Places I Like to Go

Indecision and the PFM Wall

2011-11-17T10:25:00.001-09:00

Bill and I headed south to Portage with thoughts of warm temps and fat ice. We did the full tour to the Whittier tunnel, things were pretty buried in snow, and the lake was still open. Across the valley, Indecision was like a beacon, it looked huge and promising from the road.

Despite the cold temps the swamp still had quite a few sections of thin ice, creating unfortunate little booby traps. The pool below Indecision was scary, small rocks I threw embedded themselves in the not so frozen ice. It was a "no go" situation.

So we walked back to the car, I wrang out my wet, swampy socks, and we decided to look closer at the PFM wall. I didn't see the line, but Bill was all over it.

It was steep and pretty. Bill cruised it. It was a super fun line, I'm glad I was on top rope.

First Day of the Ice Season: Hillside Pillars

2011-11-16T09:59:00.001-09:00

I forgot the packraft at home, so I was pretty psyched that the river was frozen enough to cross on foot, one never knows this time of year. There was a lot of snow and no one had been up the route as far as we could tell. I half climbed, half shoveled myself up the first easy pitch.

The climbs were in great at the top. I told myself I didn't really need it or want it and gave Bill the lead on both pitches. Its weird how this always bothers me in retrospect.

Bill on the Right Pillar

Whenever I get the screaming barfies to the full effect it makes me question the pain vs reward ratio inherent in ice climbing. My pinky was so frozen I couldn't feel it in my glove. I had to pause on a ledge and try not to cry and vomit at the same time. Although after that my hands burned and were quite hot....and running laps is pretty fun.

Bill on the Left Pillar

The sun didn't shine for long on us, but it sure was pleasant.

Bill Heading Down

What happens when you have nothing to prove anymore...not even to yourself?

Turnagain Pass

2011-11-11T09:36:00.001-09:00

I had the unique opportunity to go skiing with the Okonek sisters. It was Erin's first time backcountry skiing...its been a while since I've been out with a true newbie, and it brought back my own memories of early learning opportunites on skin tracks.

The Girls Leaving the Car

True to Okonek genetics, Erin was able to smile through the pain, but I don't think I have ever seen anyone suffer so badly on a skin track. One sister gliding effortlessly uphill, the other sister sliding backwards, desperate, and out of breath. (Erin is a former Olympic weight lifter, now a cross fit trainer, clearly a fit individual)

Erin

We made it to the ridge and skied one lap off the backside...not super impressed with the run, then skied back to the car off the front...that's the side we should have lapped.

I always consider myself a non skier and definitely behind the curve, today reminded me that its all relative. I ski with really good skiers often, but if I skied with bad skiers more, I would feel like a better skier. I've come a long way since my first days on a skin track.

Turnagain Pass

2011-11-10T09:22:00.001-09:00

Its been a while since I've skied with my good friend Kellie. Kellie is to skiing, like I used to be to ice climbing....dedicated/obsessive, go until dark, and don't mind bad conditions...its hard for me to ski with someone like that. But the new Kellie (she claims), is much more mellow and content to ski powder runs with me on Magnum....just as me, the new Sherrie, hasn't even climbed once this season.

Kellie at the Top of Magnum

My Beautiful Tracks, and Kellie Coming Down

The thing I like the most about skiing with Kellie is the company. We literally chatted up and down that mountain all day, its so fun.

Me and Kellie

Turnagain Pass

2011-11-06T10:08:00.000-09:00

Doug and Ryan Skinning

The snow was deep, light and glorious, pure joy.

Turnagain Pass

2011-11-05T09:59:00.001-08:00

The skiing has been phenomenal this season.

Lots of angry looking glide cracks on all the mountains. Surprised by how many skiers there were on Magnum.

Tree Skiing at Summit

2011-11-03T09:20:00.001-08:00

It was dumping snow when Ryan and I drove through Turnagain pass and it didn't stop by the time we parked at Summit.

It was clearly a day to stick to the trees.

All the new snow made the skiing extra soft, it was glorious.

Attempt on Strelshla Peak

2011-10-27T08:46:00.002-08:00

I love staying up at Betsy and Bill's yurt, and watching the whole family cross the river in the morning reminded me of being in Thailand where the whole family rides a moped together, super cute and highly entertaining.

Our plan was to try and hike up Strelshla peak, we parked down Victory Bible camp road and headed up a large drainage.

We got out of tree line fairly easily, and once we were in the gut it was my favorite combination of 2-4 inches of snow over scree, lots and lots of scree. There were patches of thin wind slab which were nicer, but overall highly unpleasant uphill travel. Luckily the views only got better.

A rare phenomenon

It was another good recon mission in the sense that next time we will probably bring a rope and light rack for the snowy rock section at the top we didn't climb. We enjoyed the views on the saddle while sitting in the sun, good compensation for the uphill scree battle. Fantastic views of the big peaks on the other side of the Matanuska valley, lots of possibilities out there.

Walking the Climbing Pack

2011-10-26T08:18:00.001-08:00

I went North to visit Bill and have a look at conditions up at the Puritan Creek pillar. It was a pleasant 2 hour approach starting on four wheeler tracks, then a plethora of game trails through the brush.

It looked huge and fat from far away, upon closer inspection it was more thin and detached.

We decided to let it grow instead of knocking it down on top rope, leading it was a no go. When it comes in it will be a sweet, wicked steep pillar.

We drove down to Caribou Creek afterward and hiked up the trail to Kids Corner....it was a no go too, lots of water streaming down, and very little ice around it.

Palmer Creek

2011-10-22T09:33:00.000-08:00

We didn't have to hike very far till we hit the snow line. It wasn't deep but the word of the day to describe it was, "supportable".

It was cool to ski somewhere I had never gone before. The mountains back there were pretty sweet. The road closes sometime in early winter, but with a snow machine the access could stay good all season long.

Ryan at the top of the Ridge, unknown peak we skied for lap 2 in the background.

Super fun to get out and do some skiing with Raina and Dan

The last run of the day was truly amazing. A sucker hole opened up and bathed our run in golden alpenglow. The snow was smooth and creamy, the angle perfect. Such a reward for the long skin up.

Early Season Ski at the Snowbird

2011-10-19T08:31:00.004-08:00

I never thought the Archangel valley gate would still be open, but it was, and Doug and I had big grins driving through the snow to the Reed Lakes Parking lot. We put our skis on at the car and although there was probably only about 5 inches, it was enough to avoid walking!

The fog rolled in from the valley, it was awesome to climb above it back into the blue bird day. I tried to stick to the summer trail and managed to avoid most of the large boulders, pretty pleasant tour overall.

We stashed our overnight stuff in the moraine and headed up left of the nunatak to get a run in before dark. There was probably 8-12 inches of snow and it was surprisingly creepy with loud whumphing on the low angle glacier. I guess it was delusional to think it would get better higher up.

I know I've said this before, but I love the Snowbird Hut, with its oil heater, stainless steel counters, and beautiful windows...Ahh so much better than camping!

Early Morning View from the Hut

Conditions weren't much better the next morning with the same whumping on the low angle glacier. It didn't seem like it could slide so we watched our angle and toured above the nuntak, stopping a few hundred feet shy from the top where it got steeper.

The powder was unbelievable light and fluffy, such a beautiful feeling, and unbelievably tempting to keep doing. Doug and I had a good conversation about the snowpack, the 'red light' factors and were both able to live with our decision to ski conservatively.

It was amazing early season powder without all the rocks.

Amazing skiing for October!

First Day of the Ski Season!

2011-10-09T12:06:00.001-08:00

I never would have believed that I would be skiing beautiful powder 4 hours after we parked on dry pavement at Sunburst Parking lot. The snow line was 1200 feet above the car. But I suspended disbelief and walked up the tundra in my ski boots.

We skinned below Sunburst and went up Taylor Pass at the end of the ridge. The snow just got better the farther up we went.

Pastoral peak was beautiful, plenty of snow up top.

The best snow of the day started about 500 feet below the summit and continued to be creamy smooth all the way back to Taylor pass. Our tracks are in the sun behind Ryan, and Pastoral Peak is directly behind him.

This was probably the best day of early season skiing I have ever had, despite the initial approach. Skiing powder under blue skies is unbelievably fun.

Ryan's Mom Comes for a Visit

2011-09-25T10:56:00.001-08:00

Ryan and I picked up his Mom, Carol and her friend Jean in front of their huge cruise ship in the pissing rain, lending creedence to the saying 'its always shittier in whittier'!

We went up to Ry's property, and out to the Eagle River Nature Center. Then stopped at the Soltis compound for dinner. My Mom makes a amazing salmon quiche.

Went to the Matanuska Glacier, they loved it. It was a short a sweet visit, and so funny to see Ryan and his Mom together. She is a tiny little lady! We ended the day with delicious steaks at Club Paris.

I love to see people excited about the beauty of Alaska, and share with them my favorite places.

The Snow Bird Hut

2011-09-20T12:50:00.003-08:00

Ryan came back to town from his summer field season, and we wanted to get out, but keep it civilized. The Snow Bird hut is my ideal home away from home, and Ryan hadn't been up there yet...so we went.

We ate a good dinner, drank wine, and enjoyed the beautiful views. Although there were 3 other dudes there hanging out, it was still super fun, and almost romantic.

Ryan above the Snow Bird Glacier

The next day on our way out we hiked up glacier to the 'Because its there Wall', it looked super aesthetic. Then back to town!

Kincaid Sand Dunes

2011-09-18T11:46:00.000-08:00

The Kincaid sand dunes are a great way to kill a sunny day being leisurely! Ryan and I hung out up there played sudoku, cribbage and sipped on some adult beverages, a really nice day.

An Over Night Above Anchorage

2011-09-11T11:30:00.001-08:00

I don't think I have ever camped in the front range before, but I now realize that it is totally worthy. Its so nice to go to sleep and wake up in a beautiful place.

Caitlin and I hiked up Near Point and then dropped down and crossed the N. Fork of Campbell Creek and headed up toward Tikishla Peak.

