Alaska - Part XIII
Sep. 26th, 2007 02:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leftyjewSo I told ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
arctic_alpine that if she posted her photos, I'd finish the week off. Last we left our heroes, they had just parked the car in Denali State Park and were getting ready to set up camp....
We decided we had a few things to do to set up before we could really head out hiking. We were both a little tired from not doing anything all day, but we had to eat, set up a tent, and then we could play. We thought it was important to get this all done before we went for a hike because when we got back, we assumed it was going to be dark.... So much for assumptions.
Anyway, we throw together and almost burn a stewy thing of soup mix, dried veggies, fresh onion, pasta, and some other vegetables we had brought. It was actually pretty tasty. While washing dishes - far from capsite so as not to attract bears - we decide to throw out the jar of salsa we'd been schlepping since Seward. When that left the car, everything just smelled better. What we thought werearctic_alpine's jeans turned out to be a jar of molding salsa. Lesson: Always refrigerate after opening.
We set up the tent and got ready to head out. It was about 8, so there was still plenty of light.
We head out around what we thought would be a two hour trail around the lake so that we could get home in time for nightfall. We saw beautiful flowers, a great alpine lake (it looked like photos of upstate NY, and it remindedarctic_alpine of her hikes there). It was really beautiful and peaceful. Except for the constant mosquitoes swarming around the large body of still water. There were great flowers, some birds swimming on the lake, beautiful vegetation in general, and spiderwebs. Lots.
The trail also takes us through a tree-stripped and machine-laden area briefly, but we were soon off that part.
It took a lot longer than we thought. Our navigation was a bit off - we thought we were mostly done when we crossed that deforested area, but that was just because we were going along the trail in the opposite direction. It got later and later. As we went on,arctic_alpine pointed out trail building techniques that were employed and how to make it better, and I wanted to stop at one particularly scenic view of the mountains, lake, forest and sky for a while. But soon, we both got a bit nervous about being out late. We knew we wanted to be home by dark. Fortunately, we did. Apparently, we could have gone on a several day hike and gotten back before dark. We arrived back at about 11, and went fairly straight to bed....er... sack.
We knew we had to leave by 11 the next morning for checkout, so we were a bit nervous when we left the tent at about 12. We both hoped no rangers were going to come by and ticket us. None did.
It was Friday, so we also wanted to be back in Anchorage before Shabbat. Since it's about a three or four hour drive, we had to leave Denali no later than 830pm. Talk about time pressure :)
We took our tent apart, ate some breakfast, and started on our next adventure.
We wanted to find another hiking trail. This would be our last hike, so we wanted to make it good, and we were in Denali, so we wanted to make it good. We decided on a long and difficult ridge trail knowing that we would never have time to finish it. It was a few miles up the road, so we drove off, stopped at an overlook on the way, saw Mount Denali almost peaking his head out and headed to the Little Coal Creek entrance to teh Kesugi Ridge Trail.
The really great thing about Kesugi Ridge is that it's parallel to the ridge with Denali and Foraker. You get beautiful views the whole way, and on a clear day, you can see the whole valley. It is truly breathtaking.
When we got there, we didn't have exact change for day parking, and when we asked a ranger, he told us, "I'm the only one working here right now, so don't worry about it." We scraped together enough cash anyway.
As we were about to go, we met up with a couple who was just coming back from a multi-day hike across the whole trail. They said it was great and desperately wanted to shower. They also said that they could see Denali. Oh, and they also told us that there are people you can pay to drive your car form one place to another if you want to have a multi-day hike that isn't a loop. That's what they did, and I thought it was an interesting and very Alaskan/non-East Coast idea. No one here would let strangers drop their car off somewhere.... or go on multi-day hikes.
So we went on. We didn't have much water left of our gallon jug. We had quite a bit the day before and used much in cooking. The pump water in Denali is not safe to drink. So we head up with snacks and some water and lots of bug spray. Oh, and hats. We go and climb and go and climb. At first it's mostly flat, but very pretty. Much of the vegetation reminded us of the night before (no surprise, it's all of 10 miles away or so). As we start to climb, a down-coming hiker tells us something scary. This time it's not bears, but something much less predictable. A person - young man - is walking around with a gun. He's Aiming it at hikers and telling people that he's using it to kill bears in case they attack. But he's pointing it at people. Anyway, we get his description and are on the look out.
