle River or somewhere else somewhat close by?

Unknown: 29:36

I know mine. I don't know mine.

Teal: 29:40

So my favorite Eagle River restaurant is lime leaf. It's like fancy Asian is delicious. Its sister restaurant is Basil ginger up in La Silla so you can get this similar menu. Both places, but I love it. And it's in Eagle River. Yep.

Jennie Flaming: 30:00

It's in the heart of Eagle River. Love it. Eagle

Teal: 30:02

River since it's a bedroom community to Anchorage, like really the only thing people do there is eat and go to the doctor. Yeah. So we have just a plethora of coffee shops there and tons of Well, I think tons of restaurants for a town that size. Yeah. Yep. So when I say I love lime leaf, that's no shade. There's on any of the others. There's some great restaurants in Eagle River.

Russ: 30:26

Cool. My favorites, el Pastore. Oh, restaurant, Mexican restaurant. Love it.

Jennie Flaming: 30:34

Great. People always asked me where they should eat. And so I'm like, Oh, well, I have I have opinions about where people should eat in different places in Alaska. But it's really great to hear that from guests who come on the show because we get just so many more ideas. And it's really fun. To be

Teal: 30:51

honest, like, Palmer is also almost the same distance to the north as South. Yeah, Homer is another foodie town, like so many good places to eat in polmar? Yeah. You know, I think of Turkey red Vagabond blues. Yep. Just some great options. And of course, all the breweries are into that. So yeah, for sure. Yeah, I could go on. And I'm also gluten free. So I obsess a little bit about you know, which restaurants are gluten free? Friendly.

Jennie Flaming: 31:21

Oh, yeah. Till Okay. Since the I didn't know that about you. So since you offered that. What advice do you have? This is another thing that I get a lot of questions about, is what advice do you have for people who are gluten free? Just sort of traveling in Alaska in general? Sure. I find it.

Teal: 31:42

Most places are pretty knowledgeable. When you ask if they have gluten free options. Yep. Obviously, cross contamination is a real thing. So everyone has a different level of

Jennie Flaming: 31:57

sensitivity to that. Yep.

Teal: 32:00

But you know, if we were to like look at Eagle River Chacos, you know, so we have three Mexican restaurants in Eagle River. For scuze. Me there's four Mexican restaurants in Eagle River. And right from the get go, I can say Chipotle and El Pastore are going to be your easiest gluten free options. Yep, your Sias and jalapenos are delicious. They're great restaurants a little bit harder to eat gluten free there because of just how their recipes are built. Yeah, yep. Line, we've really easy to eat gluten free there, they can swap out some of their sauces. And a lot of their stuff is made from scratch. So they can just not add a few ingredients and be able to work but you have to speak up. Yeah. You know, advocate for yourself. corks and hops is also like they have some gluten free options that while it's not their whole menu, what they have is absolutely delicious.

Jennie Flaming: 33:04

Awesome. That is really cool. Yeah, I feel like there are many more options even then there were like 10 years ago in a lot of Alaska. So that is pretty cool. Those are great suggestions. Thank you. Oh,

Teal: 33:21

and let me give a shout out actually to the cafes because we have a gluten free we have a couple of gluten free bakers in Eagle River,

Jennie Flaming: 33:28

who told me about that Lexi's

Teal: 33:31

Cafe is always gonna have reds baked goods and reds baked goods have a whole gluten free line. That's really if you need like that over the top sweet hit. Reds is the place to go awesome. jitters the coffee shop they have gluten free baked goods that are made in house and it varies on what you're going to find there. Sometimes it'll be the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. Sometimes it'll be a scum. There's some cookies that they carry that are gluten free. So it's it's a little bit more hit or miss but you can usually find something there as well. Lexi's Cafe has a lot of gluten free options because she carries a solid gluten free bit bread so her sandwiches can be made gluten free and all that.

Jennie Flaming: 34:17

Oh, that's awesome. That is a great resource to know about. Thank you. Okay, before we wrap up to unrest, I would love to know what is your personal favorite thing to do in the valley when you're not working?

Russ: 34:37

Mine would have to be snowshoeing, but I love it. It's quiet. Pretty cool trails we can go down and look at some pretty steep overlooks the whole valley and the most awesome and the dogs love it just as much I think. Yeah,

Teal: 34:52

oh yeah. Blue Water is surrounded by BLM land. So, you know government owned land and so there's a lot of A hiking that you can do and not be on private property. Yep.

Jennie Flaming: 35:05

Right from our property. A mine.

Teal: 35:08

I have to say it's it's the Fat Tire biking. It's so much fun in the window fun.

Jennie Flaming: 35:14

Yeah, you just

Teal: 35:15

feel like you're it's like a marshmallow ride. Love that. But I do have to chime in on the snowshoeing, so it's so much fun to snowshoe at night. And I in the winter, you know, it's dark a lot of the time

Jennie Flaming: 35:30

so headlight is, is a lot of the time. Right?

Teal: 35:33

It's just so much fun. And then we do a lot of bonfires just chillin by the bonfire year round. Of course, not during the fire band time, right. But you know, just that aspect of community sitting around telling stories laughing. So is a huge part of what we do. You

Jennie Flaming: 35:54

have the water Basecamp I love it. It's so fun. Well, teal, and Ross, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and sharing about Blue Water base camp and your life in the Clinton Valley and on this property. Thank you so much for being here.

Unknown: 36:16

Thanks for having us. Yeah, it's a pleasure. Yeah, we're

Teal: 36:19

excited to provide something new and different in the anchorage area. Yes. You want to just get into nature right when they get here or just need to get out of the city.

Jennie Flaming: 36:28

Yep. Absolutely. I can't I can't wait to see it myself. Well, thank you again. And thanks to all of you listening. I hope you enjoyed this conversation with TLRs. We love to bring you stories and insider knowledge from interesting Alaskans who are excited to share their place with you. That's what keeps us going here at Alaska uncovered. Before you go please consider helping keep us going by subscribing to our Patreon. The link is the first one in the show notes. Thank you for listening