Hiking Crow Pass

Today I went for a little hike with 2 of my bunkhouse roommates. On our way up, we noticed a HUGE amount of traffic coming down the narrow dirt road to the trailhead. Somebody going down pulled up along side us and told us there had been a bear attack on the trail shortly before, so we figured everybody was just heading out. When we got to the parking lot, it was PACKED. We decided to go up anyway (sorry mom, I'm sure you don't want to know that). We set out and never even saw so much as a bear track on the trail (and we were looking!). The hike was fairly easy, so we rambled around on the top of the pass for a while playing in the snow and taking in the sights. It was a way more beautiful hike than I had anticipated. :)

The top of the pass.

Cool snow collapse over the creek.

The glacier at the top of the pass.

Another view of the glacier.

Cool imprint in a rock we found at the top.

Glissading down snow field. 

Working at Spencer Glacier

Last week I got to take the train to Spencer Glacier again, but this time for a 3-day hitch. We lucked out and had pretty nice weather. The rain poured at night, but not during our workdays. We got to stay at the camp that the Spencer trails crew set up for the summer and it was REALLY posh. It didn't feel like camping at all. We even had a fridge! 

Roughin' it. This is the dining area.

The kitchen.

Suited up for spraying.

I just love the lupin.

Spencer Glacier there. It's about 2 miles away from where I 

stood when I snapped that photo.

This wasn't actually taken at Spencer, this was just after that in Hope. These are 2 of my 

coworkers, Timm and Gerhard. They are a hilarious duo. The skeeters were the worst any

of us had ever seen on this day (notice the head gear, which is t-shirts, and rain gear with no 

rain) so we over-prepared for bears, too (just to be on the safe side). The day was well spent with the crew.  

Solstice!

This is a pretty boring picture, but all of the bunkhouse crew was either on a hitch or had to work the following day, so the solstice was a pretty quiet event. Here's a picture with the date and time stamp on just to show how light it was. I'm absolutely LOVING the daylight. I usually run around at work so much that I can sleep through anything, so sleeping while it's still light out hasn't been a problem at all.

This is just the edge of the parking area at the bunkhouse, the USFS boat, and part of the warehouse. The mountains are pretty nice to look at though. I took this photo standing outside my room.

This was taken at 12:33 a.m. on the evening of the solstice :)

Play Time

My days off have been pretty exhausting as well. 

Day 1 of the 3 day weekend: I went to Eagle River, which is about 60 miles north of Girdwood, and I met up with my friend Abe and his sister Evan, and they took me up Mt. Majestic. 

The Chugach

Eagle River down below and Anchorage waaaaay off in the distance.

We walked up along that saddle.

Gifford, Abe, and Evan at the peak.

Day 2 of my 3 day weekend: Tanner, one of my bunkhouse roommates, and I took a trip down the road to Falls Creek. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the top because I started to get some pretty gnar-bar blisters that I didn't want to get too much worse since I have to work in my boots, so we turned around about an hour away from the peak. I'll go back again another day though. It's so beautiful!

The Chugach

Really cool snow melt on the curve on the left. That was about 8 feet high.

 We wanted to go to the peak on the left, but we turned around before then.

Lupin

 More wildflowers!

Work (but it feels like vacation)

Work is AWESOME, even considering the fact that I worked 11 days straight! I've been having the best time with the crew out in the woods. My first week on the job, we camped out with a group of volunteers from the American Hiking Society and took them hiking every day to pick weeds. They were a pretty fun group of folks and we all had a really fun time. Over the weekend, we took a group of high school students out for a camp out and a hike to pick weeds, but they weren't nearly as much fun, and they weren't pumped about the hike at all. I was still glad to be outside though! I worked a little closer to home during my second week, which was kind of nice. I finally got a 3 day weekend, and I've been hiking every day (stay tuned for pictures) and I think I might have to take a break tomorrow.

The first sign of sun on the job! We only had one miserable day

of rain and fog. This is a view from the Gull Rock Trail.

Somewhere in the Chugach National Forest. 

Green Jeans! Well, sort of. My USFS issued pants aren't exactly "low-rise," so I 

cheat and I've been wearing my green-ish field pants. But the rest of it is official! 

