Independently Me

rainbird trail

The past handful of days have been absolutely beautiful. I know I've said that before, but this last weekend brought sunshine and absolutely clear blue skies. Sunday was warmer than 80 degrees and it was just the thing I needed to feel like my spunky self.

I knew ahead of time that Saturday was going to be gorgeous so I planned to hike early before meeting up with Danelle and the search and rescue dogs. I decided to tackle the Rainbird trail with Ellie.

We picked it up at the trailhead behind the University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan campus. The trailhead leads right out of the parking lot and is a couple miles from the house so it is super convenient. Conceivably, we could walk to the trailhead that is closest to us, about a mile, instead of driving all the way to the college. But then we would have a LOT of stairs to deal with.

We went the whole length of the trail and came back. It was a nice walk, about 2.25 miles round trip with about 145 feet elevation change. It's a nice flat trail once you get up to it, though there are just a couple spots in the middle that can be a bit steep and would have the potential to be slippery in the rain.

There are a couple other entrances to the trail, one at the other end and in about the middle. They both use stairs to access the trail. A lot of stairs. If you start at the college there aren't any stairs and there is a nice little incline at the very beginning, but it doesn't last very long.

Ellie handled the trail really well. I had done it once earlier in the week for work and I thought there might be a couple tricky spots for her but she handled it like a champ. It's also not Forest Service land so she is free to roam without a leash.

search and rescue

Saturday mid-morning I met up with Danelle from Rain City K9 for some search and rescue dog practice. I had volunteered to "get lost" for the dogs. She mentioned that the dogs don't get a lot of opportunity to pratice in the heat so it was a good day to be out in the woods for a few hours.

When we got started I wasn't quite sure what to expect. 

I got "lost" four times and each time I found the dogs to be just hilarious. In theory, it is a game of fetch, but the dog has found something too big for them to bring to their master, so they have to bring thier  master to the thing. The dog finds me and then runs back and barks, letting the master know the dog found something. Then the dog makes these mad dashes back and forth between me and their master until she reaches me and "finds" me. The dogs get so excited once they find you, it cracked me up everytime.

After we were done working the dogs, all six went swimming in the pond and having a great time. It was so much fun and I'll definitely be looking to do that again.

I took a little video of Aida finding me. She was so funny and it's really fun when they find you because you can just tell they are so excited to do their job. And then when you throw the toy for them afterward they are just in doggy heaven.

 

 

 I didn't take Ellie with me since the other dogs were working dogs and Ellie would have had to stay in the car while they completed their exercises. I'm convinced she would love playing with the dogs, as long it is wasn't in the water and they didn't get too rough. Plus, I didn't think her little legs would do very well in the deep brush. She stayed home in the shade and napped off the hike we took earlier.

 

 

carlanna lake

During my lunch break Friday I went over to the Discovery Center and picked up the Ketchikan Area Trails Guide. To my surpise, and delight, it was free, not printed with an ink jet printer and spiral bound. Score! It has listed 24 hikes plus a handful of remote trails. 

Each trail is complete with directions to the trailhead, a description of the hike and a map. I will happily attempt to hike them all during my stay here.

So this weekend, armed with my handy new trail guide, animal and plant guides and bear info, Ellie and I headed up to Carlanna Lake and then to the end of the trail where it turns into Minerva Mountain Trail. Minerva Mountain Trail is a primitive trail and since I have yet to aquire good map and compass skills, I didn't attempt it.

But even ending where we did, the hike was about 4 miles round trip with about 1,260 net elevation. Not a bad little hike. the trails here are very well maintained and marked which is pretty nice. Though they are covered with crushed rock and I think it hurts Ellie's feet. We'll have to experiment a little more with that. 

The other thing to note is fishing is allowed at Carlanna Lake year round. And since the lake itself is only .25 miles from the parking lot it's a totally viable option.

Anyway, it was a beautiul day and we did get a little rain on the way down, which didn't bother me at all. Surprise surprise. Oddly enough I had sort of wanted to see a bear, but I was relieved to end up back at the car without seeing one. I should find out how common it is to see one while hiking. Also, note to self, get a bell to attach to my pack. And Ellie.

And bonus, upon arriving home my first box from SLC had arrived and was waiting for me at the door. What a happy sight.

i went to alaska

"I shouldn't have been surprised that all I could see of the of the airplane window above the northwest was clouds. But they were beautiful clouds."

"Snow capped mountains give way to dark bottomless valleys shadowed from the sun by endless clouds and all I can see are tiny lakes reflecting back at me."

"Suddenly the cabin air smelled of coffee and gin and tonic and I was reminded of everything I had come from and felt a little homesick for the familiar. I was headed into the unknown, magnified by the book telling me tales of the Utah desert while knowing I was headed to the Alaskan forest." 

