FLASK Sep 4-11 (Inner Passage Ferry)
Sep 4:
Lazy day. Hostel offered free pancake breakfast. Repaired sandal soles. Walked to grocery store for duct tape & dramamine. Beer at Humpy's while reading Last American Man (very interesting character). Sat outside late with some kids who're backpacking everywhere together & swapped stories while watching some more transexuals wandering by.
Sep 5:
Up early, showered, oatmeal, pack, train depot ... Saw several Beluga whales surface in Chugach Arm, though weather was bad & getting worse. Arrived in Whittier in downpour with howling 40 mph winds to discover ferry was not in port so not leaving on schedule. Katie, a 23-year-old environmental studies major, had just biked Fairbanks to Anchorage & we agreed to share a hotel room. Pushed bikes in storm through Whittier pedestrian tunnel to Anchor Inn, walked to get beers, & sat in the room chatting til bedtime.
Sep 6: Ferry now expected to arrive/depart tomorrow morning. Breakfast at Anchor Inn was pretty good. Read. Mailed postcards. Read. Stretched. Meditated. Read. Bed. Very little chatting with Katie. Raging storm outside. Very, very cold with 40 mph winds, gusting to 60.
Sep 7:
Howling & nasty out when alarm went off at 5am. Very wet walk to terminal where boat was being fueled. Good cinnamon roll, breakfast burrito, & coffee across street. Met James, a 27-year-old Oregon student who'd cycled to Alaska this summer; though I nearly instantly began to avoid him since he was clearly an intolerable know-it-all. The storm was subsiding but once out of the harbor & into more open water it was nauseating. Dramamine helped, I'm sure, but a brief sit in the ferry's movie theatre sent the motion sickness to another level. 2 stops to puke on the way to bed on the Solarium deck lounge chair, where I'd set up. Eating didn't help but eventually my stomach settled & I was upright for a bit before finally lowering my head for the night.
Sep 8:
Still nasty in the morning, though the boat-pounding 8 ft swells had diminished to 4 ft. Dramamine early allowed me to be upright for meditation & oatmeal & I soon found that being outside & moving once in awhile was helpful. We'd pulled into Soldatna (?) in the morning & when we left we had a spectacularly clear view of the coastal St. Elias Range & the 18,000 ft Mt. St. Elias. Being outside with that view was a fantastic experience & the views of mountains & glaciers - 2 terminating in the open water of the Gulf of Alaska - lasted til mid-afternoon. We soon entered the protected waters of the Inner Passage where it was considerably calmer. A good stretch, reading, another meditation, dinner, & a late evening sighting of a distant pilot whale (?) were thoroughly enjoyed. We pulled into Juneau late where I called Rae before falling asleep.
Sep 9:
Meditation after waking early, then oatmeal while chatting with JD - a retired Alaskan northslope electrician/welder returning to tend his ailing dad in Montana. We were soon outside in bright, cold sunshine for a long, grand day of beautiful coastal/island scenery with numerous pilot whale, 1 killer whale, & 1 gray whale sighting. Casey, the old-age new father I'd met at the Fairbanks VC with his 16-month-old son, Javaughn, had me take a video of Javaughn tossing a "message in a baby bottle" overboard to post on Youtube ("It'll go viral, for sure," he assured me). The ferry made Ketchikan by 6. It was a very pretty coastal city but that was, I think, largely due to the bright sunshine. In an attempt to move my rental car pick-up from the 10th to the 11th I end up with an ambiguous "there might not be a car available" situation but there's no reason to fret as this will surely sort itself out somehow when we arrive, especially if I can beat down the sense of entitlement that often makes a minor delay or inconvenience immediately frustrating. The huge ferry made its way through an extraordinarily narrow channel upon leaving the dock & a beautiful orange, low cloud sunset aft competed with a rising full moon off the bow for my attention. After the sun went down & the intense shades of blue of water, island hills, clouds, & dark sky faded, I stretched fully & completely (making progress in re-mobilizing & working through the intense, lingering wrist & hip pain from backpacking), meditated, & had Mtn. House beef stew & cafe apple pie (with whipped cream!) for dinner. I wandered the boat, delivering a 2nd crappy, dehydrated granola breakfast packet to Katie, then looking - just looking - off the stern. It's sinking in that the adventure is over & a cleansing sense of fatigue, relief, & pride washed over me. I reflected on things I'd seen that I may never see again, feelings from different times in the journey still fresh enough to invoke wonder, terror, & awe in this moment. Contentment filled me. I have had my adventure of a lifetime & I am simply pleased. After these contemplations & with a light, joyous heart & clear head I walk to the bow. Kapow! The moon is bright, big, luminescent ... Stunningly beautiful. Islands in relief against the sea. Hills & forests alight. Currents reflect moonlight in such a way as to make it seem like there are rivers cutting through the sea. I sit in the cold breeze soaking it all in. For a brief while the wind puts tiny wavelets on the ocean's surface & these reflect little bits of moonlight in intricate patterns that first look like a changing, twinkling array of stars in a night sky. The moment stretches & I sense the systems of nature working to communicate with me. The reflections change & combine in a way that reminds me for some reason of a visual Morse code & I firmly