Well, since this blog has so much of a theme anyway, I figured I would just share something that I often rant about to my friends and family to... A topic near and dear to my heart.... outdoor gear. I am starting a review site. That is how much I actually care about it. I mean I love being outside... and I don't want my choice of shitty gear to deter from my experience outdoors. So I reserach the shit out of things before I buy it. Anyway...
I aspire to spend some time outside in some serious cold. I mean Alaskan winters. Winter camping. Ice climbing. Mixed climbing. 8000 meter peak climbing. As such, I spent a fair bit of time researching how to stay warm. There are numerous options in mensware to achieve this. In months of research, I turned up three options for a women's extreme cold belay parka; the Rab Neutrino Endurance, the Patagonia Fitz Roy, and the Mountain Hardware Phantom jacket. All three options are less warm than the warmest men's jackets available. Additionally, there are no options for a women's summit down suit. I guess only men need those. Cause ya know, women never do cool shit. Or get cold.
I have found this extreme lack of available women's wear in many elite outdoor gear categories. A women's full zip hardshell pant does not exist. Nor does a women's puffy pant. To name a few. Because really, when I am climbing a 8000 meter mountain, I want to be worried about the crotch of my men's pants hanging half way down to my knees. Cause that's how men's pants usually fit me.
I actually contacted Mountain Hardware (MH) regarding my frustration. They sent me a kind reply back saying I am not the only person who shares this sentiment. They alluded to possible future products that would be developed to keep women warm on the mountain. This was great. Until now. The afore mentioned Phantom Jacket is apparently not being made anymore. Nor is it being replaced with a comparable cold weather-geared jacket as far as I can tell. Apparently women are just supposed to buy the men's jackets from MH now if they want to be warm. Which is great and all, but I am not shaped like a dude. I would love to actually be wearing gear that is cut for a woman. So that when I move I don't get shit bunched up where I don't want it. Maybe they have something bigger and better planned. Maybe. That would be neat.
Anyway, the point, PLEASE outdoor brands, get with it! There are movements all over encouraging women to get out and do things. Skiing, climbing, mountaineering.... and it is working. Myself and the amazing women I spend that majority of my time outdoors with would appreciate it if we actually had some options when selecting gear for extreme weather trips.
Friday, March 11, 2016
Monday, February 22, 2016
Power
People are fascinating. Sometimes in a frustrating way, but fascinating nevertheless. I am going to talk about one of the frustrating, yet amusing, things about people; power and perception.
I will say that I believe very few people are truly powerful. Titles are a dime a dozen. For my purposes, I will classify someone as "powerful" if they are respected by most people, hated by a few (some people are always going to hate people that have influence), and are thus capable of influencing a group of people. Scale is not necessarily important. This could be a world leader or just someone in a group of friends. I will mention that power can kind of be obtained through fear. However, I don't believe that is "true" power. As I see it, true power is influencing people because they want to do it, not because they have to. Ok, definition done.
I meet and deal with a lot of people. So many of them seem to feel the need to express their superiority over others. "Oh, I went to college", or "I have been doing this for 30 years", or "my dad did this awesome thing", or "I have this fancy title", or "I make so much money", etc, therefore, I am better than you. I hate this attitude. I really can't stand it. I have met people who have treated me like shit because they thought I was stupid because they thought I didn't go to college. They then found out that I did and their complete attitude about me changed. All the sudden, they started talking to me like I was intelligent and we were BFFs. I wish I was kidding, but i'm not. They completely judged me as a person and assumed they were better than me and I was not worth their time based off of some piece of paper that some people at an institution thought I deserved. Having been to college, I base little value on degrees. But that is another discussion for another day. Yes, college is important, no, going to it does not make you better than anyone. The people who I am willing to follow and who I choose to have in my life are the people who avoid this kind of bullshit.
I have absolutely no desire to listen to (or really be around) someone simply because their title is "higher ranking than mine". It is a completely arbitrary system that humans made to give themselves perceived power over others. I mean, in certain situations I don't really have much of a choice, but I am not going to be happy doing what someone says, or stay in a position for long where I have to, because they have a title. To be happy following someone, I have to respect them. I need to have a basic idea of their values, means, goal, and purpose to truly follow someone.
The part that blows me away is how many people don't seem to get that. Yes, you are my superior in this situation because someone else said you were, so it is in my best interest to do what you say, but I don't like your values and I think your end goal is stupid. If I do what you tell me, it is only because I really want to keep doing whatever it is you are in charge of, not because I actually believe in what you are doing or have any respect for you. Try not to get your ego too worked up about your power over me. I am doing this because I want to, not because you are better than me.
The too common attitude that so many people seem to have that makes them compare themselves to others based on superficial things is ridiculous. You can feel it and sense it when someone judges you based off of something dumb. It shouldn't be about you compared to those around you, its about you compared to what you can be. Really, we all have different talents. We then make our choices. We can choose to develop or skills and talents and be the best we can or we can choose to be lazy. I won't say that I don't judge people, I do. I know it's not my place to, but we all do it regardless of if we should or not. But when I judge someone, its only based on them. On their choices and who they are, not on some arbitrary, man made system designed to give us the false perception that we are better than someone else.
I believe people are truly powerful and deserving of respect when they have an attitude along the line of "I am awesome because I am me" and just leave it at that. It isn't about what makes you better than others. It's about what makes you good in and of itself. That is how I try to live, and I find that people respond really well to it. Most people I meet are eventually willing to listen to what I have to say. Not because I went to college, not because someone decided I was in charge of a project, not because of whatever perceived superficial thing, but because of who I am and my confidence in that.
So I guess what I am saying is, power comes from respect. Respect comes from being the best you can be, regardless of what is around you.
I will say that I believe very few people are truly powerful. Titles are a dime a dozen. For my purposes, I will classify someone as "powerful" if they are respected by most people, hated by a few (some people are always going to hate people that have influence), and are thus capable of influencing a group of people. Scale is not necessarily important. This could be a world leader or just someone in a group of friends. I will mention that power can kind of be obtained through fear. However, I don't believe that is "true" power. As I see it, true power is influencing people because they want to do it, not because they have to. Ok, definition done.
I meet and deal with a lot of people. So many of them seem to feel the need to express their superiority over others. "Oh, I went to college", or "I have been doing this for 30 years", or "my dad did this awesome thing", or "I have this fancy title", or "I make so much money", etc, therefore, I am better than you. I hate this attitude. I really can't stand it. I have met people who have treated me like shit because they thought I was stupid because they thought I didn't go to college. They then found out that I did and their complete attitude about me changed. All the sudden, they started talking to me like I was intelligent and we were BFFs. I wish I was kidding, but i'm not. They completely judged me as a person and assumed they were better than me and I was not worth their time based off of some piece of paper that some people at an institution thought I deserved. Having been to college, I base little value on degrees. But that is another discussion for another day. Yes, college is important, no, going to it does not make you better than anyone. The people who I am willing to follow and who I choose to have in my life are the people who avoid this kind of bullshit.
I have absolutely no desire to listen to (or really be around) someone simply because their title is "higher ranking than mine". It is a completely arbitrary system that humans made to give themselves perceived power over others. I mean, in certain situations I don't really have much of a choice, but I am not going to be happy doing what someone says, or stay in a position for long where I have to, because they have a title. To be happy following someone, I have to respect them. I need to have a basic idea of their values, means, goal, and purpose to truly follow someone.
The part that blows me away is how many people don't seem to get that. Yes, you are my superior in this situation because someone else said you were, so it is in my best interest to do what you say, but I don't like your values and I think your end goal is stupid. If I do what you tell me, it is only because I really want to keep doing whatever it is you are in charge of, not because I actually believe in what you are doing or have any respect for you. Try not to get your ego too worked up about your power over me. I am doing this because I want to, not because you are better than me.
The too common attitude that so many people seem to have that makes them compare themselves to others based on superficial things is ridiculous. You can feel it and sense it when someone judges you based off of something dumb. It shouldn't be about you compared to those around you, its about you compared to what you can be. Really, we all have different talents. We then make our choices. We can choose to develop or skills and talents and be the best we can or we can choose to be lazy. I won't say that I don't judge people, I do. I know it's not my place to, but we all do it regardless of if we should or not. But when I judge someone, its only based on them. On their choices and who they are, not on some arbitrary, man made system designed to give us the false perception that we are better than someone else.
I believe people are truly powerful and deserving of respect when they have an attitude along the line of "I am awesome because I am me" and just leave it at that. It isn't about what makes you better than others. It's about what makes you good in and of itself. That is how I try to live, and I find that people respond really well to it. Most people I meet are eventually willing to listen to what I have to say. Not because I went to college, not because someone decided I was in charge of a project, not because of whatever perceived superficial thing, but because of who I am and my confidence in that.
So I guess what I am saying is, power comes from respect. Respect comes from being the best you can be, regardless of what is around you.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Sometimes I just have to wonder... how did I end up here...
I found this post in my drafts....I wrote it months ago and just found it in my drafts folder and decided to finally post it....
So I apparently have a lot of friends with birthdays this weekend. As is appropriate, there was some birthday partying tonight. Being a good friend, I attended and bought the birthday boy and girl some shots. And made my other birthday friend a cake. This post won't have any pictures that are really relevant. So I will post some random ones from my life recently. Anyway, getting to the point, I was talking to one of my friends tonight when she said, as she often does, something to the effect of how insanely lucky she is to have such an awesome family, friends, career, etc. and how she never could have planned it any better if she had tried.
Naturally, this statement always makes me think. She also went a little further and talked about some things happening at work that it was just interesting how all the pieces had fallen into place to bring her to where she is now. I won't go into the details of her story, but I will go into some with mine.
That said, I totally agree with what she is saying. I mean, I am at a slightly different place in my life than she is but I am happy. Almost too happy. It is kind of a weird feeling. I mean, of course I have bad days, but they pass. And they really aren't that bad. Something dumb happens and it annoys me and I get over it. The part that interests me so much is how I got here. Because I sure didn't plan it. Looking back, it is a random series of events that has brought me to this point. If you had told me who I would be and what I would be doing and who I would be doing it with two years ago, I probably would have laughed at you. If you had told me that 5 years ago, I probably wouldn't have believed you. 8 years ago... well, there is no way i would have believed that that would be me in the future.
Anyway, so 8 years ago I was in highschool, living in Alabama and had no idea what I was going to do with my life. (not that I know that now...) I was in band and played soccer and had some friends and that was my life. Oh, I had my first job, as a lifeguard. Not a career but I was making money. My life plan was to graduate and go to college, probably down in the South with all my friends. Anyway, along came life and things outside of my control changed my perfect little plan. 6 years ago, I end up in Alaska, still in highschool. The soccer team sucks, the band is good but just isn't the same, and I have no friends. I manage to find a job working in retail. Good experience but still not a career... at least I am making money. Seeing a pattern here??? All I want to do is go back to what I know. I am completely opposed to change and terribly unhappy with life in general. My perfect little plan has been ruined!
Anyway, fast forward a little more. I go to college, graduate, and things start to get better. I meet people, I get progressively better jobs, I start to find new things that I love to do. I learn to ski, dirt bike, weld, etc. My network of friends starts to grow. I meet people who know people that I know. I actually start to find some really good friends. Anyway, enough of my life story. Just for the background of where this is all coming from.
Anyway, to the topic. I was thinking on my drive home from the bar (I wasn't drinking. I don't drink and drive) how I got here. I am happy with who I am and honestly don't care what other people think. If they don't like me, that's their problem. I will seriously inform someone I just met "oh, I am pretty cool. We should be friends". And if they don't want to be then whatever. My self esteem is frighteningly high. I push my limits outside of my comfort zone because I like to. It is challenging and fun. I used to be too scared to do that. I just wonder where this came from. 2 years ago, I was not like this at all. I was worried about why so and so didn't like me. In general, I was just worried about the wrong things.
I like to think about things like this. So I thought about this for a while. What happened to me? Well there was this crazy series of events that happened. I learned things, I met people, I experienced things. And I made decisions based off of what happened to me. I let them change me for the better. (I think) I stopped being so worried about my plan and my destination and started looking at the journey and even looking for the side tracks that may not take me where I planed to go when I planned to go but might still get me somewhere worth going. I started looking for and even making opportunities that were not part of my plan at all.
I mean, I have always been very career and money oriented my whole life. I don't think that money is the most important thing in life but I have come to the conclusion that the lack of money causes a lot of problems. Therefore, a career and money making means have always been very important to me. So what did I do when I graduate from college? I took a low paying job that I like waking up and going to more days than not and allowed me to travel (and go way into debt) for three months. I packed up my truck and took a 13,000 mile road trip. Oh, by myself. Totally not planned. I mean I could have graduated and looked for and possibly gotten a much higher paying career fast track job. If you had told me I was going to do that two years ago I would have laughed at you and told you no way in hell am I doing that. It was scary. Really scary. But I am sure glad I did it.
Anyway, just some more random, slightly disconnected thoughts from my brain :)
So I apparently have a lot of friends with birthdays this weekend. As is appropriate, there was some birthday partying tonight. Being a good friend, I attended and bought the birthday boy and girl some shots. And made my other birthday friend a cake. This post won't have any pictures that are really relevant. So I will post some random ones from my life recently. Anyway, getting to the point, I was talking to one of my friends tonight when she said, as she often does, something to the effect of how insanely lucky she is to have such an awesome family, friends, career, etc. and how she never could have planned it any better if she had tried.
 | ||||
| Pokemon cake!! It was absolutely 105% properly appreciated by the recipient :D |
That said, I totally agree with what she is saying. I mean, I am at a slightly different place in my life than she is but I am happy. Almost too happy. It is kind of a weird feeling. I mean, of course I have bad days, but they pass. And they really aren't that bad. Something dumb happens and it annoys me and I get over it. The part that interests me so much is how I got here. Because I sure didn't plan it. Looking back, it is a random series of events that has brought me to this point. If you had told me who I would be and what I would be doing and who I would be doing it with two years ago, I probably would have laughed at you. If you had told me that 5 years ago, I probably wouldn't have believed you. 8 years ago... well, there is no way i would have believed that that would be me in the future.
Anyway, so 8 years ago I was in highschool, living in Alabama and had no idea what I was going to do with my life. (not that I know that now...) I was in band and played soccer and had some friends and that was my life. Oh, I had my first job, as a lifeguard. Not a career but I was making money. My life plan was to graduate and go to college, probably down in the South with all my friends. Anyway, along came life and things outside of my control changed my perfect little plan. 6 years ago, I end up in Alaska, still in highschool. The soccer team sucks, the band is good but just isn't the same, and I have no friends. I manage to find a job working in retail. Good experience but still not a career... at least I am making money. Seeing a pattern here??? All I want to do is go back to what I know. I am completely opposed to change and terribly unhappy with life in general. My perfect little plan has been ruined!
Anyway, fast forward a little more. I go to college, graduate, and things start to get better. I meet people, I get progressively better jobs, I start to find new things that I love to do. I learn to ski, dirt bike, weld, etc. My network of friends starts to grow. I meet people who know people that I know. I actually start to find some really good friends. Anyway, enough of my life story. Just for the background of where this is all coming from.