The weather was a bit dodgy and unmotivating in the morning but we started walking uphill and kept getting drawn up higher till we were finally at the top of Tickishla.

A super fun hike up the ridge.

The fall colors were beautiful.

D.15

Day 9: Chitistone, Nizina, McCarthy, Anchorage!

2011-09-09T11:02:00.001-08:00

Raina and I decided to check out the cabin before we got back in the river. Apparently there are two public cabins tucked into the trees. Although there were 4 planes it turned out that 3 friends each take their own plane when they go fly together, and the fourth plane belonged to a couple.

Putting back in the Chitistone

The only hiccup of the whole float could have been easily avoided had I just pulled out to scope my trajectory from the Chitistone into the much larger Nizina river. Instead I bombed ahead and the instant I hit the Nizina I flipped into a huge whirl pool. I got out but my boat just floated in circles till my pack caught the outer current and was spit out and then I caught it. Pretty funny overall.

Chitistone, Meet the Nizina

The Nizina is a large high volume river, super mellow floating but lots of creepy eddy lines, and boils that pull at the boat.

It was a fast float and Raina and I were at the old Nizina bridge by early afternoon. Jen, a McCarthy local, picked us up in her truck and spared us the 9 mile walk down a road back to Mccarthy....I did it last year, was glad to avoid a repeat!

Overall one of the most amazing trips I have ever got to do. Stellar in all aspects of scenery, travel and companionship. I feel super lucky to have been able to do it in such fine style.

TD.95:EG.16800

Day 8: Floating Down the Chitistone River

2011-09-08T10:49:00.000-08:00

It was a glorious sunny morning when Raina and I woke up, unfortunately the large beautiful mountains were blocking us from the rays. The Chitistone river was running low and Raina and I crossed it on foot, although I wore my drysuit, but Raina toughed it out! We debated putting in the river the whole time we walked down it. It looked awesome, super fun, low volume adventure. The remoteness though, and lack of helmets weighed heavy on our confidence and we kept walking.

We put in a little above where Glacier creek comes in to the Chitistone. The floating was awesome!! Super fun and fast.

We took out on Peavine bar in hopes of staying in a cabin, but there was a surprising amount of people there. We walked to the airstrip and counted four planes, neither of us were feeling super social so we decided to set camp instead of checking out the peeps in the cabin. It was a beautiful night to be outside.

Day 7: Amazing Day on the Goat Trail

2011-09-07T14:44:00.002-08:00

I spotted the mamma bear and cubs first as I was enjoying my morning cup of coffee. Her and the cubs had already walked by our camp without us noticing. Raina and I decided we had enough of the nature show and quickly packed up and headed past the bears down the valley.

The colors of the mountains were amazing as we traversed up and across. The trail was exposed in places, but for the most part great footing.

The walking was amazing all the way down the valley. The walls around Chitistone Falls were steep and tall.

The colors of the tundra continued to be amazing as we made our way down to the Chitistone river.

Outside of a short misadventure down a bear trail that ended above a waterfall and a class 5 bushwhack back uphill we made it to the Chitistone river fairly easily.

D.7.3:EG.4200

Day 6: Up and Over the Goat Trail

2011-09-06T10:08:00.003-08:00

Raina and I left the airstrip fat and happy the next morning. It was pleasant walking out of the mud and up onto the goat trail.

As we climbed up we walked past at least 30 goats in different groups all around us.

It was beautiful up there in the pass, but also cold and windy, so Raina and I continued down the valley, staying just above a nasty lateral moraine.

We stopped just shy of where the valley pinches off in a nice patch of trees and set up camp. Raina with her eagle eyes spotted the 2 black bears. They were small so soon we were wondering where the mama was. Soon we saw her and another cub. We called out and made sure she saw us. The next 2 hours were straight out of a National Geographic special. We debated packing up, but the mama bear seemed unthreatened and non aggressive so we just waited till she moved on, before we went to bed.

D.8.6:EG.3700

Day 5: Kite Flying, Fires and Massive Food Consumption

2011-09-05T10:42:00.001-08:00

Raina and I were in true leisure mode after our food drop and so we decided to hang out for a day. It was windy so Raina and I went down to the airstrip, my hands were freezing, but Raina braved the cold and got the kite airborne.

Looking up valley toward the Russel Glacier

We had lot of time on our hands and it was cold out so we built a fire. A big lesson learned was that even though willows might be dead and brittle they don't burn until they look like drift wood. It took some persistence to get our little fire cranking.

The mid amongst the willows

Day 4: Morraine Walking to the Skolai Air Strip

2011-09-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

Despite the narly looking morraine pile all around us Raina and I managed to find the equivalent of the yellow brick road leading us out of camp.

Outside of one or two treacherous leg swallowing glacial muck piles, we both managed to make it through with our shoes on. Once we reached what we dubbed coffee bean lake the walking dried out for a bit and we walked on with our mouths constantly in exclamation of beauty mode.

Some people blow up their boats and float across Skolai lake, but Raina and I were walking into a stiff head wind and even if we had two boats it would have been painful paddling.

The easiest looking part of the day ended up being the worst. We thought the mud was behind us, but there was a lot more muck to come!! So gross, and a little unnerving, but we made it down valley to the Skolai airstrip, (not the one on topo maps) and hunkered down in the willow trees with hundreds of tundra chickens.

Within a couple hours we heard a plane overhead and met the two Jen's and pilot from Wrangell Mtn air to pick up our food, boat, drysuits and pfds. We were hoping the two Jen's would be able to stay the night, but with the weather looking iffy, and a huge low moving in, they had to bail. I've never gotten a food drop before and I have to stay it was freaking awesome!!!D.9.5:EG.1100

Day 3: Lovely Alpine Walking to a New Valley

2011-09-03T20:10:00.002-08:00

Raina and I woke up, packed camp and continued walking through stunning fall alpine colors. Right before we dropped into a drainage a young brown bear came out of the bushes. Raina with her eagle eyes spotted him first and yelled bear. We got out the bear sprizzle and stood next to each other looking big. He went out of sight, circled us and then gave us another good look, but Raina told him to "Beat it", and then he slowly rambled away.

The trail was intermittent but we got on something good before we dropped into the trees and down to the White River. From there it was beautiful open tundra and grass, we picked up a four wheeler trail and followed it to Lime Creek. We blew up our one boat ferried the packs across and then Raina and I rode double across. No pics unfortunately!

Eventually we got to the morraine from the Russel glacier, but it continued to be amazing walking.

A lot of animals cross through here! Tons of bear and caribou tracks.

We crossed flood creek and found an awesome campsite up above it. The views were stunning.

D.13:EG.1270

Day 2: Geohendra Creek to Alpine Beauty

2011-09-02T09:59:00.002-08:00

Raina and I continued up Geohendra Creek the next morning. Within 15 minutes we passed the cabin, and a plane parked on a pretty rugged airstrip.

The walking was fantastic. When we got off Geohendra creek there was a pretty decent trail across the alpine.

We made coffee at Solo mtn cabin, and I finally gave into the colder temps and put on long underwear.

We spent the whole day walking beneath beautiful snow and glacier covered mountains. By the end of the day we could see the white river valley and a whole new valley filled with more beautiful white mountains. Absolutely amazing country.

D.17:EG.1900

Day 1: McCarthy Flight to Chisana and Up Geohendra Creek

2011-09-01T10:06:00.001-08:00

I have wanted to do the Nabesna to McCarthy route for years. The car shuttle is daunting though, so Raina and I bypassed it by flying from McCarthy into Chisana. In retrospect we could have flown all the way to Nabesna, but that's retrospect for ya.

The McCarthy Foot Bridge

Even though it was a semi beautiful day our flight got delayed for about 4 hours waiting for the clouds to clear. The pilot for Wrangell Mtn Air was awesome, and we flew over most of the route, except the infamous goat trail.

Raina let me sit up front because she knows what a picture taking geek I am. She really is the best!

We landed in Chisana a little after 4pm, and headed out right away. From the air we could see a nice four wheeler trail through the trees that went straight to Geohendra creek, our pathway to the alpine.

The Creek was super easy walking, as good as it gets really. We hike up about 7 miles and made camp on the riverbed. Just as dinner was about done, and the sun was almost gone, a girl with pink chaps on a humongous horse came right by our camp. She was followed by her packhorse, two clients in camo and a young buck with like 4 more horses. It was random, they were headed to a cabin around the corner, Raina and I laughed because we almost stayed there.

D.7.5:EG.1050

Train Ride, Sidewalks, and Floating the Placer River

2011-08-16T10:40:00.001-08:00

When we woke up we had no idea what to do with the beautiful day. A few minutes on the great internet secured us seats on the AK railroad to get a drop off at the Spencer Glacier whistlestop. We had a 1/2 hr to pack and head out the door!

Getting off the train

Hiking Around the Lake

We decided to walk around the lake to the toe of the glacier, I was just as psyched to walk back, but we decided to float across the lake, all I can say is that I'm glad that there wasn't a head wind, and the views were incredible.

Blowing up the Boats

The Placer river is a pretty boring float. If it didn't involve a glacier and a train ride it would be much less appealing. A wonderful day out with great company, no complaints!

An Almost Attempt and Float out Eagle River

2011-08-13T20:59:00.002-08:00

Ryan and I woke up to low clouds and our dreams of ascending Yukla started to wither. We gave it a good go, but the bush schwack and dreary weather defeated us. There were amazing beaver trails up the hillside near Twin Falls, we could have been more persistent.

We decided to stay another night after our futile bush schwack.

A quick paddle navigating trees brought us to Echo bend where we took out and hiked back to the nature center.

Crow Pass to the Eagle River

2011-08-12T10:07:00.001-08:00

It was a glorious morning on top of the pass,and no need to hurry.

A lingering snow patch below the pass

We hiked all the way up to the lake, neither of us had been up there before. The toe of the glacier still looked far away. We paddled to the start of the river and were treated to a fantastic ride down. It was cranking, there were some super fun wave trains, then it of course mellows out farther down. We took out below Twin falls, and camped with dreams of Mt. Yukla above us.