feel that I am being reminded of the power, beauty, & mystery of the immutable connection between me (us) & the outdoors - something deep that's often hard for me to remember or retrieve even after I've been outdoors for 5 months, nearly continuously. I am connected to the moment, the sea, moon, myself, ... It's a luscious moment & I find, for once, that I need to exert no effort to stay in it. Some vagabond kids quietly set down sleeping pads & bags on the boat deck, gently interrupting the reverie. I think of sharing the moonbeam's sea dance with them but decide instead to let well enough alone. I may not always keep this sense that I can enjoy something without sharing it with "strangers" but tonight's contentment feels like something I can keep within. I walk again to the stern, out of the wind, to look across the dark water & the boat's wake luminescent with moonrays. A faint green glow shimmers low in the northern sky & as it morphs its shape then fades, I realize I've seen Northern Lights! This final discovery again brings strong feelings about the journey, the adventure, that I tuck into the core of me in a very satisfying way. Thrilled & content. I want to turn to Rae, look into her dark eyes to share a deep, binding experience but that desire & its heartache companion is soon put away. All these moments & so many others will be shared, however inadequately, through words instead. I feel, finally, that, even unshared with my soulmate & true love, these gifts of aware moments discovered & uncovered on the trip are wholly mine & wholly appreciated. I tuck into the bag after moving the lounge chair out under the open deck to sleep under that lovely moon & many stars.
Sep 10:
Very foggy morning til mid-afternoon so I read & meditated. When it cleared it was beautiful for the remainder of the day & well into the evening. There were several small Dusky dolphin pods & quite a few more orca sightings during the day but the most exciting moment was when the boat was fully surrounded by at least 100 Dusky dolphins - jumping, frolicking, surfing, spinning. With their white bellies they look like miniature orcas in the water & they seem so playful & joyous. What a great 5 minutes it was! The calm water of the Inner Passage these last few days has been such a relief & I feel immeasurably better emotionally when I'm not drugged with Dramamine. I talked for a long time with Rich (well, he talked mostly). He runs a mail-order cum Ebay hobby operation - mostly radio controlled toys & parts - in Minnesota, summers in Alaska, & was an intolerable bigot whose company I had to leave & continue to avoid. A wonderful sunset off the starboard kept me enthralled until the moon rose full & brilliant over the bow. JD & I shared a bench & chatted comfortably til late, then I stretched, meditated, & returned to the bow & that enchanting moon. I was very reluctant to head to bed simply because it would mark the last full day of the journey. I wandered the outside decks until very late, less contemplative than the previous night because the thought of seeing Rae soon was so pervasive that I was full of energy. I so adore, admire, & love her that, now that I'm so close, I am anxious now to be in her presence & have my life feel less adventurous & more whole.
Sep 11:
Beautiful day in Bellingham with gentle sun. Packed. Taxi to airport but there's trouble at the rental car agency with my credit card. Though stymied, I stay upbeat & hopeful while talking with Rae & the bank until the extraordinarily helpful young man at the Budget counter bends a few rules to get me going. It's odd to be back in the old stomping grounds of the PNW I5 corridor. Kattie is chatty while I drive her to Seatac, then it's over the Cascades & across that dry, hot plain to our new place in Spokane. Rae ... she's vibrantly beautiful & I can scarcely believe she's finally wrapped in my arms. There's sincerity & purpose & depth in this woman I cannot understand but I know the feeling of love that fills me. The adventure, while immensely satisfying, actually pales measurably when set beside my wife, my love. I'm home.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Sunday, September 4, 2011
FLASK August 26-September 3 (Denali NP)
FLASK August 26-September 3
Aug 26:
Rest & prep for Denali. Breakfast sandwich at market, laundry, calls to Rae (so in love), mailed 49th State Brewery beer glasses to Steve & Rae, then realized I'd missed the 130 shuttle from Healy to the park. Got a ride with my thumb out to Canyon - a very touristy town 2 miles from the park - then got on a resort shuttle into the park. Brad was so helpful. 1st in calming me down as I introduced myself by saying I was gonna pee myself I was so excited to be in Denali NP. 2nd, he was a knowledgable, enthusiastic, engaging young ranger, totally willing to listen to my broad outline (shuttle in, bike out, backcountry on the way out, 2-4 days for each excursion, short hikes in with loaded pack, set up base camp, day hikes up ridges & through tundra!) & then start lining out options & recommendations. Awesome! Fun! I wish Rae were here, too - she'd dig it the most! Bought bus tickets, paid for maps & wrote notes all over them, & caught a shuttle back to Canyon's World Famous Salmon Bake (overpriced, not awesome but Rogue River Dead Guy & my sponsor's Deschutes Mirror Pond on tap!) Chatted with young Bulgarian shuttle driver back to Healy (interesting, ambitious, friendly kid finishing a marketing degree) then did the 1st bit of food sorting & grouping (need more breakfast stuff). Talked to Rae again, though she sounded tired. Bed. Denali tomorrow!
