Mt Baldy...2024 Take One

It seems like the last few years in Alaska I have spent a lot of time waiting for sun...and warmth.  After 3 or 4 false springs (the sun shines, it starts to melt, we let our guard down, and boom...snow), and a few thousand flicks of the switch to turn the fireplace on, fireplace off, heater on, heater off, it was finally sunny out!

I have been watching the snow become patchier on the mountains on the drive home from work.  And while I knew there was still snow, I figured there was a good chance I could make it to the top in sneakers.  And the first real vertical of the year, also figured I would be good getting up to around the halfway part where you have to scramble over the rocks.  Pretty sure it was last year I 'postholed' and lost a shoe at about that spot, so I wasn't going to keep going if it was too much snow at that point.  (Posthole...as in falling through the snow when you take a step and finding out you are thigh of hip deep, and probably more but that's about where you are able to pack in enough snow to stop)

The hike to Mt Baldy begins at the top of Skyline Road in Eagle River, and winds up to a fantastic view on top of the mountain overlooking the town and valley.  This can be done as a 2.9 mile loop, or out and back.  From the parking area, you can choose to go left, which starts our flatter, and bushier and ascends up behind Mt Baldy, or to the right.  My favorite way is to the right.  This first little incline to the trailhead is probably the steepest part.  Note to self.  When there is still snow by the parking lot...there is a lot more above.

I was loving those blue skies and beautiful rows of clouds!  The majority of the hike up this route is switchbacks.  There is ample opportunity for cardiovascular exercise just by setting your pace.  Not much up and down, mostly just ups.  It's a relatively smooth dirty trail, with enough width to stop and step to the side and leave room for folks and dogs to pass.  There are a few spots that can be a bit slick with rain, mud, or snow, but usually it's a great trail.  This is also a well travelled trail, one that I feel comfortable doing alone.  Are there bears about this area?  Yup.  But if there are a lot of cars in the parking area, you are going to be meeting people frequently enough that you aren't super likely to surprise a bear.

It may not yet be full spring, but it's very pretty.  It's hard to tell that whole town of Eagle River is right down below.

Not sure if my camera got foggy here or what, but I thought it was a cool effect.  I was actually making decent time (for me), and only stopped for a couple of breathers.  I was feeling like getting back into shape after my winter hibernation was going to be easier than I thought.  But.  The joy was short lived.  After I rounded the next corner...the snow patches got more continuous.  I, as I always do, figured if I could just push through it, it would be fine.  So I picked my way through and got to the spot where there should have been another switchback...but that's where it was just uphill in slick and half melted snow.  The lady to the right was part of another group tenuously trying to get back down.

To be fair, I do this at the start of every year.  I get over exuberent for spring.  I buy my plants to early and they struggle to survive.  I head to the trails the first sunny days and end up hip deep in snow, rather than enjoying the sun at ground level like a wiser soul.  That said, plenty of people were heading to the top via Microcleats.  I decided to pick my way back through the snow and head down.  That one bad knee will hold up a lot longer if I am not twisting it sliding on ice and unstable steps.

All and all, it was still a good day.  Some mountain time is better than none.  And now I think I shall have to keep going back to see how many weeks until the snow melts off, and write it down to remind myself to wait in the sun with a cocktail next year in May.

did find this odd little caterpillar, and gave him a lift on a twig off the trail and away from thundering feet.  Surely if he is awake, it must be spring soon.  Thought I would share an Alaskan caterpillar.

 Til next weekend...see if I can get a little closer next time!

View from the parking lot.  At least it's greening up at the lower altitudes!

Thunderbird Falls

 After a too long winter, I decided I am going to have to work up to the hikes a a bit.  So thought I would start with an easy one, Thunderbird Falls.  Starting at a State Park parking lot, it's a relatively easy hike to a little waterfall.  All Trails puts it at 1.8 miles.  It starts with an uphill from the parking lot, but then gives you a few ups and downs along the way.

This is a good, easy, roadside hike for tourists looking to stretch their legs along the way./

I did this one with a coworker, a hubby, and a toddler.  We still had some snow covered slick spots down by the falls, but the main part of the trail was clear.  There are a couple of decks to gaze out over the moderate abyss at the skyline, with some interpretive information about the area for those who want a bit of a reading break after the hill.

                                            

We followed the path along the wooden boardwalk to the end, and then looped back down and off to the right on a side trail to get to the base of the falls.  Also a great spot for selfies.

Or if you just prefer the scenery, it's a good spot for that too.  So if you are looking for a short and convenient spot to reconvene with nature without investing a huge amount of time, this is a good walk for you.

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.

Thoughts and Prayers

Over the past few years social media has demonized the phrase thoughts and prayers in the quest for action for a cause.  I cringe every time I see someone slam thoughts and prayers.  Because I love the thoughts and prayers sent over the years on behalf of Jaycena, Brooke, and Laramie.  Sometimes, thoughts and prayers are the only honest, raw, and real things that can be offered.  I think I speak for many of us who live with lifelong grief when I say we are grateful for every thought and prayer for us, and the angels we have lost.

Today marks 14 years since we lost these beautiful girls.  I wondered what I could write today...is there something profound and unsaid in my soul after all of these years? Or that the cold, bare truth is simply that it is still awful, ugly, and painful.  That it will always be an awful, ugly, and painful contrast to the wonderful, beautiful, joyous times we were gifted with them.

Perhaps the beauty of thoughts and prayers, is that they are lighter than truth.  And thus they are carried on the updrafts of hope, and at light speed by a text, ping, call from the solid foundations of friends and family and supporters, across miles and time zones.  And your own thoughts and prayers can lift you up as well.

Obviously I think of Jaycena often.  I wonder what she would make of something, where she would be today, what she would be doing at that moment.  I lean heavily into memories, hearing so clearly her voice or laugh. 

And I also still have prayers.  That she can hear me.  That she knows how much we love and miss her.  

And every now and then, something happens that makes me think of course she can, and of course she knows.  Like listening to my brother talk and hearing that little voice in exactly that tone of hers chime in in my mind with a wisecrack right where she would.  I have to also admit I had a sly smile when I was picking pictures today.  I had already gone to the store and looked at all the flowers, and these silly sunflowers were just the ones that spoke to me.  Then I perused some of her old facebook page photos back at the house and came across the one of her holding the sunflowers...it's not one I remember noticing before, but I like to think I had help finding just the right thing again today.

In our memories, they are vibrant, laughing, talking.  I can see, hear, and remember the feel of things in those memories.  Memories are thoughts too...and in a way, they are prayers within themselves.  Thoughts, prayers, and memories are golden.  So I thank you for sharing yours with us.

Jaycena, I often seek out beauty and experience with you in mind.  I stop especially to look at flowers and birds and wonder what angle you would photograph, what things you would find randomly amusing or amusingly random.  I often imagine you next to me, praying that you get to share the views and solitude.  And because of all that you have etched in my heart and mind, surely in some way I can say that you are.  Love you and miss you so very, very much...today, always, and forever xo