Glacier Creek and Up to Crow Pass

2011-08-11T09:48:00.001-08:00

Ryan came into town for a week, and I was a bit surprised he was ready to head back outside for a float, hike,and camp trip, but I ran with it! He got a new alpacka raft, it looks like an inflatable kayak, its pretty sweet.

Glacier Creek was Cranking

Glacier creek was significantly higher than the last time I was there, but it almost made it easier because there weren't as many rocks to avoid. Ryan definitely was in love with his new boat after the first corner. Having a spray deck is pretty nice, he's been roughing it in the old alpacka!

The Put In

The float was fast, we were out within the hour. Ryan biked back up to the car while I dried gear in the sun. We still had a good amount of daylight so we headed up to Crow Pass for the night.

Gold Mint to Snowbird Glacier

2011-07-28T18:59:00.000-08:00

It was a beautiful hot sunny day as Kellie and I hiked down the Gold Mint trail. We were in leisure mode and took advantage of scenic vistas to absorb the sun and of course chat.

Kellie Heading Down the Gold Mint Trail

Getting Up Higher

We sat up at Backdoor Gap for at least an hour just soaking up the steep walls, blue lakes and anemic glaciers. When it was time we headed over and down the Penny Royal glacier to the valley below. I have done a few variations in this area, but this was by far the easiest travel I have ever encountered, I think this is the way the Bomber Traverse is meant to be done.

Kellie and I soaked up the comforts of the cozy Snow Bird Hut, drank wine, watched a beautiful sunset and then were ready for bed.

The weather had turned to pea soup by morning and we packed up our stuff and headed out.

The sun came in and out on our way down, it looked like we were going to descend into The Nar, but instead the clouds kept parting and the sun stayed on us.

An awesome trip with fantastic company.

D.22.5:EG.6700

Snow Bird to Bomber to Reed Lakes

2011-07-20T09:31:00.049-08:00

I woke up to a blue bird day and decided to check out the valley that the Bomber and Pennyroyal glaciers terminate in. I dropped straight off the back off the moraine down to the alpine lake, it was steep and probably not the easiest way down. Beautiful Alpine Lake

I picked my way down through the cliffs and moraine trending toward the right, I passed a small unnamed valley and then headed up the wider second valley. The walking was good through tundra and scrub brush. I saw more bear scat than all my trips up to Hatcher Pass combined.Heading Down to the second valley on the right

I debated going out the Gold Mint trail or heading up and over Bomber pass to the Reed lakes trail all the way up the valley, but as the clouds started to build my decision was made. I've never walked up the toe of the Bomber glacier, coming up the moraine I could picture how massive it once was, but now its little more than a ramp of ice, I didn't see any crevasses. On the Bomber

The first time I was on the Bomber glacier was 1997, and I've walked past the plane many times and decided to skip it this trip and headed up to the pass. Looking down on Upper Reed Lake

Dropping off Bomber pass down to the Upper Reed lakes is probably one of the more unpleasant steep boulder fields I've been on, but the Reed Lakes trail is pretty awesome.D.16.3:EG:5850

The Snow Bird Hut

2011-07-19T21:08:00.007-08:00

Raina was psyched to get out for the day with me to go check out the new Snow Bird hut. I packed to stay the night since I had a couple days off.

It was a beautiful hike up the valley toward the glacier, there is a pretty nice "trail" that has cairns in quite a few places.

Raina coming down the pass onto the Snow Bird glacier

Looking down Bartolf creek toward the Kashwitna River

I have decided the Snow Bird hut is my new favorite place to be. I could sit up there for hours and just look at the mountains. Its also going to be a sweet base for early season skiing!!!

The new Snow Bird Hut

T.5ish:D.5.3:EG.3000

Above the Exit Glacier

2011-07-14T11:22:00.013-08:00

It was my day off and I wanted to get out of the rain if possible, so I went and looked at web cams, I figured I was willing to drive 2 hours in any direction for the possibility of sun shine. Weirdly enough Seward was showing blue skies, so I decided to head to Exit glacier and hike the Harding Ice field trail.

It wasn't exactly blue bird by the time I got down there, but it wasn't raining either. I was shocked by the hundreds of cars and people in the parking lot. The further up the trail the less people I saw, but I was still surprised by the number of people out there.

This is one of the nicest trails I have ever been on in Alaska. There are literally rock steps in places, amazing! .
A mamma goat and baby were completely unperturbed by my presence.

I stayed the night, because I have an attraction to waking up in beautiful places, and nothing better to do. Sometime during the night the winds picked up and by morning I woke up with the wall of the tent on my head. Not exactly the relaxing 2 cup of coffee morning I had anticipated. Seeing no reason to stay in bed with a tent on my head, I headed over to the mountain shelter to make my coffee and decide the course of the day.

Not Bad Views

In the end I decided the cold wind wasn't real conducive to my relaxing morning, and after coffee I headed back down the hill. A super nice trip out of the house in a place that I haven't been in over 10 years.

Berry Pass to the 20 Mile River

2011-07-11T11:28:00.084-08:00

A pretty impressive showing of girl power met at Carr's Huffman at 8am on a Monday morning. By 11, all six of us we were hiking on the Winner Creek trail up to Berry Pass.

It was an overcast, muggy day, but it seemed to magnify the greens in the rain forest.

Hiking without trails is the most sure fire way to appreciate an amazing trail the next time you are on one. The trail has been extended on the 20 mile side of Berry pass, rumor has it, eventually it will extend all the way out to the highway.

This is the second time I've been with a virgin packrafter on this trip and I'm not convinced that this is the best river to start on. The first bit is fast and tends to suck newbies into the alders along the side, its painful and scary to watch. Poor Margo was wet, cold and scared within the first 5 minutes. Luckily the latter half is mellow, if not a little unrelentingly flat and slow . What makes this trip worthwhile are the beautiful views and ability to chat the whole way.

Merrick towed me for a little while, it was pretty entertaining.

I absolutely had a great day, but an all together different experience than I usually seek. Its funny how a small group outing can turn into a larger one, and my reaction to that. I'll just be lame and say it, but I don't like doing outdoor trips with more than 3-4 people. My patience to wait for all the separate pieces just isn't there.

T.9ish:D.24.6:EG.2760

Resurection Creek

2011-07-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

I called Heather up one random afternoon and an hour later I was on my way to meet her to go float Resurrection creek out of Hope. We hiked up the Resurrection trail about 5 miles where the trail follows the river and then heads away from it again. It looked a lot splashier than I had envisioned.

I can't believe I have never done this float before, nor have I heard people talking about it. It was awesome! Clear water, small drops, tight maneuvering, beautiful eddies, and face shots. Heather and I grinned the whole way down.

The fun continued past the foot bridge over the creek, but towards the end we started to get shut down by river wide strainers. After a couple portages and what looked like more to come we took out by someones cabin and walked about 5 minutes to Hope where we had left a car. It was an awesome float, way more interesting and exciting than I had ever dreamed.

Day 8: Yanert River to the Land of Cold Beer and Soft Beds

2011-06-25T12:12:00.000-08:00

It was exciting to wake up and realize that we had one more float and then 8 or so miles on ATV trails and we would be back to civilization. The Yanert river was a super mellow float with one section of easily avoidable rocks. It was amazing after walking so slow for days to have the miles fly by with little effort, it made carrying the boat well worth it.

Ryan Floating the Yanert

We took out at Moose creek and found evidence of humans before us, a fire ring and trash. There was a small trail that paralleled the river and eventually dumped into a larger four wheeler trail on the other side of Revine Creek.

Pretty amazingly easy walking took us to a neighborhood where we could hear the highway but not see it. I wanted to cut over through the trees but Lynn and Ryan definitely put the kabosh on that plan.

Eventually we could see the airstrip and cut across the end of it and ended up at a lodge right next to the highway. With cell phone service we made reservations at a hotel and arranged a pick up to take us to McKinley village.

My good buddy Rapheal drove up to get us, we were supposed to stay out late and dance to Big Fat Buddha. But after gorging myself I went into a food coma and needed to lay down. No amount of heckling from Rapheal could bring me out of my stupor, I was done for the night.

Although my GPS was broken for the last 2 days I left it on while we traveled and was able to down load the tracks when I got home. The trip was about 130 miles with 19,000 feet of elevation gain. We crossed 2 glaciers, and went over numerous passes and rivers. It has taken a while to digest the vast swathe of land we walked across, and go through the hundreds of pictures along the way. A worthy trip, although one I probably won't do again.

T.9:20:D.22.8:EG.420

Day 7: Little Grizzly Creek to the Yanert River

2011-06-24T09:57:00.000-08:00

I can't adequately describe the joy and optimism for life that I felt when the early morning sun hit my face. It felt like days since it had been nice out, if it was sunny everday could I ever be this appreciative of it?

After a lot of debate we put back in the Wood river and decided to take out at Little Grizzly creek with the hope of finding a horse trail I had read about on one of Roman Dial's posts. We all just wanted some nice easy walking.

A flash of aviation orange caught my eye as we were approaching Little Grizzly creek, we pulled over and found a large airstrip and about 100 yards into the trees the Denali Wilderness Lodge. No one was home, I guess its for sale. If I was a gazillionaire I would buy it in a second. It was a huge compound comprised of a large lodge, numerous private guest cabins, an old tractor, and horse pens. It was all the more impressive considering everything there was flown in.

There was no sign that marked the start of the horse trail, and I would have said it was more like a game trail, except that it didn't dead end as often. We followed it up the creek, lost it and found it as it crossed the creek back and forth, once above treeline though it was awesome to the top of the pass.

We should have stayed left instead of right when we lost the trail, but we didn't know how or if it went all the way to Yanert river anyway. The important thing is we saw it where it crossed Dick Creek and went up the left bank about 500 ft. I have no doubt that it would have never ending bushwhack on the opposite side.

It felt like miles to get through the trees and down to the Yanert. Luckily the summer days are long because we didn't make camp till midnight. Our feet were wrinkled, and aching, but we were grinning because now it was time to float again.

