Trail of the Wolf

 Sometimes you just gotta decide it's spring, even when the environment hasn't fully committed yet.  It's April 21st.  For the 3rd or 4th time this year, I am declaring spring!  Maybe this time it will stick.  My neighbor and I committed to starting spring and summer walks this past Tuesday.  When Tuesday after work came and a trail was discussed, I said we needed to do a reintroduction to hiking for me after the long winter (aka the sidewalk...fortunately the views are even beautiful on the sidewalk).  I figured the trail, being shaded would be snowy, muddy, cold, and slick.  But 5 days later, Sunday, trails would obviously be melted right?  Yeah, no.  But it wasn't slick or muddy at least.  Just slushy.

Still, it was glorious to just get out there again.  So easy walk #2 of the year...Eagle River Nature Center.  

                    

This is a must for anyone visiting.  You get this view in about half a mile from the paved parking lot on a wide, sloping trail that is pretty easy for folks of all levels to accomplish.  One summer I was walking with friends out this way, and at the starting point an elderly man with a walking stick stood looking longingly at the path as his children and grandchildren started out.  I could tell he wanted to go, but perhaps thought better of it.  So I stopped to ask if he was going to go down the trail, and let him know that it was wide, gently sloping, and easy to navigate (rocks and twigs visible and easy to avoid), and he could walk with us if he wanted.  He literally jumped (or skipped) at the opportunity.  I would guess he was mid 70's, and probably more capable than me.  They were on vacation from India.  He had lots of good stories to tell, and was excellent company down the trail.  I was glad to give him the 'trail condition' so that he got to enjoy the hike (and was secretly happy that by coming with us I was able to guide him down the most scenic of the branching paths).  So for anyone reading this coming to Alaska looking for a short wide trail with a great payoff, and just a bit of a hill, this is the one for you.

We stopped to buy the annual pass, which also give trail conditions, and today's notice was this.  Mostly slushy and a tad wolfy.

                    

I don't think I have ever seen a wolf warning sign up in the area before.  I mean, I know they are in the area.  Some nights I hear them down on the winter, especially in winter.  Part of the magical reason I love it up here.  But of course I have never actually seen them.

After about 30 mins, I was looking at the slush ahead of me.  Having met a few dogs on the way, I didn't really think much about it...but then I realized these are awfully big tracks for a dog.

Not enough toes to be a bear.  Truly huge pawprint.  We watched a few huskies go by and checked their tracks...and declared even the biggest dogs on the trail had tiny feet no where near this size.

And so we followed the trail of the wolf to where the forest opened up and the river ran.  (OK, to be fair the wolf was walking on the trail, so the trail of the wolf was just the trail, but it sounds better that way)

This section of the trail is called Rapids Camp.  I come here often, it's one of my favorite spots.  But I admit it's usually summer, so this is the first pic I have taken with all the snow still on the riverbank.  It's abour 5km roundtrip from the parking lot to get to this spot.  Wonderful spot for a picnic.

On the way back, I caught a little motion by a tree and played Peek-a-boo-Ptarmigan.

        

                            

He did pose for one good view of his tailfeather.  He's obviously a bird model.  He had a very beautiful feather pattern.

It was interesting to me on the way back down the trail,,,despite passing 4 to 5 other groups, we were treated to some new wolf tracks...heading the same way as us again.  Guessing they were enjoying the trail run today as much as we were.

Glacial Highs

It's taken me about a billion years to post these, but it was a pretty cool day so figure I should just get it done.  I had a friend visiting from Florida over Christmas one year, what a way to get motivated to do snowy tourist things.  This was on his bucket list...see a glacier.  So it was off to the local small airport at Palmer to hop a flight to the Knik Glacier (and yes, in Alaska we pronounce the K, and the n, so it's K-ah-nik.  It is actually pretty cool to see by air.  We got a nice low aerial over pillars of ice.

The crevasses were pretty deep.  I think I was surprised at how many miles of glaciers there were, and how vast it actually was.

A nice "frozen river of ice" pic backing up against the mountain.

I am always amazed at the beauty of the blue of glacial ice.

Apparently the weight of the glacier makes it so compact, so this shade of blue from the refractive light index is part of its distinctive beauty.

Obviouslyu I am a bit obsessed with this color.

Of course, the even crazier shades of deep blue in the ice shelves was equally captivating.

Somewhere around here is when I started thinking of all the plane crash movies where people have to hike out....and realized there was no way out of the crevasse maze.  We were just a few miles from civilization, but seemed like a world away.

