Fly Day

As many of you know, I've wanted to learn to fly for a while. I signed up for ground school that was a bust due to the craziness of my schedule. The plan now is for Chuck to teach me. We went up today and I ended up taking several pics. I should have opened the window, lesson learned for next time. These still turned out pretty good...we saw fresh snow and found a great place to kayak tomorrow if the weather holds.

Crow Pass Hike - 26 miles - one day

So there is a nature center at the end of the road up the Eagle River valley. This is about 12 miles from our house and is the trailhead for a one-way hike to Girdwood (down the Turnagain Arm). This hike is 24 miles long, and we just had to go do it.
Of course the hiking descriptions mention that most people make the crossing in 2-3 days but a one day trek is possible. Of course, we have to try it in one day.
We hiked it from Girdwood back to Eagle river. There is a few thousand feet of climbing in the first several miles to crest Crow Pass, and then (pretty much) all downhill. On the way up Crow Pass it is very dry and scree filled. The sun was coming up during this part and quite serene. The top is pretty flat and filled with small ponds. As you crest the pass, you get full frontal of Raven Glacier and then follow Raven Creek down to the confluence with the Eagle River. We were both amazed at the changing terrain - from bone dry scree fields, to open evergreen forests, young glacial moraines, head high brush (in bear country nonetheless), and very 'boggy' wetlands.

As you reach the Eagle River (just past the halfway point), you come into a huge view of the Eagle Glacier. At this point you have to ford the Eagle River. Several hundred feet wide and COLD. It is glacial melt about a mile below the glacier. We were lucky to have the water relatively low (not too much above my knee - remember I'm 6'4"). A quick dry out and bite to eat, then down the valley.

No wildlife sightings, but we were shooting for that. This is bear country so we were constantly making noise so as not to surprise them. Did see a lot of bear shit though, some pretty fresh.

On the drive up here dad remarked that one gets numb to scenery on the Alcan because its just this endless parade of amazing vistas - but a long drive nonetheless. I felt like this hike was the same. You just kept coming around corners and seeing more amazing river views, giant mountains, glaciers, etc... but Andi and I both reached our fill about the 20 mile point, so by the time we got to the car, we were ready to be done. Sore knees and beat up feet, but quite a nice day. Reccomended, maybe two days though.

Just to make sure we were not feeling too big for our britches after our big hike, we read about the guys who run this as a marathon. Here is one account of guys running it. We felt good about 12 hours. Good people run this in three.

Also, some photos on Shutterfly.

Halibut Fishing in Homer

Last weekend I visited Homer (one of my favorite places). While there I had the chance to do a little Halibut fishing with the rest of the permanent AK Podolak's. The weather was great, we caught our limit, and had fun with some pictures.

This little guy didn't know what was coming his way...a sharp knife and some sea gulls to eat what couldn't be filleted. The sea gulls chased our boat most of the way home.

Backpacking in the Trinity Alps

After camping in Oregon for a month, I felt like I really needed to get into the backcountry. Instead of the big group camp with 7 people, I took off for the Trinity Alps with just me and my backpack. The trail was relatively uncrowded and the 7 mile hike to Grizzly Lake was short and steep.

As you get to these meadows (about 6 miles into the hike) you see this high waterfall (about 800') above you. There is no real trail, but there is a scramble up the wall to the left.

And at the top, here is the view. The waterfall at the top is nothing more than a small creek about 8 feet wide. To cross it you have to jump from one stone to another, which is not normally a big deal, but thinking about slipping and going over the side....


I tried to go light on this trip - no tent. Fortunately it did not rain and my little shelter was more for the sun. Two nights out under the stars.

More photos up at shutterfly.

Chuck's Summer in Oregon

Done with this summer's Sandy River research. The group this year included 5 interns from the National Center for Earth surface Dynamics' summer research program - a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), and one of last year's interns who came back as my graduate assistant. All in all a good group who worked their tails off.
We did a lot of surveying of several stretches of the river (see below)


And counted a lot of rocks. For the research we need to know how much of a certain bar is made up of rocks of different sizes. To figure this out we walk around the bars measuring the rocks on the top, and then dig big holes to measure the rocks inside the bars. Each of our holes ended up holding just over one ton of rocks. These were days when we were happy to have a cool river nearby to dive in and cool off.

That is it for the Sandy River this summer. Next its back to Oregon in October for a professional meeting (Geological Society of America) where I will help in leading a field trip to the Sandy River. After that, its back for more winter work during the big storms. Stay posted.....