I need to blog more...

Its true. I need to blog more.
Maybe I got lazy, maybe I was just too busy, maybe my computer was making it irritating. Mostly I'm lazy though.

Anyway, blogging more is on the list of New Years resolutions.

Enjoy the beautiful outcome of Ice Fog in Anchorage.

Just across the parking lot for the office.

20th Street on my way back to work after lunch one day.

Have those mountains been there the whole time?

Walk

Walking
11/01/09

For lots of reasons, some more grandiose than others, I have started walking after work. Since today was such a beautiful day I decided to get out and enjoy the sunshine while I could.

Due to the time change sunset is fairly early, around 5:00pm.

The picture below is from almost the top of a slope off Spenard Ave. near where I access the Chester Creek Trail system. Its facing east looking at the Chugach Mountains with Valley of the Moon Park at the bottom.

Even though temperatures have been below freezing for several days I was surprised to find Westchester Lagoon frozen, probably 1.5 to 2 inches. I stomped on it a couple times and got one good crack to form but couldn't break through.

Westchester Lagoon, in past years, has had a large trail plowed in the snow snaking around the lake. I've read that its the longest maintained trail in the US. Hopefully they will plow and maintain the trail again this year. I'd like to give skating another try.

Below is Westchester Lagoon looking west-ish. (Guess I should start bringing my compass on my walks)



I walked around the lagoon, through a pretty nice neighbourhood (I bet they wondered what I was doing there) and since it was still relatively light I decided to investigate what I suspected was a trail on the east end. After making my way down a steep hill and finding a trail made of wood chips I decided to find out what was at its end. Trudging through the woods, making tons of racket as I went, I looked up and saw a man standing about 75 yards from me. He had a bicycle, not the mountain bike you'd think he should have on the trail, was smoking a cigarette, and looking right back at me. It didn't take long for me to decide that it would be better to just turn around and leave the way I had come. I found the first hill up to the road and continued on.

Sadly, there are a lot of homeless people in Anchorage. There has been a so called crack down on homeless camps the last couple weeks and I kind of wonder if this guy was homeless looking for a place to spend the night. Maybe he was a creepy guy lurking in the woods. Or maybe he sneaked out for a smoke and ducked into the woods so his wife and neighbours couldn't see. Who knows. I decided it was better for me not to find out.

Another strange thing happend closer to home. A young man, at least 16, stumbled down a hill and out of the woods onto the trail. As his pants fell down he dropped his cell phone. After picking it up he had a really hard time with his pants. His belt had gone missing and his rear was well exposed. He was either high or drunk. Again, who knows what was going on. He got in a truck with some people who had been disk golfing and that was the last I saw of him.

I also saw a lot of people running, skate skiing on those fancy pavement ski deals, and people walking there dogs. I even witnessed some kids trying to break through the ice by pounding it with large rocks. All pretty normal if you ask me.

Anchorage is a nice place but its still the largest city in the state. All cities have their problems but I guess Anchorage isn't too bad. Where else, with such a large population, can you be stepped on by a moose or mauled by a bear?

Moose Scouting

Sunday 10/18/09

Some friends from work, and some not from work, drew tags for a moose hunt close to town and decided to take advantage of the nice weekend to get the lay of the land. Even though I'm slow and out of shape they invited me along. After a lot of back and forth in my head I decided to go with them. I'm glad I did.

There are no easy ways into this area. You have climb across a pass unless you want to fight miles of Alders from the bottom of the bottom of the valley. My friends picked the shortest way in that involved 1100 feet of vertical in 1.1 miles (if I remember correctly)


Above is everyone glassing for moose in the valley below. We didn't get a super early start, but it was still very crisp in the shade. We worked our way around until we found a nice spot to sit in the sun and spy on our prey.



After the top of the pass the trail follows a drainage down to the valley floor making it impossible to see much of the valley floor. We decided cut across the side of the mountain to keep our elevation the same but make it to a spot where we could see well. This part reminded me of monkeying around on the bluffs of Mackinac Island on Free day. I think the bluffs are a little steeper than this picture though.


Looking back towards town enjoying the day.

We also saw an ultralight and a Blackhawk Helicopter poking around the valley. The Blackhawk could have very well been doing training, but I think they were also looking for moose. I wonder if I could file a FOIA request to discover how many moose they saw.

It was a great way to start the day. I slipped going down on our way back, didn't hurt anything except my pride. As soon as I picked myself up a guy following us down the hill Bounded past me going about 15 feet for each leap.

Hopefully these guys get their moose on Sunday.

Please take a look at the rest of the pictures here.
My Smug Mug :D

PowerLine Trail 10/11/09

PowerLine Trail

I'm going to warn you at the top here that I'm tired and there are probably many run-on sentences, misspellings, and incoherent thoughts written below. It was a really good afternoon though!

All of the pictures in their original size may be found here My Smug Mug :D

Take the chance to zoom in if you can and get a closer, yet possibly blurry, view of these magnificent creatures.

Since I knew I wasn't going to have to work this weekend I had decided to go for a hike on the nicer of the two days. Saturday I was lazy and it rained so this afternoon I got my stuff together and headed up to the Glenn Alps parking lot to hike the PowerLine Trail. Glenn Alps is the same trail head to Flat Top, the subject of my last post.

I chose PowerLine because its relatively flat and because I about killed myself on Flat Top being so out of shape. As I got to the main trail I looked up the valley and remembered why I like mountains so much. They are big and when I get close enough and look up I get a little dizzy, like looking up at sky scrapers in big cities. These valleys go what seems like forever and are just so big compared to anything most people encounter in everyday life.