This is one piece of Alaska wildlife I'm happy to have missed. We never met up with this kid, but we decided on various ways of approaching him. But thankfully we never had to use them.
We head up some more. The trees and grass give way to just grass. Then the grass gives way to grassy rock. We turn around and see Mount Denali beautifully. Still covered in a cloud, but beautiful, nonetheless. Or because of that. Maybe it's the mystery. We're told that it is much better from further up and though I'm skeptical, we push on.
Climb climb. People pass us, we pass others. Some travel in large groups with lots of gear, and some look like people out for a stroll (with water).
About the water - I told you we didn't have too much going into it. About the time we got to the grassy rocks, I notice how low my water is. I decide to drink slower (bad decision in general).
We approach an area that's almost entirely rocky.arctic_alpine points out the small plants growing between the rocks and informs me that it is officially arctic alpine. Cool. We turn around and see Denali. Wow. It is better from further up. We sit there for a while debating about whether to press on to the Ridge itself (we were still perpendicular to the Kesugi Ridge. We had what looked like 100 yards to go. Most of it up.) arctic_alpine reasons that since we're almost out of water (about 3/4 empty), we really should start to head back. After we check out the view a bit longer.
So we sit near a cairn and watch the scenery not change. It's about 6 at this point. Beautiful (though a bit warm) weather. Sun brightly shining. Shabbas approaches. Eventually we start to head down.
On the way down, I run out of water completely, and start to feel lightheaded. Not so good.arctic_alpine gives me some of hers, but before we're back at the car we're both out. Lesson: Always bring enough water. I manage to make it back to the car. A bit dizzy, but there's a bit of water waiting for us there. We down it and head to the nearest shop.
But before we go, we want to say goodbye to Denali. We stop at that viewpoint we stopped at earlier, and Denali is completely cloud-free! Amazing. It happens so rarely, and we were so lucky to see it. It's a gorgeous mountain. No, not gorges. Gorgeous.
We go on. We need liquid. We leave the park, and find a large general store. We get some drinks, some snacks, and some special Seattle sodas for Shabbat, and we book it to Anchorage.
I get a bit tired around Houston and stop for coffee at one of the many "espresso" trucks on the side of the road. Then, I stop for the bathroom at Arby's and pick up a souvenir for Adam who has regaled me with stories of his childhood trips to the Arby's in Kenai. Houston's not really close to Kenai, but it's a hell of a lot closer than Virginia is. Drive drive drive! We sing songs to keep us awake and not bored, and we worry about prepping for Shabbat. Organizing our luggage, which we had talked about doing since erev Talkeetna, had never happened. We knew we needed to have some good pre-shabbas time, and we weren't sure we could make it. We knew we had to be organized, so we made mental notes of what to do and in what order.
One of those things was calling Chabad to see when services started. Nine o'clock. There was no way we could make it to Anchorage by nine, much less be ready to take on the restrictions of Shabbas. Ok, so we'd do some kabbalat shabbat on our own. At about 930, we pull into the Thirteenth Street Hostel's driveway, park, and start to organize luggage.
Hussle hussle hussle. Get stuff in the house that we need in the house that we needed, start cooking what we needed to eat that day (there was a lunch at Chabad but we were both sure there would be no veg options), get stuff ready to go so that we can leave immediately after shabbas on Sunday. Choose what stays in the car, split stuff between the two of us, cook with the camping stove that was running out of fuel, find this and that, lots of last minute hurrying!
Candle-lighting was at 11:45. We lit at about 11:47 and made a few excuses why we needed the particular spot on the table that the camping stove was on so that we could move it. Lesson: No matter how late shabbat starts, you're never ready in time. We said a small kabbalat shabbat and individual maarivs. It was shabbas.
After dinner which was delicious, I stayed up for a while watching the candles to make sure they didn't burn the backyard down. The hostel owner was looking at me oddly, and I think he was afraid to put the candles out himself for fear of offending me. I would have preferred he extinguish them but oh well.