Anyway, to the topic. I was thinking on my drive home from the bar (I wasn't drinking. I don't drink and drive) how I got here. I am happy with who I am and honestly don't care what other people think. If they don't like me, that's their problem. I will seriously inform someone I just met "oh, I am pretty cool. We should be friends". And if they don't want to be then whatever. My self esteem is frighteningly high. I push my limits outside of my comfort zone because I like to. It is challenging and fun. I used to be too scared to do that. I just wonder where this came from. 2 years ago, I was not like this at all. I was worried about why so and so didn't like me. In general, I was just worried about the wrong things.
I like to think about things like this. So I thought about this for a while. What happened to me? Well there was this crazy series of events that happened. I learned things, I met people, I experienced things. And I made decisions based off of what happened to me. I let them change me for the better. (I think) I stopped being so worried about my plan and my destination and started looking at the journey and even looking for the side tracks that may not take me where I planed to go when I planned to go but might still get me somewhere worth going. I started looking for and even making opportunities that were not part of my plan at all.
I mean, I have always been very career and money oriented my whole life. I don't think that money is the most important thing in life but I have come to the conclusion that the lack of money causes a lot of problems. Therefore, a career and money making means have always been very important to me. So what did I do when I graduate from college? I took a low paying job that I like waking up and going to more days than not and allowed me to travel (and go way into debt) for three months. I packed up my truck and took a 13,000 mile road trip. Oh, by myself. Totally not planned. I mean I could have graduated and looked for and possibly gotten a much higher paying career fast track job. If you had told me I was going to do that two years ago I would have laughed at you and told you no way in hell am I doing that. It was scary. Really scary. But I am sure glad I did it.
Anyway, just some more random, slightly disconnected thoughts from my brain :)
Still in Cooper Landing.. drilling... not so much
Don't worry. The fun hasn't stopped yet! We have at least a month of this!
-Don't leave your gloves sitting on the heater too long... they will melt
-Of the four people working on this project, apparently I was the only that brought a knife or a gun
-The drill can be used in many creative ways. For instance, it can be used to lift and turn a couple ton air compressor.
-Bonfires make everyone more enjoyable to work with.
-The propane torch/weed whacker is a great way to start a fire
-Don't leave plastic things like buckets or water bottles close to the fire... they melt.
-Apparently we have melted quite a few things on this project.
-Some dirt is really hard on equipment. We destroyed two shoes for the sampler in 15 feet of drilling...
-If anything gets destroyed, it is always my fault. Even though I am the only one that doesn't actually touch the equipment.
-Winching a drill rig and air compressor up a bumpy hill can be bad.... and result in the cable snapping and a project delay
-As soon as the winch is fixed and the rig moved to the next site, one of the hydraulic jacks busts. Bolts broke, fittings sheared off, hydraulic fluid everywhere....
-3 days later waiting for it to get fix, I find out the solid 4 inch diameter ram of the jack is also bent....
-Apparently the drillers only have problems with hydraulics on the rig when they are on projects with me. (they blew something on the last hole when we were in Chignik Bay.....). That some how makes it my fault. ha.
-Chainsaws are still fun. Even though at this point, only one is remotely sharp enough to safely use. And the ex-lumberjack/tree cutting expert gets to use it. The rest of us just move the downed trees. And when I say us I mostly mean the other drillers. And me when I can do it without getting in the way too much.
-Don't put your revolver in your backpack and then toss it on the ground at the work site. While the trigger is safely covered by the holster and the safety mechanisms of the gun keep it from firing, you can still break off the rear sight. Now how am I supposed to aim it at the pissed off I-just-woke up bear?
-Plastic bottles can be lit on fire
-Frozen dirt is a bitch to clean off of equipment... especially 150 feet of rod .
-After torching the shit out of a split spoon (to dry the dirt so I can brush it off... since carrying water to the site is really impractical), it is hot. And should not be touched for a while.
-For some reason the drillers don't like the idea of welding without a welding hood... the hammer needs to be rebuilt and all the hoods have disappeared back to Anchorage....
-When shit gets stuck together, torch the shit out of it and then whack it with a hammer. Fixes the problem almost every time.
-sometimes it takes over a week to do what should take a few days. Shit likes to break.
So there will probably be at least one more of these. If you are still interested. :) Probably.
-Don't leave your gloves sitting on the heater too long... they will melt
-Of the four people working on this project, apparently I was the only that brought a knife or a gun
-The drill can be used in many creative ways. For instance, it can be used to lift and turn a couple ton air compressor.
-Bonfires make everyone more enjoyable to work with.
-The propane torch/weed whacker is a great way to start a fire
-Don't leave plastic things like buckets or water bottles close to the fire... they melt.
-Apparently we have melted quite a few things on this project.
-Some dirt is really hard on equipment. We destroyed two shoes for the sampler in 15 feet of drilling...
-If anything gets destroyed, it is always my fault. Even though I am the only one that doesn't actually touch the equipment.
-Winching a drill rig and air compressor up a bumpy hill can be bad.... and result in the cable snapping and a project delay
-As soon as the winch is fixed and the rig moved to the next site, one of the hydraulic jacks busts. Bolts broke, fittings sheared off, hydraulic fluid everywhere....
-3 days later waiting for it to get fix, I find out the solid 4 inch diameter ram of the jack is also bent....
-Apparently the drillers only have problems with hydraulics on the rig when they are on projects with me. (they blew something on the last hole when we were in Chignik Bay.....). That some how makes it my fault. ha.
-Chainsaws are still fun. Even though at this point, only one is remotely sharp enough to safely use. And the ex-lumberjack/tree cutting expert gets to use it. The rest of us just move the downed trees. And when I say us I mostly mean the other drillers. And me when I can do it without getting in the way too much.
-Don't put your revolver in your backpack and then toss it on the ground at the work site. While the trigger is safely covered by the holster and the safety mechanisms of the gun keep it from firing, you can still break off the rear sight. Now how am I supposed to aim it at the pissed off I-just-woke up bear?
-Plastic bottles can be lit on fire
-Frozen dirt is a bitch to clean off of equipment... especially 150 feet of rod .
-After torching the shit out of a split spoon (to dry the dirt so I can brush it off... since carrying water to the site is really impractical), it is hot. And should not be touched for a while.
-For some reason the drillers don't like the idea of welding without a welding hood... the hammer needs to be rebuilt and all the hoods have disappeared back to Anchorage....
-When shit gets stuck together, torch the shit out of it and then whack it with a hammer. Fixes the problem almost every time.
-sometimes it takes over a week to do what should take a few days. Shit likes to break.
So there will probably be at least one more of these. If you are still interested. :) Probably.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Adventure is taking inappropriate gear to out of the way places... AKA my skiing adventures in Cooper Landing
So if you know me you know that I don't like sitting around. If I am out on a job, there is a really good chance I will go wander around wherever I am working in my off time. I generally try to be relatively safe and not do anything too dumb and by myself. This entry is going to be kind of random and probably pointless. Though, it sould be somewhat entertaining.
Anyway, Cooper Landing is full of fun stuff to do when the weather is nice. In the past two years, they have started grooming two of the camp grounds for cross country skiing, which I have taken up this winter and am pretty excited about. There is also a surplus of hiking trails (most of which I will not attempt by myself in the winter... ya know, no phone reception, avalanche danger, exposure danger, wild animal danger, etc....), a few of which are tame enough that I will attempt on my own. And it is fucking gorgeous. I am pretty much in a valley surrounded by mountains and the Kenai River which is BLUE. And I love blue. Lots of amazing photo opportunities. Anyway, enough about Cooper Landing, it's awesome, you should visit. This post is about me so let's get onto that....
I decided to have my first skiing adventure at the Russian River Campground. I've been here in the summer a few times. Never to actually camp, mind you. I must say, I like what they have done with the place. I spent a while looking for the trail map online before I went. It's not online anywhere as far as I know. But, it's posted at the entrance to the campground and is pretty simple; one road in, follow it back out. Also, I have posted it below if you are really curious. (for google if anyone is looking Russian River Ski Trail... I think that google picks these up) Also, grooming reports can be found here if you are using this as a guide for your own ski adventure.... It is done by volunteers and seems to take about 24 to 48 hours after a snowfall to get groomed.
So the first day I decide to go ski, it has just snowed a few inches and the trail is ungroomed. I am skating (I kind of hate classic skiing... but I will get to that in a bit) along happily. The snow isn't deep enough to really be an issue. There are maybe two other peoples' tracks on the trail... so it is quite serene... I look down and find these:
Ohhh shitttt. Those are some big ass paw prints. My hands really aren't that small. Pretty normal size actually. Anyway, so I see these and am like.... what?!?! wolves?!?! There are danger signs about avalanches and bears (all of which are hibernating at the moment) all over and nothing about wolves. I really haven't even heard of them being a big issue on the Kenai Peninsula in general, hence my lack of preparation and shock. Needless to say, I turn around and get the hell out of there in a hurry. It didn't stop snowing until late the night before... so those tracks are probably from within the last 12 hours. I go back to the cabin I am staying in and do some research on the local wildlife. Yup, wolves. Though they are rarely seen apparently. Needless to say, I didn't really want to run into one. Especially not unarmed at dusk. I concluded probably fighting off a wolf with a ski pole would place me amongst the most badass people alive. However, the alternative of failure in that endeavour was not particularly appealing.
The next time I went out, I decided I should go snowshoeing while it was still snowing. This turned out to be a rather unpleasant experience. Relatively speaking of course. Being outside is almost always awesome. But I have placed snowshoeing at the top of my "least favorite things to do outside" list. I have concluded I like it less than classic skiing and bicycling, both of which I have an unreasonable dislike of. No particular reason why I don't like them, I just don't like the motion they require me to do. And I don't like it any better the more I practice. I have concluded that snowshoeing is unreasonably slow and annoying and I would rather classic ski if I have a choice. I feel so strongly that I asked for my classic skis back from my friend that I let borrow them a year ago.
Anyway, I snowshoe out on the Russian lakes trail. The trail head is off the Russian river campground road. It's about 3 miles to Russian Lake falls, which was my goal. Well, about an hour and a half in, I still see no falls. I don't think I hike that slow and it is going to be dark in about another hour and a half. And with the wolves around and my mild fear of the dark and the whole being alone in the Alaskan wilderness in the cold anddd the chance of someone else coming along this trail tonight being little to none, I decide I really don't want to be out that late and the falls must not be THAT cool. So I turn around and hike back to the truck. It wasn't a bad hike but I really did not enjoy the snowshoeing. And there was very little elevation change. I really like hikes that require some sort of rock scrambling. Not that that would be a good idea in the winter... but just so you know where I am coming from. There were a bunch of trees and no view. There probably would have been a cool one if I had found the falls, but clearly I did not. Anyway, I now have my classic skies and and going to attempt this one again on those.
I have been to the ski trails a few more times and they are nice. If you do all the loops and such it is about 6 miles. According to the map at least. The views are great and it is kind of fun making first tracks on the freshly groomed trails. Though it is concerning when there are no signs of skiiers and there are animal tracks all over. Oh well, at least most of them are little :)
So my final notable skiing adventure happened up bean creek trail. FYI, this trail is not groomed. Or appropriate for skate skiing really. But that's all I had so that's what I used. I show up in the parking lot and there is a group getting ready to do ressurection pass. (bean creek is a safer winter trail to use for the first part of t resurrection) I ask them what the trail is like and if it is wide enough for skating. It is. For a ways. Well, I plan to take the trail to where it intersection Resurrection Trail so I have a great idea: strap the snowshoes to my backpack and ski as far as I can and then switch. Brilliant! So I load up my backpack with my gun, extra clothes, some water, some food, and of course my medical kit (I like to be prepared or somthing). I also shove my shoes in there. I don't think that snowshoes and ski boots will be that great. Then I attempt to figure out how to strap my snowshoes on to the backpack. I have two straps used to compress the bag that I manage to loop around the straps on the snowshoes. Well, they are gonna flop around but they won't go anywhere!
So I head out. The trail is ok for skating... It has been packed pretty well by snowmachines. However, I quickly realize why people who are skiing with gear always pull it in a sled. The backpack is on pretty tight but is still flopping around. With the snowshoes, it is making me incredibly unbalanced. (on the up side, I now ski much better without the extra weight...) I almost fall multiple times. Anyway, I stop to take off some layers and the guys I saw in the parking lot catch up. This is signifigant because a short while later, the trail narrows. A lot. I really don't want to use my snowshoes if I don't have to. (as mentioned before they are so painfully slow that I can't deal with them. I know it is about the journey and all but I like to journey quickly and stop to enjoy things as I please. Not go slow and look at everything. Ya know, it isnt fun until I am soaked in sweat... Just my style ya know)
Anyway, so I skate down the narrow trail maybe about 100 yards before running my ski tip into the snow on the side of the trail. For anyone that has done that, you know what happened next.... I immediate face plant. Litterally, face plant. Face to snow. And then my snowshoes flip over my back pack and whack me on the head. Ow. Ok snowshoes. You win. I will use you. Oh, and I had an audience for this. Possibly the only other people to use this trail all day.....
So I take off my skies and switch over to the snowshoes. I stash my skis, poles, and boots under a tree. Chances are that people are not coming up here looking for ski gear to steal... and I won't be completely heartbroken if it does dissappers. Maybe just slightly dissapointed in humanity. Anyway, I continue down the trail on my snowshoes. My pack feels amazingly light now that I am wearing the shoes and snowshoes that were in/on it. I make it to resurection pass trail and turn around. Nothing too specacular but there are some nice mountain views.
Anyway, Cooper Landing is full of fun stuff to do when the weather is nice. In the past two years, they have started grooming two of the camp grounds for cross country skiing, which I have taken up this winter and am pretty excited about. There is also a surplus of hiking trails (most of which I will not attempt by myself in the winter... ya know, no phone reception, avalanche danger, exposure danger, wild animal danger, etc....), a few of which are tame enough that I will attempt on my own. And it is fucking gorgeous. I am pretty much in a valley surrounded by mountains and the Kenai River which is BLUE. And I love blue. Lots of amazing photo opportunities. Anyway, enough about Cooper Landing, it's awesome, you should visit. This post is about me so let's get onto that....
I decided to have my first skiing adventure at the Russian River Campground. I've been here in the summer a few times. Never to actually camp, mind you. I must say, I like what they have done with the place. I spent a while looking for the trail map online before I went. It's not online anywhere as far as I know. But, it's posted at the entrance to the campground and is pretty simple; one road in, follow it back out. Also, I have posted it below if you are really curious. (for google if anyone is looking Russian River Ski Trail... I think that google picks these up) Also, grooming reports can be found here if you are using this as a guide for your own ski adventure.... It is done by volunteers and seems to take about 24 to 48 hours after a snowfall to get groomed.
