North Pole, Alaska

University of Alaska Fairbanks

Snowing.  Heavy cloud cover today. 2:30 PM.  Chilly.

Chena Hot Springs. Fairbanks, Alaska

En route.  Sunrise, 10:30 AM.  Mile 50 on Chena Hot Springs highway.  -23 degrees fahrenheit! - see the frost on my hair in the picture below.

In the outdoor geothermal natural rock bed.  Scent of sulphur, exposed hairs quickly frozen.

Miscellaneous shots from the resort grounds.

Granite Mountain

Kirsten and I headed out early this morning for a hike up Granite (exit 47 off I-90).  We turned back at about 4,400 feet because of low visibility and wind/ice.  Plus, we weren't exactly sure where we were going and didn't have enough warm gear with us to feel comfortable navigating the unknown.   Winter has arrived in the mountains!

Nome, Alaska

Pictures taken September 22-25, 2011.

test hike #2

Mt. Si, North Bend, WA.  Today.  Total hike time was 2:15 minutes.  The trip up (4 miles) took me 1 hour and 27 minutes.   Rainy morning.  I left Seattle in the dark, around 6 AM.   Returned home shortly after 10 AM.    

My body surprised me; I was not expecting to move as quickly as I did.  A weakness I identified last summer during climbing is my speed.  The type of training I did led me to develop reliable endurance.  I would like to be a rope leader next season.  If I am to share responsibility for the safety of inexperienced climbers, I want to be able to move faster than I currently do while carrying more weight than I did last season (in the event I need to carry someone else's weight, participate in a rescue, etc.).

Test hike

I hiked/ran the Mailbox Peak trail on Sunday to time how long it would take me, in preparation for a 'Three Peak Challenge.'  My cousin Kaylee told me that she and some friends did a climb of each Mailbox Peak, Mt. Si, and Rattlesnake Ledge in one day last year.

   I left the trailhead at 6:36 AM, and returned at 9:56 AM.

Fall colors near the summit.

BCRT - Six Ridge Trail

BCRT = BackCountry Response Team.  The Washington Trails Association sends out groups of volunteer experienced backpackers throughout each summer to isolated locations in need of trail maintenance.  The registration for each season opens early in the year, I think February or the end of January.  The project I joined worked the Six Ridge primitive trail in Olympic National Park.  Our trailhead, the South Fork Skokomish, was off Highway 101 near Shelton.     The trip was designated a 'log out' trip, meaning we carried saws and axes with us to cut and move logs blocking the trail.  I learned how to use hand saws called 'coronas', and large saws.  Cutting on top of the log is called an 'overbuck', and cutting on the underside of a  log is appropriately named 'underbucking'.  Never thought I would know that, and now I do.  The trip lasted five nights, six days.  From September 13 through 18th.   I took the first picture featured below after we exited the trail - huge smiles meant showers and clean clothes were soon to come.

The team consisted of our trip leader, Mason, and three assistant crew leaders - Mike, Don, and Scott.  All of the leaders are certified sawyers.  The trip leader wears and is called a 'blue hat'.  Assistant crew leaders are 'orange hats', and regular volunteers wear 'green hats.'  My two fellow green hats were Natalie and Aaron.  WTA gives volunteers personalized green hats after five trail work days.  Because this trip was six days, we all were given our own green hat on the first day.

Stats (Mike's numbers):

Day1: 5.3 miles, 2100' gain, 5 logs removed,  9am to 6pm  (SF Skok)

Day2: 4.8 miles, 2100' gain, 17 logs removed, 8:40am to 6:15pm

Day3: 2.1 miles, 1000' gain, 16 logs removed, 9:25am to 3:15pm

Day4: 6.7 miles, 1400' gain, 17 logs removed before Lk Success Jct, 13 logs after, 9am to 5:15pm

Day5: 6.8 miles, 900' gain, 18 logs removed, 9:10am to 5:30pm

Day6: 5.5 miles, 2100' gain, NO logs removed, 8:30am to 10:45am (NF Skok)

Picture above, before.  After, to the right.  Sawing logs is a lot of work!  The crew leaders were patient, instructive, and a lot of fun to hang out with.  

Natalie's makeshift rain gear = plastic bag and nalgene water bottle filled with hot water.  

Six days was the longest I'd spent in the backcountry.  Climbing into my sleeping bag at night began to seem like a privilege.  When life became more simple, I started to appreciate what I had and who I was with a lot more.  

Northern Loop

First of three trips taken during my two week vacation from work in September.  Leigh and I hiked the Northern Loop in Mt. Rainier National Park - 34 miles in 48 hours.  September 10-12. We started from Sunrise.

 

We hiked about thirteen miles on Saturday, to James Camp.  I read 'Passport to Darkness" that my friend Linda sent me.  The book is a memoir written by Kim Smith, a woman who served as a missionary in Sudan for many years and founded a non-profit to assist Sundanese orphans affected by the warring in their country.  The stories Kim explicitly told about violence, rape, and genocide in Sudan brought me to a feeling place of despair, helplessness, rage, and gratitude, and I cried.  Kim's actions reignited the activist inside me, whom has always felt a strong desire to go to Africa and witness the mass suffering and poverty of freedom and basic human right to be safe in one's own body. 

We hiked another 13 or so miles on Sunday.  Mystic Camp, near Mystic Lake (pictured above) was our home for night two.  Because I had to return to Seattle to assist in a yoga class for my practicum on Monday evening, we left camp at 5:30 Monday morning to hike the remaining 8-10 miles back to Sunrise.  

Hot, sunny weather and comforting companionship.  Perfect weekend and trip.  Next year, the entire Wonderland Trail!