Close up.

Yup.  That would be a long impossible walk home.

So this was really interesting.  I will confess how long I have failed to post.  These pics are taken in December of 2018.  Some of you might remember we had a little earthquake up here November 2018.  November 30th, 8:29 am to be precise...yeah it was that kind of memorable.  I was just logging onto a computer call, and when the painting started flying off the walls and folks started yelling, we actually ran outside from the office cubbies in the building attached to work....waited for the world to start shaking, then ran into the hospital.  Ceiling tiles were downed, there was a haze that I wasn't sure was drywall dust or smoke, but it set off fire detectors all the same.  The doors clean fell off the Emergency Department, and then the tsunami sirens went off.  Anyway...it was a big one.  When I got home 18 hrs later, the kind cat sitters had been by to right the furniture, sweep up the kitchen, because all glass in the cupboards on one wall flew out and shattered.  7.1 it registered formally.  We had aftershocks that were a 5 for months.  Anyway....if you look carefully, you can see part of the ice shelf of the glacier collapsed.  Pilot said it was down after the quake.

Here's another shot of it.

Guess I am not sure if the strongest force is the earthquake or the glacier.  It's amazing that it took a section down....but in the scope of the glacier such a small part of it.

And with that it was heading home.

Bye glacier!

One of the little black dots is a moose.  I can't pick it out now either lol 

Definately an afternoon worth the trip!

 

15 and Million Years Ago

I took this picture when you were 15.  Which was 15 years ago.  It was both yesterday and a million years ago in my mind.  You are about 2 seconds away from a goofy laugh and moving from this funny face to the next thing.  I thought we'd be doing things like this forever at the time.  You were always, and will always be, so beautiful.

 

I took a walk today.  It felt like walking through another lifetime.  I drove by the my old school where you spent your last day playing volleyball.  I walked through the old house, and down the stairs you walked down that last morning.  I touched the wall where the phone used to be...where you stood when we talked on the phone that last day.  The phone was gone but I could hear your voice so clearly all the same.

I drove by the playground where you girls stopped to take pictures.  And I left a little heart at the spot yours stopped.  I said a little prayer and left a few more tears.

As I walked through your world again, I couldn't help but notice how much less vibrant it seems without your light and color.  I felt like I was walking through a tattered memory more than a place.

And in your room, your old shoes, a hint of your personality...I remember shopping with you for these, and getting the sales guy to find the green laces.  I miss you.  I wish today you were walking with me, and anywhere else.

I wish your goodbye wasn't so soon.  Love can last a lifetime.  And so can grief it seems.  But at least there is love.  And you were so very, very loved.

Love you Jaycena...today, always, and forever.

Thirty One

 Thirty One.  My newest pictures are almost as old as you ever were.  It can be hard not to get stuck in grieving for all you did not get to be, to do, to see.  But on your birthday I focus extra hard on the gift that you were.

Every once in a while, I still find a new treasure.  Like this photograph my brother had.  I could almost feel the summer sun in the prairie sky, smell the lilacs that would bloom on those trees, hear the din of family behind the photographer in that busy country house, and hear the giggle that would be characteristic of Jaycena.  And of course, she was already loving horses.  It takes me back to a feeling where anything was possible, time was slow and meandering, summers went on forever, and always came back around.  Be it innocence, or naivety, it was wonderful, and there she is in the center of it.

Thank you Jaycena, for the gifts of your laughter that echo through time.  For the hugs that can hold a soul for a lifetime, heaven knows we need that now.  For your genuine spirit.  For being compassionate, earnest, kind, funny, and deep -- from the moment I saw you were already these things, and you stayed true to them throughout your short life.  It's a special kind of person who animals intrinsically trust.  Whether it was a bug, a frog, a bird, or some other critter, they sought you out and trusted your touch.  We were truly blessed to have you in our lives...to hold your hand, to hug you back and to wipe away the tears when that big heart felt too much.  We literally delighted in every little thing you did...you had a way of making just a random moment a special one.

I wish I were taking a new picture of you today, teasing you about getting older, or something equally mundane and ordinary.  Or maybe it would just be a text, because you were off a trip somewhere fabulous, like Spain.  Oh how I wish that was the story we had to tell.

Happy 31st birthday in heaven beautiful.  Thank you for sharing light a with us that will shine for our whole lives.  I am often sure I see your hand in the magic of random moments, and I thank you for that gift as well.