So the first day I decide to go ski, it has just snowed a few inches and the trail is ungroomed. I am skating (I kind of hate classic skiing... but I will get to that in a bit) along happily. The snow isn't deep enough to really be an issue. There are maybe two other peoples' tracks on the trail... so it is quite serene... I look down and find these:
Ohhh shitttt. Those are some big ass paw prints. My hands really aren't that small. Pretty normal size actually. Anyway, so I see these and am like.... what?!?! wolves?!?! There are danger signs about avalanches and bears (all of which are hibernating at the moment) all over and nothing about wolves. I really haven't even heard of them being a big issue on the Kenai Peninsula in general, hence my lack of preparation and shock. Needless to say, I turn around and get the hell out of there in a hurry. It didn't stop snowing until late the night before... so those tracks are probably from within the last 12 hours. I go back to the cabin I am staying in and do some research on the local wildlife. Yup, wolves. Though they are rarely seen apparently. Needless to say, I didn't really want to run into one. Especially not unarmed at dusk. I concluded probably fighting off a wolf with a ski pole would place me amongst the most badass people alive. However, the alternative of failure in that endeavour was not particularly appealing.
The next time I went out, I decided I should go snowshoeing while it was still snowing. This turned out to be a rather unpleasant experience. Relatively speaking of course. Being outside is almost always awesome. But I have placed snowshoeing at the top of my "least favorite things to do outside" list. I have concluded I like it less than classic skiing and bicycling, both of which I have an unreasonable dislike of. No particular reason why I don't like them, I just don't like the motion they require me to do. And I don't like it any better the more I practice. I have concluded that snowshoeing is unreasonably slow and annoying and I would rather classic ski if I have a choice. I feel so strongly that I asked for my classic skis back from my friend that I let borrow them a year ago.
Anyway, I snowshoe out on the Russian lakes trail. The trail head is off the Russian river campground road. It's about 3 miles to Russian Lake falls, which was my goal. Well, about an hour and a half in, I still see no falls. I don't think I hike that slow and it is going to be dark in about another hour and a half. And with the wolves around and my mild fear of the dark and the whole being alone in the Alaskan wilderness in the cold anddd the chance of someone else coming along this trail tonight being little to none, I decide I really don't want to be out that late and the falls must not be THAT cool. So I turn around and hike back to the truck. It wasn't a bad hike but I really did not enjoy the snowshoeing. And there was very little elevation change. I really like hikes that require some sort of rock scrambling. Not that that would be a good idea in the winter... but just so you know where I am coming from. There were a bunch of trees and no view. There probably would have been a cool one if I had found the falls, but clearly I did not. Anyway, I now have my classic skies and and going to attempt this one again on those.
I have been to the ski trails a few more times and they are nice. If you do all the loops and such it is about 6 miles. According to the map at least. The views are great and it is kind of fun making first tracks on the freshly groomed trails. Though it is concerning when there are no signs of skiiers and there are animal tracks all over. Oh well, at least most of them are little :)
So my final notable skiing adventure happened up bean creek trail. FYI, this trail is not groomed. Or appropriate for skate skiing really. But that's all I had so that's what I used. I show up in the parking lot and there is a group getting ready to do ressurection pass. (bean creek is a safer winter trail to use for the first part of t resurrection) I ask them what the trail is like and if it is wide enough for skating. It is. For a ways. Well, I plan to take the trail to where it intersection Resurrection Trail so I have a great idea: strap the snowshoes to my backpack and ski as far as I can and then switch. Brilliant! So I load up my backpack with my gun, extra clothes, some water, some food, and of course my medical kit (I like to be prepared or somthing). I also shove my shoes in there. I don't think that snowshoes and ski boots will be that great. Then I attempt to figure out how to strap my snowshoes on to the backpack. I have two straps used to compress the bag that I manage to loop around the straps on the snowshoes. Well, they are gonna flop around but they won't go anywhere!
So I head out. The trail is ok for skating... It has been packed pretty well by snowmachines. However, I quickly realize why people who are skiing with gear always pull it in a sled. The backpack is on pretty tight but is still flopping around. With the snowshoes, it is making me incredibly unbalanced. (on the up side, I now ski much better without the extra weight...) I almost fall multiple times. Anyway, I stop to take off some layers and the guys I saw in the parking lot catch up. This is signifigant because a short while later, the trail narrows. A lot. I really don't want to use my snowshoes if I don't have to. (as mentioned before they are so painfully slow that I can't deal with them. I know it is about the journey and all but I like to journey quickly and stop to enjoy things as I please. Not go slow and look at everything. Ya know, it isnt fun until I am soaked in sweat... Just my style ya know)
Anyway, so I skate down the narrow trail maybe about 100 yards before running my ski tip into the snow on the side of the trail. For anyone that has done that, you know what happened next.... I immediate face plant. Litterally, face plant. Face to snow. And then my snowshoes flip over my back pack and whack me on the head. Ow. Ok snowshoes. You win. I will use you. Oh, and I had an audience for this. Possibly the only other people to use this trail all day.....
So I take off my skies and switch over to the snowshoes. I stash my skis, poles, and boots under a tree. Chances are that people are not coming up here looking for ski gear to steal... and I won't be completely heartbroken if it does dissappers. Maybe just slightly dissapointed in humanity. Anyway, I continue down the trail on my snowshoes. My pack feels amazingly light now that I am wearing the shoes and snowshoes that were in/on it. I make it to resurection pass trail and turn around. Nothing too specacular but there are some nice mountain views.
The end! Oh, and no one stole my skis. I got back and put them back on and skiied back to the truck :D
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
The Rules of my Life
The cabin I am staying in has the 10 commandments hanging on the wall. I was looking at them one morning and then went out into the field to do some work. I then started talking to the drillers about something which lead me to saying something along the lines of "ya I always act this way". Which is a weird statement for me to make because I don't really live by absolutes. I kind of believe that there is an exception to every rule and what is right or wrong in one situation might be completely different in another. I then started thinking about ways that I pretty much always act in all situations....
Anyway, I decided to compile a list of my "life rules". Not really like the 10 commandments, so I don't really know how that ties in.... Just things that I always try to keep in mind when making choices and getting through life.
1) Don't argue unless you are pretty sure you are right, and it is worth arguing about.
Personally, I am not a fan of arguing. Once in a while I will argue over something dumb just to remind someone that I am not a push over. Or because they are talking about something that I happen to know a lot about and they are wrong. Or because someone manages to strike a nerve. But usually, I just don't argue unless it is important.
2) Don't agree to things unless you know what you are agreeing to.
If anyone comes up to me and says "ya wanna do me a favor", my response is always something along the lines of "most likely", "probably", "maybe", or "probably not but what is it" depending on who is asking and what their history of favors is. This might come from my fear of commitment, but I adopted this attitude after blindly agreeing to do some things that I really didn't want to. (Not like bad things, but more like, you lazy ass hole... you just didn't want to deal with your own shit and now I am in it too) Call me old fashioned, but if I tell someone I am going to do something then I am damn well going to do it. If I don't then probably something is wrong, or I am experiencing a human moment and genuinely just forgot or something dumb like that. I try to keep that to a minimum though. Since I do what I say, I try to be pretty damned careful what I agree to.
3) If you tell someone you will do something, then do it.
I am more than willing to overlook all sorts of slightly annoying traits in my friends if they have this quality. I mean I totally understand that sometimes you just can't, but I have known some flaky people. Make plans and then the day of the plans, not only do they forget, but I can't even get a hold of them. That gets old... I can't tell you how much I appreciate people who consistently do what they say they will. Or, at the very least let me know as soon as they know something has changed. Reliability, it seems like a dying idea these days where everyone is full of excuses.....
4) Don't make excuses.
We all do it. But honestly, rarely does anyone want to hear it. If I am late or feel the need to make excuses, I try to just keep my mouth shut, or just go with "Sorry about that, I will do my best not to let it happen again." Ok, I still make a lot of excuses. It's hard not to. Sometimes you just want people to know that there actually is a reason you completely sucked at whatever. However, I find that a lot of the time, your actions can completely make up for one bad performance... sans excuses.
5) Don't be a whiny bitch.
Chances are, it could be much worse. You could be starving and dying of some awful disease in the middle of nowhere. Oh, also caught in a downpour. We all lose perspective and get tired of our lives, but really, for most of us, shit ain't that bad. Vent if you have to, then be done with it and move on.
6) Never let your fear decide your fate.
Ok, I stole that one from an Awolnation song. Good song by the way. But it is the most poetic way I have had heard that concept said. And when I say this, I don't mean stupid things like "there is a bear over there that I am scared of so I should overcome my fear and walk towards it". Not like that. What I mean is don't not do something because it is new or unknown or scary. A lot of fears are not rooted in any real danger. It is just a "this bad thing might happen". Well, chances are you are more likely to die in a car crash driving to work than from doing whatever awesome thing you are scared to do. For me (and most people I would assume) doing new things is scary since it's unknown. I spent a lot of my life in my "comfort zone". Now that I have gotten out of it, I enjoy life a hell of a lot more.
7) Don't worry what other people think. You can't change it anyway.
When I finally was able to do this, it seriously changed my life in a really good way. My self confidence went through the roof and I became a lot happier in general. I used to spend a lot of time wondering why so and so didn't like me. Then I realized it didn't matter. I haven't done anything to them and if they want to not like me, that's their problem. And ya know what happened when I started thinking this way? I'm pretty sure that a lot fewer people disliked me for dumb reasons.
8) If you make a mistake, admit it, accept the consequences, and move on.
Chances are if you try to cover it up, its just gonna fuck shit up a lot more. And everyone is going to know anyway. Usually if you own up to it, you can still keep peoples' respect. And fix the problem in a timely manner.
9) Treat others with respect.
I don't care who someone is, I am going to treat them with respect. I run into a entitled superior attitude a lot with people. I am blah blah blah so that makes me better than you. No, not really. Or, you are here to serve me. (Like at a restaurant... or supermarket... work situations) Ok, it might be someone's job to help you but you don't have to treat them like shit. Really, we are all people here trying to make our way through life the best we can. Everyone deserves respect. Well, at least until if and when they do something really shitty to lose it. I feel like this attitude is my small way of giving back to people. People I meet in passing I am always polite to and always try to give a smile. Who knows, maybe they were having a shitty day and something just being nice to them made it a little bit better.
10) Make your choices wisely. They define who you are.
Everyone has to make choices. Inaction is also a choice. I believe in two things that govern our lives as humans: choice and balance. Our choices should lead us towards living a more balanced life. Yes, some people are born really fucking lucky. They have a lot of good things going for them. I was pretty lucky. My life hasn't been perfect, but overall, I had a damn good start. Anyway, that affects my point of view on the matter. But at the end of the day, EVERYONE has a choice. Even when things outside of your control happen, you have the choice of how you react to them. I don't mean what you do necessarily, but how you think. NO ONE can control that but you. You can always choose how you react to a situation, how you let it change you, if you view yourself as a helpless victim, etc.. You can choose to think positively or negatively about a situation. I know this from experience. It works. Even when shit sucks, you have the choice to be positive. And it is amazing what making that choice can do. It isn't easy, but it's worth it.
Everyone has things happen to them in their lives. And everyone has to choose how they react to them. End of story.
11) It's about value and balance.
My uncle said this a fair bit when I was a child. Usually in what I thought a joking matter. However, we did get into a pretty intense conversation about the power of this statement. At this point in my life, this IS the governing idea in my life. Finding balance. Usually, there are two choices, paths, whatever. Most of the time, neither one is entirely right. It's more about finding the right balance between to. I mean if you look at the qualities people have, no one person can exhibit all "good" qualities at one time.
Let me explain via example. I value both strength and compassion in a person. Most people would argue that to be strong, you don't show compassion and to show compassion is a weakness. Well, I would argue that a good person has both qualities. It isn't about one or the other, it is about knowing when to be strong when to be compassionate. Finding that balance between the two. There are countless examples of the this concept.
I believe that balance is the key to everything. Life is about finding that right spot between two extremes. It sure isnt easy to do and takes a lot of trial and error. But hey, where is the fun in easy things?
Anyway, those are my thoughts. And the super abbreviated explanation of what I think. If you didn't know me, or know me well, or thought you knew be but really don't, now you do. :)
Anyway, I decided to compile a list of my "life rules". Not really like the 10 commandments, so I don't really know how that ties in.... Just things that I always try to keep in mind when making choices and getting through life.
1) Don't argue unless you are pretty sure you are right, and it is worth arguing about.
Personally, I am not a fan of arguing. Once in a while I will argue over something dumb just to remind someone that I am not a push over. Or because they are talking about something that I happen to know a lot about and they are wrong. Or because someone manages to strike a nerve. But usually, I just don't argue unless it is important.
2) Don't agree to things unless you know what you are agreeing to.
If anyone comes up to me and says "ya wanna do me a favor", my response is always something along the lines of "most likely", "probably", "maybe", or "probably not but what is it" depending on who is asking and what their history of favors is. This might come from my fear of commitment, but I adopted this attitude after blindly agreeing to do some things that I really didn't want to. (Not like bad things, but more like, you lazy ass hole... you just didn't want to deal with your own shit and now I am in it too) Call me old fashioned, but if I tell someone I am going to do something then I am damn well going to do it. If I don't then probably something is wrong, or I am experiencing a human moment and genuinely just forgot or something dumb like that. I try to keep that to a minimum though. Since I do what I say, I try to be pretty damned careful what I agree to.
3) If you tell someone you will do something, then do it.
I am more than willing to overlook all sorts of slightly annoying traits in my friends if they have this quality. I mean I totally understand that sometimes you just can't, but I have known some flaky people. Make plans and then the day of the plans, not only do they forget, but I can't even get a hold of them. That gets old... I can't tell you how much I appreciate people who consistently do what they say they will. Or, at the very least let me know as soon as they know something has changed. Reliability, it seems like a dying idea these days where everyone is full of excuses.....
4) Don't make excuses.
We all do it. But honestly, rarely does anyone want to hear it. If I am late or feel the need to make excuses, I try to just keep my mouth shut, or just go with "Sorry about that, I will do my best not to let it happen again." Ok, I still make a lot of excuses. It's hard not to. Sometimes you just want people to know that there actually is a reason you completely sucked at whatever. However, I find that a lot of the time, your actions can completely make up for one bad performance... sans excuses.
5) Don't be a whiny bitch.
Chances are, it could be much worse. You could be starving and dying of some awful disease in the middle of nowhere. Oh, also caught in a downpour. We all lose perspective and get tired of our lives, but really, for most of us, shit ain't that bad. Vent if you have to, then be done with it and move on.
6) Never let your fear decide your fate.
Ok, I stole that one from an Awolnation song. Good song by the way. But it is the most poetic way I have had heard that concept said. And when I say this, I don't mean stupid things like "there is a bear over there that I am scared of so I should overcome my fear and walk towards it". Not like that. What I mean is don't not do something because it is new or unknown or scary. A lot of fears are not rooted in any real danger. It is just a "this bad thing might happen". Well, chances are you are more likely to die in a car crash driving to work than from doing whatever awesome thing you are scared to do. For me (and most people I would assume) doing new things is scary since it's unknown. I spent a lot of my life in my "comfort zone". Now that I have gotten out of it, I enjoy life a hell of a lot more.
7) Don't worry what other people think. You can't change it anyway.