Aug 27:
12 miles to Denali NP (5506 miles to get here from Panama City, FL. 4 months & 9 days.). Up early, packed camp, market breakfast sandwiches, bought market sandwiches for lunch & dinner today (I'm on the 200 shuttle & won't get to the end of the 92 mile park road at Kantishna until 830), & pedaled easily into a cold stiff headwind. Pictures at NP sign. Broad smile on my face as I pedal the last bit of pavement. From 1100-200, I sorted food, sorted clothes, repaired a latch on the pack, put stuff I didn't need in a locker, packed the backpack, wrote 20 of 30 postcards, & talked to Rae. She gave me her perspective on something I'd done recently, essentially scolding me. She's right but I'd rather have been coo-ing at one another since we won't talk til Sep 11. Ah well. She still loves me. The bus ride into & through the park was really something. If that'd been all I did, it would've been worth the ride to get here. It's a cold, beautifully sunny day with high clouds. Colors here are bright, rich, complex - purples, oranges, bright yellow, fiery red - all constantly morphed by passing clouds. The Alaska Range is steep & richly adorned with white snow. Mount Denali is nearly fully visible, with the South Summit in full sun. Staggering. Rivers become veins of mirrored glass with the reflection of an angled sun. A grizzly! Lone female walks right to the bus, passing in front with our engine off & all 23 of us quiet as mice. She feeds & wanders on the opposite side, oblivious to us. Dark legs and tan body. Bighorn sheep! 8 of them on a small pinnacle just 20 yards off the road. Again, we are silent & enjoy the proximity, color, musculature, horn diversity, & calm. 3 grizzlies! 1 2nd year cub wanders quite a ways from mom & sibling as they amble down the road away from our stopped bus. Then the wanderer lopes at a good pace toward us! It's lovely watching a wild beast move powerfully & unfrightened. Reunited, they inspect then knock over an orange safety cone before wandering into berry-filled scrub. A beaver! Swimming across a large pond, trailing a long "V." 2 moose! Big cow & a big calf are wading in another pond, nimble & gangly (they remind me of Pat Johnson). Uh oh, the weather's changed. Denali is now obscured & rain is approaching. It's raining steadily at Kantishna when I disembark (raingear already on) & I quickly adjust & cover the pack. Marie runs the Kantishna Roadhouse & graciously finds a spot for me to stash the bike. An immediate mid-thigh crossing of Moose Creek is required. Sandals on, I wade in. It's cold but not awful &, though there's potential for me to fall anywhere (ask Hogan), I manage to make it across. 5 minutes of thrashing through thick alder & I find the old mining road next to El Dorado Creek. Good portions of this unused rough track are covered by the creek & my feet become bright red with cold & my pants remain soaked to the knee (I'm planning to be wet everyday & will keep seperate clothes dry for camp). After an hour of walking, it's nearly 1000 & I pick a spot right on the bank of the tainted-orange-by-mining river, set up the tent in a diminishing sprinkle & clearing skies. Alarm set for 1AM so I can look for Northern Lights. I am here. In Denali NP. In the wilderness. Wow.
Aug 28:
The gurgling (tainted orange by mining runoff) El Dorado Creek dampened the sound of the rain but the odd tent flap from the infrequent wind would briefly panic me each time - "Hey, bear!" Haha! It was raining & cloudy at 1am so I went back to sleep. I didn't get up til late for oatmeal & cocoa but quickly packed food, clothes, maps, filter, & bottles into the daypack. Boots off & sandals on when it was obvious that thrashing through the creekside trees & shrubs. The creek was excrutiatingly cold & it consumed the Tractor Trail road frequently. Glimpses of the Alaska Range set my direction. For lunch, I clambered up a soft, pillowy hillside of moss, sat in the sun, & meditated. It was hard to ignore the building chorus in my head to head home NOW! I'm so lonesome for Rae & my head has become sour company. About an hour after lunch I passed the creek origins & put on boots for an arduous tramp. A startled caribou paused on the hillside above to snort displeasure. 2 different sets of ptarmigans with bright white underwings flashing as they flew away. Came across several moose & 1 caribou antler - mice-eaten moose antlers are like styrofoam inside. With moss underfoot over rock & shrub, the tramping was exceedingly difficult - tricky foot placements, variable sponginess, & sometimes chest deep, it was halting, dirty progress into the Kantishna Hills. At a nice series of ponds, I could see the southern end of the Alaska Range with dark, billowing clouds as backdrop. The water filter is broken so I gathered water to boil. My hip gave me increasing trouble on the long, tired trudge back. The cold creek made my head hurt but there was full sun in which to take a 20 minute nap when I made camp. My feet are trashed by scrub, & blistered from wet sandals & boots. I break down crying for Rae again while stretching. Perhaps it's also because I'm lonely, intimidated, sore, & worn out. It's hard to imagine my head coming back together enough to stay here through Sep 11 as planned.