And then late Friday, I went to sleep.
arctic_alpine that if she posted her photos, I'd finish the week off. Last we left our heroes, they had just parked the car in Denali State Park and were getting ready to set up camp....Thursday - Beyers Lake
We decided we had a few things to do to set up before we could really head out hiking. We were both a little tired from not doing anything all day, but we had to eat, set up a tent, and then we could play. We thought it was important to get this all done before we went for a hike because when we got back, we assumed it was going to be dark.... So much for assumptions.
Anyway, we throw together and almost burn a stewy thing of soup mix, dried veggies, fresh onion, pasta, and some other vegetables we had brought. It was actually pretty tasty. While washing dishes - far from capsite so as not to attract bears - we decide to throw out the jar of salsa we'd been schlepping since Seward. When that left the car, everything just smelled better. What we thought were
arctic_alpine's jeans turned out to be a jar of molding salsa. Lesson: Always refrigerate after opening.We set up the tent and got ready to head out. It was about 8, so there was still plenty of light.
We head out around what we thought would be a two hour trail around the lake so that we could get home in time for nightfall. We saw beautiful flowers, a great alpine lake (it looked like photos of upstate NY, and it reminded
arctic_alpine of her hikes there). It was really beautiful and peaceful. Except for the constant mosquitoes swarming around the large body of still water. There were great flowers, some birds swimming on the lake, beautiful vegetation in general, and spiderwebs. Lots.The trail also takes us through a tree-stripped and machine-laden area briefly, but we were soon off that part.
It took a lot longer than we thought. Our navigation was a bit off - we thought we were mostly done when we crossed that deforested area, but that was just because we were going along the trail in the opposite direction. It got later and later. As we went on,
arctic_alpine pointed out trail building techniques that were employed and how to make it better, and I wanted to stop at one particularly scenic view of the mountains, lake, forest and sky for a while. But soon, we both got a bit nervous about being out late. We knew we wanted to be home by dark. Fortunately, we did. Apparently, we could have gone on a several day hike and gotten back before dark. We arrived back at about 11, and went fairly straight to bed....er... sack.Friday - Kesugi Ridge Trail and the rush to Shabbas
We knew we had to leave by 11 the next morning for checkout, so we were a bit nervous when we left the tent at about 12. We both hoped no rangers were going to come by and ticket us. None did.
It was Friday, so we also wanted to be back in Anchorage before Shabbat. Since it's about a three or four hour drive, we had to leave Denali no later than 830pm. Talk about time pressure :)
We took our tent apart, ate some breakfast, and started on our next adventure.
We wanted to find another hiking trail. This would be our last hike, so we wanted to make it good, and we were in Denali, so we wanted to make it good. We decided on a long and difficult ridge trail knowing that we would never have time to finish it. It was a few miles up the road, so we drove off, stopped at an overlook on the way, saw Mount Denali almost peaking his head out and headed to the Little Coal Creek entrance to teh Kesugi Ridge Trail.
The really great thing about Kesugi Ridge is that it's parallel to the ridge with Denali and Foraker. You get beautiful views the whole way, and on a clear day, you can see the whole valley. It is truly breathtaking.
When we got there, we didn't have exact change for day parking, and when we asked a ranger, he told us, "I'm the only one working here right now, so don't worry about it." We scraped together enough cash anyway.
As we were about to go, we met up with a couple who was just coming back from a multi-day hike across the whole trail. They said it was great and desperately wanted to shower. They also said that they could see Denali. Oh, and they also told us that there are people you can pay to drive your car form one place to another if you want to have a multi-day hike that isn't a loop. That's what they did, and I thought it was an interesting and very Alaskan/non-East Coast idea. No one here would let strangers drop their car off somewhere.... or go on multi-day hikes.
So we went on. We didn't have much water left of our gallon jug. We had quite a bit the day before and used much in cooking. The pump water in Denali is not safe to drink. So we head up with snacks and some water and lots of bug spray. Oh, and hats. We go and climb and go and climb. At first it's mostly flat, but very pretty. Much of the vegetation reminded us of the night before (no surprise, it's all of 10 miles away or so). As we start to climb, a down-coming hiker tells us something scary. This time it's not bears, but something much less predictable. A person - young man - is walking around with a gun. He's Aiming it at hikers and telling people that he's using it to kill bears in case they attack. But he's pointing it at people. Anyway, we get his description and are on the look out.
