pictures on flickr

hey ya'll!
i updated my flickr site (finally) with more pictures from the brooks! yeah!! the link is on the sidebar.

i went down to the anderson bluegrass festival last weekend with seth, blaine, katie, john & katie's parents. we had a good (and relatively mellow) time - now it's back in fairbanks to write.my.thesis.!!! though i was quite inspired (yet again) to get rockin' on my guitar...

any suggestions on motivational techniques (for my thesis in particular), please let me know.
other plans:

-guitar playin'
-frisbee tournament/game
-dog park
-making a decision on running another marathon this year
-eating good food

and i just talked with danny last night at troy's birthday par-tay about getting out *hunting* this fall! no shit, i'm going to try and help get me some moose meat. i'm not sure i'm ready to actually kill something, but i'm all about eating it, so we'll see if it pans out. it could be a whole lot of fun...who would have thought?! for now i'd like to just go and help haul stuff...i think i'll let someone else pull the trigger...baby steps, right?

rugged wilderness is good for my soul.

i just got back from a week-long trip up north to go backpacking in the Brooks Range! jason had a week off from work at Toolik, so i jumped on a bus up there and joined him on a six-day trip into the mountains. into the incredibly rugged, rocky, beautiful and high mountains.

here we are, setting off into the trevor creek valley
this is actually on our last night, Jason cooking dinner up on a ridiculously small saddle that camped on. when i reached the top of it that evening i looked around, slightly incredulously, somewhat wondering where exactly we were going to camp & eat. but indeed it was beautiful. as usual jason had pegged it right on and we were not only okay, but in a fabulous spot.
one of many stream crossings. here i am, with the water just about coming over the top of my gaitors. i did pretty well, but here and in a few other spots i got a bit of overflow into my (phatty new waterproof) boots.

jason on our first night out.
look close and see me. feeling queasy, but keeping on. personal comfort was definitely pushed on this trip...
the scree slope we went down after lunch one day. it looked like it was pretty short, but indeed it was at least a mile long to get to the bottom....




this was the ridge that we camped on for our last night. please note the sloping off on either side...
a porcupine in the roche montenee (spelling?) valley!
the mosquitoes weren't bad at all, however our last stop of the trip proved to have a small swarm in the vicinity that found us pretty quickly...
a view from our last stop, where we ate the rest of our food. from here you can see the adigun river, the haul road, and the pipeline. we hauled ass from here out, and were at the road in ~45 minutes. my voice was nearly hoarse from yelling 'hey bear!' through the willow thickets near the end.

this trip was incredible, and many many many thanks go out to jason for such an awsome opportunity, incredible patience, and a neverending sense of humor and snarkiness that i deeply appreciate.
at some point i'll post up the rest of the pictures on my flickr site (the link is over on the right)

on a happier note....

alright, so i've deleted my last posting.
it was bringing me down, keeping up such a negative experience.
not to gloss life over, but there is also not much of a need to keep it up and in your (my) face.
and since i don't have a plethora of things to update right now, i don't have the ability to push it far down into the archives.
so, if you missed my duck-debacle, and are terribly curious as to what made me break down and sob on the side of college rd. the other day,let me know and i'll fill you in.
otherwise, there are happier things to note:

summer is beautiful and i've been successful in enjoying much of it. mostly with the following activities:
* playing with my new dog (though she's not so much into fetching anything...)
* frisbee! i joined the fairbanks ultimate frisbee league! who knew i would play team
sports?
* running. i'm thinking about doing the portland marathon in october...anyone wanna join me?
* fun trips, and fun trips to come! especially:
* fishing in chitina a few weeks ago, and hopefully another trip to fill up the
freezer
* meeting meg & curren in denali, and then having them come up here
* backpacking up in the brooks range with jason

also...
the other night i was coming home from a fabulous birthday party for lorien and brian (which included a killer obstacle course, completed by well over a dozen people that included a very large and impressive slip-n-slide and a bmx bike with no brakes), but anyways, i was coming home late and saw what seemed like a sunset!

it's scary when the sky begins to get sunset colors again, because when that happens you know we're really losing the daylight. but, by the same token, i have to say that i kind of rejoice in seeing the colors of sunrise and sunset again.

alright. enough for now. back to working on my thesis!!