When I finally was able to do this, it seriously changed my life in a really good way. My self confidence went through the roof and I became a lot happier in general. I used to spend a lot of time wondering why so and so didn't like me. Then I realized it didn't matter. I haven't done anything to them and if they want to not like me, that's their problem. And ya know what happened when I started thinking this way? I'm pretty sure that a lot fewer people disliked me for dumb reasons.
8) If you make a mistake, admit it, accept the consequences, and move on.
Chances are if you try to cover it up, its just gonna fuck shit up a lot more. And everyone is going to know anyway. Usually if you own up to it, you can still keep peoples' respect. And fix the problem in a timely manner.
9) Treat others with respect.
I don't care who someone is, I am going to treat them with respect. I run into a entitled superior attitude a lot with people. I am blah blah blah so that makes me better than you. No, not really. Or, you are here to serve me. (Like at a restaurant... or supermarket... work situations) Ok, it might be someone's job to help you but you don't have to treat them like shit. Really, we are all people here trying to make our way through life the best we can. Everyone deserves respect. Well, at least until if and when they do something really shitty to lose it. I feel like this attitude is my small way of giving back to people. People I meet in passing I am always polite to and always try to give a smile. Who knows, maybe they were having a shitty day and something just being nice to them made it a little bit better.
10) Make your choices wisely. They define who you are.
Everyone has to make choices. Inaction is also a choice. I believe in two things that govern our lives as humans: choice and balance. Our choices should lead us towards living a more balanced life. Yes, some people are born really fucking lucky. They have a lot of good things going for them. I was pretty lucky. My life hasn't been perfect, but overall, I had a damn good start. Anyway, that affects my point of view on the matter. But at the end of the day, EVERYONE has a choice. Even when things outside of your control happen, you have the choice of how you react to them. I don't mean what you do necessarily, but how you think. NO ONE can control that but you. You can always choose how you react to a situation, how you let it change you, if you view yourself as a helpless victim, etc.. You can choose to think positively or negatively about a situation. I know this from experience. It works. Even when shit sucks, you have the choice to be positive. And it is amazing what making that choice can do. It isn't easy, but it's worth it.
Everyone has things happen to them in their lives. And everyone has to choose how they react to them. End of story.
11) It's about value and balance.
My uncle said this a fair bit when I was a child. Usually in what I thought a joking matter. However, we did get into a pretty intense conversation about the power of this statement. At this point in my life, this IS the governing idea in my life. Finding balance. Usually, there are two choices, paths, whatever. Most of the time, neither one is entirely right. It's more about finding the right balance between to. I mean if you look at the qualities people have, no one person can exhibit all "good" qualities at one time.
Let me explain via example. I value both strength and compassion in a person. Most people would argue that to be strong, you don't show compassion and to show compassion is a weakness. Well, I would argue that a good person has both qualities. It isn't about one or the other, it is about knowing when to be strong when to be compassionate. Finding that balance between the two. There are countless examples of the this concept.
I believe that balance is the key to everything. Life is about finding that right spot between two extremes. It sure isnt easy to do and takes a lot of trial and error. But hey, where is the fun in easy things?
Anyway, those are my thoughts. And the super abbreviated explanation of what I think. If you didn't know me, or know me well, or thought you knew be but really don't, now you do. :)
More Cooper Landing fun!
As the Cooper Landing project goes on, I learn ever more exciting things about work, traveling, gear choice, myself, and life in general....
-Xtratuffs make poor hiking shoes. Something about a lack of tread and ankle support....
-Properly torquing the rod is important; a 5 hour delay may occur otherwise which involves pulling all equipment out of the hole and re-drilling it.
-I need more warm socks. I brought all 5 I own to my month long job... Socks should probably be changed more often than that. (ew??? Im not trying to impress anyone here though...)
-when typing the word "experience" make sure you don't accidentally type "sexperience" and post is on an online forum. You will get made fun of. (not related to this project but it happened during this time...)
-When driving down an icy hill with huge bumps at the bottom, go EXTRA SLOW. Brakes don't work well on ice and the work truck isn't set up with long travel suspension...
-riding a 4 wheeler 1-handed and bringing coffee to a site is easy. Riding a snowmachine 1-handed down a super rutted trail is a huge pain in the ass. And is probably dangerous.
-Attempting the above bullet results in a 50% loss of coffee and a 10% increase in the wetness of my clothing....
-When putting the snowmachine key in your pocket, make sure it actually goes in your pocket. The ground is not a good place to keep the key.
-I am horrible at picking locks. However, I locked myself out of my cabin and somehow magically jiggled the lock open with my knife in about 5 seconds. After grabbing the key and trying it again, I was completely unsuccessful.
-Apparently this is the only field job going on right now and office people are bored. In one week, I have had 4 visitors to the side.
-Don't leave your hardhat unattended upside down under a snowy tree. It won't be empty when you get back
-HWT casing makes a really melodic tone when whacked repeatedly with a hammer
-When post holing through waist deep snow, Xtra tuffs keep the snow out a lot better if they are not folded down...
-The bear proof trash can is easier to figure out when its not dark, you're not in your pajamas, and you aren't freezing your ass off
-Make sure you know which gas cans have gas and which ones have diesel. When in doubt, ask the person that filled them up
-Have more than one color of flagging with you. Sometimes, other people have been in the middle of no where forest with flagging the same color as yours. It confuses people. Multiple colors is best. If you must only have one color, orange is a poor choice since everyone else seems to use it too.
-Cell phone reception is awesome at the site. Somehow. I even get internet.
Don't worry... there will be more :D
-Xtratuffs make poor hiking shoes. Something about a lack of tread and ankle support....
-Properly torquing the rod is important; a 5 hour delay may occur otherwise which involves pulling all equipment out of the hole and re-drilling it.
-I need more warm socks. I brought all 5 I own to my month long job... Socks should probably be changed more often than that. (ew??? Im not trying to impress anyone here though...)
-when typing the word "experience" make sure you don't accidentally type "sexperience" and post is on an online forum. You will get made fun of. (not related to this project but it happened during this time...)
-When driving down an icy hill with huge bumps at the bottom, go EXTRA SLOW. Brakes don't work well on ice and the work truck isn't set up with long travel suspension...
-riding a 4 wheeler 1-handed and bringing coffee to a site is easy. Riding a snowmachine 1-handed down a super rutted trail is a huge pain in the ass. And is probably dangerous.
-Attempting the above bullet results in a 50% loss of coffee and a 10% increase in the wetness of my clothing....
-When putting the snowmachine key in your pocket, make sure it actually goes in your pocket. The ground is not a good place to keep the key.
-I am horrible at picking locks. However, I locked myself out of my cabin and somehow magically jiggled the lock open with my knife in about 5 seconds. After grabbing the key and trying it again, I was completely unsuccessful.
-Apparently this is the only field job going on right now and office people are bored. In one week, I have had 4 visitors to the side.
-Don't leave your hardhat unattended upside down under a snowy tree. It won't be empty when you get back
-HWT casing makes a really melodic tone when whacked repeatedly with a hammer
-When post holing through waist deep snow, Xtra tuffs keep the snow out a lot better if they are not folded down...
-The bear proof trash can is easier to figure out when its not dark, you're not in your pajamas, and you aren't freezing your ass off
-Make sure you know which gas cans have gas and which ones have diesel. When in doubt, ask the person that filled them up
-Have more than one color of flagging with you. Sometimes, other people have been in the middle of no where forest with flagging the same color as yours. It confuses people. Multiple colors is best. If you must only have one color, orange is a poor choice since everyone else seems to use it too.
-Cell phone reception is awesome at the site. Somehow. I even get internet.
Don't worry... there will be more :D
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Cooper Landing drilling is fun :)
Well, it has been since September since I have had any field work. One of the drillers pointed out that was 6 months ago. No wonder the office has been driving me crazy. So this current project is kinda cool. There are only 7 test holes which should be like a 2 day job. BUT the holes are located a half mile to a mile off the existing road system in the forest. AND we are not drilling 30 foot holes. This project has cuts that are 100 feet deep so we are drilling 100 foot test holes minimum. On top of that, we need information on the bedrock in the area because there is very little geotechnical data for the area and they are planning on constructing a bridge on slopes that have been historically not so stable. So, there will also be rock coring, unless we don't hit rock for some reason. To get to a test hole, we have to cut a path through the forest with chainsaws (yayy!!! The drillers even let me help!) and then winch a 40,000 pound drill rig and air compressor up steep hills.
So that is the background on this project. That said, what looks easy on paper really isn't. It will probably take a few weeks if everything goes perfectly. Anyway, in similar fashion to my last projects, I will be updating the world on random things that I have learned and that have happened in bullet form. I might add some pictures to some posts if I feel really ambitious. As of now, I have driven to the site and worked on it for one day. Oh the fun things that have happened!
-Driving in the dark in glowing shoes is really distracting, but AWESOME. (btw... I have super brightly colored shoes that GLOW IN THE FUCKING DARK. and are awesome! If you didn't know, now you do.)
- PVC is a pain in the ass. I ordered 1000 feet of it on Friday and was told it would be picked up by the drillers by tuesday... on wednesday i get a call from the plumbing store wondering why no one had picked it up. Apparently the drillers left town without it. When we are buying close to the entire stock of 1 inch PVC they want us to actually get it...
-When I am with a driller and tell him "I am flagging this tree with 4 flags so you know where to set up here when you mob the rig in and I am not here", they set up somewhere completely different. On a random flag that was only marking an access point. I guess I need more colors of flagging... Maybe I can convince the boss to get blue :)
-I show up at 10 and they are all ready to drill.... on a spot that isn't even a test hole or in the proposed road alignment... and I get to be the asshole that tells them that everything has to be taken down and moved.... up a hill... with lots of trees on it.
-All this lovely warm weather means the bears are probably gonna be waking up soon... and be really happy about life in general.
-Snowmachines are still fun
-Buying a toothbrush and toothpaste because I forgot to pack is expensive in Cooper Landing... arguably more expensive than Chignik Bay. I might have somehow picked out the most expensive toothbrush in the store though...
-I am really awesome at losing pencils in the forest. From my facebook post if you aren't on my facebook: Day one and I have already lost 3 pencils in the forest. Ask me how much of a test hole we have done. At this rate, I am going to go through 3 pencils per 30 feet of drilling. At a maximum of 150 feet per test hole and 7 total holes, that puts me at a total of 105 pencils per project. I brought 5. Three are lost and one is currently broken :p Looks like I need to change my ways...
-Chainsaws are fun, through the drillers were a little skeptical about giving me one. "Have you ever used one of these before??" "um, ya, who the hell do you think I am?!?!!?"
-I really hate driving at night
-People that forget to turn off their brights still piss me off
-My work truck lights are inferior to my Tacoma's lights.
-Sometimes I get lucky and remember that I forgot my work boots 2 miles from the office instead of 100....
-It is possible to winch a stuck 40,000 pound drill rig and air compressor up a hill...
-.... it just requires a snatch block... that isn't even technically a snatch block.
-35 degrees is pretty nice for work... until it gets windy and snowy. Horizontally blowing snow is not so fun.
-Hands stay warmer when my gloves are not soaking wet.
-Field work is awesome!
Well, that's about all for now. Tune in for more excitement later as the project goes on... and maybe I will be better about updating this thing :)
So that is the background on this project. That said, what looks easy on paper really isn't. It will probably take a few weeks if everything goes perfectly. Anyway, in similar fashion to my last projects, I will be updating the world on random things that I have learned and that have happened in bullet form. I might add some pictures to some posts if I feel really ambitious. As of now, I have driven to the site and worked on it for one day. Oh the fun things that have happened!
-Driving in the dark in glowing shoes is really distracting, but AWESOME. (btw... I have super brightly colored shoes that GLOW IN THE FUCKING DARK. and are awesome! If you didn't know, now you do.)
- PVC is a pain in the ass. I ordered 1000 feet of it on Friday and was told it would be picked up by the drillers by tuesday... on wednesday i get a call from the plumbing store wondering why no one had picked it up. Apparently the drillers left town without it. When we are buying close to the entire stock of 1 inch PVC they want us to actually get it...
-When I am with a driller and tell him "I am flagging this tree with 4 flags so you know where to set up here when you mob the rig in and I am not here", they set up somewhere completely different. On a random flag that was only marking an access point. I guess I need more colors of flagging... Maybe I can convince the boss to get blue :)
-I show up at 10 and they are all ready to drill.... on a spot that isn't even a test hole or in the proposed road alignment... and I get to be the asshole that tells them that everything has to be taken down and moved.... up a hill... with lots of trees on it.
-All this lovely warm weather means the bears are probably gonna be waking up soon... and be really happy about life in general.
-Snowmachines are still fun
-Buying a toothbrush and toothpaste because I forgot to pack is expensive in Cooper Landing... arguably more expensive than Chignik Bay. I might have somehow picked out the most expensive toothbrush in the store though...
-I am really awesome at losing pencils in the forest. From my facebook post if you aren't on my facebook: Day one and I have already lost 3 pencils in the forest. Ask me how much of a test hole we have done. At this rate, I am going to go through 3 pencils per 30 feet of drilling. At a maximum of 150 feet per test hole and 7 total holes, that puts me at a total of 105 pencils per project. I brought 5. Three are lost and one is currently broken :p Looks like I need to change my ways...
-Chainsaws are fun, through the drillers were a little skeptical about giving me one. "Have you ever used one of these before??" "um, ya, who the hell do you think I am?!?!!?"
-I really hate driving at night
-People that forget to turn off their brights still piss me off
-My work truck lights are inferior to my Tacoma's lights.
-Sometimes I get lucky and remember that I forgot my work boots 2 miles from the office instead of 100....
-It is possible to winch a stuck 40,000 pound drill rig and air compressor up a hill...
-.... it just requires a snatch block... that isn't even technically a snatch block.
-35 degrees is pretty nice for work... until it gets windy and snowy. Horizontally blowing snow is not so fun.
-Hands stay warmer when my gloves are not soaking wet.
-Field work is awesome!
Well, that's about all for now. Tune in for more excitement later as the project goes on... and maybe I will be better about updating this thing :)
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Reflections on my trip: Being Brave
While traveling, I met a lottttt of people. Being from Alaska, it was pretty easy to talk to them. Almost everyone wants to hear about Alaska. Once I had them roped into talking to me through the topic of Alaska, they generally would be mildly curious about me as a person. What I am doing in the lower 48, who I am traveling with, etc. Well, I would tell them my story of something like "yup, just packed up the truck and am driving. By myself" and the response I got most of the time was something along the lines of "That's really brave of you." Uh, well thanks, I don't feel brave at all. People also seemed to think my trip was impressive. I also do not feel all that impressive either.
I have been called a lot of nice things; brave, impressive, once in a while powerful (not in relation to this trip but I feel like it ties in... and I don't think I would mind being powerful), and while these are all words that I would like to describe me, and image of me does not come to my head when I hear those words. I suppose this is all in perception. I mean from my point of view I am just trying to live my life in a way that makes sense to me and fulfills whatever it is I am looking for. Which I still don't know what that is. But I think I am on the right track and have become almost content with not knowing and just enjoying the journey.
Anyway, I am going to analyze this.... So let's start with some definitions.