Sun Setting Over the Yanert River

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Day 6: Another Pass to the Wood River

2011-06-23T12:19:00.000-08:00

Five days of walking on tussocks, rocks and through rivers took its toll on our feet. Ryan's ankle was swollen and his feet covered in duct tape. Luckily for us the walking was really good up the West fork of the Little Delta.

Across from a little cabin that seemed grossly out of place on the river in the middle of nowhere we cut up an unnamed drainage following a creek with iron stained rocks. The clouds threatened rain, but only produced brief sprinkles.

We climbed to another 6,000 foot pass through the clouds.

As we came down we could start to see the Wood River, the prospect of floating at this point sounded like entering heaven.

We got to the Wood River at about 7 and were all excited to start floating. We debated going up Grizzly creek, or floating another 4+ miles to Little Grizzly creek across from the closed down Denali Wilderness Lodge. The Wood river was running swift through small braided channels, there was quite a bit of intermittent but scooting through shallow sections.

I pulled my GPS out of my life jacket to see how fast I was floating and immediately saw the cracked touch screen. No amount of further touching would bring it back to a functional state. I'm embarrassed but I cried like a baby for at least 2 hours. I love knowing exactly where I am and the ability to satisfy my curiosity about my exact distance, pace, elevation gain/loss, way points, ect was swiftly and unexpectedly gone. We pulled out at Grizzly creek and camped for the night.

Geekery Courtesy of Garmin

Day 5: More Passes To and From Buchanon Creek

2011-06-22T11:03:00.002-08:00

Rain and mosquitoes, my favorite morning combination of suffering. I've never seen such an impressive amount of bugs in a mega mid before, needless to say it wasn't a place that encouraged loitering in the morning. We packed up and headed up valley. Shortly after starting out Lynn says, "bear" we all stop and about 100 yards ahead of us is 3 bears, a mama with two cubs that looked at least a year old. We backed away, and they stood on their hind legs to get a better look. Although they were initially curious, they decided they didn't like us either and headed up the opposite side of the valley, thankfully in a different direction than we were trying to go.

Ryan Looking Down to Buchanon Creek

Walking up the Buchanon was a welcome relief from the sponge land tussock crap we had been unable to stray from, it was not however a smooth river bar, virtually no sandy sections. Lots of jumbled rocks, wherever we saw snow we changed course to walk on it.

As we winded up the river into the clouds, it narrowed and the mountain of scree came in closer.

The pass I'm sure was spectacular as we were at 6,000 feet surrounded by big mountains we could only see on the map. I always feel like when I miss the view I need to go back, this trip might be the exception. It felt like we were super remote and everything was farther away than it looked!

We descended the pass into another valley with another creek we ping ponged down and across. There were some wet aching feet, and no duct tape or blister remedy could withstand the constant wetness. We stopped shy of the West fork of the little Delta in a pause from the rain on a flat spot that seemed made for the mega mid.

T.?:D.14:EG.2720

A little geekery courtesy of Garmin

Day 4: Whistler, East Fork, and Above the Gillam Glacier

2011-06-21T10:16:00.002-08:00

Its hard to get going when its raining out, but it helps when its also raining in the mega-mid when people move. Our bug shield was effective, but the buried flaps caused the sides to sag...needless to say it wasn't a beautiful morning.

After much debate due to high water and lots of rain we decided not to go down Hayes creek to the East fork river and instead cut across a bench and dropped into Whistler creek which took us to the East fork. From there it was a nice change to walk on rocks, gravel and cross the creek.

The channels on the East fork river varied but some of them were deep, others swift, and some swift and deep. We spent a fair amount of time in the water.

There was lots of debate the whole way up river about whether we could cross the main channel on foot, but it never looked quite good enough. Eventually the river hugged the side of the mountain and we had to cross. There was a little debate, but in the end we all blew up our boats and crossed, it would have been gnarly to try and cross by foot.

Near the toe of the Gillam glacier we cut over to the base of the unnamed valley that would take us to Buchanon creek. It was a little bit of a bushwhack, and when we stopped to get some water Lynn noticed her poles for the paddles were missing from her pack. In the rain, surrounded by bugs and bushes, I think we all wanted to cry. Instead we left our packs and tried to follow the GPS track back. It was quite difficult to stay on route, but we found one pole, went all the way back to the river, and on the way back to our packs found the other pole. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Losing the paddles could have significantly altered our trip.

From there we schwacked hard uphill in the pouring rain for about an hour until we reached the ridge where an amazing game trail was. I love game trails, its amazing how much easier they make traveling. We made it to a bowl above the Gillam glacier, found a reasonably flat place and set up the mega mid.

T.13.2:D.17.4:EG.2370

Day 3: More Passes and the Hayes Glacier

2011-06-20T08:59:00.002-08:00

Walking up the small creek was fast and easy, we should have taken the small right fork, but the left side was so nice we overlooked its importance. We topped out on a pass a little disoriented, but just walked back to the right side, and were back on route. More sponge land, I was really beginning to hate this stuff, wet feet, high energy output, slow travel, and horrendous mosquitoes. There was a herd of caribou, lots of tracks, but no trails through the wet open mountains, my theory was that any game trail would just become a creek.

Photo by: Lynn Peterson

The mosquitoes had been bad this whole trip, but when we reached the bushy covered lateral moraine of the Hayes glacier they came out in full force. It was to the point where literally hundreds were around me, the noise, and yuck factor are indescribable. Ryan almost lost it, at one point I had to tell him he was going in the wrong direction. The urge to flee is so strong, but there is nowhere to go.

The East Hayes "creek" was flowing fast and high, there was no way we were going to cross it, instead we crossed the glacier right where it quite literally bubbled up from the edge of the ice. I've never seen anything like it.

It was pretty straight forward getting across and we lost some of the mosquitoes along the way. Once on the other side we debated whether to go around the twin hills, or over. I was ready to do anything to stay out of sponge land, but got out voted. There are lots of ways to get to the same place sometimes, Ryan and I don't always agree on the best route, so we ended up taking turns getting to decide. Lynn wasn't as opinionated as me and Ryan.

Lynn Above the Hayes Glacier

Lots of Big Beautiful Mountains

The bugs, slow travel and high energy output wore on us and by the time we got to Hayes creek on the other side we were all spent. All of us wanted a reprieve from the bugs, so we buried the flaps of the mega-mid in the sand, we lost some real estate, but all slept more peacefully.

Camp

T.11:D.11.7:EG.2500

Day 2: Down a Pass, Across a Valley, and Crossing the Trident Glacier

2011-06-19T18:15:00.004-08:00

We all woke up feeling re-freshed, plus we were only about 1/4 mile to the pass which is a nice way to start a day. From there it was mellow spongy walking across broad sloping valleys.

We debated where to cross the Trident glacier as we paralleled it for miles. It looked cleaner and smoother up high, but the lateral morraine looked unappealing to travel on down to the next valley....When we were directly across from the valley we wanted to go into, we crossed the Trident.

There is no such thing as walking a straight line on a glacier, some unexpected obstacle always pops up. The crossing was relatively straight forward despite the zig-zags, just time consuming.

We finally made it across the glacier and crossed into another valley, with a low flowing creek and an amazingly flat spot perfect for our mega mid. Unsure of what we would find above us we all were content to stop right there.

T.10:D.11.4:EG.2200

Day 1: Delta River to No Name Pass

2011-06-18T13:59:00.001-08:00

I have wanted to do the Donnelly to McKinley village trip for a couple years. My good friend Lynn was able to get a little time to come up from DC, and Ryan managed to convince his work to let him off for 10 days. It sounded like a perfect combination of hiking and floating amidst big mountain scenery. My Dad is always looking for an excuse to go on a road trip and was easily on board to drop off us in Donnelly.

The Hayes Range

We blew up our boats and crossed the Delta River right across from McGinnis creek, it was a super easy crossing although the Delta was moving fast.

A little ways up McGinnis creek we headed right and got on a tractor trail that took us up above tree line, its always nice to avoid a bushwhack! The mountain views were spectacular.

We crossed a broad open valley of sponge land then started heading up a small drainage. Walking across wet, bouncy land with a fully loaded pack takes some energy, its frustrating to work hard and go slow! We stopped shy of our pass by a small creek, set up the mega mid and were at home.

I tracked the route on my GPS and then downloaded it to Google Earth.

Slide Show of Ryan, Lynn and My Pics

T.11:10:D.13.2:EG.3070

Football Field to Williwaw

2011-06-10T13:35:00.002-08:00

I took at quick trip out of Glen Alps up and over the football field, down to the Williwaw Lakes valley and then back to Glen Alps, a super fun and fast lolly pop style loop.

Looking back toward Ptarmigan Peak

I feel a little fat and a little old, never has running or hiking uphill felt so slow and difficult. I hate how that feeling never changes now matter how fit I am, guess it keeps me motivated.

The Football Field

Me by Black Lake

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Glacier Creek with the Girls

2011-06-08T10:35:00.003-08:00

Caitlin, Krista and I all had the morning free and decided to go float Glacier creek in Girdwood. It was running higher than when Ryan and I were there last week.

Glacier Creek

2011-05-29T10:06:00.001-08:00

Ryan and I headed down to Glacier creek in Girdwood for some quick and easy packrafting. A beautiful 1 mile trail took us to the hand tram.

I love how right off the bat its go time on this fast little creek. I think this is my favorite type of float, low volume and splashy.

Ryan's boat got swamped and he couldn't avoid hitting the corner which dumped him out of his boat. He got out in an eddy and I caught his boat and pulled into an eddy on the opposite side of the river. Sometimes I debate bringing a throw rope because its not something you can use in the boat, but it can be effective in getting someone else stuck on the opposite shore without their boat a more secure way back across the river.

With that excitement behind us we cruised down the rest of the river, such a pretty place to spend a few hours.

Wolverine Peak

2011-05-28T09:55:00.002-08:00

Ughh the first trot up Wolverine peak this year! It was brutal, usually I've put in more uphill mileage at Arctic valley before this point, but not this year!

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Falls Creek Trail

2011-05-24T09:50:00.001-08:00

My good friend Kristen came to town, its been at least a couple years since I have seen her. We went for a mellow walk up Falls Creek trail. There was a a ton of snow still in the valley.