Aug 29:
When the alarm beeped at 1am it was clear but very dark - no moon OR stars, oddly enough - so I brought out the mat, bag, & liner to sit outside & struggle to stay awake to look for Northern Lights. No luck. I got up early to a beautifully clear, crisp morning with frost on everything & the sun lighting the top of the crag across the creek. The backpack is heavy & the creek is so cold that my head hurts & I'm near to whimpering out loud. Crossing Moose Creek was mid-thigh at a different crossing, too, & no easier. Packed the bike. Thanked Marie. The ride profile printed in the park paper said it was climbing all the way to Eielson & I left it in granny gear the whole way. The cloudless view of McKinley & her sister peaks was so beautiful, especially when I saw their reflections in Wonder Lake & Reflection Pond (made famous in an Ansel Adams portrait). I talked a hiker into snapping a picture of me riding in front of McKinley early, thamkfully, as clouds built slowly during the day. The park's shrubs, alder, poplar, & aspen present an orgy of bright, vibrant colors - like an impressionist painting rendered by nature. Surreal. 3 separate caribou sightings, with the 2 beasts initially on the road moving off when the heard the bike approach. Around the corner are 4 Dahl sheep, including an adorable ewe & kid on a tall, slender 80 ft pinnacle. The ride on gravel is taxing after the heavy pack & my wrists take a severe beating. I contemplate bagging the adventure but a kind, reassuring ranger boosts my spirits by taking me outside with the map & just talking about the wilderness here. I am assured that this was the best weather day since May & encouraged to go up a steep, short ridge trail to terraces above the Moose Creek headwaters. Several kind tourists chatted with me & took pictures near the bike as I packed 2 days food into the pack, including a gal who asked what the hardest part was. When I burst into tears, her husband wrapped me in a big bear hug & told me Rae'd be there when I got back. So nice. The climb was 45 minutes & I walked to a terrace below, sluggishly put up camp, stashed food, & stretched as my mood improved. Lonely but in a beautiful spot in Denali, less exposed (being so close to the VC), & with a great day of weather. I stretched in the soft moss & late but still high sun. Mountain House Chicken Chow Mein was tasty. After stashing food, I wandered to another terrace to meditate then watch clouds play in front of & around McKinley, & a fierce storm develoing to the south. With sun behind it, the showers were gauze curtains, & the reds & purples in the long sunset were wonderfully complex. I wait expectantly in the bitter cold for alpenglow on McKinley - more than worth it - as lightning flashed in the distance. Thank goodness I stayed in the park!
Aug 30:
When I stepped out early to pee, the valley was filled with dense fog so I slept in. After breakfast I napped again since it was a drizzly, foggy mess in all directions. Pounding rain woke me briefly, then I managed an awkward tent stretch focused on my ailing hip. When it cleared I tramped to a narrow terrace to meditate. A herd of 14 Dahl sheep rested & grazed on the slope above camp for hours & the binocs were a nice treat. When I used them to scour the valley I developed motion sickness but not til after I saw 2 distant caribou. I dragged the mat & bag out to rest on the tundra in a spot out of the bitter wind until another storm develops. Nap in the tent, trying to rest my weary body. It clears for dinner & McKinley is only partially obscured, sparkling in low-angled sun through another distant storm system. Mtn House Mexican Chicken & Rice (yummy, actually), sitting & pondering in the cold wind, then Larsson's 3rd book before bed. What a lazy day. I again contemplate leaving as I'm desperate to be with Rae & adventured out. Very lonely.
