Saturday, March 13, 2010

A Little Slower And A Little Easier

This morning I woke up eagerly looking outside to see if we had received more snow overnight, because I wanted to try out a pair of snowshoes that someone from work had loaned to me.  Surprisingingly we did not have any more than when I had parked my car in the driveway yesterday, and after checking the thermometer outside I realized that temps were above freezing, and that the snow we had on the ground to this point was going to be melting fast.
I quickly ate breakfast and packed my pack with rain pants, Yaktraxx, safety supplies, food, water, cell phone, camera and snow shoes.  I have been following a recent story from another part of the state where a young female jogger was killed by a pack of wolves.  Between that story and reports of bears up and moving around locally, my own personal safety is becoming more and more of a concern.  I carried these things with me on my hike today and kept them out and accessible:
....but I am becoming increasingly aware of the fact that I need to carry a firearm.  I did some shooting before I came up to Alaska, but do not have a lot of experience with guns and therefore have hesitated to purchase a handgun of my own.  We have a potential buyer for our house down in Tennessee and I was hoping to wait until my Mountain Boy makes it up to Alaska to either give me one of his or to help me buy my own.  But I have decided that if the sale does not pan out, and my Mountain Boy does not make it up here to be with me soon, I will have to make the move and go get squared away with one of my own.

I decided to explore a trail not far from home.  There is a trailhead on my road, but I also found another trailhead to the same trail while biking Out the Road on Glacier Highway last week.  After checking my trail book, I decided to walk down to the furthest entrance (about 3 miles from the house) and walk back on the trail (exiting it on my road).  In total the walk on roads and trails would be about 8 miles or so.
Pictures of my road
Glacier Highway, heading towards the trail.  My pack was fairly heavy, but I did a combination of walking and running on both roads, warmed up quickly and made good time.  The air temp was very mild, and within 10 minutes of leaving the house I was taking off both gloves and my rain shell and stashing them in my pack.  This left me with a base layer and fleece on top, two pairs of tights on bottom and a synthetic hat.  That turned out to be the right combination for both the outside temperature and my activity level.
Once I arrived at the trailhead I read a sign describing the trail.  According to the sign it had rough terrain, and after reading the full description I made the decision to stay on foot and not use the snow shoes.  I thought that there was enough snow, but also thought that if the terrain was rough it would not be conducive to snow shoeing.  And to be honest I was a little spooked about the thought of wolves and bears, and decided that if I ran into problems I would rather be on familiar footing.   
A beautiful snowy bridge just a couple of minutes onto the trail
I realized within 10 minutes on the trail that even if I had wanted to snow shoe I would not have been able to after all, because the snow completely disappeared.  And what was left was a spongy soft moss, fern and pine needle filled trail.  I was surprised that the snow had disappeared, but was not disappointed because I love to walk on these kinds of trails. Compared to the rock hard trails I am used to down south, these trails are wonderful to walk on - very easy on joints that have been beaten up with age, numerous injuries and a lifetime of physical activity. 
Most of this trail was along a ridgeline that followed the coastline, and I had continual opportunities to take pictures of the beautiful water, sky, mountains and islands that were visible.  I also heard the waves almost my entire trip today.  Peaceful.  And I loved it.
Although the trail, for the most part, was in very good shape, there were a couple of times when I actually did lose track of it.  Once I lost the trail for over 5 minutes and fell back on my old adventure racing trick - go back to the last point where you knew where you were.  Like a numbskull I left my compass at home hanging from a hook on a shelf in the livingroom.  Thankfully it did not turn out to be a huge deal, because when I lost the trail I did end up finding it again fairly quickly.  But I should know better.
There were downed trees and holes all over the area along the trail, and I found myself thinking often that these holes would make great places for sleeping bears.  It was a beautiful trail, but I was definately aware of my surroundings.
I am still amazed at how prevalent the moss is in the SE.  It completely covers everything in its path.
The bald eagle tree
For most of the trail I was 100 feet or so above the shoreline.  The trail was fairly technical (lots of up and downs, climbing over downed trees and roots, watching footing as I followed the trail along the ridgeline close to the edge and then further away) - definately more challenging than a couple of trails I have done recently that were fairly flat and wide open.  I loved the challenge.
After being on the trail for about an hour, the trail surprisingly took me down far enough that I could veer off, and easily and safely climb down to the shore.  I stopped for a few minutes to eat, drink and snap some pictures before climbing back up onto the trail. 
Eventually I found my way to this set of stairs.  I was surprised however, that I did not come upon these stairs at either the top or bottom, but actually someplace in the middle, and I had to climb and maneuver myself to get onto them.
I walked down close to the bottom of them to take a few pictures, and then climbed up over 140 stairs to reach the top.  As I got close to the top, I realized that I was not on public stairs - I was walking up and into somebody's back yard.
Hmmmmm.  How'd that happen????  I knocked on the sliding glass window of the house, smiled my nicest smile when the homeowner answered my knock and asked where the heck I was.  Somehow I had missed a turn on the trail only a few hundred yards back, which led directly to the trailhead I was looking for on my road.  I thanked the homeowner for the information, apologized for entering his property and told him that I was heading back to the trail.  He very nicely insisted that I walk around the house to the front, and walk down to the road.  Once I got to the road I realized that I was indeed only a few hundred yards from the trail. 
One last picture taken from the road on the way home
I was an adventure racer for six years. Over those years I have spent more hours than I could possibly even guess training in mountain biking, hiking and trail running.  And over the years I have raced in state parks, conservation areas and national forests in every state in the eastern part of the country.  I could tell you almost nothing about any of what was in those places - focusing on almost nothing but the trail 50 feet in front of me and finding the next check point. 
With my move to Alaska, my physical recovery from a knee injury that sidelined me for a good part of last year, and with untold issues that have left me a little battle-scarred, I was determined to take things a little slower and a little easier when I arrived here.   I have to keep reminding myself to do that.  So far so good.

3 comments:

  1. This was another enjoyable adventure. I've figured out that by the time I get there I'll already know most of the trails, and roads.
    This was a very beautiful trail, the moss, and the scenery were amazing.

    I'm not going to mention the fact that....you let your mind wonder.....and got lost.
    Nope, ain't gonna say one word about you getting lost.
    Ya find your way through hundreds of miles of wilderness in the rugged mountains of the southeastern US, but ya get lost on a trail a few miles from the house. lol

    I enjoyed the trip, thanks for taking us with you, through the pictutes, and the narative.

    When I get up there we will go get ya a "big revolver", and a "shotgun"....to go with your 1978, vintage Remington model 700 30-06 rifle.

    Love ya Doll,
    MB/LC

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  2. This was a great post. That looked like a very fun trail, glad we got to go on it with ya.

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