Three little people on the left against the snow on the mountains.

I think this is the hardest I've ever seen this little creek flow, it was cranking.

Near Point

2011-05-23T09:45:00.001-08:00

Raina and I went for a hike up Near Point. It was the first time that I found the trail that hit the ridge, much nicer than walking up the boggy section in the middle.

Still some snow hanging out in the higher peaks.

The Lower Eagle River

2011-05-22T09:31:00.000-08:00

Ryan, Raina and I floated the lower Eagle River from the Hiland Bridge onto base. The water was running low, but it was still fun.

Ryan at the Put In

Ryan went over something sharp on the left side of camp ground rapids and tore a 6 inch perfect slit in the floor of his boat. It quickly became apparent that the boat was flooding too fast, luckily Raina brought a repair kit.

Raina and Ryan

A super fun float and I look forward to doing it at higher water.

Snot Rocket Walks Continue

2011-05-18T10:34:00.007-08:00

The trail back to Eagle and Symphony lakes is relatively snow free, but super muddy. My intentions were to go to the lakes, but I reevaluated that plan during a hailstorm and decided to take my snottiness out of there.

Triangle Peak

I Gotta Say..

2011-05-17T10:27:00.000-08:00

Flat Top is becoming my new favorite hike. I used to never hike it out of self righteous ideals that it was below me, with all those switch backs and people...yuck. But now I can appreciate the gentle grade and stairs, I smile at the people as I walk by. Its easily the best view for the least amount of effort.

And then I got sick for two weeks...

2011-05-13T10:19:00.001-08:00

Being sick has got to be one of the most frustrating wastes of time I can think of. I knew I was getting sick the morning I woke up. There was a dull ache in my lungs and yellow lugis, then it went to my nose and I spent a lot of time on the couch hacking and blowing snot rockets. Not pretty.

Turnagain Arm

Floating with Friends

2011-05-10T18:17:00.002-08:00

My friends Matt and Krista are back in town and we decided to met up and go floating. I invited my friend Caitlin along, and she invited to of her buddies and thats how all 6 of us ended up floating part of the Matanuska river from Keiths Road to Hicks creek.

It didn't take us long to get to the take out so we decided to move the cars and float some more.

Photo by: Krista

The Chickaloon river was running low and the water was a beautiful semi translucent green. There were a couple of fun splashy sections, it would be fun to do at higher water.

Photo by Krista

Matt and Krista took one for the team and did the car shuttle and took pictures. It was a super fun day out.

Photo by: Krista

Slide Show of Krista and My Pics

The Kiliak Wall

2011-05-07T14:13:00.001-08:00

Ryan and I decided it was time to try and do some rock climbing. He is partial to the Kiliak wall in Eagle River since he has put up a lot of the routes. I like it up there because the views are awesome. The mosquitoes were terrible, but we had mosquito coils and within a 1/2 hour we had smoked them out.

All the routes were dry and it was fun to be climbing outside again.

Training at Eklutna Lake

2011-05-06T13:56:00.001-08:00

My good buddy Rapheal said he would ride his bike with me while I went for my run at Eklutna Lake. I'm trying to build up some mileage so I can be in shape for more interesting runs and trots through the mountains this summer.

Rapheal had fun encouraging me to go faster, jump over more obstacles, and work harder. He got into his imaginary role as my personal trainer and decided I should be a triathlete and when I ran he would bike, when I swam he would row a boat, and when it was my turn on the bike, he would ride a motorcycle. We had a good laugh over that one.

The lake is still frozen but the trail is mostly dry. The mountains are still full of snow and look beautiful.

Every spring I wish I would have maintained my running shape through the winter, and every winter wish I had spent more time climbing in the summer. Its hard to stay in shape for everything.

Icy Banks: Spring Float on the Matanuska

2011-05-01T10:55:00.000-08:00

I'm craving summer. Even though the mountains are still full of snow I am just mentally over winter, maybe have been for a while! So Ryan, Rapheal, Bobbie Jo and I all decided to float part of the Matanuska river from close to King Mountain lodge to the King River.

There was still a lot of ice along the bank which influenced where Rapheal could launch his big raft.

The ice along the bank fractured into long spindly pieces and the tinkling sounds it made as it sheared it off the banks was musical.

The float was pretty mellow, low water but not butt boating, a perfect first float of the year.

Me, Rapheal, Bobbie Jo and Ryan

It took about 3-4 hrs with stops along the way, a great day out.

Rainbow Peak

2011-04-28T10:44:00.002-08:00

Caitlyn had the morning off and both of us wanted to walk on dirt instead of in the snow so we headed south to Rainbow peak. Definitely one of my favorite early season hikes, the ridge can be as interesting as you want to make it, and the views are beautiful.

First and Last Day of Back Country Skiing

2011-04-17T10:36:00.003-08:00

Ryan, Kyle and I left the parking lot of Arctic valley at about 5pm and toured to the top of Mt. Gordon Lyon. This was the first time I went back country skiing all year. Usually the ski season starts in October up at Hatcher Pass, but a low to no snow level up there prevented that, then I went to Hawaii and then it was climbing season. Pretty disappointed in myself on letting a whole season slip by....skiing can be so much fun!

Ryan at the Top

Looking Down

Looking Up

Self Portrait

Grand Canyon: Bouche and Hermit Trail

2011-04-04T10:30:00.001-08:00

Our grand plan was to try and do a rim to rim trip in a day at the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately there was still to much snow on the North Rim and so no way to do a car shuttle. I joked about a rim to rim to rim, but we all decided that was a bad idea.

Instead we decided to do a lollipop loop connecting the Bouche and Hermit trails. The guy at the park head quarters told us that we were nuts, both trails were rugged and it took some people all day just to get to the bottom. I have to admit he kinda made us all doubt our ambitions, but the facts were it was still only 22 miles with a 7,000+ gain. I just couldn't wrap my head around why those numbers were impossible...Lynn and Andrew agreed so we just decided to get an earlier start, and we decided on a turnaround time if we were moving to slow.

The weather was perfect, blue skies with wispy clouds, temps from 45 in the morning to maybe 75 at height of the heat. The walking was fun, similar to a maintained trail in Alaska.

The layers of rocks, amazing shapes and colors truly made every mile enjoyable.

The Colorado River

A worthy day out, and we even got back to the car before we needed headlamps, and still had time to eat out!

Slide Show of Lynn and My Pics

T.12:D.22:EG.7700

Restoring the Power: Sedona Vortex Link Up

2011-04-02T09:57:00.002-08:00

Lynn, Andrew and I decided our power centers needed some replenishment so went and hiked to 3 of Sedona's vortexes. There is a lot of infomoration on the web, but the jist is this, "In Sedona vortexes are created, not by wind or water, but from spiraling spiritual energy. The vortexes of Sedona are named because they are believed to be spiritual locations where the energy is right to facilitate prayer, mediation and healing. Vortex sites are believed to be locations having energy flow that exists on multiple dimensions".

I'm not sure if I felt the spiritual energy, but I can say the vortexes that we visited were absolutely beautiful. My favorite was Catherdral rock, a slick rock trail that wound its way up to the base of these beautiful red rock formations.

Leave it to Lynn to have us crawling down some scrubby trail instead of staying on the main route!

An amazing day out, definitely a highlight of the trip. All the hikes were relatively short, which was good because I was feeling some soreness for the Hot Loop trail the day before!

Slide Show of Lynn and My Pics

Hot Loop: Not Just a Name

2011-04-01T09:47:00.003-08:00

I flew to Arizona and met my good friend Lynn and Andrew for some fun before they got married in Sedona on April 9th.

We all wanted to get out for a big day or two while we were in Arizona. We picked one close to where we were called Hot Loop Trail, it seemed like the perfect warm up day, 17 miles and only a 2,000 ft or so elevation gain. The funny thing was that the first sign we saw out of the parking lot stated that the trail wasn't a loop, and well just read it below. We debated for about 30 seconds then kept going.

The hike took us up to the top of a scrubby mesa, which we followed till it reached a deep canyon, it was pretty but not spectacular. It was about 90 degrees, and we all agreed that Hot Loop was a very appropriate name. Going up the last big hill I somehow lost my GPS. I almost died of heatstroke running back down and up to try and find it, then Lynn and Andrew retraced our steps again, but no luck.

Even though my GPS was gone Lynn and Andrew still had their garmin watches, and at mile 14 we were all pretty sure that we had more than 3 miles to go and began to wonder how accurate the sign at the beginning really was.

I had brought 3 liters of water, which is always more than enough, but I was close to out and when we came to this slow moving stream that appeared out of the ground, I couldn't resist filling up. I can't believe how much energy the heat can suck out of me, or how thirsty I constantly am. I figured possible giardia in 2 weeks beat dehydration right now.

Twenty one miles later we reached the car in the dark. Our book proved to be about 4 miles off, but at least it was a loop unlike what the sign had claimed!

Slide Show of Lynn and My Pics

Caribou Creek: A Whole New Approach

2011-03-22T09:55:00.003-08:00

I hadn't been to the end of Caribou creek all winter and really wanted to check out the land slide that took out the climb Double Take. Billmier had the grand idea to ice skate back there. It was probably not ideal conditions, but it was definitely more entertaining than walking on ice.

Billmier Skating Past the Sublimation Wall

I was pretty proud of me and Bill when we got to the base of Robopick, saw it melting in the sun, wanting to climb it, but not even going through the the huge rock fall debate like we have the last 2 years, its already been confirmed, rocks fall off that wall down the route when its warm and sunny.

So we went back to the new wall of ice to the lookers right of the old Double Take. There were so many lines to choose from, all in the sun, all looked fun. I won the rosh, and got to lead a stellar soft, perfectly angled pitch of ice.

Billmier Rappelling the New Route Above the Landslide

Bill won the next rosh for the first pitch of Rhythm and Blues, I was bummed I really wanted that one. The pitch above is usually brittle and cantankerous, and this day was no exception. The difference in ice quality from the sunny to the shady side is stark, I much prefer soft and easy.