Aug 31:
Socked in with fog at 1am so no Northern Lights. The wind made the tent sound like an animal again so I got up to tighten tentlines. McKinley was again only partially obscured as I sat for an early breakfast but it was shrouded by the time I finished. The bear canister was well down the hill from where I'd securely stashed it ... interesting. Fog in the valley below looked like a white, cottony sea. Long meditation. Packed up & hoisted the lighter pack (no food & minus 5 liters of water) easily. I chatted with a nice Aussie family - Ian, Suzy, & Megan - on a tramping vacation & passed on desert SW beta for their next planned segment. A large golden eagle startled me when it swooped 15 ft below me, it's light golden head flashing bright enough in the sun to trick me into thinking I'd spotted a rare-in-Denali bald eagle. An approaching ranger confirmed it was a golden & we watched it twirl in the updrafts overhead until it disappeared over a ridge. Serene yet powerful. Threatening weather continued to hold so I ate & packed the 3-day food cache slowly while chatting with Claire & Sam, a young couple from Dallas who'd been thrashed by the harsh tramping terrain in Polychrome & were heading toward Wonder Lake. They let me try their homegrown, home-dehydrated pasta sauce & left me with 2 homemade, very tasty granola bars. I confirmed plans to go into Wolverine Creek with another enthusiastic, encouraging ranger, then got on the bus for the 2 mile ride to Grassy Pass. I hefted the heavy-again backpack, slipped down a muddy social trail through willows, & walked on the wide, braided gravel channel of Thorofare Creek (draining Sunset Glacier) toward Glacier Creek & the tundra-covered Muldrow Glacier. Water coarsed over the top of my still-dry boots on the last crossing. Ah well. As I entered the morraine channel next to Muldrow my hip pain reached its threshold. When the drizzle began to intensify, I put on raingear & a road-schwag airline plastic bag over the pack. The hip pain was intolerable when I got the pack back on & I hobbled for 10 minutes longer, settling on a decent gravel patch on the morraine ridge with a sigh of relief. Ouch! Unpack & set up camp & am halfway through a stretch when it begins to rain. I read until 9pm then hunker over the stove in a downpour. Mtn House Mac'n'Cheese is just OK (crunchy noodles). More reading. Bed in a downpour.
Sep 1:
It rained steadily all night & well into the morning. Low fog nearly obscured the tundra-covered terminus of the Mudrow Glacier, which was just across Glacier Creek from camp. The tent had developed a leak near it's apex but I couldn't find a hole in the rainfly so I think that the rainproofing may have disintegrated there? More trouble, as well, with the already-thrice-repaired headlamp, which was much harder to get working again in full dark last night. Laying in the tent, hip still throbbing, I resolved to head home. The rain let up around 1000 so I packed up & hefted the pack for the 2 hr walk out, stopping to harvest unique rocks along the creek & gravel bed. Once on the broad, braided Thorofare Creek I saw a gal walking toward me. Marcia asked how far it was to the glacier &, misunderstanding that she meant Mudrow (another 30 minutes) not Sunset, I said it was 1 1/2 hrs. She didn't have time for the longer hike & we decided to hike out together. Fantastic gal - 61, fit, working as a program manager for Oregon Freeze Dry (the folks who make Mountain House), & on a self-guided Sierra Club excursion. She invited me to their group camp at Savage Creek CG, offering wine, dinner, & breakfast. Heck, yea! Once we made the road, the 1st bus didn't have room for both of us so we continued walking & chatting the 2 miles to Eielson VC. In the last mile, my hip exploded & it was a real struggle to finish. I limped around the VC until we found a bus with room for us, my bike & trailer. As we drove south we stopped for 2 grizzly sightings. One large boar playing in a nearby creek &, later, 2 large sows & 1 cub on a distant scree slope. Marcia's binocs were fantastic, though, & we got to "see" them up close. When we walked into camp she explained who I was & what I'd been up to & everyone immediately & warmly welcomed me, even though all except the 2 host/guides (Sara & Don) had paid a pretty penny for the excursion. I was handed wine, peppered with questions, had dinner (ham, coleslaw, corn on the cob, cornbread, & beans), walked down to Nanana River at twilight, & got a chance to talk with everyone 1:1 throughout the evening. Their generosity was over the top & they all seemed geniunely pleased to have been included in my adventure. Wow! Up late by the fire with Don (guide, organic farmer, heavy equipment operator, & gentle soul), Sara, Marcia, & Richard (traveling furniture salesman).
Sep 2:
15 miles from Savage Creek CG to Denali train station, Denali NP. 900-1030. I heard "Coffee!" & got up to oatmeal & ham for breakfast with the SC gang. They are so nice, so friendly, so generous. We were all packed up & heading out by 900, they to the shuttle stop, me biking out. Beautiful morning with clearing weather, great fall colors, moose (the 1st I've seen with a rack!), & a huge smile plastered on my face - I'm heading home to Rae! I arrived at the train station & discussed getting the bike & trailer on - all that was required was to remove the trailer's tow arm. Yea! A quick ride down to the Wilderness Access Center to return the bear canister (Brad was there & I thanked him again for his enthusiasm) & retrieve gear from the locker, then back to the station to re-sort gear & remove the tow arm. I called Rae & she's thrilled to have me on my way. Yea! There were some wonderfully funny & engaging Mississippians in the observation car & they dug it when I told them Mississippi was, by far, the friendliest state I'd ridden through. Then one of the SC gang spotted me & I wandered down to their car to share family pictures & chat. A great, long chat with Marcia, who I really dig. They got off at Taklinika for the next 2 days of their adventure. I got lucky finding a room in Anchorage late on Friday at the Bent Prop Inn & Hostel that was less than a mile from the train depot so, after piecing the trailer back together & loading the gear, it was easy to pull everything uphill. Shower, nice long chat with Rae, then a cheeseburger & 2 Mirror Ponds (Yea! Deschutes Brewery!) at Humpy's. Hip still throbbing but improved.