Brave: Ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage
Impressive: Evoking admiration through size, quality, or skill: grand, imposing, or awesome
So being brave is being ready (and willing?) to endure danger or pain. I don't consider my trip to be incredibly dangerous or painful. I really would hope it would not be painful. I mean sure, shit could go wrong. My truck could break down (ha), I could meet some really unscrupulous people, I could get lost, I could get in a car accident, etc. etc. All of this could happen to anyone at any time though. I am just further away from my support network than the average person.
It is not like I just blindly started this trip assuming everything would be great. I did my best to identify potential problems and at least think of what an appropriate response would be prior to leaving. I call it "calculated risk taking". Yeah, it is a risk, but I have a plan. Isn't that what life is all the time? You could drop dead this instant, doing the same thing you do every day for all you know. Traveling alone just made these dangers blatantly obvious, as opposed to hidden in every day life monotony.
I still haven't really answered if traveling alone makes me brave in my book. I mean, before I left, I was totally scared and overwhelmed. However, I often feel this way and have found that some of the best things come from feeling scared and or overwhelmed. Once I said goodbye and hit the road, I was feeling good about the trip by the time I got to Eagle River. My doubts vanished and I felt free to explore. Really, I would argue that this does not qualify me as being brave. All I have done is put myself in a situation that makes the every day dangers of life a little more obvious.
Moving on to impressive. I think this one is all in other people's perception. The end.
I mean when I hear words like these, I think of knights fighting for honor and the pyramids and just insanely awe inspiring and nostalgic things like that. I am just wondering if maybe I am failing to see the modern day application of these words. Maybe people from history who we think were brave or impressive didn't think that they were. Maybe they did. Who knows.
I have been called a lot of nice things; brave, impressive, once in a while powerful (not in relation to this trip but I feel like it ties in... and I don't think I would mind being powerful), and while these are all words that I would like to describe me, and image of me does not come to my head when I hear those words. I suppose this is all in perception. I mean from my point of view I am just trying to live my life in a way that makes sense to me and fulfills whatever it is I am looking for. Which I still don't know what that is. But I think I am on the right track and have become almost content with not knowing and just enjoying the journey.
Anyway, I am going to analyze this.... So let's start with some definitions.
Brave: Ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage
Impressive: Evoking admiration through size, quality, or skill: grand, imposing, or awesome
So being brave is being ready (and willing?) to endure danger or pain. I don't consider my trip to be incredibly dangerous or painful. I really would hope it would not be painful. I mean sure, shit could go wrong. My truck could break down (ha), I could meet some really unscrupulous people, I could get lost, I could get in a car accident, etc. etc. All of this could happen to anyone at any time though. I am just further away from my support network than the average person.
It is not like I just blindly started this trip assuming everything would be great. I did my best to identify potential problems and at least think of what an appropriate response would be prior to leaving. I call it "calculated risk taking". Yeah, it is a risk, but I have a plan. Isn't that what life is all the time? You could drop dead this instant, doing the same thing you do every day for all you know. Traveling alone just made these dangers blatantly obvious, as opposed to hidden in every day life monotony.
I still haven't really answered if traveling alone makes me brave in my book. I mean, before I left, I was totally scared and overwhelmed. However, I often feel this way and have found that some of the best things come from feeling scared and or overwhelmed. Once I said goodbye and hit the road, I was feeling good about the trip by the time I got to Eagle River. My doubts vanished and I felt free to explore. Really, I would argue that this does not qualify me as being brave. All I have done is put myself in a situation that makes the every day dangers of life a little more obvious.
Moving on to impressive. I think this one is all in other people's perception. The end.
I mean when I hear words like these, I think of knights fighting for honor and the pyramids and just insanely awe inspiring and nostalgic things like that. I am just wondering if maybe I am failing to see the modern day application of these words. Maybe people from history who we think were brave or impressive didn't think that they were. Maybe they did. Who knows.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Alaskan Adventures: Chignik Bay the Conclusion
Thoughts, musings, and things learned in my final days in Chignik Bay... (pictures coming soon)
-The best way to keep bugs away is Alaskan perfume. The secret ingrediets are: Deet, gasoline, engine oil, dirt, all sorts of plant smells, sweat, more dirt, WD-40, whatever is leaking out of my rented 4 wheeler, andddd more dirt.
-You either have wind or bugs. Sometimes both, never neither.
-Sometimes the Penair gets confused as to where you are. I am in Chignik Bay not Chignik Lake. I will be angry if you go to pick me up in the wrong place.
-Don't try to leave a fishing village at the same time the fishing season ends. You won't be able to change your flight when you finish the job early.
-4 wheelers can go a lot of amazing places that you wouldn't think they can get to. They can run over all sorts of things like small trees. Unfortunately, they get high centered and the farings get ripped off them if you try to drive over too big of a tree.
-Just because the drillers want you to climb up a cliff of crumbling rock does not mean they will respect you any less if you don't.
-Just because someone warns you that a rock is falling does not mean you are in a position to move out of the way of said falling rock... luckily it was a small one.
-Stray dogs just will not leave you alone.
-If you look in the right places, there are fossilized things all over in the cliffs!! :D
-Some of them are so new that parts of the tree are still stuck to the rock it imprinted on.
-When the power goes out where we are staying, every electronic thing beeps constantly, for a long time....
-Walking along a deserted beach with my iphone playing music is almost like having my own real-life soundtrack.
-You can send 1000 pounds of dirt through the USPS. It only costs $300 too.
-Sometimes you get lucky and the plane that is "completely booked an full" had to skip a stop due to weather. You get to leave days earlier than you expected to.
-Just because your shipped goods are clearly marked "Anchorage" does not mean they will go there. Mine got shipped into the hub city, and then back out to western Alaska, specifically, Perryville. I got a call from a very confused pilot.
Annddd the end! Happy to be home again!! Getting ready to leave for Kodiak soon!
-The best way to keep bugs away is Alaskan perfume. The secret ingrediets are: Deet, gasoline, engine oil, dirt, all sorts of plant smells, sweat, more dirt, WD-40, whatever is leaking out of my rented 4 wheeler, andddd more dirt.
-You either have wind or bugs. Sometimes both, never neither.
-Sometimes the Penair gets confused as to where you are. I am in Chignik Bay not Chignik Lake. I will be angry if you go to pick me up in the wrong place.
-Don't try to leave a fishing village at the same time the fishing season ends. You won't be able to change your flight when you finish the job early.
-4 wheelers can go a lot of amazing places that you wouldn't think they can get to. They can run over all sorts of things like small trees. Unfortunately, they get high centered and the farings get ripped off them if you try to drive over too big of a tree.
-Just because the drillers want you to climb up a cliff of crumbling rock does not mean they will respect you any less if you don't.
-Just because someone warns you that a rock is falling does not mean you are in a position to move out of the way of said falling rock... luckily it was a small one.
-Stray dogs just will not leave you alone.
-If you look in the right places, there are fossilized things all over in the cliffs!! :D
-Some of them are so new that parts of the tree are still stuck to the rock it imprinted on.
-When the power goes out where we are staying, every electronic thing beeps constantly, for a long time....
-Walking along a deserted beach with my iphone playing music is almost like having my own real-life soundtrack.
-You can send 1000 pounds of dirt through the USPS. It only costs $300 too.
-Sometimes you get lucky and the plane that is "completely booked an full" had to skip a stop due to weather. You get to leave days earlier than you expected to.
-Just because your shipped goods are clearly marked "Anchorage" does not mean they will go there. Mine got shipped into the hub city, and then back out to western Alaska, specifically, Perryville. I got a call from a very confused pilot.
Annddd the end! Happy to be home again!! Getting ready to leave for Kodiak soon!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Alaskan Adventures: Chignik Bay Part Two
Part two of Chignik Bay... Sorry, still no pictures. But I have some cool ones!!!!
-The stray dog is better at fishing than I am.
-Then again, he just dragged the already dead fish off the side of the stream... to the front door of the place we are staying. 4 dead fish won't attract bears. At all.
-I may have cell service, but I can not send a text
-Don't wander down the beach next to the cliffs when the tide is coming in.. unless you want wet feet.
-Finding fossils is still as awesome as when I was 5.
-When the cap is stuck on the water monitering well, running over it with the ATV will fix everything.
-Taking water level readings is harder when the water level meter was left in Anchorage.... Luckily, I know how to improvise.
-Benchmade knives are far superior to Smith and Wesson knives. They don't break when abused and misused. Then again, they also cost 4 times as much.
-The sunrises are awesome. The sunsets and stars probably are too. But I have no windows where I am staying. And am asleep by the time the sun sets.
Looks like the job is going to finish up early. So I will be home sooner than planned... if nothing changes :) Probably one more post like then and then some pictures when I am hommmeee!!
-The stray dog is better at fishing than I am.
-Then again, he just dragged the already dead fish off the side of the stream... to the front door of the place we are staying. 4 dead fish won't attract bears. At all.
-I may have cell service, but I can not send a text
-Don't wander down the beach next to the cliffs when the tide is coming in.. unless you want wet feet.
-Finding fossils is still as awesome as when I was 5.
-When the cap is stuck on the water monitering well, running over it with the ATV will fix everything.
-Taking water level readings is harder when the water level meter was left in Anchorage.... Luckily, I know how to improvise.
-Benchmade knives are far superior to Smith and Wesson knives. They don't break when abused and misused. Then again, they also cost 4 times as much.
-The sunrises are awesome. The sunsets and stars probably are too. But I have no windows where I am staying. And am asleep by the time the sun sets.
Looks like the job is going to finish up early. So I will be home sooner than planned... if nothing changes :) Probably one more post like then and then some pictures when I am hommmeee!!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Alaskan Adventures: Things Learned in Chignik Bay (Part one of maybe a few)
So I am working in Chignik Bay at the moment. I do geotechnical drilling for anyone that does not know. If you don't know what that is and want to know, google it! We have some ok internet that I use once in a while. Anyway, just figured I would share some things I have learned so far in a manner similar to my Chevak blog. :)
-Penair is easily confused. When I check in for the 3:30 flight, I do not want all my stuff to be on the 11:00 flight.
-The afore mentioned point caused me to be unable to locate my checked bag. It turned up later (before I ahd left the airport) in the baggage claim area. Good thing I was worried about it and checked.
-Shipping complicates things even more. When I say I want my stuff shipped on the 3:30 flight with me, it does not mean to ship it on the 10:30 flight. Also, when shipping sends me back to the terminal and tells me to "just let them know over there you have some stuff going cargo", when I go talk to the people in the terminal, it is not comforting that everyone seems to have no idea what I am talking about. They suggested I go talk to cargo....
-Luckily, someone in Chignik Bay got all my stuff and the drillers kindly put it in my room for me. Sometimes people are awesome
-Anchorage is small. Alaska is even smaller. I ran into a guy I went to school with and some guy that works in the building across from me who recognized me because of my truck whome I did not know in the King Salmon Airport
-Energy drinks cost about the same as the do in Anchorage. Cheese is $10. A pound of hamburger is $3.
-Just because the sun is shining when you leave in the morning does not mean it still will be a few hours later.
-It takes approximately 10 minutes to become miserably soaked when it starts raining and you are not properly equipped with rain gear
-Everyone's mood gets worse when they are not properly equipped in rain gear and are soaked.
-Pants weigh about 10 pounds more when they are completely saturated
-When renting an ATV, it is good to specify you not only want it to run, but you want it to have brakes
-Using small trees to stop a brake-less ATV when you are going down a hill is sometimes a must. Better a tree than the other ATV.....
-Using trees to keep a brake-less ATV from rolling down a hill has been dubbed "the Chignik Bay parking brake"
-When trying to kick start an ATV, it works better when the kill switch is not engaged and the key is on. (hey, I ride two wheeled toys.... not 4)
-The semi-automatic shifting on an ATV is almost as dumb as the "optional" manual shifter on cars these days.... Just be automatic or manual. please
-The semi auto shifting does almost compensate for the ATV having no brakes. I can almost stop when I want to.
-When the sun comes out, I can almost pretend I am in Hawaii... with a really loud drill rig.
-I am scared of bears. And am really happy I have a .44
-I feel super badass when riding down a dirt, potholed road, with no rain gear on, in the pouring rain, on an ATV with no brakes.
-This place is gorgeous. Too bad it rains a lot too
-When you talk to airport ops and close a runway, that does not mean that planes will not land on it. Some piolets don't bother to check in with the tower before just landing whereever the hell they want. You would think that the giant orange drill rig in the middle of it would say "maybe you should check and see if this runway is open" before just landing on it.
-Just because airport ops says no flights are scheduled for the rest of the day does not mean there are in fact no more flights. I runied some guy's day because he didn't get to leave because the runway was closed when his plane was unofficially scheduled to come in....
I will probably post a few more of these as the project goes on :) Oh, and there will be a post of only pictures... to make up for all the posts of only words.
-Penair is easily confused. When I check in for the 3:30 flight, I do not want all my stuff to be on the 11:00 flight.
-The afore mentioned point caused me to be unable to locate my checked bag. It turned up later (before I ahd left the airport) in the baggage claim area. Good thing I was worried about it and checked.
-Shipping complicates things even more. When I say I want my stuff shipped on the 3:30 flight with me, it does not mean to ship it on the 10:30 flight. Also, when shipping sends me back to the terminal and tells me to "just let them know over there you have some stuff going cargo", when I go talk to the people in the terminal, it is not comforting that everyone seems to have no idea what I am talking about. They suggested I go talk to cargo....
-Luckily, someone in Chignik Bay got all my stuff and the drillers kindly put it in my room for me. Sometimes people are awesome
-Anchorage is small. Alaska is even smaller. I ran into a guy I went to school with and some guy that works in the building across from me who recognized me because of my truck whome I did not know in the King Salmon Airport
-Energy drinks cost about the same as the do in Anchorage. Cheese is $10. A pound of hamburger is $3.
-Just because the sun is shining when you leave in the morning does not mean it still will be a few hours later.
-It takes approximately 10 minutes to become miserably soaked when it starts raining and you are not properly equipped with rain gear
-Everyone's mood gets worse when they are not properly equipped in rain gear and are soaked.
-Pants weigh about 10 pounds more when they are completely saturated
-When renting an ATV, it is good to specify you not only want it to run, but you want it to have brakes
-Using small trees to stop a brake-less ATV when you are going down a hill is sometimes a must. Better a tree than the other ATV.....
-Using trees to keep a brake-less ATV from rolling down a hill has been dubbed "the Chignik Bay parking brake"
-When trying to kick start an ATV, it works better when the kill switch is not engaged and the key is on. (hey, I ride two wheeled toys.... not 4)
-The semi-automatic shifting on an ATV is almost as dumb as the "optional" manual shifter on cars these days.... Just be automatic or manual. please
-The semi auto shifting does almost compensate for the ATV having no brakes. I can almost stop when I want to.
-When the sun comes out, I can almost pretend I am in Hawaii... with a really loud drill rig.
-I am scared of bears. And am really happy I have a .44
-I feel super badass when riding down a dirt, potholed road, with no rain gear on, in the pouring rain, on an ATV with no brakes.