About a half hour in I met a couple from work. They told me about a huge moose up in a bowl farther down the trail. A guy on a bicycle who had also stopped decided he was going to go see how close he could get and headed off. When I got to the trail leading to the moose I thought "Why should that guy hog the moose, I should go up there too!" So I did.

As I crested the last rise I saw there was not one but two nice bulls bedded down across a small stream. Decideing to circle around the back of them and spy on them from the knobs above walked past and crossed the stream where I met a photographer who told me he had taken 400 pictures of the pair. We parted ways and I headed up where I got a few pictures and just relaxed on the tundra leaning against a rock.

It didn't take long for me to notice a cow moose heading towards the two bulls. I stayed very still to make sure I didn't interupt anything that might happen. The moose are in the rut right now and with two bulls I figured they might actually fight a little. No fighting but I did get to see how much of a tease cow moose are. The big one really had to work at it and in the end they went into the bushes. I hope the big guy got lucky.

On the way out I saw the photographer again. He was snapping pictures of the big moose who had crossed the river and was very close to the trail. I greeted him and we stood there for a while taking pictures and watching. The moose crossed the stream with his ears back, raking the bushes with his antlers. Again we thought that this was it, Moose battle at 100 feet!

It took a while but they eventually clashed antlers and the smaller of the two decided the big one could be boss until next time.

I decided to take off as it was getting dark and the photographer followed soon after. We walked back to the parking lot together talking about Alaska, business ideas, etc... He had some really good "Alaska" stories and is planning to write a book. We saw about 15 moose in the valley on our way out. Too bad moose season is over and you can't hunt them up there.

On one of the power poles an owl Who'd at us and screeched while it ruffled its feathers. We probably were messing up his hunting, oh well.

Overall it was a great afternoon. I felt very comfortable hanging out on the rocks and can't wait to do it again.

Flattop

Flattop Mountain 9/26/09
(yes that's snow, it has been there for at least a week)

Saturday afternoon turned out to be pretty nice. After working a couple hours, eating lunch, and watching "The Matrix Revolutions" (it was a Matrix weekend) I decided to take advantage of what might be my last chance to hike Flattop Mountain.

Flattop is probably the most popular hiking trail in the Chugach State Park. I've also heard its the most popular in Alaska. The popularity is probably due to the fact its right in Anchorge, and gives the best view of the city. At least the best I've found.

The reason its called Flattop is because it has a flat top. Crazy, I know.

I got a late start and had to turn around half way there because I remembered that I left the stove on but I eventually made it. Besides being way out of shape I was able to hike through the Aplenglow to the second saddle at the base of the most difficult portion.

After a good rest and some pictures I decided it would be in my best interest to take a cue from the sun and head down.

Looping around the back side of the knobs previously ascended, I made my way down a steep slope covered in about 6 inches of snow. It wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done, but it wasn't the stupidest either.

At the bottom, walking through the trees to the parking lot I heard the grunting of a HUGE moose (at least the adrenaline rush told me it was HUGE). I did not want my day to end by being stomped on by a moose. The only tune I could think of was "she'll be coming round the mountain" but I sang it anyway in the hope that I wouldn't startle 1600 pounds of hormone crazed craziness.

Several tense minutes later the parking lot came into view with no moose in sight.

Sunday I found myself up a valley near Hope. If I would have had more time I would have tried climbing to the top to see what there is to see. I forgot how much I like to hike. There will be a lot of snow shoeing this winter and more hiking in the out of the way places next summer.

Some Glacier in Canada

If you click on the above picture to look at the larger image you'll see a little two track on the left side of this glacier in Banff Nat'l Park. They have buses with HUGE tires on them that take tourists for a ride up and down the glacier. In Alaska we do this with airplanes but I suppose the end result is the same.


Here is one of the buses with the GS next to it for scale.


Thats about all I've got in me tonight. This weekend I rode up to Talkeetna to spend some time with friends that I haven't seen in a while. We had a good time, looked for moose, had good food, and caught up with great stories from the summer.

Before I headed home today I rode down Petersville Road for a good while. The GS did a pretty good job but the KLR is really a better tool for that job towards the end before I turned around. Next time the KLR and I will see what there is to see at the end and report back. This week I'll post some pictures from the weekend.

Cacophony

Calgary, Alberta

The loudest Wendy's I've ever been in

So there I was. Thinking I was a day behind because of my front tire worries, tired as all get out, and upset with Calgary traffic. I pulled off into a mall where there was a Wendy's with the thought that a little food would calm me down and pick up my spirits.

Tired and hungry I levered the GS onto the center stand and moseyed on into the restaurant, ordered my lunch, and sat down.

Maybe it was because I was dehydrated. Maybe it was because this was my 4th day on the road with nothing but my thoughts and my poor singing to keep me company inside my helmet mile after mile. No matter what the reason I found myself in a melting pot of very loud people. People of all nationalities, religions, and degrees of passion. One group of older middle eastern men vigorously debated politics while behind me college students discussed religion, and to my right teenagers, being the way teenagers will be, acting very obnoxious. One thing all these different people had in common was that they were loud.

It was too overwhelming. I finished my meal and escaped to the parking lot where I discovered the motorcycles key had been misplaced. Back into the restaurant, looking around my table and in the bathroom, I finally found it sitting on the counter by the register.

I thought about Anchorage, by far the biggest city I have ever lived in. Was Anchorage loud and overwhelming like Calgary? I didn't think so but maybe its because I was used to it. Anchorage was overwhelming at first. I had a permanent "Surprise Face" the first two weeks in town terrified I would not be able to find my way to work in the morning.

Maybe its all the same. Maybe its all different. I just know I'll be driving AROUND Calgary in the future. The traffic was horrible.