Rhythm and Blues (I think?)

The mild gradient back down Caribou Creek made for some fast ice skating. The climbing pack definitely upset the balance, and I went down twice at a complete standstill.

There was still a lot of light left in the day when we were walking past Kids Corner, so it was hard to pass up. My pack felt heavy and my mojo to low for a solo on the first pitch so Bill belayed me, but from there we soloed side by side and were at the top in well under an hour.

Turnagain Arm Trail

2011-03-16T09:42:00.002-08:00

Sometimes its nice to just wear running shoes and go play in the woods.

Turnagain Arm

George Anne and Me

George Anne's New Rack

Kids Corner: Leisure of Spring Sunshine

2011-03-15T16:11:00.017-08:00

My buddy Rapheal knows how to take his time with things, and is adamant about me not rushing up when we go ice climbing together. This ascent of Kid's Corner gets first place for the most leisurely ascent, we broke it into 5 pitches and sat in patches of sunshine the whole way up, we took climbing to a whole new level of slow and enjoyed every step along the way.

Sheep Creek Climbing

2011-03-13T09:47:00.067-08:00

Ryan and I met up with Makenzie, an awesome valdez local, and headed back up to Sheep Creek. We weren't really sure how long the route we wanted to climb was since it disappeared up the folds of a rock coloir, but the initial pitch looked cruiser.

True to the nature of Valdez things are one again bigger than they look. Four hundred feet of ice later on "the first pitch" I pulled over the last bulge. From here it was a steep 300 ft snow slope to the base of the next step.

A full 200 foot pitch of fun climbing took us to the base of another small step that unfortunately we couldn't see above. This is when the occasional trickle of melting snow and ice became a full on small avalanche that flew by me and Ryan but some pieces hit Makenzie below.

Mackenzie at the Top of the Third Pitch

There wasn't much debate on whether we should bail after that. While Ryan belayed Mackenzie I set the V-thread. I wish I could have seen over that last little step, because I know there is a lot more ice up there. Next time.

The conditions necessary to make this approach and routes feasible are a low snow year, but enough snow to fill in the holes in the creek, cloudy days where it doesn't snow, or early starts before the sun warms up enough to cause rock and snow avalanches. These things don't often all come together in Valdez!

Sheep Creek Exploration

2011-03-12T09:09:00.000-09:00

I have wanted to go explore the end of Sheep Creek ever since I read about it in BT's Ice Pixies guidebook. The avalanche potential out there is scary. Its automatically not an option if there has been recent snow. Conditions this spring are about perfect with wind scraped mountains and a high pressure system in place.

Sheep Creek with Secret Journey and Tsuri Gane on the Left

When Ryan and I were back here last December we got shut down by a large pool of water and sub zero temps, this time the pool wasn't even visible. Huge avalanche deposits filled the river and we walked up and down them cognizant of how much snow was underneath our feet, reinforcement for why I will never come here when its snowing.

The amount of ice in the back half of this canyon is mind boggling. I could spend my next 10 Valdez trips here and still have more to do. Long, Long, Long routes. I was racking up at the base of a beautiful line in the pic below, listening to the tinkle of ice and snow roll down the route, then a rock came down. I've had bad experiences with rockfall in Sheep creek, I just couldn't rationalize making the same mistake again, even though I really wanted to. When you see one rock, and the route is still in the sun, chances are high that there will be many more to follow. I just couldn't do it.

Ryan with the Route We Wanted to Climb

We ended up trying to get farther back into the canyon, I always feel pulled to see what is around the next corner. After a few alder escapades and a cliff at the end, our need to go on was extinguished, so we turned around and dropped a line down the steep ice in the pic below.

Ouray Ice Park in Valdez

It was about 50 unrelenting feet of dead vertical ice. I've never gotten the screaming barfies so bad. The pain was ridiculous as my fingers regained circulation, surely this is a sign pointing toward the absurdity of me ice climbing? An amazing day out nonetheless.

The Awesome Pillar

2011-03-02T10:19:00.001-09:00

I met Bill at Hicks creek just as the sun was coming up. We loaded my pack on Bill's snowmachine and headed down the Matanuska river toward the Awesome Valley. It was a cold ride, when we departed the machine 9 miles later I was ready to ski and generate some heat. Conditions on the creek were amazing compared to last year, although Bill managed to find a weak spot.

It took us about 2.5 hours to ski to the base of the gully where the route is. The snow alternated between chest deep body shoveling and hard wind slab. We collapsed at least three slopes, the whumpfs were loud and disconcerting, but there was not enough energy to create a slide, so we kept going.

The Awesome Pillar

I had told Bill straight up the day before that I had no interest in leading this route, but would love to climb it. It spanked me hard last year and I barely made it up, the memory of its steepness is still strong in my mind.

The nicest line on the route unfortunately would require a snorkel to get up. The remaining options involved cold cranky ice with large cauliflowers. Bill gave it a good go, making the climbing look easy, the gear however was the problem. Even after extensive excavation the screws were hitting air.

When Bill decided to bail, I was right behind him, after I took out his crappy screws I was surprised he hadn't called it earlier. We took a couple laps from his high point and called it a day.

The ski track was fast and fun on the way out, a beautiful canyon, and cool place to spend the day.

Climbing Ripple with the Rain Dog

2011-03-01T09:19:00.000-09:00

Raina and I go back a long time, we have been friends since junior high, went to high school and college together. We both started ice climbing around the same time, although Raina saw the light and switched to ski bumming after a few years...whereas I kept climbing. Its been at least 2 years since we've climbed together and I was reminded why Raina was once my favorite climbing partner. It was so fun to chit chat and climb.

Raina and I

Raina Rappelling Ripple

Indecision

2011-02-28T09:06:00.000-09:00

This was the warmest, sunniest day of climbing I have had all year. Days like this are why I like ice climbing. Warm sunny belays with great views and soft sticky ice is truly a pleasure.

Hiking to the Route
Photo by: Eryn Kaldor

Indecision
Photo by Erin Kaldor

Eryn at the Top of the First Pitch

View From the Belay

Hanging With the Girls at Victoria's Secret

2011-02-21T08:22:00.000-09:00

Beautiful sunny afternoon out hanging with the girls, couldn't have asked for a better day.

George Anne All in Red

Caitlyn Blending In

Ryan joined us after he got done with work. This truly is the equivalent of gym ice climbing....and after Ryan knocked down some key pieces it was ever pumpier!

Ryan and George Anne

Hunter Creek Link Up

2011-02-20T09:43:00.004-09:00

Its been clear and cold in the mornings, but once the sun hits its zenith, the warmth becomes significant. Later morning departures just make sense. The approach up Hunter creek was nicer than it usually is and was fast travel on foot.

Cassie Heading Up the Creek

There was a party going up Hollow head as we walked in, Lost in Space looked short, soft and blue, and another party was on Lost chord, so we stopped at Split Finish. This climb is super fun and low stress, the two pitches went fast and smooth and we were back on the ground looking at Lost Chord in a couple hours.

Cassie Rappeling Split Finish

Lost Chord is in Fat. I chose a line out of the active drips and the ice was overall pretty wonderful. Its one long satisfying pitch.

Cassie Rappeling Lost Chord

When we reached the bottom of Lost Chord we still had ample daylight ahead of us and it only made sense to go look at Hollow Head. From the base I could see where the team in the morning had gone up, and the fresh hooks were to tempting to resist.

Things were going smooth and we were set to get out before dark, but an alder rope altercation put us behind schedule.

Cassie and I Topping Out on Hollow Head

We walked back to the car by head lamp, happy to have filled the day with good climbing.

Morning Recon and Iron Curtain Attempt

2011-02-18T09:29:00.000-09:00

I won't lie, I was feeling pretty worked from all the front pointing the day before and was feeling motivated, but not hungry to get after it. Snow was falling softly when Jon and I left the hut with ambitions of looking/climbing on The Nose.

Jon Skiing Past the Miller Mite

There was a couple of inches of wind loaded snow that Jon and I got to fail as we made our way up to the wall. I began to feel uncomfortable being out with reactive snow and no beacon as we approached the biggest slope of snow to the base of the route. The risks vs benefits didn't add up so we enjoyed the views then retreated.

We ended up skiing back to the snow machine then heading up toward Iron Curtain. There was a nice 150ish foot of mellow grade 2ish ice that lead up to where the real climbing began.

It pretty much one pitch of steep ice to the top. The bottom looked great but the top was raining chandeliers and I passed the lead off onto Jon.

Jon Sticking His Head Out the Pitch

He bailed out of the potential rain shower to investigate the cave and belayed me up. I caused some mayhem with knocking off icicles while he set a v-thread and we bailed back to town. Great Trip out there!

Road to Nowhere

2011-02-17T09:27:00.002-09:00

Jon and I spent a pretty leisurely morning in the hut drinking coffee, by 10ish I was getting itchy and the temps were climbing 2 degrees and hour. We headed out the door with our minds on Road to Nowhere.

Conditions were great skiing up the river, then a short boot up the rocky hill, then skis back on then off and a steep boot pack to the base of the route. This is the most deceptive looking ice climb I've ever been on. My theory is the steeper the approach to the base, the less steep a climb will look, but it will feel much steeper always. The first pitch looks easily like a grade 2 solo.

Road to Nowhere

Jon was feeling generous because he's climbed this route many times so he let me have the lead on the first and third pitches. It didn't appear anyone had done the route recently because the ice was as smooth as glass, no features whatsoever for the first 100 feet. I was glad I had my 70m ropes, because pitches up this route were long!

Jon on the Second Pitch

View of the Mitre, Tombstone? Area, and the Miller Mite

It was super fun climbing the whole day out. The pitches had overall high quality ice, and it was thicker on the third pitch than in previous years. We debated climbing the 4th pitch above us, but it looked like 50 feet of snow to about 80 feet of unappealing, rampy climbing. So we called it a good day and bailed.

Jon and I at the Top

Serenity Falls

2011-02-16T13:10:00.009-09:00

The weather report was calling for some warmer temps so Jon and I headed back out to Eklutna to try and do some climbing. When we pulled in to the Serenity Falls hut our friend Zach was just getting ready to leave, we had spotted him and his friend the day before on the glacier, its always fun to run into friends out in the woods.