-This place is gorgeous. Too bad it rains a lot too
-When you talk to airport ops and close a runway, that does not mean that planes will not land on it. Some piolets don't bother to check in with the tower before just landing whereever the hell they want. You would think that the giant orange drill rig in the middle of it would say "maybe you should check and see if this runway is open" before just landing on it.
-Just because airport ops says no flights are scheduled for the rest of the day does not mean there are in fact no more flights. I runied some guy's day because he didn't get to leave because the runway was closed when his plane was unofficially scheduled to come in....
I will probably post a few more of these as the project goes on :) Oh, and there will be a post of only pictures... to make up for all the posts of only words.
Alaskan Adventures: Chignik Bay Part 1
First off I would like to make a disclaimer. Well, before that I would like to start with a quote I heard recently. "Approach life like a dog; if you cant eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away." My general approach to life involves the first two options, quite often. To get to the disclaimer: my coping mechanism for doing what I do is to downplay the potential severity of the situation; ie, "play with it". To someone who does not know me, it quite possibly makes me sound kinda like an idiot who has no business doing whatever I am doing. When I am rock climbing, I will casually ask my belayer if they are ready to save my life. Or when I going hiking I will make a smart ass comment about a bear encounter. You get the idea? That said, when I make a comment like that on here, it is how I deal with the fact that if I, or someone I am trusting, screws up, someone could die. I completely understand the severity of the situation. it's just how I deal with it so I can keep doing what I do. I am not an idiot, or insensitive, or an asshole or whatever, it's just how I deal and try to make everyone around me feel more at ease.
Anyway, with that nugget of knowledge about me, on to the story.
My first out of town job that is officially mine to handle is in Chignik Bay. I am finding there are quite a few logistical hurdles involved in working remotely. I always tend to feel overwhelmed with thinking about logistics. Because I like to over think and over analyze everything. My unease has not been helped with the minor detail that the trip plan has changed probably thirty times in the month leading up to the project. Unfortunately, this seems to be common when trying to coordinate multiple people with tight and variable schedules.
By the time I actually left for my first trip to Chignik Bay, I was just happy that I was actually on the airplane. One less thing to change. I mean I was still concerned about actually getting on a flight home but ya know, minor details.
Anyway, the final plan that we went with was my boss, Craig, and I would go out to the site to recon the area and collect rock samples from potential material sites. I was not sent alone for several reasons. The first being that I am new. I like rocks quite a bit but I am still learning (and will always be) the art of identifying rocks. I am also learning how to pick out drill sites. For the most part it is pretty logical, but everyone has their own opinion on how to pick them and mine is currently a little more errrr, random, than most. The second being that this is a remote area. 50ish people live there. The wild animals in the area are not used to people and don't know to be scared of us. There are bears all over from what I hear. Luckily, my boss and co workers like me enough that they do not want me to get mauled by a ferocious beast. Collecting rock samples and looking at drill sites involves hacking through high brush with in areas the locals have informed us a sow and three cubs have been seen fairly regularly. Perfect.
With all this background, this leads me to the airport at 6 am on monday. I park and unload my two bags. Luckily, my boss is bringing most of the gear so I can travel light. I wander into the terminal. Ugh, Penair is as far away from where I parked as possible. I finally get to the ticket counter. I go to check in. Hi lady, ummm I want to check a gun what do I do with it? She gives me a piece of paper to sign and fill out. I read it. Awww shitttt. I have to have it in a hard, locked case. Totally forgot. It is currently in a soft, not locked case. I figure that I am not going to be able to talk my way out of it so I tell her to forget it and I will take it back to my truck. My boss is bringing his gun anyway. I hope.
I get checked in and throw my gun in my backpack and go find coffee and my boss. I let him know I am actually here since I left my regular cell phone in my truck and I am not sure if he has my work cell or not. I explain my gun situation him. He has his, excellent. I wander back to my truck and put it under my seat. I get back to the gate just before it is time to board. As I get on the plane, they hand out earplugs. Well, that is considerate. It is a decent sized plane, like regional jet sized, except it has propellers. We have an uneventful ride to King Salmon. I read my book.
We land and the weather is nice, minus the swarms of bugs. It is about 9:00 at this point. Our flight to the Bay is not until 3. We collect all of our baggage and Craig goes to ask if we can get on an earlier flight. We manage to get onto the 10:30 flight. We wait in the terminal for a while. At 11:30 we are starting to wonder what is going on. I mean, planes running late is normal. Finally, at noon, the plane shows up and we are ready to board. It is s very full flight so I get to sit in the co-captain seat. This is really cool for all of 20 minutes..... until I fall asleep. I guess the sound of the propeller and having slept for about 3 hours the night before does that. I wake up when we make a stop at some unknown location before continuing to Chignik Bay. The piolet calls for the weather.... It is getting stormy toward the Bay. We fly low... at about 4 to 600 feet. The plane lurches around a fair bit. Mind you, this is a Cessna Caravan, an old small plane. My boss says that while it isn't a great ride, it certainly isn't the worst.
After lurching through a fair bit of rain, we finally land in Chignik Bay. It looks just like all the pictures I have been staring at for the last few weeks! We get out and get drenched as we wait for all of our baggage to get unloaded. We get a ride to our housing and get all of our stuff put away. We talk to the people in the city office about the project and the arera. They are confused because they thought we were coming later in the week. I know I sent several e mails that got responses saying we would be there monday and the drillers were coming friday... Oh well, they still have somewhere for us to stay. They are curious as to what we are doing with the runway and warn us that there are a number of bears in the area. Sweet. We rent a truck, which turns out to be a dodge, probably from the 70s with brakes that barely work.
Now that we have a vehicle, it is time to work! We put on rain gear and head out into the storm. In no time at all, I am soaked though my rain jacket. It is really more of a wind jacket that is somewhat waterproof. Luckily, my rain pants, which I borrowed from my roommate, are more waterproof. This is the last time I am too lazy to unpack and repack my rain gear for a trip... my real gear is siting back at the office waiting to be shipped.
We walk over sand dunes and try to find good locations to drill for a few hours. Craig flags some spots before we call it a day. I spend the rest of the evening reading and watching TV before passing out at 8.
During the night, I hear the wind and rain outside. The next morning, the weather is significantly worse than the day before. It is raining sideways. I get the feeling that this place is really pretty.... if I could see the scenery through the rain.
We spend the day in the bear infested overgrown brush with machetes and one gun since I had to leave mine :( I really have a lovely time seeing how big of a (small) tree I can hack down with mine. We mark some more test holes and collect some rocks to take back to test. We also come to the conclusion that there is no way we are getting a drill rig onto the hill behind the airport. Well, there goes a quarter of the test holes on this project. It is becoming apparent that things are not done changing on this project yet. Actually, I am guessing things will be changing until it is completely done.
Anyway, I am getting tired of writing this and you are probably getting tired of reading it :) So long story short, We get up the next day and make it out on the first plane. It is actually the first plane that has come by since we got in due to weather. We stop at Chignik Lake (another village about 10 miles away) to look at a material site. We collect some rock samples and I find some fossilized shells in one of the rocks. Sweet! I take a few fossils for my (super small) collection.
We make it on the plane out and get back to anchorage at 8. I unpack all my stuff, clean what I need, and pack it all up to ship the next day. I'll post up some pictures eventually :) they will probably get their own post.
Anyway, with that nugget of knowledge about me, on to the story.
My first out of town job that is officially mine to handle is in Chignik Bay. I am finding there are quite a few logistical hurdles involved in working remotely. I always tend to feel overwhelmed with thinking about logistics. Because I like to over think and over analyze everything. My unease has not been helped with the minor detail that the trip plan has changed probably thirty times in the month leading up to the project. Unfortunately, this seems to be common when trying to coordinate multiple people with tight and variable schedules.
By the time I actually left for my first trip to Chignik Bay, I was just happy that I was actually on the airplane. One less thing to change. I mean I was still concerned about actually getting on a flight home but ya know, minor details.
Anyway, the final plan that we went with was my boss, Craig, and I would go out to the site to recon the area and collect rock samples from potential material sites. I was not sent alone for several reasons. The first being that I am new. I like rocks quite a bit but I am still learning (and will always be) the art of identifying rocks. I am also learning how to pick out drill sites. For the most part it is pretty logical, but everyone has their own opinion on how to pick them and mine is currently a little more errrr, random, than most. The second being that this is a remote area. 50ish people live there. The wild animals in the area are not used to people and don't know to be scared of us. There are bears all over from what I hear. Luckily, my boss and co workers like me enough that they do not want me to get mauled by a ferocious beast. Collecting rock samples and looking at drill sites involves hacking through high brush with in areas the locals have informed us a sow and three cubs have been seen fairly regularly. Perfect.
With all this background, this leads me to the airport at 6 am on monday. I park and unload my two bags. Luckily, my boss is bringing most of the gear so I can travel light. I wander into the terminal. Ugh, Penair is as far away from where I parked as possible. I finally get to the ticket counter. I go to check in. Hi lady, ummm I want to check a gun what do I do with it? She gives me a piece of paper to sign and fill out. I read it. Awww shitttt. I have to have it in a hard, locked case. Totally forgot. It is currently in a soft, not locked case. I figure that I am not going to be able to talk my way out of it so I tell her to forget it and I will take it back to my truck. My boss is bringing his gun anyway. I hope.
I get checked in and throw my gun in my backpack and go find coffee and my boss. I let him know I am actually here since I left my regular cell phone in my truck and I am not sure if he has my work cell or not. I explain my gun situation him. He has his, excellent. I wander back to my truck and put it under my seat. I get back to the gate just before it is time to board. As I get on the plane, they hand out earplugs. Well, that is considerate. It is a decent sized plane, like regional jet sized, except it has propellers. We have an uneventful ride to King Salmon. I read my book.
We land and the weather is nice, minus the swarms of bugs. It is about 9:00 at this point. Our flight to the Bay is not until 3. We collect all of our baggage and Craig goes to ask if we can get on an earlier flight. We manage to get onto the 10:30 flight. We wait in the terminal for a while. At 11:30 we are starting to wonder what is going on. I mean, planes running late is normal. Finally, at noon, the plane shows up and we are ready to board. It is s very full flight so I get to sit in the co-captain seat. This is really cool for all of 20 minutes..... until I fall asleep. I guess the sound of the propeller and having slept for about 3 hours the night before does that. I wake up when we make a stop at some unknown location before continuing to Chignik Bay. The piolet calls for the weather.... It is getting stormy toward the Bay. We fly low... at about 4 to 600 feet. The plane lurches around a fair bit. Mind you, this is a Cessna Caravan, an old small plane. My boss says that while it isn't a great ride, it certainly isn't the worst.
After lurching through a fair bit of rain, we finally land in Chignik Bay. It looks just like all the pictures I have been staring at for the last few weeks! We get out and get drenched as we wait for all of our baggage to get unloaded. We get a ride to our housing and get all of our stuff put away. We talk to the people in the city office about the project and the arera. They are confused because they thought we were coming later in the week. I know I sent several e mails that got responses saying we would be there monday and the drillers were coming friday... Oh well, they still have somewhere for us to stay. They are curious as to what we are doing with the runway and warn us that there are a number of bears in the area. Sweet. We rent a truck, which turns out to be a dodge, probably from the 70s with brakes that barely work.
Now that we have a vehicle, it is time to work! We put on rain gear and head out into the storm. In no time at all, I am soaked though my rain jacket. It is really more of a wind jacket that is somewhat waterproof. Luckily, my rain pants, which I borrowed from my roommate, are more waterproof. This is the last time I am too lazy to unpack and repack my rain gear for a trip... my real gear is siting back at the office waiting to be shipped.
We walk over sand dunes and try to find good locations to drill for a few hours. Craig flags some spots before we call it a day. I spend the rest of the evening reading and watching TV before passing out at 8.
During the night, I hear the wind and rain outside. The next morning, the weather is significantly worse than the day before. It is raining sideways. I get the feeling that this place is really pretty.... if I could see the scenery through the rain.
We spend the day in the bear infested overgrown brush with machetes and one gun since I had to leave mine :( I really have a lovely time seeing how big of a (small) tree I can hack down with mine. We mark some more test holes and collect some rocks to take back to test. We also come to the conclusion that there is no way we are getting a drill rig onto the hill behind the airport. Well, there goes a quarter of the test holes on this project. It is becoming apparent that things are not done changing on this project yet. Actually, I am guessing things will be changing until it is completely done.
Anyway, I am getting tired of writing this and you are probably getting tired of reading it :) So long story short, We get up the next day and make it out on the first plane. It is actually the first plane that has come by since we got in due to weather. We stop at Chignik Lake (another village about 10 miles away) to look at a material site. We collect some rock samples and I find some fossilized shells in one of the rocks. Sweet! I take a few fossils for my (super small) collection.
We make it on the plane out and get back to anchorage at 8. I unpack all my stuff, clean what I need, and pack it all up to ship the next day. I'll post up some pictures eventually :) they will probably get their own post.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Ruger 44 Super Redhawk Alaskan Review
This isn't really a story of my normal blogging style. This is a review... that will hopefully help someone like me make a decision....
I am writing this in an attempt to help other people who are looking for a bear gun and are looking for reviews of 44s and somehow stumble across this site. Some background on my shooting experience: I started shooting a few years ago. 90% of my shooting has been with my 10/22. I have shot a few of my friends' handguns of varying calibers, a few larger rifles, and a shotgun once or twice. I was certainly apprehensive about being able to comfortably shoot a 44. I was mildly concerned that my gun was going to go flying and hit me in the face or something... I am an average size female, generally considered to be pretty bad-ass and tough in attitude.
Anyway, as I am going to a bear infested area to work the next few weeks, and bearspray is a pain to ship and completely illegal to fly with at all, I ended up buying my first handgun. After a few weeks of asking everyone I could what their preference was for bear protection, I finally came upon the Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan. (specs here) I was highly concerned that the ultra-compact size was going to make it completely unmanageable to shoot. I figured it would be a "shoot once a year just so I don't forget what to expect if I do actually have to use it" gun. I read a ton of reviews about it. Most of them said it was a manageable gun.I was skeptical since all of the reviews seemed to be from guys who shoot a lot of guns.
Anyway, so I take my new gun to the range to shoot. My mom also comes with a 357. I shoot the 357 a few times and remember that it is not the most pleasant gun ever to shoot. I apprehensively eye my 44 laying on the bench while feeling my wrist stinging a little from the few shots I just took with the 357. I guess I ought to shoot it; that is what I came for afterall.
I load up the gun with some 240 grain bullets. I cock the hammer, take a breath, and squeeze the trigger. The gun goes off and I hit the target. Not only do I hang on to the gun with ease, I am convinced that it feels better than the 357 I just shot. I shoot the next 5 rounds happily. I hit the target every time, 15 yards away. I take a short break and watch my mom shoot. I load up again and shoot 6 rapid shots. I only hit the target with one, but it doesn't feel bad at all. I put a total of 20 rounds through the gun. My wrist and arm are still feeling great by the time I am done. With the exception of the rapidly fired shots, all of my shots land on the target. I am not a bad shot, but I am by no means ready to go shoot in a competition or somthing. I can usually hit a shot gun shell with my .22 at 20 yards or so. (no scope)
Overall, I highly recommend this gun. I am by no means an expert on guns, or all that experienced with guns at all. However, shooting this gun was fun. I didn't want to stop. The recoil was not bad at all. I will have to try it again with higher grain bullets and see how that affects it. The accuracy was good as well. From what I have heard and read, I was concerned the shorter barrel was going to make it difficult to aim. This was not so at all. The grip felt good in my hand and the weight of the gun makes it feel incredibly solid. The trigger pull is smooth and I feel like this is a gun I will be using for the rest of my life. I would recommend this gun to anyone looking for a bear-defense gun. As a disclaimer, I can't compare it to other 44s as it is the only one I have shot.