Meet Kaya!

well, i finally did it.
yesterday i thought i'd just go take a look at the animal shelter. i've been checking their website almost obsessively, lookin' at the dogs up for adoption. i've thought about it for years, the major down-side to the whole "having a dog" thing being the commitment to more or less staying in the country. but i think i can work around that, and i've made the decision that i *will* work around it now when it comes up! i came home with Kaya!!


She's absolutely wonderful. I feel almost guilty, as she's so incredibly well behaved and sweet!!! Everything I would want in a dog (so far, at any rate!) She's a younger adult, some kind of husky dog. With beautiful eyes!!


Here she is, tuckered out after bounding (she bounds, like a deer) through the underbrush on a walk down the powerlines. Not much more to say for now. I was feeling apprehensive yesterday when I got home (the "holy camoly, what did i DO??) but after an evening walk with her I was all sorts of excited. This afternoon we're going to go on our first run together...hopefully she'll be an excellent running partner. And by the looks of her when I take her off leash, she'll be good at skijoring! This girl can definitely run.

Solstice, a new home and a garden!

happy solstice, everyone!!!!
i hope wherever you are you've been able to reflect for a moment today on the day with the most sunlight (at least for us in the northern hemisphere!)
i wasn't sure whether to celebrate or maybe slightly lament the coming of the summer solstice. indeed after this we're losing minutes, and man oh man do we lose them quick up here. justine is convinced that she gets S.A.D. appx. one week following the solstice.

but, also on justine's insistence, i will forever celebrate solstice as a beautiful and ever inspiring and important day in our year.
below are some pictures. some from my new lovely cabin in the woods, including several taken last night at 12:15am. no flash. yep.
and then a few from our community garden plot! yeah !!!! last night i harvested some radishes and green onions!


this was at 12:15am last night. notice the daylight. the inside picture below is a little blurry, but not bad for no flash just a little after midnight, huh?


here's the backside of my cabin, and below is the inside looking out towards the porch (facing north)

this year, John and I have a community garden plot! we have ~600 sq.ft (i think it's larger than my cabin...) and i absolutely love it.

day one, assessing our plot and fixin' up the raised beds...


john, contemplative and cutting out potato eyes to plant


the oh-so-little rutabaga plant. the one living thing that came with our garden (aside from the grass and weeds...)

and here's a shot i took yesterday! the rutabaga is the giant bush you can see. there will be more pictures to come, but overall the garden is doing really well!

alright, well. i'm done with email and updates, and i'm off to play frisbee. and then possibly get a ticket for the midnight sun baseball game...we'll see if i get out of the frisbee game in time to get there before they sell out!
much love to everyone on this summer solstice.

the official marathon update

right on! Justine and I finished our first marathon ever!!! and what a trip it was. . .
here is the official update - photos courtesy of Aaron, for the most part!
if you don't know, we headed down to Vancouver Island to run the 8th Edge-to-Edge Marathon.
in our minds, this was a scenic and not-to-be-missed unique trail marathon, through the Pacific Rim National Park. Indeed, the highway that runs between the two towns of Tofino and Ucluelet goes through the park. But, also true - it is a highway. 50mph divided highway.
We had a lovely 600m section on the beach which can't be understated - it was beautiful. And while the rest of the run wasn't really much to write home about, it was an incredible personal first marathon!

Our trip to get there was ridiculous. The itinerary:
Drive to Anchorage --> fly to Seattle, pick up rental car --> pick up Aaron in Seattle (Justine's *fabulous* husband who lives in Vancouver, B.C.) --> take the Bainbridge Ferry and pick up some camping stuff from Meg (thanks, guys!) --> drive 1.5 hours to Port Angelas, WA --> take the M.V. Coho ferry to Victoria, B.C. on Vancouver Island where we stayed for one night --> drive 5.5 hours northwest to Tofino and the Park where we camped for three days. To head home we drove from Tofino 3.5 hours to Nainaimo, B.C. where we then took a ferry to Vancouver (the city) and spent the night at Aaron's house. And ate sushi. Such.Good.Sushi. It was incredibly hard to leave - Vancouver is great! I look forward to heading back there.