Sep 3:
Hostel folks are always interesting & here is no exception. 74-year-old Ron has been travelling his whole adult life, using a MA in ESL to teach & live all over the world. He's settled in Turkey for winters the last 15 years & goes wherever he wants in summer. Brazil & Argentina in 2012 ... cool. Booked train to Whittier for Sep 5 & Inner Passage ferry Sep 5-10. On my way to Rae for real! Eventually I walk 2 miles to downtown to return the REI pad & get shoe goo & a new headlamp. I also pick up brownie mix & return to the hostel to make them before the end-of-season cookout at 7pm. Brief stretch in the wet grass, then off to Humpy's for too many beers while watching a decent blues band & chatting with a local. Joe, a 46-year-old NY cop, & I sit outside & chat until 2am, enjoying a mild evening & a trickling parade of guys in drag leaving some party down the block. Ha! Good social distortion!
Aug 26:
Rest & prep for Denali. Breakfast sandwich at market, laundry, calls to Rae (so in love), mailed 49th State Brewery beer glasses to Steve & Rae, then realized I'd missed the 130 shuttle from Healy to the park. Got a ride with my thumb out to Canyon - a very touristy town 2 miles from the park - then got on a resort shuttle into the park. Brad was so helpful. 1st in calming me down as I introduced myself by saying I was gonna pee myself I was so excited to be in Denali NP. 2nd, he was a knowledgable, enthusiastic, engaging young ranger, totally willing to listen to my broad outline (shuttle in, bike out, backcountry on the way out, 2-4 days for each excursion, short hikes in with loaded pack, set up base camp, day hikes up ridges & through tundra!) & then start lining out options & recommendations. Awesome! Fun! I wish Rae were here, too - she'd dig it the most! Bought bus tickets, paid for maps & wrote notes all over them, & caught a shuttle back to Canyon's World Famous Salmon Bake (overpriced, not awesome but Rogue River Dead Guy & my sponsor's Deschutes Mirror Pond on tap!) Chatted with young Bulgarian shuttle driver back to Healy (interesting, ambitious, friendly kid finishing a marketing degree) then did the 1st bit of food sorting & grouping (need more breakfast stuff). Talked to Rae again, though she sounded tired. Bed. Denali tomorrow!
Aug 27:
12 miles to Denali NP (5506 miles to get here from Panama City, FL. 4 months & 9 days.). Up early, packed camp, market breakfast sandwiches, bought market sandwiches for lunch & dinner today (I'm on the 200 shuttle & won't get to the end of the 92 mile park road at Kantishna until 830), & pedaled easily into a cold stiff headwind. Pictures at NP sign. Broad smile on my face as I pedal the last bit of pavement. From 1100-200, I sorted food, sorted clothes, repaired a latch on the pack, put stuff I didn't need in a locker, packed the backpack, wrote 20 of 30 postcards, & talked to Rae. She gave me her perspective on something I'd done recently, essentially scolding me. She's right but I'd rather have been coo-ing at one another since we won't talk til Sep 11. Ah well. She still loves me. The bus ride into & through the park was really something. If that'd been all I did, it would've been worth the ride to get here. It's a cold, beautifully sunny day with high clouds. Colors here are bright, rich, complex - purples, oranges, bright yellow, fiery red - all constantly morphed by passing clouds. The Alaska Range is steep & richly adorned with white snow. Mount Denali is nearly fully visible, with the South Summit in full sun. Staggering. Rivers become veins of mirrored glass with the reflection of an angled sun. A grizzly! Lone female walks right to the bus, passing in front with our engine off & all 23 of us quiet as mice. She feeds & wanders on the opposite side, oblivious to us. Dark legs and tan body. Bighorn sheep! 8 of them on a small pinnacle just 20 yards off the road. Again, we are silent & enjoy the proximity, color, musculature, horn diversity, & calm. 3 grizzlies! 1 2nd year cub wanders quite a ways from mom & sibling as they amble down the road away from our stopped bus. Then the wanderer lopes at a good pace toward us! It's lovely watching a wild beast move powerfully & unfrightened. Reunited, they inspect then knock over an orange safety cone before wandering into berry-filled scrub. A beaver! Swimming across a large pond, trailing a long "V." 2 moose! Big cow & a big calf are wading in another pond, nimble & gangly (they remind me of Pat Johnson). Uh oh, the weather's changed. Denali is now obscured & rain is approaching. It's raining steadily at Kantishna when I disembark (raingear already on) & I quickly adjust & cover the pack. Marie runs the Kantishna Roadhouse & graciously finds a spot for me to stash the bike. An immediate mid-thigh crossing of Moose Creek is required. Sandals on, I wade in. It's cold but not awful &, though there's potential for me to fall anywhere (ask Hogan), I manage to make it across. 5 minutes of thrashing through thick alder & I find the old mining road next to El Dorado Creek. Good portions of this unused rough track are covered by the creek & my feet become bright red with cold & my pants remain soaked to the knee (I'm planning to be wet everyday & will keep seperate clothes dry for camp). After an hour of walking, it's nearly 1000 & I pick a spot right on the bank of the tainted-orange-by-mining river, set up the tent in a diminishing sprinkle & clearing skies. Alarm set for 1AM so I can look for Northern Lights. I am here. In Denali NP. In the wilderness. Wow.