EDIT: since the original post, I have shot the gun a bit and am still pleased with my purchase. I got some 340 grain bullets for it and those make a huge difference. It is still manageable but just barely. My buddy that was with the range with me said it looked like it almost came out of my hand. (I had a pretty firm grip on it so that wouldn't happen) Definitely packs more of a punch. Also, I have taken this gun with me all over Alaska. (Chignik, Kodiak, Cooper Landing...) Have not had to use it luckily. We were working on a beach near a salmon stream in Kodiak at dark so I brought the gun. I (stupidly) left it in its holster after these outings and when I got home, it had a few surface rust spots on it from the saltwater. I cleaned it up and oiled it really well and it's good as new now.
Also, when I carry this gun, I usually keep it in a galco holster and put it in the side pouch on my work backpack. The backpack tends to get thrown around and somewhat abused. Probably not great for my gun and should come up with a better way to keep it. I am saying this because I broke the rear sight on the gun. Funny thing is I was looking at the sight the day before I did that and thinking about how fragile it looks. Anyway, I am going to replace it with a williams firesight. It looks a little more sturdy than the original equipment. Will update with results when I get it and use it some.
I hope that someone finds this review helpful in making a decision on a 44 :)
I am writing this in an attempt to help other people who are looking for a bear gun and are looking for reviews of 44s and somehow stumble across this site. Some background on my shooting experience: I started shooting a few years ago. 90% of my shooting has been with my 10/22. I have shot a few of my friends' handguns of varying calibers, a few larger rifles, and a shotgun once or twice. I was certainly apprehensive about being able to comfortably shoot a 44. I was mildly concerned that my gun was going to go flying and hit me in the face or something... I am an average size female, generally considered to be pretty bad-ass and tough in attitude.
Anyway, as I am going to a bear infested area to work the next few weeks, and bearspray is a pain to ship and completely illegal to fly with at all, I ended up buying my first handgun. After a few weeks of asking everyone I could what their preference was for bear protection, I finally came upon the Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan. (specs here) I was highly concerned that the ultra-compact size was going to make it completely unmanageable to shoot. I figured it would be a "shoot once a year just so I don't forget what to expect if I do actually have to use it" gun. I read a ton of reviews about it. Most of them said it was a manageable gun.I was skeptical since all of the reviews seemed to be from guys who shoot a lot of guns.
Anyway, so I take my new gun to the range to shoot. My mom also comes with a 357. I shoot the 357 a few times and remember that it is not the most pleasant gun ever to shoot. I apprehensively eye my 44 laying on the bench while feeling my wrist stinging a little from the few shots I just took with the 357. I guess I ought to shoot it; that is what I came for afterall.
I load up the gun with some 240 grain bullets. I cock the hammer, take a breath, and squeeze the trigger. The gun goes off and I hit the target. Not only do I hang on to the gun with ease, I am convinced that it feels better than the 357 I just shot. I shoot the next 5 rounds happily. I hit the target every time, 15 yards away. I take a short break and watch my mom shoot. I load up again and shoot 6 rapid shots. I only hit the target with one, but it doesn't feel bad at all. I put a total of 20 rounds through the gun. My wrist and arm are still feeling great by the time I am done. With the exception of the rapidly fired shots, all of my shots land on the target. I am not a bad shot, but I am by no means ready to go shoot in a competition or somthing. I can usually hit a shot gun shell with my .22 at 20 yards or so. (no scope)
Overall, I highly recommend this gun. I am by no means an expert on guns, or all that experienced with guns at all. However, shooting this gun was fun. I didn't want to stop. The recoil was not bad at all. I will have to try it again with higher grain bullets and see how that affects it. The accuracy was good as well. From what I have heard and read, I was concerned the shorter barrel was going to make it difficult to aim. This was not so at all. The grip felt good in my hand and the weight of the gun makes it feel incredibly solid. The trigger pull is smooth and I feel like this is a gun I will be using for the rest of my life. I would recommend this gun to anyone looking for a bear-defense gun. As a disclaimer, I can't compare it to other 44s as it is the only one I have shot.
EDIT: since the original post, I have shot the gun a bit and am still pleased with my purchase. I got some 340 grain bullets for it and those make a huge difference. It is still manageable but just barely. My buddy that was with the range with me said it looked like it almost came out of my hand. (I had a pretty firm grip on it so that wouldn't happen) Definitely packs more of a punch. Also, I have taken this gun with me all over Alaska. (Chignik, Kodiak, Cooper Landing...) Have not had to use it luckily. We were working on a beach near a salmon stream in Kodiak at dark so I brought the gun. I (stupidly) left it in its holster after these outings and when I got home, it had a few surface rust spots on it from the saltwater. I cleaned it up and oiled it really well and it's good as new now.
Also, when I carry this gun, I usually keep it in a galco holster and put it in the side pouch on my work backpack. The backpack tends to get thrown around and somewhat abused. Probably not great for my gun and should come up with a better way to keep it. I am saying this because I broke the rear sight on the gun. Funny thing is I was looking at the sight the day before I did that and thinking about how fragile it looks. Anyway, I am going to replace it with a williams firesight. It looks a little more sturdy than the original equipment. Will update with results when I get it and use it some.
I hope that someone finds this review helpful in making a decision on a 44 :)
 |
| target from my first outing. all 15 of my aimed shots hit :) |
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Climbing Mountains: O'Malley via False Peak
So I got it in my head that I should climb another mountain before heading off to Chignik Bay for work. I ran into a friend on Friday night and we ended up talking about how she has not been rock climbing in a while... which lead to my talking about mountain climbing... and her agreeing to go on a hike with me on Sunday before I head out on Monday. I told her I wanted to climb O'Malley and that it should be about 3 hours to the top. Meet me at my place at noon on Sunday and off we will go....
So at noon on Sunday she shows up at my house. I show her the map of the 5 routes that I have found that people usually take up the mountain. Of course, I have no desire to take the "easy" route that most people take. We end up choosing to take the "Northwest" ridge route. Supposudly it is not the easiest way up, but it is not the hardest either.
We drive up to the Glennalps trailhead. It is a beautiful day so parking is horrible. After driving around the parking lot for a while and watching people who got there after me slip into spots, I get impaitent and make my own place at the end of one of the rows. We get out of the truck and start toward powerline pass. We have a nice downhill walk for a bit before we have our first turn to make. I follow the signs to Williwa Lake trail. We cross a bridge and continue on a boardwalk before we start to go up.
I spot the obvious trail on the saddle between Little O Malley and False Peak and head toward it. Some guy warns us that there is a moose up around the corner. I pick a little side trail to try to avoid it. 50 feet later, we run into the moose having a snack. I pull out my bear spray, hey it will work on moose too, right? Luckily, he moves along pretty fast and we skirt around him with no msihaphs. We scramble up the trail and in 45 minutes, we have reached the turnoff to the ridgeline.
The ridgeline starts off decievingly easy. There are a few little rocks and a nice trail to follow. However, we reach the first peak and are faced with craggy rocks all over and no obvious trail. My approach to the situation is up and over the rocks. Chealsea is not so excited about this idea so I let her lead, assuming (correctly) that she will probably pick a safer route. We slowly make our way to the left of the rocks down and around the false peak. On the other side, we pick up the trail. In hindsight, we can see that it went around the other side of the peak.
After many cycles of losing the trail, carefully treading over the rocks to get around the false peak, finding the trail again on the other side of the peak, and then seeing yet another peak in front of us, more ominous looking than the last, we lose the trail for good. (One of these peaks is a peak that is actually called "False Peak" FYI...) Being the adventurers that we are, we keep pushing forward, assuming the trail will manifest itself in front of us like it has before. No luck. I decide to may a carron in case other people have the same experience and are not so tenacious. I wonder if anyone has been this way in a long time. Or ever. Chealsea concludes that whomever was making the trail must have been teleporting. There has only been an actual thing resembeling a trail about a third of the way. I mean this is fine with me, I know the direction we are going and can see Flattop and the way back to my truck so I am not too concerned.
It might have been a little easier if there were no clouds up where we were. It is a beautiful day, but the mountain tops have some clouds on them. (I actually end up a little sun burned) We can see the main trail below us. When there are no clouds. Unfortunately, at the time we lost the trail, there were a lot of clouds. Just when we were starting to get concerned that we had missed something, we see a saddle in front of us. And it looks like another trail joins the ridge we are on! I look at the map. Yes! That appears to be the main route. Or the Northeast Ridge route. Or some route on the map... It is a little hard to tell which is which with the lowered visibility.
We even see other people walking along the trail! Awesome!! 3 hours into the hike, we head down to the saddle and merge back on to the main trail. We see a guy hiking a little ways in front of us and follow him. The trail is about as fragmented as the one we were on before. We would pick it up for a hundred feet or so before losing it again. At this point, I am leading and pick a new approach: head up. I lose the guy in front of us behind some rocks, never to find him again. Weird, I wonder where he went....
After some trail making and a few more false peaks, we finally come to a rock that is taller than all the rest. I scramble over to the surrounding rocks to make sure they really are lower and it is not just my perspective. Well, it is unmarked but it is definately the highest rock for miles and it shows signs of wear... this must be it! Finally, exactly 4 hours into the hike, we make it!
We have a snack and talk about how badass we are for taking the sweet ridge route before heading back. We decide to take the main trail through "The Ballfield" We have had enough rock scrambling for one day. We make it back to the saddle with no major problems. Descending from the saddle is fun though. A few hundred feet of loose scree. We both fall a few times trying to get down. Why would anyone want to go up this?!?! Our route was SO MUCH better. And more fun.
We make it to the bottom of the saddle, only a little more dirty than before. There is no obvious trail. Awesome. We pick a path that seems to be the right direction. The rocks here look like people have walked on them, right?? I am starting to see a pattern in my mountain experiences... (read about east twin peak :) ) We do eventually find a nice path to follow which leads us back to the turnoff we took to get on the ridge.
The whole valley that this alternate path was in is really cool. It is called the ballfield and is just covered in rocks. Some of them fell from the mountains, but it looks like a lot were deposited by glaicers. The sides of the mountains are almost perfectly smooth until about a thousand feet up, where they become all jagged. It looks like a glaicer just came through, scraped off the sides of the mountains, and deposited a bunch of rocks and silt in weird mounds. Accodding to Chealsea, it kind of looks like Mars, but greener. Also, there are a few large boulders in the area, which look like they might be good for bouldering. If anyone more interested in bouldering than sport climbing actually reads this and is interested...... Walking along it, we could see just how long and awesome looking the ridge we took is. From below, we could see two people start down the ridge path before turning around.
Continuing on, we slide carefuly down the slope toward powerline pass, seeing more and more people as we go. We cross over the bridge and are on the final streach home! Some random guys decide to ask about our hike. "So like, where did you go?" "O'Malley" "Is that like, that peak over there?" They point in the right direction. All you can see from this angle is False Peak. "Kinda, we went like 4 peaks past that one" They are properly impressed. We wish each other a good day and continue on.
10 minutes later, we are back at my truck, which is looking rather lonely in the emptying parking lot. Luckily, I have not been towed or ticketed! Overall, an excellent hike. about 7 hours total. The rock scrambling was fun but less terrifying than that of East Twin Peak. I will post up some pictures when I get back from Chignik Bay and have my phone again.... :D And then I will blog about Chignik Bay (part 1)!!! Be excited?!?!
For the webpage where I got most of my info for the hike.... click here! Really, it's good info!
Edit: Pictures! In no particular order... views of the foggy ridge and from the top and such :)
So at noon on Sunday she shows up at my house. I show her the map of the 5 routes that I have found that people usually take up the mountain. Of course, I have no desire to take the "easy" route that most people take. We end up choosing to take the "Northwest" ridge route. Supposudly it is not the easiest way up, but it is not the hardest either.
We drive up to the Glennalps trailhead. It is a beautiful day so parking is horrible. After driving around the parking lot for a while and watching people who got there after me slip into spots, I get impaitent and make my own place at the end of one of the rows. We get out of the truck and start toward powerline pass. We have a nice downhill walk for a bit before we have our first turn to make. I follow the signs to Williwa Lake trail. We cross a bridge and continue on a boardwalk before we start to go up.
I spot the obvious trail on the saddle between Little O Malley and False Peak and head toward it. Some guy warns us that there is a moose up around the corner. I pick a little side trail to try to avoid it. 50 feet later, we run into the moose having a snack. I pull out my bear spray, hey it will work on moose too, right? Luckily, he moves along pretty fast and we skirt around him with no msihaphs. We scramble up the trail and in 45 minutes, we have reached the turnoff to the ridgeline.
The ridgeline starts off decievingly easy. There are a few little rocks and a nice trail to follow. However, we reach the first peak and are faced with craggy rocks all over and no obvious trail. My approach to the situation is up and over the rocks. Chealsea is not so excited about this idea so I let her lead, assuming (correctly) that she will probably pick a safer route. We slowly make our way to the left of the rocks down and around the false peak. On the other side, we pick up the trail. In hindsight, we can see that it went around the other side of the peak.
After many cycles of losing the trail, carefully treading over the rocks to get around the false peak, finding the trail again on the other side of the peak, and then seeing yet another peak in front of us, more ominous looking than the last, we lose the trail for good. (One of these peaks is a peak that is actually called "False Peak" FYI...) Being the adventurers that we are, we keep pushing forward, assuming the trail will manifest itself in front of us like it has before. No luck. I decide to may a carron in case other people have the same experience and are not so tenacious. I wonder if anyone has been this way in a long time. Or ever. Chealsea concludes that whomever was making the trail must have been teleporting. There has only been an actual thing resembeling a trail about a third of the way. I mean this is fine with me, I know the direction we are going and can see Flattop and the way back to my truck so I am not too concerned.
It might have been a little easier if there were no clouds up where we were. It is a beautiful day, but the mountain tops have some clouds on them. (I actually end up a little sun burned) We can see the main trail below us. When there are no clouds. Unfortunately, at the time we lost the trail, there were a lot of clouds. Just when we were starting to get concerned that we had missed something, we see a saddle in front of us. And it looks like another trail joins the ridge we are on! I look at the map. Yes! That appears to be the main route. Or the Northeast Ridge route. Or some route on the map... It is a little hard to tell which is which with the lowered visibility.
We even see other people walking along the trail! Awesome!! 3 hours into the hike, we head down to the saddle and merge back on to the main trail. We see a guy hiking a little ways in front of us and follow him. The trail is about as fragmented as the one we were on before. We would pick it up for a hundred feet or so before losing it again. At this point, I am leading and pick a new approach: head up. I lose the guy in front of us behind some rocks, never to find him again. Weird, I wonder where he went....