These are a few thoughts I recorded while visiting Alaska a couple weekends ago. As it turns out, I am trading in my Utah shorts and sunglasses for Alaksa's fleece jackets and rain boots. And what an adventure it will be. Every day I look forward to it more and more.

No worries, my hammock and fly rod are coming along for the adventure.

Weekend Recap

I've been itching to go camping for the last month or so, and when it came up in conversation, Lauren and I jumped at the chance to make it happen.  

She plotted our route to Flaming Gorge, one to Dinosaur National Monument with a finish at Starvation Reservoir. The weather was perfect, camping spots were great and the roads were free and clear. We could not have asked for much more.

Flaming Gorge 

Green River leaving Flaming Gorge

Dinosaur National Monument at The Quarry (that's Lauren)

The storm we had been leapfrogging with, finally got away from it

When we found  our campsite we immediately took our dinner and happy hour to the water front to watch the sunset and enjoy the cool breeze.

And what a beautiful sunset it was!

And I was glad to be home with running water, flush toilets and this little corn dog.

 

School starts in a week. It's hard to believe that the summer is over already.  It's time to buckle down again and get back to the books.  The summer has been great and I really needed it, but I'm ready to get back down to business.

 

the narrows and dreams 15 years old

Preface: This is way more sentimental than usual but I dedicate this hike to my dear friend Eileen. For dreaming with me when we were teenagers about the adventures we would have, and for introducing me to Zion National Park in the first place.

I write this as we travel the five hours back to Salt Lake City.  My shoulders, back and hips are tired and sore. So sore. As my body chills out and begins to relax into the seat, other spots on my legs and arms become the focus, finally speaking up to complain about their bumps and scrapes.

I have a distinct memory of standing in the Temple of Sinawava at 13 years old looking down the paved trail to the entrance of The Narrows.

"It's really hard," I remember Eileen saying. "My dad said you stay overnight and camp. Carry everything with you. That's where you come out," she said, pointing up the river to the people walking around in the water.

We were in awe of the challenge of it all.  The thought of trooping through the canyons, seeing the mystery that was held from two teenage girls who just wanted to grow up and have some adventure.

My thoughts continued to flash back 15 years during the 1.5 hour van ride to the trail head.  I was finally doing this.  Five months of planning, 15 years in the making, only hours to go.

There were so many beautiful sights and I could not take enough pictures. I was constantly coming around a bend or seeing a new beam of light that I wanted a picture of. But I am grateful to have the pictures I did take, knowing that some of the most beautiful sights were not captured on a memory card in a camera, but are reserved for only me to remember.

The first day we hiked 11 miles to our designated camp site. About mile 8 or 9 I had experienced enough and was quite done. But with a few miles to go I switched into putting one foot in front of the other and just going. Trudging along, I realized that I would have followed Lauren and Josh right to the end if they decided to keep going. But I'm glad they didn't, it would have been an additional five miles past the campsite.

There was a specific moment when I was far enough behind them that I would catch a glimpse of them just before they rounded a corner or went behind a rock out of sight. I had a funny thought. Y'know that part in Lord of the Rings when Gollum is following Frodo and Sam-Wise into Mordor and he just close enough to make them feel like they're being followed but far enough away to stay out of sight? Yeah, I was Gollum.  And I was so tired at that moment that I had to stop walking mid-stream so I wouldn't fall down with laughter.

When we reached camp all 12 of us peeled off wet boots and socks. Everyone moved a bit slower, more deliberately, conserving energy. There wasn't much conversation since everyone was so focused on their reconstituted meals. Exhausted and with food in our bellies we all called it a day before it was dark.

Curled in my tent listening to the river below and the crickets above I slept as sound as I did when I was a teenager and could fall asleep anywhere.

With a slow start in the morning we broke camp and headed out to finish the last five miles.  The trek was long and exhausting. With a tired body and sore feet I finished the 16 miles, walking barefoot for the last stretch on the paved trail. One of the best choices of the whole trip. 

This was my first backpacking trip and I would call it a success.  Not only did I survive, I have minimal bumps and scrapes.  I'm a bit sore but it's the type of sore that I love, a gentle reminder that I used my body, flexed and stretched my muscles and experienced something wonderful. Because of that I feel no pain.

While the trip was amazing, beautiful and totally worth all the planning, anxiety and stress, those won't be the things I will remember the most. I will remember that moment, walking through Wall Street, exhausted, and finally stopping to look around me realizing where I was. Knowing that my 13 year old self was cheering me on because I was actually doing it. Something that I've wanted to do for half my life, I was doing it. And that moment of reconnecting is priceless. That reconnection is what I went to find and I feel lucky that I found it.