In Victoria (the land of mini-things), Justine and Aaron got a mini-room at the hostel. This can only begin to show how tiny it is. I'm sitting in the window and Aaron is on the other side of the room, on the bed-cushions. I couchsurfed that night with some great guys who are grad students down there.

Things weren't looking so hot at first. First there was that whole road-thing. J and I thought we might be done for, running approximately 25.9 miles on pavement. Then it rained. Hard. For days. The only break in the weather was, honestly, during the race. Here's Aaron, demonstrating how wet we were for so many days.

Needless to say, we were a bit happy whenever there was a break in the pouring rain. Here's Justine busting out some knitting in a brief repose from the wetness. (lesson learned --> always have a tarp with you (and rope) for car camping in the northwest)

Race Day!
Justine notices that none of the other marathoners are wearing rain coats! We quickly got them off (but my zipper got stuck - there was a small moment of panic) just as all the racers were lining up at the start line...


It was a relatively small race, with about 130 marathoners and some relay teams. I think the half-marathon had far fewer racers, but it began and ended at the other end of the marathon route.




The sports bra has an incredible capacity for holding items - here I am pulling out some food. I ate about every hour, and my food included a luna bar and some of the cliff goo-cubes. Aaron also provided me with ibuprofin support and a bit of a granola bar right near the end. He was an *incredible* and **much appreciated** support crew!!!


Finished and super happy! 15 minutes later discussing the next race (Equinox in September? Probably..)
Justine finished in 4:20, and I came in at 4:38 -- well under my goal of "anything under 5 hours"



Post-race beach walking. Overall we didn't feel too bad...not terribly sore, and just really happy for such a great experience.
Our trusty rental car. I have to say, I hate Fords but this little car was incredibly good to us. We were a bit sad to say goodbye as it had been such a good home for the week!

So now Justine and I are back in Fairbanks, and Aaron is back in Vancouver. All of us working on our respective master's theses (or updating blogs, as the case may be).

Thanks to everyone for the support and well-wishes for this crazy endeavor!

And many many many thanks to Justine and Aaron for being such wonderful traveling companions, incredible friends and just downright amazing people.

Kesugi Ridge in Denali State Park

for memorial day weekend, Jason and I headed down to Denali State Park to hike Kesugi Ridge...I have to say this was a much nicer way to spend Memorial Day weekend than the Memorial Days of my youth -- the opening of tourist season and shleping pizza or coffee or waiting tables or cleaning rooms, etc etc etc etc.

We drove down, about 3.5 hours south of Fairbanks, on Friday after work and camped out with a beautiful view of the Alaska Range. Saturday morning we prepared our food and packs. We stuffed the bear bin with as much food as possible, and still had some loose to eat. There was some concern about overdoing it with food, but come to find out the two of us can put away quite a lot....! I think the only major leftover was the oats. And some Tastee Bites.

** I am currently soliciting any and all suggestions on good backpacking foods --> high calorie, low weight. We're going out for six days in the Brooks Range in ANWR in July and need some new ideas! **



Day one was beautiful. The trail heads up immediately to the ridgeline, and then follows it for a long ways. We hiked a total of 17 miles, from Little Coal Creek to the Ermine Trailhead.


A leisurely post-lunch tundra nap....


The first night and through most of the second day the weather fluctuated between overcast, raining, hailing, windy and solid snow. Pretty much typical of my experiences on the trail, almost always. I'm just lucky like that, I guess...

It was beautiful, though, and felt kind of hardcore when we were up at this point where it cliffed out on one side quite sharply. Sadly my camera had a streak down the front of it and I had nothing dry to wipe it with on hand...


We camped out the second night near the trail junction with the Ermine Lake trail. The granite rocks and general tundra landscape is incredible. We had a great dinner, hung out on the rocks, watched some Pacific Loons in two separate tundra ponds on either side of our camp, and had a lovely last night on the trail. Monday we hiked out, down an incredible lush trail to the Parks Hwy. We hitched a ride with a very colorful man back to the car at Little Coal Creek. The ride back was rainy but nice.

Overall a fabulous trip - good company and an incredible landscape. You really can't go wrong...