After some trail making and a few more false peaks, we finally come to a rock that is taller than all the rest. I scramble over to the surrounding rocks to make sure they really are lower and it is not just my perspective. Well, it is unmarked but it is definately the highest rock for miles and it shows signs of wear... this must be it! Finally, exactly 4 hours into the hike, we make it!
We have a snack and talk about how badass we are for taking the sweet ridge route before heading back. We decide to take the main trail through "The Ballfield" We have had enough rock scrambling for one day. We make it back to the saddle with no major problems. Descending from the saddle is fun though. A few hundred feet of loose scree. We both fall a few times trying to get down. Why would anyone want to go up this?!?! Our route was SO MUCH better. And more fun.
We make it to the bottom of the saddle, only a little more dirty than before. There is no obvious trail. Awesome. We pick a path that seems to be the right direction. The rocks here look like people have walked on them, right?? I am starting to see a pattern in my mountain experiences... (read about east twin peak :) ) We do eventually find a nice path to follow which leads us back to the turnoff we took to get on the ridge.
The whole valley that this alternate path was in is really cool. It is called the ballfield and is just covered in rocks. Some of them fell from the mountains, but it looks like a lot were deposited by glaicers. The sides of the mountains are almost perfectly smooth until about a thousand feet up, where they become all jagged. It looks like a glaicer just came through, scraped off the sides of the mountains, and deposited a bunch of rocks and silt in weird mounds. Accodding to Chealsea, it kind of looks like Mars, but greener. Also, there are a few large boulders in the area, which look like they might be good for bouldering. If anyone more interested in bouldering than sport climbing actually reads this and is interested...... Walking along it, we could see just how long and awesome looking the ridge we took is. From below, we could see two people start down the ridge path before turning around.
Continuing on, we slide carefuly down the slope toward powerline pass, seeing more and more people as we go. We cross over the bridge and are on the final streach home! Some random guys decide to ask about our hike. "So like, where did you go?" "O'Malley" "Is that like, that peak over there?" They point in the right direction. All you can see from this angle is False Peak. "Kinda, we went like 4 peaks past that one" They are properly impressed. We wish each other a good day and continue on.
10 minutes later, we are back at my truck, which is looking rather lonely in the emptying parking lot. Luckily, I have not been towed or ticketed! Overall, an excellent hike. about 7 hours total. The rock scrambling was fun but less terrifying than that of East Twin Peak. I will post up some pictures when I get back from Chignik Bay and have my phone again.... :D And then I will blog about Chignik Bay (part 1)!!! Be excited?!?!
For the webpage where I got most of my info for the hike.... click here! Really, it's good info!
Edit: Pictures! In no particular order... views of the foggy ridge and from the top and such :)
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| Normal route up that doesnt look so fun... |
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| Anchorage from the ridge |
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| from the top |
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| from the top |
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| Carron |
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| Ptarmigan! |
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Climbing Mountains: East Twin Peak
So this weekend I climbed a mountain and ate lunch in the clouds as I like to describe it. BTW I added a new map to the right hand side... of mountains I have climbed in Alaska :)
After my epic trip across the western part of America, I returned home and realized how little I know about my own state. I mean, I think I hiked more on my trip than I have the whole time I have lived in Alaska. I realized that was a problem as far as I am concerned and have set about fixing that. At this point in the summer, I am proud to say this has been remedied. :) However, for some reason, while I didn't mind hiking all over in the lower 48 by myself, I feel that most of the hiking I do in Alaska is best done with someone else. (with the exception of Flattop.... It is close enough to town, popular enough in general, and I am familiar enough with it that I will do that one by myself...) I guess I just feel like Alaska is so big, isolated, and wild that I really want someone with me should shit go down in a bad way.
So I have been searching (aka moreso being in the right places at the right times to meet people of similar interests) for people who want to explore Alaska with me.... and ideally know something about mountain safety so I can learn new skills and techniques to be safe. Unfortunately, I find that these sorts of people tend to be rather busy sorts of people so scheduling time to climb mountains can be difficult... But it is going well.. anyway... to the story of the weekend!
I took a 12 hour day hike with my co worker near Ekluta lake. He is really into ice climbing (which I am hoping to try some day) but has injured his shoulder and has thus had to content himself with hiking until it heals. We decide to do a day hike and come up with a few mountains and trails that sound interesting. We independently come up with the same 3 peaks and finally decide to go to Eklutna and hike the Twin Peaks. If you are familiar with the trail (which we were not) you know that the Twin Peaks trail does not actually go to a peak. Instead, it goes to a ridge where the trail kind of ends. You can then ascend 1000+ feet up shitty rock and all sorts of sketchiness to the actual peak if you really want to. Apparently, this is not recommended, though people do it, we found proof of this at the top.
Long story short: There are about 3 miles of well defined trail. Then there is about 2 of back country trails to the ridge line. Then it is anyone's game as to how to get to the top, which is another few miles.
After missing the turn off to Eklutna and ending up in Palmer, we finally arrive at the trail head. We have all sorts of food and tons of water with us. My stupid back pack weighs a ton. We head off on the first part of the trail. I have been on it again and am somewhat prepared for it. It is a lonnggg uphill. We stop a few times along the way and check out the view and rest. Before I know it, we are at the start of the primitive trail.
We rest at the bench and then head off. We go steeply downhill for a while... well, this seems counter productive. This is pretty obviously the trail though..... We finally get to the bottom... and a creek crossing. Mark gets half way across and then jumps for it, barely making it. I then follow. I get half way across and then jump for it... and land in the water. Ugh. Great. I don't have extra socks. We stop so I can squeeze out my socks before continuing on.
The trail starts heading uphill. This is a good sign. The bad news is that we are not heading toward the peak like we thought the trail would. We are headed north with the peak to the east. We stop and check the map. Well, there is a trail that kind of loops around.... We keep following the trail. The plants along the way are pretty but are scratching my legs. Good plan Anna, wear shorts. I hate being too hot so I usually wear shorts. Unfortunately, this results in some minor bleeding along the way. Oh well, I am nice and cool at least. A little later, we are up on the ridge looking at the peak, maybe a half mile away.
We spend some time on the ridge. There is a really cool view of Palmer and the Knik river. There is also some really cool geological features and the clouds are literally rolling over the ridge right in front of us. Pretty sweet. At this point, Mark mentions that the path to the peak is pretty much non existent and not recommended for amateurs. Well, he is an experienced ice and rock climber and has climbed 14ers in Colorado... so he qualifies. I have climbed flattop and a few rock walls... I don't exactly qualify? So we decide to hike along the ridge and go for it. It doesnt look thatttt far.
It is that far. After hiking along the ridge (which is a gorgeous walk and there are lots of cool rocks...)., we spend the next two hours or so ascending the final thousand feet to the summit. It is some serious rock scrambling. I follow Mark. He expertly taps the rocks to check their stability. I am glad he has some sort of idea of how to do this as safely as possible. We slowly pick the safest way we can find up the rocks, not wanting to think about how we are going to get down. I am really glad I am not afraid of heights.We have to back track a few times. We stop multiple times. "oh, ten more minutes to the top!" Wrong. There are multiple false peaks once we are actually up on the peak.
We finally make it to the top, soak in the view, take pictures, sign the register, and eat lunch. According to the register in the canister, we are only the third group to make it to the top this year. Only a handful have even been there since 2008, when the dates start. I am feeling pretty accomplished. We look down on some clouds as they blow by, sometimes obscuring the view completely. Pretty sweet!
Now for the fun part... getting down safely. Neither of us are remotely interested in going down the way we came. We find a gully full of scree and decide to try sliding down it. It is super sketchy. At one point, I knock a largeish (1' at its widest) rock onto my ankle. Ow. It takes forever and I fill my shoes with rocks but we make it out of the rocky summit and to the alpine tundra safely. We are no where near the trail that we took up and see no trail that goes to where we want. There are goat trails going horizontally, but no trails going down. We decide to just wander down and make our own trail. We can see where we meet up with the established path.
On the way down, I wonder if we are the first people to have come this particular way. I see no signs of people having been here. I mean there is no "good" way down really and this is as good as any. I would guess someone has been there before at some point. However, after hikes like Flattop where EVERY inch seems to have been traversed at some point, I find this though (and slight possibility) pretty cool.
As we head down, we see the mountain goats below us. ( I think they are goats and not sheep... They look more goat like than sheep like but I could be wrong here...) This is a new angle to see them from! Usually I see them from below. Ha! Mountain goats! I am ABOVE you. :). We eventually make our way back to the creek. Mark makes it across with little problem. Again, I end up slipping, and falling in this time. Awesome. I am all wet now. Oh well, almost back to the truck.
An uneventful hour later, we are back to the trailhead, thankfully safely, and feeling quite accomplished. The hike itself was about 9 hours... 12 hours total from when I left home to when I got back. Super fun day overall! Time to co climb some more mountains..... Oh, and some pictures!
And now I am watching the Olympics. The end :)
After my epic trip across the western part of America, I returned home and realized how little I know about my own state. I mean, I think I hiked more on my trip than I have the whole time I have lived in Alaska. I realized that was a problem as far as I am concerned and have set about fixing that. At this point in the summer, I am proud to say this has been remedied. :) However, for some reason, while I didn't mind hiking all over in the lower 48 by myself, I feel that most of the hiking I do in Alaska is best done with someone else. (with the exception of Flattop.... It is close enough to town, popular enough in general, and I am familiar enough with it that I will do that one by myself...) I guess I just feel like Alaska is so big, isolated, and wild that I really want someone with me should shit go down in a bad way.
So I have been searching (aka moreso being in the right places at the right times to meet people of similar interests) for people who want to explore Alaska with me.... and ideally know something about mountain safety so I can learn new skills and techniques to be safe. Unfortunately, I find that these sorts of people tend to be rather busy sorts of people so scheduling time to climb mountains can be difficult... But it is going well.. anyway... to the story of the weekend!
I took a 12 hour day hike with my co worker near Ekluta lake. He is really into ice climbing (which I am hoping to try some day) but has injured his shoulder and has thus had to content himself with hiking until it heals. We decide to do a day hike and come up with a few mountains and trails that sound interesting. We independently come up with the same 3 peaks and finally decide to go to Eklutna and hike the Twin Peaks. If you are familiar with the trail (which we were not) you know that the Twin Peaks trail does not actually go to a peak. Instead, it goes to a ridge where the trail kind of ends. You can then ascend 1000+ feet up shitty rock and all sorts of sketchiness to the actual peak if you really want to. Apparently, this is not recommended, though people do it, we found proof of this at the top.
Long story short: There are about 3 miles of well defined trail. Then there is about 2 of back country trails to the ridge line. Then it is anyone's game as to how to get to the top, which is another few miles.
After missing the turn off to Eklutna and ending up in Palmer, we finally arrive at the trail head. We have all sorts of food and tons of water with us. My stupid back pack weighs a ton. We head off on the first part of the trail. I have been on it again and am somewhat prepared for it. It is a lonnggg uphill. We stop a few times along the way and check out the view and rest. Before I know it, we are at the start of the primitive trail.
We rest at the bench and then head off. We go steeply downhill for a while... well, this seems counter productive. This is pretty obviously the trail though..... We finally get to the bottom... and a creek crossing. Mark gets half way across and then jumps for it, barely making it. I then follow. I get half way across and then jump for it... and land in the water. Ugh. Great. I don't have extra socks. We stop so I can squeeze out my socks before continuing on.
The trail starts heading uphill. This is a good sign. The bad news is that we are not heading toward the peak like we thought the trail would. We are headed north with the peak to the east. We stop and check the map. Well, there is a trail that kind of loops around.... We keep following the trail. The plants along the way are pretty but are scratching my legs. Good plan Anna, wear shorts. I hate being too hot so I usually wear shorts. Unfortunately, this results in some minor bleeding along the way. Oh well, I am nice and cool at least. A little later, we are up on the ridge looking at the peak, maybe a half mile away.
We spend some time on the ridge. There is a really cool view of Palmer and the Knik river. There is also some really cool geological features and the clouds are literally rolling over the ridge right in front of us. Pretty sweet. At this point, Mark mentions that the path to the peak is pretty much non existent and not recommended for amateurs. Well, he is an experienced ice and rock climber and has climbed 14ers in Colorado... so he qualifies. I have climbed flattop and a few rock walls... I don't exactly qualify? So we decide to hike along the ridge and go for it. It doesnt look thatttt far.
It is that far. After hiking along the ridge (which is a gorgeous walk and there are lots of cool rocks...)., we spend the next two hours or so ascending the final thousand feet to the summit. It is some serious rock scrambling. I follow Mark. He expertly taps the rocks to check their stability. I am glad he has some sort of idea of how to do this as safely as possible. We slowly pick the safest way we can find up the rocks, not wanting to think about how we are going to get down. I am really glad I am not afraid of heights.We have to back track a few times. We stop multiple times. "oh, ten more minutes to the top!" Wrong. There are multiple false peaks once we are actually up on the peak.
We finally make it to the top, soak in the view, take pictures, sign the register, and eat lunch. According to the register in the canister, we are only the third group to make it to the top this year. Only a handful have even been there since 2008, when the dates start. I am feeling pretty accomplished. We look down on some clouds as they blow by, sometimes obscuring the view completely. Pretty sweet!
Now for the fun part... getting down safely. Neither of us are remotely interested in going down the way we came. We find a gully full of scree and decide to try sliding down it. It is super sketchy. At one point, I knock a largeish (1' at its widest) rock onto my ankle. Ow. It takes forever and I fill my shoes with rocks but we make it out of the rocky summit and to the alpine tundra safely. We are no where near the trail that we took up and see no trail that goes to where we want. There are goat trails going horizontally, but no trails going down. We decide to just wander down and make our own trail. We can see where we meet up with the established path.
On the way down, I wonder if we are the first people to have come this particular way. I see no signs of people having been here. I mean there is no "good" way down really and this is as good as any. I would guess someone has been there before at some point. However, after hikes like Flattop where EVERY inch seems to have been traversed at some point, I find this though (and slight possibility) pretty cool.
As we head down, we see the mountain goats below us. ( I think they are goats and not sheep... They look more goat like than sheep like but I could be wrong here...) This is a new angle to see them from! Usually I see them from below. Ha! Mountain goats! I am ABOVE you. :). We eventually make our way back to the creek. Mark makes it across with little problem. Again, I end up slipping, and falling in this time. Awesome. I am all wet now. Oh well, almost back to the truck.
An uneventful hour later, we are back to the trailhead, thankfully safely, and feeling quite accomplished. The hike itself was about 9 hours... 12 hours total from when I left home to when I got back. Super fun day overall! Time to co climb some more mountains..... Oh, and some pictures!
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| The twin peaks! |
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| View of Palmer from the ridge |
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| The peak from the ridge |
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| Flowers on at high elevation :D |
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| Looking down at the lake through the clouds! |
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| Signing the register!!!!! |
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| Standing at the stick marking the summit! |
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| Looking down on the West Twin Peak |
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| See the goat?!?! (sheep?) |
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