June 14, 2007

We have made good use of our new tent. We spent our fourth night in it on Friday night. It was the start of a little adventure into the Kenai Mountains. We drove to Hope. The GPS told me that we were less than 18 miles from home while the odometer indicated almost 90 miles driven. You can see the Anchorage traffic cruising along Turnagain Arm, but it requires a huge loop to get there.

It was rainy and cold. I was worried. I knew we could handle a rainy weekend, but a friend from work and her roommate were joining us in this adventure. I knew neither were equipped well for their first wilderness backpacking trip. I knew the roommate had no hiking boots. Rain was not what I wanted to see.

We arrived in Hope and the rain let up a little. A rainbow hung over Turnagain Arm as we set up camp. We had reserved a campsite right on the water with a beautiful view. We set up our tents, had some hotdogs, and drank a couple beers. It was a fun evening. The rain came back overnight. We listened to the drops hitting the tent most of the night.

We got off to a casual start, packing up the campsite, organizing our backpacks, and getting to the trailhead late morning. The rain stopped and the sun came out. We hiked the seven miles up the Resurrection Trail to our reserved forest service cabin. It turned into a beautiful day. We dropped our packs at the cabin and hiked another two and a half miles further up the trail. We stopped and rested in a clearing. We returned to the cabin after our 12 miles of hiking. We were exhausted.

The rain that fell on Friday night had a nice benefit. Some stretches of the trail were a little muddy and made a perfect place to capture footprints. We started seeing bear footprints about half way in. We joked about all the moose prints, wondering if forest service personnel were hiking the trail every day with moose print souls on their shoes. We didn’t see any wildlife, but it is exciting to see the big bear prints.

The cabin was nice. It had bunk space for six so the four of us were comfortable. It is a nice way to get into the wilderness. My pack weighed less than 35 pounds even after stuffing an extra sleeping bag in it to solve a pack organization problem for one of our fellow adventurers. The cabin had a small woodburning stove. We lit a quick fire to take the chill out of the cabin before going to bed.

Sunday was even nicer, if that is possible. The sun was bright and the temperatures were probably the warmest we have had this year, nearing 70. The hike out was uneventful, other than a blown hiking boot that made my small roll of duct tape useful for the first time in all the years that it has been in my backpack. It made me appreciate having good gear. Our companions made up for their substandard gear with a significant age advantage. We determined that Kris and I had started dating before either of them had been born.

I am getting a little sense of what things were like for Kris in the past. When we would go mountain biking or skiing, she was often the only girl present. Now, it seems like I am the only boy. Two of my skiing friends from work are female and our two companions on this adventure were female. I got kicked out of the cabin at one point.

We interrupt this post for a moose running past the living room window. Oh, it’s a momma and a baby. I got a couple pictures, nothing very good. Babies are very cute. It is bizarre to see them walking between the buildings.

We have been riding our bikes to work reasonably regularly. We have ridden three days this week. It is fun to know the route, the timing of the lights, and the obstacles. Tonight I flew by a couple of other cyclists who were unsure of where to cross at one of the trickier intersections. The cross walk requires a slight detour and then puts you in front of turning traffic that isn’t necessarily going to see you. Knowing the timing of the light and the fact that both roads are one-way gave me a huge advantage. I can assess the situation from hundreds of feet away, verifying that cross traffic is stopped, watching for the oncoming traffic in the turning lane. I slowed a touch as I approached the intersection to let one turning car clear before my arrival. I then jumped off the curb, launching myself halfway across the first lane, cutting a diagonal line across the intersection and back up onto the bike path. The other two cyclists sat with their heads whipping back and forth as they tried to figure out if they could cross safely. Urban attack cycling is amusing, although I am sure my antics appear dangerous. The biggest danger is probably my speed. The cars are remarkably contained by curbs, lanes, and bumper to bumper traffic.

I finished tonight’s ride with a perfectly executed wheely drop. A couple workers were digging a drainage ditch across one of the trails. They stopped as I approached to let me through. I approached their small ditch slowly and as my front wheel approached the dropoff, I pedaled hard, lifting the front wheel high in the air, dropping the rear wheel into the ditch and setting the front wheel down on the other side. The workers were impressed, probably because they had never seen anyone with so much gray hair pull such a maneuver on a commuter bike. I feel like a kid riding my bike.

Joyce and Jim are in the state. I saw them briefly yesterday. They stopped by my office to borrow a garage door opener so they could lose the extra seat in their rental minivan. Then they were off on their adventures. We will join them for a few legs of their trip. Joyce’s parents are with them on this trip. They all looked good and happy to be on vacation.