Backpacking trip to Eagle Lake/Symphony Lake

So, last Friday, a fairly large group of people (me included) set off on an overnight backpacking trip. It was out of a suburb to the north of Anchorage called Eagle River. The destination? The Symphony Lake hiking trail, which would take us to the camping area near Eagle Lake (the two lakes are right next to each other). In all, it would be a 5 mile hike. We had hoped to start around 5:30 in the evening, to get in a few hours with the sun still up. However, in trying to gather everybody and get all the necessary supplies, we didn't get to the trail head until about 7:30.


The overall group was split into two parties. This was the party I was in. We all had our packs, weighing anywhere between 30-60 lbs per person. We had tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, warm clothes, food, water filters, and logs for fires.


Shortly after we started, the sun went down and the trail was dark.


So, we broke out the headlamps in order to have some vision.



A few friends.

So, the rest of the trip Friday was in the dark, so we didn't get a lot of good pictures. We got to the campsite a little after midnight. We hiked up mountainous trails, traversed through a boulder field, and went through a valley in order to get to our campsite. We set up our tents and got a fire going by around 12:45. We then ate dinner, as most of us (at least those of us who were awake) were starving! It took us around 5 hours, traveling 5 miles, and we wanted food! Most people brought food that just needed hot water (ramen, mountain house dehydrated meals). My roommate and I? We made tin-foil dinners: steak, potatoes, and carrots! We heated it up around our fire and ate like kings. Most of us went to sleep between 2 and 3 am.

I woke up around 9:00 am the next morning. Guess what we had?


It snowed on our tents!

Not only that, but the clouds cleared up, and we finally got to see the scenery around us. The vast majority of us had never been on this hike, so, we had no idea what anything really looked like. We knew we had set camp near Eagle Lake, and we knew we were in a valley. We had assumed that the mountains were rather close by. We were pleasantly surprised the next morning.


The tent I was in, with a great view to wake up to, with Eagle Lake in the background.


The valley was incredibly wide, much wider than we thought we were in.



With the clouds out of the way, the sun was up, and we had a beautiful day!



We filtered the glacier water from this lake for our water. The green color from the lake means it is filled with glacier silt (think sand, but much finer), so it's not entirely fresh water. Once filtered, the water is quite tasty.



After breakfast, a few of us journeyed out to go find Symphony Lake.


It was just on the other side of the ridge we camped nearby.


Me doing what I do so often.


All of the guys on the trip.



And this is the entire group who spent the night (17 overall). We were all packed up and ready to head back home.



The first place we had to go through was the boulder field. Boulder hopping wasn't too fun in the dark with a 50+ lb pack. It would be a lot better now that there was light, and our packs were down at least 10 lbs (from the logs and food).


An incomplete cabin right in the boulder field.


We really had no idea how big the boulder field really was until we saw it in the light. It had to be at least 1 mile long, as once we started through the field, we couldn't see anything beyond the field!



Along the way, we passed by Upper Symphony Lake.



Looking back at the boulder field after crossing through it. You can't even see beyond it!


Nearing the end, looking at the valley we went through. Not exactly narrow.

So, one event that I did not get pictures of:

Near the end of the trip (I'd say with 1.5 miles to go), we came upon a bridge that went over the last creek we would cross. One of the guys went to fill up his bottle in the creek. He said the water was fresh and delicious, so I went to fill mine up. As I knelt down on a rock next to the creek, my pack shifted, and the 40 lbs propelled me into the creek. I stood up to find that I was about waist deep in cold, snow runoff water. Knowing I wasn't going to get any more wet that I already was, I filled my bottle, took off my pack, handed it to a friend, and climbed my way out. Fortunately, I had the clothes I wore the night before, which while dirty and cold, were dry. One guy lent me his gloves, and one of the girls gave me some hand warmers so I could get some feeling back in my hands.

Overall, it was a wonderful trip. While it wasn't my first campout, nor my first hike, it was my first Alaskan backpacking/camping trip. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

My Doppelgänger

From Wikipedia:

A doppelgänger (pronounced [ˈdɔpəlˌgɛŋɐ] ( listen)) is a tangible double of a living person in fiction, folklore, and popular culture that typically represents evil. In the vernacular, the word has come to refer (as in German "doppelt(e)") to any double or look-alike of a person.

Lately, I've been told that I look like Jackie Chan's son, Jaycee Chan on more than one occasion. So, I'll let you guys decide if it is true or not. These pictures were the ones chosen by my friend Whitney.


With short hair.


With long hair.

I don't see it.

Summer Begins

To celebrate the beginning of summer in Alaska, I've been enjoying the late sun and the (fairly) nice weather we've had by doing a lot of outdoor activities. In particular, hiking has been a popular choice. There are so many great trails in and just outside of Anchorage. It's been great for group activities, dates, and just to go with friends.

One of the first trails we did to start the season was the Rainbow Trail.

I was told that a great photograph needs to have a person in it, so you get an idea of perspective. I did the exact opposite here, since this "gorge" is only about 6 inches high and barely wide enough to stick my foot in it.

The view of the Turnagain Arm as we're going up the trail.

My friends and I.

The most popular hike in Anchorage is Flat Top Mountain. It gets it's name due to the many high peaks on the mountain as you can clearly see in the next picture.

By many I mean none.

The trail was fairly steep.

The sun was out and shining. I think this was around 9:30 at night.

I won't say these are all my friends, since half of them I'd never seen before, and haven't seen since. But those that were in the previous picture I can say are my friends. We reached the top. Notice I am the only one wearing a t-shirt.