The train is the only reason I have to wear this "costume." It totally paid off

though. We got to ride in the cargo hold with the doors WIDE open! 

Spencer Glacier is right behind me. The only way to get to is by the aforementioned train.

The train stops about a mile from the glacier and the only way to get there from the train is on foot. I get to go there to eradicate more weeds next week for a few days. This particular tripwas only a short day trip with the American Hiking Society volunteers.

Spencer Glacier again.

Exit Glacier near Seward. We spent a day in this area pulling weeds,
but we never got closer than this to the glacier.

North to Alaska!

2,500 miles and 2 new tires later, I've made it to Alaska! I didn't mean to neglect the blog for so long, but I've been busy as a beaver since I arrived (I haven't had a day off since I got here). The drive up north with Liz was really fun. The weather wasn't awesome, but I think we got lucky and the clouds parted at the most beautiful sections. We got to see most of Jasper and everything from Haines onward.

Jasper

Weeping Wall in Jasper

More Jasper

This is the best part of the Alcan adventure: I ran over a rock in the middle of the road 75 miles north of Fort Nelson (the middle of nowhere in the Yukon) and got a double flat. Thankfully there was a construction operation just a hop, skip and a jump down the road and the brush cutter, Artie, took us down the road to a hunting lodge, where we met Ben, Archie, and Lester. The conversations we had with them was a riot, and their Northern Canadian accents were priceless! This little hang up put us about 5 hours behind schedule, but it worked out nicely anyway because we got to spend the
night at Liard Hotpsrings.

Very flat and very wet.

That's Lester the Rescue Driver!

Our shelter for cooking dinner at Liard.
(This picture was taken after 10 p.m.!)

Eating dinner in the Soobee.

This was anther fantastic part of our journey. Liz and I took a hard left at the Haines Junction and headed a few hours south to the tiny town of Haines to visit our friend Britney. She showed us an awesome time while we were there,and the 2nd wrench in our plans was thrown in. As we were strolling around the town on Friday afternoon, a shop owner (who immediately recognised us as visitors) informed us that the road past the Haines Junction had washed out and it was closed. Liz and I immediately started working on Plan B because if we couldn't leave the next day, I was going to miss a lot of work, and Liz was going to miss her flight from Anchorage. Long story short, I decided to check the road report at  around 1:00 p.m. and it had reopened, so we packed up the car in a rush, and took off. We drove late into the night to make up time, and the sun was shining the entire time. We made it in time for me to start work on my scheduled day, and Liz got to the airport with plenty of time.

On the pass on our way to Haines - I was really cold.

A day late and a few dollars short, we finally made it to Haines!

Liz and me in Haines.

This was taken at about 3:30 a.m. on our stroll home from the bar. 

BIG moose trax!

Leaving Haines where the clouds finally began to end.

Beautiful mountains on Haines Pass

The open road and the sun is shining!

Getting closer!

A dormant volcano in the Wrangell Mountains.

I think it's about 16,000 feet.

Another volcano in the Wrangell Mountains.

Almost there! Notice the time stamp :) 

Stay tuned for more photos! I've been trying to take lots!

Ewe Sculpture Garden in Glengarriff

I don't have a heck of a lot of time to write a bunch, but I have tons of photos, so that'll have to do for now! This was the coolest place I've been this year. :)

MT here I come!!!

This pretty much sums up Ireland.

 Start of the gardens!

One of the "The Sisters"

Plants of the gardens.

"Factor 50 - Too Little, Too Late"

The path to the back gardens

Chess. There were games all around that we were

encouraged to play. The bugs were too bad to stand

still long enough to get a game going.

This is my favorite one.

"The Milk of Human Blindness"

I love these

 Sheela came! The faces in the background are part of a series called

"Peer Pressure." Each face is made from clothing because that can 

be such a source of peer pressure during adolescence. 

"The Recycle Bug"

We walked down to the fishing hole after our tour

of the gardens and when I tried to soak my feet, 

the dried out algae on the rock became really slippery

and I slid into the river past my knees! Gianna caught

the escape on camera.

The fishing hole.