And now I have the urge, as I do at the end of all my adventures, to plan the next one. There are so many wonderful places within a half day's drive that I haven't been to. I look forward to exploring them all while I still have the chance.

thoughts from a saturday

A couple Saturdays ago I went with a few friends to The Leonardo, a new museum downtown. It's a pretty cool place. It's super interactive and the exhibits are about civil rights, clean air, stop animation, DNA, prosthetics and more. We spent 3 hours there and could have spent more.

Then we went to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. Unbeknownst to us, they were having an event that day, a circus themed party for families. There was an exhibit of circus paintings and the party was to advertise and celebrate the exhibit. I've never seen so many children in an arts museum.

Upon leaving the arts museum, I saw two women talking in the parking lot, three kids gathered around them. The two little boys were playing with each other and the little girl was squatting near the woman, busying herself with a pile of sticks and rocks on the ground. It appeared she had collected them and was arranging them in the pile, talking to them, breaking the sticks into smaller pieces.

As the two women finished talking, the woman near the girl reached down and grabbed her arm and pulled her away to the car. The woman didn't talk to the girl, or even look at her, as she did this, she continued her conversation with the other woman.

I realized I had been seeing this all day with the children at The Leonardo and again at the art museum, parents pulling, tugging and forcing their children one way or another. It really bothered me.

I felt like maybe a better (different?) way would have been to finish the adult conversation, look down at the little girl, and tell her it was time to go. Or even get down to her level and talk to her about what she was doing.

As I talked about my observation with my friend, we wondered what kind of effect actions like that have on children as they grow up. Will she feel as though her parents pushed her around all the time? Or will she feel like the activities she finds interesting are never good enough for their attention?

And at the same time, is there a certain number of children that would be the threshold for the parent's attention and patience? Can the parents have 2 or 3 but when #4 comes along, there is no longer enough time, energy and patience for them all? Or maybe the number is closer to 1 or 2. Or maybe it matters how many years are between the kids.

Understanding though, that I don't know this woman, I don't know the little girl and I don't know what their day was like. And really, I don't know if this woman was the little girl's mother or the nanny or the aunt.

I guess it just makes me hope that when I'm lucky enough to have kids, I am interested in their pile of sticks and rocks, that I ask them questions, talk to them about what they are doing and encourage their creativity. Not tug and pull them around without talking to them.

www.theleonardo.org
www.umfa.utah.edu

fisher towers

After our jont into Arches National Park and lunch, we headed up River Road to Fisher Towers.  The hike was highly suggested so we decided to head out off the beaten path to see what it was all about.  It was 5 miles round trip and we throughly enjoyed it.  With the combination of soft sand, rocks, ice and snow, steep climbes and a ladder down it was quite the hike! 

We met up with Lauren's long time friend Kate at breakfast. Kate and her dog Emma hiked Fisher Towers with us and it was so fun to have them along.

After the hike we waved good bye to Kate and Emma and hopped into the car ourselves.  After a long drive home, we were finally able to shower and sleep in warm cozy beds. I absolutely love being outside and adventuring, but it sure is nice to sleep in a warm bed too.

sunrise in arches

We got up Sunday morning to the sound of an alarm. Yes, we set it on purpose.  We decided to head into the park early to watch the sunrise among the arches. And that was a good idea.

After the sun came up a bit, we headed further into the park.  We stopped at Balanced Rock.

The next stop was at The Windows.  We decided to get out and do the short walk around them to try and warm us up.  With coffee and cameras in hand, we headed out to hopefully feel the sunshine warm our faces. It mostly worked.

It really was a beautiful morning.  And once the feeling returned to my toes and my fingers stopped hurting, I really enjoyed it.

 

 

arches national park

The morning after staying in Goblin Valley, we packed up and headed the few hours to Arches National Park and Moab in southeast Utah. Arches has made the list of my top 5 favorite national parks. The landscape is so interesting and beautiful, every time I turned around I saw something new. "Wow" is something I said A LOT.

The only hike we did that afternoon was the one to Delicate Arch. We made the 1.5 mile trek in a record time of 30 minutes. Not sure what got into me but I lead the charge up the hill.  I think I was so excited to finally see it that I just went, not really thinking about how fast we were going. But no worries, since we made it up just fine.  

After the arch we went up River Road to Red Cliffs Lodge to see the Castle Creek Winery, but alas, it was closed for the season.  We did go in to the lodge to ask a few questions, and soon found ourselves in an obscure Moab Movie Museum. It was a commemoration of the movies and commercials made in the beautiful Utah desert, including John Wayne movies, Indiana Jones, and MacGyver. 

We soon headed back toward town for dinner, then headed back up the road a few miles to a campground.  Because it was so cold in Goblin Valley the night before, and Lauren's sleeping bag zipper was broken, we laid the seats flat in Dani's Honda Fit and all three of us snuggled up in the back. Snug as bugs. Though, lesson learned on not cracking a window to allow more oxygen in to the car. We all woke up the next morning short of breath and too warm. 

What an adventure!