Since the temps were still below zero we decided to go get some wood and warm the cabin before we left to go climbing.

Serenity Falls looked beautiful from the hut. It was a short approach to some really nice pitches. I was surprised at how nice the ice was despite the cold temps and dry conditions.

Iron Curtain on the Left and Serenity Falls on the Right

John Leading the Second Pitch

The climbing went smoothly, as did the descent and we were back to the hut before dark. It was Jon's 35th birthday so I cracked old jokes on him all day then lit a piece of cake on fire for him.

Eklutna Glacier Recon

2011-02-15T10:48:00.011-09:00

Snow machined back to the end of Eklutna Lake with Jon and Tonya. It was pretty cold out, the wind was wily, and things didn't turn out as planned. Jon and I went for a recon ski up to the Eklutna Glacier.

All the main climbs are in and looked great.

Failed Ice Skating Attempt on Eklutna Lake

2011-02-12T10:17:00.001-09:00

I got all excited about ice skating after I read on the Alaska Ice Climbing forum that Eklutna lake was clear of snow. Apparently though I missed that window because there was a few inches of crust on the lake and they had just opened it to snow machines.

I tried to glide through the crust on my skates but it wasn't really happening! I gave up after about a mile and headed back to the trail, put on my boots and walked back to the car.

Glacier Creek Exploration

2011-02-10T10:13:00.000-09:00

Bill and I bailed from Valdez and were soon back under the clear cold skies of the Matanuska valley. I got to stay up at their yurt, which is always fun, AND Betsy made me the most beautiful hat with a pink flower on top. She is so crafty.

The next morning we had a leisure breakfast and headed out on the snow machine to Glacier Creek. There were lots of options for climbing, but we decided to instead do a little exploring up a steep couloir for a closer look at a potential smear.

Bill Starting Up

It was pretty comical when we finally arrived at the base of the smear. Its not often that you get deceived into thinking something is bigger than it looks, the ice at the base of the "pillar" was about 6 inches around. It was hilarious. Maybe some year it will come in a little better.

We enjoyed the view from on top of a skinny little ridge and then headed back down.

After hiking up a couple thousand feet, I felt pretty fat and old again. We considered our options, and decided that we were satisfied with the day.

Hung Jury

2011-02-09T09:09:00.001-09:00

The lament on being fat and old continues, I was feeling pretty worked when Bill and I woke up. There was at least a foot of fresh snow on the car and more falling from the sky when we left the house.

Hung Jury was the most appealing option to begin the day with. I didn't rosh for the lead, my self preserving excuse was that Bill had never climbed it so he should get the lead.

This is one of the most aesthetic and creepy lines, the bells were huge at the bottom, and remnant of past bells lay in a heap at the bottom of the hill.

I was pretty soaked and icy by the time I got to the top. It made sense to bail on the rest of day and head back north out of the snow storm.

Keystone Greensteps

2011-02-08T08:26:00.001-09:00

Flakes of snow as big as quarters were streaming determinedly down from the sky as Bill and I pulled out of MaKenzie's driveway. In my irrational optimism I hoped that maybe just maybe it was only snowing in town. Hah Ha ha! Our aspirations to go ski 2 hours through a huge avalanche corridor that is Sheep Creek seemed foolish in such a storm.

There was a beautiful line across the Lowe river we walked to, but the only way across was through the water. I'm just not that hard core when there are other less wet options. So back we went to the large parking lot across from the main Keystone climbs.

Green Steps

The only reason I considered Green steps a good option is because I knew Billmier would lead every pitch if I didn't want to. The benefit of climbing with a stronger partner is you always get to climb, but when my confidence is low its easy to pass on the lead. When we got to the base I looked up and saw an easy line with lots of steps and felt like stepping up to mollify my previous days short comings.

True to Valdez style, it wasn't as easy as it looked, plus it felt steeper and longer than it ever has before. Definitely the max of my current lead potential right now. The second pitch was beautiful, wet in places, steep enough to be engaging but not lethal, maybe one of my all time favorite pitches.

Bill Starting the Top of the Fourth Pitch

Snow Covered!

Bill Rappeling into the White

A great day out full of flaming calves and burning biceps. Its so much more satisfying retrospectively to have lead pitches that are hard for me. I'm glad I stepped out there.

Simple Twist of Fate

2011-02-07T08:25:00.002-09:00

Bill and I pulled into Keystone canyon at about 1:30, plenty of time to get some climbing in. We debated laps on Piece of Shit, but in the end decided to go across the road to Simple Twist of Fate.

We roshed at the bottom of the first pitch and I won. Then I got scared, I haven't had a lot of confidence building pitches this winter. It looked easy, but I knew it wasn't. I gave the lead back to Billmier before I even racked up. I hate it when I do that.

Top of the First Pitch

The climb was definitely longer than it looked. I thought it was one 60m pitch, but it was a 70m pitch to a depression, couldn't quite call it a ledge, then another 100 feet to the top right. It was super fun climbing, sustained but not vertical, except a few spots. Bill cruised it in fine style.

Hillside Pillars

2011-02-04T18:33:00.002-09:00

I had a super fun day out with the girls up at the Hillside Pillars. Caitlyn and Erin made good company out on a cold blue day. The approach pitches to the pillars are huge, and both the left and the right pillar were larger than the last time I was here. Its such an easy place to be at all day. The sun touched the left pillar at about 4pm, spring is around the corner!

Caitlyn on the Left Pillar

We climbed both sides, then ran some laps. I only had to don my headlamp for the last rappel. It was a great day out. Still feeling fat and weak, but am hoping to see improvement any day.

My camera battery died early on, so thanks for all the slide show pics Erin!

Eklutna Canyon

2011-01-25T18:16:00.001-09:00

Eklutna Canyon is usually one of the first places I climb at every winter, I think I set a new personal record by not coming here till the end of January. Things remain relatively unimpressive in the canyon, Mad Dog is uber thin, as is TJ, Annie wasn't quite connected enough for me, only Boonesfarm and Ripple were in fine form.

Ripple

Erin Coming into View

I'm embarrassed to admit, much less write down that I got pumped at one point, it felt steep and dry for about 10 feet, but that's all it took. My poor biceps and calves are underdeveloped for this silly sport.

Victoria's Secret

2011-01-24T19:11:00.019-09:00

I haven't been out a ton of times this season, but twice now I have forgotten my harness. Bill stayed at Victoria's Secret while I went back to the house. When I got to the base he was all fired up to lead the left side, in my absence he had already climbed the right. The last time I was here I got so flamed out on top rope I was a bit impressed by Bill's ambitions.

Bill at the Base of Victoria's Secret

Bill cruised the left side, making it look easy, while I belayed at the bottom lamenting the fact that I am fat and old.

Bill Leading the Left

We ran laps, (I did 2 in a row), got gripped (probably only me), and enjoyed a beautiful day in the trees. Got to start somewhere I guess.

The Right Side

Ice Skating on Portage Lake

2011-01-18T07:14:00.000-09:00

I heard about these skates that you can use your skate ski boots with years ago, but it wasn't until today that I used a pair (a big thanks to Tonya for making that happen). The blade on the bottom is longer and wider than a hockey or figure skate. They can cut through snow and textures on the ice well. The hardest part of the whole day involved me clipping in to them.

The ice on the lake was variable, long stretches of bumpy ripples, smooth sections with large hoar frost crystals, and sections where the ice had separated and froze back together.

Smooth Hoar Frost Sprinkled Ice

I skated to the biggest piece of ice visible from the parking lot, and wished that I had a partner! It was in real nice. I skated to the end of the lake, and to the base of the glacier. The lake made lots of deep booming noises that were pretty creepy, but nothing happened that I could see.

Hands Across the Water

My Frosty Hair

A Hundred Below in Boulder Creek

2011-01-15T10:41:00.000-09:00

I've wanted to go climb up in Boulder creek for years. Finally the stars aligned and Tonya, Jon, Bill and I all had time off and wanted to go. I am still the super lame one without a snow machine, but I'm working on it.

Jon and Bill headed in on Thursday to set up the arctic oven and get a little climbing in. Tonya and I left Anchorage at 7am on Friday, parked at Puritin creek by 9ish and were headed for snow machine troubles by 9:30. It started off with Tonya taking one for the team and riding her huge hog of a snow machine and towing the sled, instead of her nice light easy to drive one...Maybe the big machine could sense the hate because straight out of the parking lot it started making a clicking/thwack noise.

Within ten minutes her snow machine ski was stuck up in an alder branch (no pics, bummer!). Once we got it unstuck we had to drive it through sugar snow up and around and couldn't get it to turn. We are definitely not big strong men. I had to stand on the ski while I pushed the gas while Tonya used all her meager body weight to try and get the machine lean into the turn. We got out. Then Tonya's beast started to alarm, it was a check oil light, we stopped again tried to be mechanical. We could see nothing obvious and when she restarted the alarm was gone...1 minute later it goes off again. Closer inspection reveals an oil leak...awesome. We ditched the big machine where it was, and took off determined to find the real trail. A loop through the woods and a lost sled later we were no closer to our goal. After two sled runways and turnaround we finally got it right, found the trail and were on our way into Boulder creek.

Camp with the Big Bubbler in the background.

Bill and Jon were super motivated to leave the tent and go climb, although after the snow machine ride I thought the tent was a great idea. But I, against my better judgment and careful climbing criteria headed out to go climb. I think it was seriously -20 and it was blowing up to 20mph. My REI thermometer was bottomed out. I had on 3 puff coats, and 4 bottom layers I looked like a fat sumo wrestler.

There was a small step of ice before the climb that was super mellow, when Bill placed screws for the anchor he unleashed a water spout...guess who was climbing below getting soaked....Tonya. When she arrived at the base of the Big Bubbler she was crusted in ice and trying to haul up frozen cable looking ropes. Just not her day.

Bill Leading the left and Jon leading the right, looks warm but it was all an illusion!