So, the footing to get up to the top was rather questionable. So, we decided to take the easy way down. By sledding on our butts. I was the last in the group to go down. Now, when I say we all went down sliding on our butts, I really mean, everybody else had one foot under their butt. So, while they all slid for about 10-15 seconds to get back to the trail, I sort of flew by them and went sliding for about a full minute. I ended up waste deep in melting snow, and had to pull myself back onto the trail. It really was fun, but there were a few battle scars I received.

The snow was not forgiving.

And, most recently in Anchorage, I went out for a hike in Kincaid Park with a couple of girls (by far the best part of the story). We're walking along, and one of them said "hey, there's a moose over there!" I looked up, and saw a moose running along a fence. I then noticed where the moose was running towards and realized the fence ended and there was a big opening. Instantly, I yelled "We need to run!" So, we ran off towards some trees to get some cover. I turned around to see where the moose was, and it stopped about 100 feet beyond the fence, where I took a picture real quick.

The moose then looked at us and started charging at us! I yelled "not far enough!" and we ran off again. After a while, we lost the moose near the soccer fields they had there, and saw it run off in another direction.

We also ran into some other furry friends.

Can you see it in the tree? It's a porcupine!

Walking towards the Cook Inlet.

Enjoying a beautiful sunset. The picture really doesn't do justice to the setting.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Hopefully, the summer will be filled with many more adventures.

Lack of excitement

I apologize for having gone the entire month of April without a single post. Really, there hasn't been anything too exciting. All the snow has melted off the ground, but nothing is in bloom yet, so Anchorage is rather....ugly. April is an anti-climatic month, as there is a lack of white or green. Summer is coming upon us, and the sun has been out late since the equinox. More interesting things will come, I'm sure.

Giant pumpkins

So, back in September, I went to the Alaska state fair. Mainly for one reason - to see the gigantic pumpkins. I'm sure I made a post about this back in September, but the friend of mine who took the picture only just now sent me the picture. So, here it is

It was a new world record...something like 1100 pounds. Crazy, right? That's a lot of pumpkin pie!

The Last Great Race on Earth

Iditarod XXXIX

March 5, 2011

10:00 am

Downtown Anchorage, on the corner of 4th and D St.

-1 fahrenheit outside

The great, 1049 mile race, from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. The top mushers typically finish in just under 9 days, making a great journey into the Last Frontier.

People lined up all along 4th Ave, even filling up the sides of the big parking garage facing the street, all cheering along the mushers and the dogs.

So, right at 10:00 am, the first musher takes off. Today was a ceremonial start, so the mushers take off in 2 minute intervals, and run down the Anchorage city streets, people cheering them on.

One of the greatest dog teams in the history of the Iditarod.

This is the team of Lance Mackey - winner of the previous 4 Iditarod races. First man ever to win 4 consecutively.

This team came all the way out from Australia.

Here's the banner flying high on the sled.

Dogs getting prepped at the starting line, waiting for the countdown to send them off.

All dogs get a thorough inspection, at the beginning and along all check points. Their health is always a top concern.

Anchorage police were kept busy, making sure traffic was under control and making sure people weren't doing anything too stupid.

These teams all consist of 16 dogs. There were 63 mushers in all. That's over 1000 dogs!

There's also a contest called the "Iditarider." It's a phone auction to ride along with all of the mushers for the 7 mile ceremonial run.

The dogs, though enjoying themselves, are hard at work.

The streets in Anchorage have no snow currently. It's all been plowed away, and we haven't had snow fall in a few weeks. So, snow has to be hauled in by dump truck so the mushers have snow to run on. Any snow we have in Anchorage at this point tends not to be so white and pristine looking.

There are some prominent mushers running in the 2011 Iditarod - Lance Mackey, who I mentioned earlier. He's wearing bib # 17. Martin Buser, another 4 time champion was wearing #11. And Rick Swenson, the only 5 time champion, wearing #49 (the lucky number). There's a great story with Martin Buser and the 2008 Iditarod. Read the story here:

http://www.adn.com/2008/03/12/342450/buser-takes-a-130-mph-detour.html

Well, as the mushers run, people along the way want to high-5 them.

And most do. I got in a few myself. I also got in trouble for standing on the snow bank the way this kid was. I guess you're not supposed to do that. Oops.

As for me, it turns out I was under-dressed. I only wore 2 layers, which wasn't quite enough, but I was able to tough it out for the 2+ hours of the ceremonial start of the race. Now, once the ceremonial run was over today, they packed up the dogs and sleds in trucks and shipped off to Willow Alaska (mile 69 on the George Parks Highway out from Anchorage). Tomorrow, they will have their official re-start, where official time is kept. Who will win the great race? Who knows? You can follow along here:

http://www.iditarod.com/

If you click on the Iditarod tracker on the window on the right side of the page, you can follow all the mushers, as they are kept track of by a GPS-based tracking device. Just in case you don't see the link:

http://www.ionearth.com/2011/iditarod/demo/

If I were a betting man, I'd say Lance Mackey will win again this year, maybe just beating out Martin Buser. To be fair, Buser does hold the record with the fastest finish, at 8 days and 22 hours, 46 minutes, and 2 seconds, and has the most consecutive race finishes (25 in a row, which is quite a feat, considering a lot of mushers can't even finish the 1000+ mile trek). So, I'm excited to follow along this year. Hope you enjoyed this.