This is one piece of Alaska wildlife I'm happy to have missed. We never met up with this kid, but we decided on various ways of approaching him. But thankfully we never had to use them.
We head up some more. The trees and grass give way to just grass. Then the grass gives way to grassy rock. We turn around and see Mount Denali beautifully. Still covered in a cloud, but beautiful, nonetheless. Or because of that. Maybe it's the mystery. We're told that it is much better from further up and though I'm skeptical, we push on.
Climb climb. People pass us, we pass others. Some travel in large groups with lots of gear, and some look like people out for a stroll (with water).
About the water - I told you we didn't have too much going into it. About the time we got to the grassy rocks, I notice how low my water is. I decide to drink slower (bad decision in general).
We approach an area that's almost entirely rocky.
arctic_alpine points out the small plants growing between the rocks and informs me that it is officially arctic alpine. Cool. We turn around and see Denali. Wow. It is better from further up. We sit there for a while debating about whether to press on to the Ridge itself (we were still perpendicular to the Kesugi Ridge. We had what looked like 100 yards to go. Most of it up.) arctic_alpine reasons that since we're almost out of water (about 3/4 empty), we really should start to head back. After we check out the view a bit longer.So we sit near a cairn and watch the scenery not change. It's about 6 at this point. Beautiful (though a bit warm) weather. Sun brightly shining. Shabbas approaches. Eventually we start to head down.
On the way down, I run out of water completely, and start to feel lightheaded. Not so good.
arctic_alpine gives me some of hers, but before we're back at the car we're both out. Lesson: Always bring enough water. I manage to make it back to the car. A bit dizzy, but there's a bit of water waiting for us there. We down it and head to the nearest shop.But before we go, we want to say goodbye to Denali. We stop at that viewpoint we stopped at earlier, and Denali is completely cloud-free! Amazing. It happens so rarely, and we were so lucky to see it. It's a gorgeous mountain. No, not gorges. Gorgeous.
We go on. We need liquid. We leave the park, and find a large general store. We get some drinks, some snacks, and some special Seattle sodas for Shabbat, and we book it to Anchorage.
I get a bit tired around Houston and stop for coffee at one of the many "espresso" trucks on the side of the road. Then, I stop for the bathroom at Arby's and pick up a souvenir for Adam who has regaled me with stories of his childhood trips to the Arby's in Kenai. Houston's not really close to Kenai, but it's a hell of a lot closer than Virginia is. Drive drive drive! We sing songs to keep us awake and not bored, and we worry about prepping for Shabbat. Organizing our luggage, which we had talked about doing since erev Talkeetna, had never happened. We knew we needed to have some good pre-shabbas time, and we weren't sure we could make it. We knew we had to be organized, so we made mental notes of what to do and in what order.
One of those things was calling Chabad to see when services started. Nine o'clock. There was no way we could make it to Anchorage by nine, much less be ready to take on the restrictions of Shabbas. Ok, so we'd do some kabbalat shabbat on our own. At about 930, we pull into the Thirteenth Street Hostel's driveway, park, and start to organize luggage.
Hussle hussle hussle. Get stuff in the house that we need in the house that we needed, start cooking what we needed to eat that day (there was a lunch at Chabad but we were both sure there would be no veg options), get stuff ready to go so that we can leave immediately after shabbas on Sunday. Choose what stays in the car, split stuff between the two of us, cook with the camping stove that was running out of fuel, find this and that, lots of last minute hurrying!
Candle-lighting was at 11:45. We lit at about 11:47 and made a few excuses why we needed the particular spot on the table that the camping stove was on so that we could move it. Lesson: No matter how late shabbat starts, you're never ready in time. We said a small kabbalat shabbat and individual maarivs. It was shabbas.
After dinner which was delicious, I stayed up for a while watching the candles to make sure they didn't burn the backyard down. The hostel owner was looking at me oddly, and I think he was afraid to put the candles out himself for fear of offending me. I would have preferred he extinguish them but oh well.
And then late Friday, I went to sleep.
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