First Pitch

At the top of the first pitch the shade now dominated the route and it felt like someone mean was kicking piles of snow on us. Cold temps combined with spindrift, yuck. If Bill had even slightly mentioned a retreat I would have been immediately on board, and I was more than a little jealous of Tonya and Jon's decision to bail. It was a little over the top ridiculous up there with spindrift in seriously -20 temps. Instead I said, "I finally warmed up, do you want to lead block pitches?" We finished the route and rappelled in the dark.

The next morning no one was fired up to go climb. We snow machined out to two pillars that looked amazing. It was just too cold. Water was running off the top of the route and falling as frozen drops 10 feet down. It was impressive. With no regrets we headed back to trail head.

Sunny Day in Mineral Creek

2010-12-26T17:00:00.000-09:00

Ryan and I were fired up to get out and climb after the sub-par day before and decided that a little sun and being out of a cold air sink was a more doable option. We spied some ice on the lookers left of mineral creek that fit our criteria. If you look closely on the right side in the picture below you can see two routes, we did the left hand one.

Some sucky crust breaking on the way up, but overall very little snow for Valdez.

By the time we got to where we needed crampons we had attained direct sunlight. It was glorious and made the route much more enticing. I'm not sure what it was called, probably a grade 3 and about 300ish feet long. Nice and easy for the cold temps, it wasn't plastic.

Ryan Coming up the last pitch into the shade. Yikes the temp dropped fast.

Overall it was a super fun trip to Valdez, but kind of on the lame side for climbing and skiing. The next day I couldn't bend my wrist or pinch my fingers together. Luckily for my mental state it was still below 0 and windy, otherwise I would have probably cried.

Merry Christmas in Sheep Creek

2010-12-25T13:46:00.005-09:00

I've never seen Valdez with this little of snow except in the summer. The wind had been howling for days, and seemed to have little intention of stopping while we were there. We drove through Keystone canyon and parked across from Bridal Veil, the door about blew off as I opened it. It took about 2 minutes to safely decide there was no way I was going to climb anything in the canyon.

We ended up getting out of the car at Sheep creek, and toured up the river.

The climbs at the entrance of the canyon looked very nice in the sun. The puffies stayed on as we skied in the shade. The main climbs looked mostly in, not all of the top pillars were connected.

Nothing was enticing us to stop so we kept going until we hit a dead end...big open pool. We debated climbing, but I was already wearing all the clothes I had, and the thought of standing around and belaying was uber unappealing. Ryan wasn't super fired up either, we just couldn't motivate.

So we went back to the hotel and watched cable television, drank beer and ate left over Chinese food.

A Day with the Burly Crew

2010-12-15T10:29:00.003-09:00

The original plan was for Jon, Tonya and I to go climbing in Eagle river, then Tonya bailed, then Jon invited Ryan, and Ryan invited Sam. So by random chance I ended up being the only person under 6 feet tall in the car....it was a little intimidating.

Luckily for me the route we were doing is pretty laid back. It was in a little different than usual this year, despite the cold temps there were a lot of open patches of water in the gullet covered by snow, and the steps were more anemic than usual.

We belayed one pitch in the picture below. I think Sam used maybe 3 screws, I said I needed at least 10. Ryan and Jon climbed on the other side and we had a pow wow at the top.

Turns out we all were either indecisive or leaning toward bailing, and once that talk got started the snow gully ahead seemed much less appealing.

So back down we went.

I'm bummed I didn't get more pictures because this is a super pretty climb, but it was too cold and we were moving fast. Awesome day out with fine company.

Hillside Pillars

2010-12-14T14:52:00.001-09:00

On cold days the Hillside Pillars is one of my all time favorite routes. The long approach up easy ice and snow combined with a level amphitheater with single pitch routes is perfect for staying warm.

Rapheal and I were taking our time enjoying the scenery when we got passed by two young guns.

Rapheal Hiking Up the Gullet

The Hillside Pillars

Both routes were in and we ended up on the right by default. Super fun climbing, albeit a little brittle.

Rapheal Climbing

Another huge plus to this route is that even on December 14th we got about 15 minutes of direct sunlight. Its those little things I really like.

Rapheal and Me

Three Ring Circus

2010-12-08T14:21:00.000-09:00

I was complaining to my friend Kellie one day about a lack of climbing partners and she immediately was on board to hook me up. Kellie knows a lot of people, I've lived here forever and know far less. This is how I met Bill my climbing partner for the day out in Eagle River valley.

The morning started off great, Bill was already at the Wal Mart parking lot when I pulled in at 7am. In ten minutes we were driving to the nature center, 2 hours later we were at the base of the climb at first light. I wasn't necessarily over motivated this day, it was that Bill needed to be back to the car by 3pm....a narrow window for an Eagle River day.

Fog Covering the Valley

At Rapids camp we opted to get on the river and it was fairly smooth travel until a long section of overflow. We took to the trees for about 20 minutes than got back onto the river. Pretty fast traveling overall.

It was very cold out, frost coated all the trees in the cold air sink of the valley bottom. Despite this the climb was not as solid as I anticipated. There were lots of section with low angle bells of clear inch thick ice and water underneath. Very pretty to look at, and it made this very moderate route much more engaging.

The Third Pitch

This was my first time out since Lasix eye lasering in November, and so this is why I was sporting very stylish safety glasses.

T.6:D.7

Ahihi and LaPerouse Bay

2010-12-05T13:23:00.001-09:00

I ended up staying a few days on Maui after all of my family had left, although condo living was pretty swank, it was a little to high class for me to manage on my own. So instead I down graded to hostel living, which is still expensive in Hawaii.

I met a fellow Anchorage Alaskan named Troy and we spent a day out hiking and snorkeling. We first went to Ahihi bay, where the fish were plentiful, the water clear, and the coral colorful.

Snorkeling with the Fishes

Troy spotted an octopus that changed color as he approached. We backed away a few feet and then came close and it changed again. It was pretty cool.

Octopus Camouflage

La Perouse Bay is at the end of the road, and a huge lava flow covers most of the land. Wild goats are everywhere. We brought our snorkel stuff, but ended up just hiking in the lava flow and by the sea cliffs.

Hiking Above La Perouse Bay

Random Day

2010-12-04T13:46:00.001-09:00

One skill that I truly excel at over all other is killing time. It melts through my life faster than butter on hot toast. I am at ease with leisure time by myself. After a full 10 days of being with my family, it was nice to have a full day all to myself.

The Mountains Behind the Hostel

Best Snorkeling Turtle Shot

The Road to Lahaina

2010-12-01T13:09:00.001-09:00

My brother Mike is not nearly as content to play on the beach as the rest of the family, and I was feeling a little lame for not being more exploratory, so it was easy to talk me into a drive around the other end of the island...just so we could have the full around the island experience.

I don't think we drove more than 5 miles at a time. It was so easy to stop and buy fruit, walk on a new beach, or pick up a hitch hiker.

Iao Needle Area

The Road to Hana

2010-11-30T12:33:00.001-09:00

My brother Mike and I rented a mustang convertible for the drive to Hana. A little town in the middle of a twisty, narrow, over crowded road full of beautiful sights. We stopped a lot, it was definitely about the journey not the destination at the end.

Beautiful Trees

Flowers Everywhere

Ocean Arch

Kihei Beach

2010-11-29T12:14:00.001-09:00

Its easy to fall into the rhythm of the sun in Hawaii. I was up without an alarm at sunrise, usually on a beach run with Mary Kay and Chris by 8, and in the water by 9am. We all stayed at Kamole Sands condos, and the beach was literally across the street. It had beautiful sand, good snorkeling, and sometimes good boogie boarding. A very easy place to spend time.

Mary Kay and I Ready to Snorkel

Very Chill Turtle

Diving

The Sisters

Boogie Boarding in Hawaii

2010-11-27T12:06:00.001-09:00

Boogie boarding might be one of my favorite beach time activities. Its super simple, and endlessly amusing. My brother Mike and I rode our scooters down the road to big beach and my sister Laura, Mom, and Dad met us there.

Mike, Mom and Laura Catching a Wave

Mike, Mom and Laura in the Wash

Big Beach

Hiking in Hawaii: Haleakala

2010-11-26T10:27:00.056-09:00

My whole immediate family, minus my brother Joseph and boyfriend Ryan, flew to Hawaii over the week and met up for a Hawaii Thanksgiving. It was awesome. A direct flight from anchorage to Maui only took 6 hours.

One day we decided to leave the beach and go up to Haleakala the 10,000 foot volcano. It is awesome you just drive right to the top. I read off the internet that you lose 5.5 degrees every 1,000 feet of elevation you gain, and I think it was pretty spot on. It was surprisingly cold up there, especially in the wind.

Mary Kay, Chris, Me, and Mike

Mom and Dad took Mary Kay and Chris's three young spirited children while we went on the Sliding Sands trail down into the crater, across it, and back up, in a 13 mile half loop. It was beautiful with multi colored sand, volcanic mountains, blue skies and puffy clouds.

Mary Kay and Chris Descending the Trail

Volcanic Feature That We Passed

We all thought that the coolest part of the hike was the trail at the end that ascended a ridiculously steep mountain wall up 1,400 feet, yet never exceeded a gentle 10% grade. They carved this trail into the rock and it was so nice to walk on, plus the views were pretty awesome too.

The Trail Back Up

I am really lucky to have such a cool family, all around they are just interesting and genuinely good people that I'm proud to be related to.

Lazy Mountain Day

2010-11-21T02:31:00.000-09:00

Its been too long since I've hung out with my good friends David and Alisha. She made the most awesome homemade hazel nut pancakes and then we had a great afternoon catching up on the walk up Lazy Mountain.

David, Me and Alisha

The light was great, the trail packed, company good, can't ask for much more.

Evening Ski at Hatcher Pass

2010-11-02T16:11:00.001-08:00

Rapheal and I pulled into the parking lot at Hatcher Pass as the clouds were starting to turn pink. We toured up the road to the pass through a few inches of fresh and a decent base.

We enjoyed the quiet night and beautiful view then skied down in the last bit of light.