Aug 28:
The gurgling (tainted orange by mining runoff) El Dorado Creek dampened the sound of the rain but the odd tent flap from the infrequent wind would briefly panic me each time - "Hey, bear!" Haha! It was raining & cloudy at 1am so I went back to sleep. I didn't get up til late for oatmeal & cocoa but quickly packed food, clothes, maps, filter, & bottles into the daypack. Boots off & sandals on when it was obvious that thrashing through the creekside trees & shrubs. The creek was excrutiatingly cold & it consumed the Tractor Trail road frequently. Glimpses of the Alaska Range set my direction. For lunch, I clambered up a soft, pillowy hillside of moss, sat in the sun, & meditated. It was hard to ignore the building chorus in my head to head home NOW! I'm so lonesome for Rae & my head has become sour company. About an hour after lunch I passed the creek origins & put on boots for an arduous tramp. A startled caribou paused on the hillside above to snort displeasure. 2 different sets of ptarmigans with bright white underwings flashing as they flew away. Came across several moose & 1 caribou antler - mice-eaten moose antlers are like styrofoam inside. With moss underfoot over rock & shrub, the tramping was exceedingly difficult - tricky foot placements, variable sponginess, & sometimes chest deep, it was halting, dirty progress into the Kantishna Hills. At a nice series of ponds, I could see the southern end of the Alaska Range with dark, billowing clouds as backdrop. The water filter is broken so I gathered water to boil. My hip gave me increasing trouble on the long, tired trudge back. The cold creek made my head hurt but there was full sun in which to take a 20 minute nap when I made camp. My feet are trashed by scrub, & blistered from wet sandals & boots. I break down crying for Rae again while stretching. Perhaps it's also because I'm lonely, intimidated, sore, & worn out. It's hard to imagine my head coming back together enough to stay here through Sep 11 as planned.
Aug 29:
When the alarm beeped at 1am it was clear but very dark - no moon OR stars, oddly enough - so I brought out the mat, bag, & liner to sit outside & struggle to stay awake to look for Northern Lights. No luck. I got up early to a beautifully clear, crisp morning with frost on everything & the sun lighting the top of the crag across the creek. The backpack is heavy & the creek is so cold that my head hurts & I'm near to whimpering out loud. Crossing Moose Creek was mid-thigh at a different crossing, too, & no easier. Packed the bike. Thanked Marie. The ride profile printed in the park paper said it was climbing all the way to Eielson & I left it in granny gear the whole way. The cloudless view of McKinley & her sister peaks was so beautiful, especially when I saw their reflections in Wonder Lake & Reflection Pond (made famous in an Ansel Adams portrait). I talked a hiker into snapping a picture of me riding in front of McKinley early, thamkfully, as clouds built slowly during the day. The park's shrubs, alder, poplar, & aspen present an orgy of bright, vibrant colors - like an impressionist painting rendered by nature. Surreal. 3 separate caribou sightings, with the 2 beasts initially on the road moving off when the heard the bike approach. Around the corner are 4 Dahl sheep, including an adorable ewe & kid on a tall, slender 80 ft pinnacle. The ride on gravel is taxing after the heavy pack & my wrists take a severe beating. I contemplate bagging the adventure but a kind, reassuring ranger boosts my spirits by taking me outside with the map & just talking about the wilderness here. I am assured that this was the best weather day since May & encouraged to go up a steep, short ridge trail to terraces above the Moose Creek headwaters. Several kind tourists chatted with me & took pictures near the bike as I packed 2 days food into the pack, including a gal who asked what the hardest part was. When I burst into tears, her husband wrapped me in a big bear hug & told me Rae'd be there when I got back. So nice. The climb was 45 minutes & I walked to a terrace below, sluggishly put up camp, stashed food, & stretched as my mood improved. Lonely but in a beautiful spot in Denali, less exposed (being so close to the VC), & with a great day of weather. I stretched in the soft moss & late but still high sun. Mountain House Chicken Chow Mein was tasty. After stashing food, I wandered to another terrace to meditate then watch clouds play in front of & around McKinley, & a fierce storm develoing to the south. With sun behind it, the showers were gauze curtains, & the reds & purples in the long sunset were wonderfully complex. I wait expectantly in the bitter cold for alpenglow on McKinley - more than worth it - as lightning flashed in the distance. Thank goodness I stayed in the park!
Aug 30:
When I stepped out early to pee, the valley was filled with dense fog so I slept in. After breakfast I napped again since it was a drizzly, foggy mess in all directions. Pounding rain woke me briefly, then I managed an awkward tent stretch focused on my ailing hip. When it cleared I tramped to a narrow terrace to meditate. A herd of 14 Dahl sheep rested & grazed on the slope above camp for hours & the binocs were a nice treat. When I used them to scour the valley I developed motion sickness but not til after I saw 2 distant caribou. I dragged the mat & bag out to rest on the tundra in a spot out of the bitter wind until another storm develops. Nap in the tent, trying to rest my weary body. It clears for dinner & McKinley is only partially obscured, sparkling in low-angled sun through another distant storm system. Mtn House Mexican Chicken & Rice (yummy, actually), sitting & pondering in the cold wind, then Larsson's 3rd book before bed. What a lazy day. I again contemplate leaving as I'm desperate to be with Rae & adventured out. Very lonely.
Aug 31:
Socked in with fog at 1am so no Northern Lights. The wind made the tent sound like an animal again so I got up to tighten tentlines. McKinley was again only partially obscured as I sat for an early breakfast but it was shrouded by the time I finished. The bear canister was well down the hill from where I'd securely stashed it ... interesting. Fog in the valley below looked like a white, cottony sea. Long meditation. Packed up & hoisted the lighter pack (no food & minus 5 liters of water) easily. I chatted with a nice Aussie family - Ian, Suzy, & Megan - on a tramping vacation & passed on desert SW beta for their next planned segment. A large golden eagle startled me when it swooped 15 ft below me, it's light golden head flashing bright enough in the sun to trick me into thinking I'd spotted a rare-in-Denali bald eagle. An approaching ranger confirmed it was a golden & we watched it twirl in the updrafts overhead until it disappeared over a ridge. Serene yet powerful. Threatening weather continued to hold so I ate & packed the 3-day food cache slowly while chatting with Claire & Sam, a young couple from Dallas who'd been thrashed by the harsh tramping terrain in Polychrome & were heading toward Wonder Lake. They let me try their homegrown, home-dehydrated pasta sauce & left me with 2 homemade, very tasty granola bars. I confirmed plans to go into Wolverine Creek with another enthusiastic, encouraging ranger, then got on the bus for the 2 mile ride to Grassy Pass. I hefted the heavy-again backpack, slipped down a muddy social trail through willows, & walked on the wide, braided gravel channel of Thorofare Creek (draining Sunset Glacier) toward Glacier Creek & the tundra-covered Muldrow Glacier. Water coarsed over the top of my still-dry boots on the last crossing. Ah well. As I entered the morraine channel next to Muldrow my hip pain reached its threshold. When the drizzle began to intensify, I put on raingear & a road-schwag airline plastic bag over the pack. The hip pain was intolerable when I got the pack back on & I hobbled for 10 minutes longer, settling on a decent gravel patch on the morraine ridge with a sigh of relief. Ouch! Unpack & set up camp & am halfway through a stretch when it begins to rain. I read until 9pm then hunker over the stove in a downpour. Mtn House Mac'n'Cheese is just OK (crunchy noodles). More reading. Bed in a downpour.
Sep 1:
It rained steadily all night & well into the morning. Low fog nearly obscured the tundra-covered terminus of the Mudrow Glacier, which was just across Glacier Creek from camp. The tent had developed a leak near it's apex but I couldn't find a hole in the rainfly so I think that the rainproofing may have disintegrated there? More trouble, as well, with the already-thrice-repaired headlamp, which was much harder to get working again in full dark last night. Laying in the tent, hip still throbbing, I resolved to head home. The rain let up around 1000 so I packed up & hefted the pack for the 2 hr walk out, stopping to harvest unique rocks along the creek & gravel bed. Once on the broad, braided Thorofare Creek I saw a gal walking toward me. Marcia asked how far it was to the glacier &, misunderstanding that she meant Mudrow (another 30 minutes) not Sunset, I said it was 1 1/2 hrs. She didn't have time for the longer hike & we decided to hike out together. Fantastic gal - 61, fit, working as a program manager for Oregon Freeze Dry (the folks who make Mountain House), & on a self-guided Sierra Club excursion. She invited me to their group camp at Savage Creek CG, offering wine, dinner, & breakfast. Heck, yea! Once we made the road, the 1st bus didn't have room for both of us so we continued walking & chatting the 2 miles to Eielson VC. In the last mile, my hip exploded & it was a real struggle to finish. I limped around the VC until we found a bus with room for us, my bike & trailer. As we drove south we stopped for 2 grizzly sightings. One large boar playing in a nearby creek &, later, 2 large sows & 1 cub on a distant scree slope. Marcia's binocs were fantastic, though, & we got to "see" them up close. When we walked into camp she explained who I was & what I'd been up to & everyone immediately & warmly welcomed me, even though all except the 2 host/guides (Sara & Don) had paid a pretty penny for the excursion. I was handed wine, peppered with questions, had dinner (ham, coleslaw, corn on the cob, cornbread, & beans), walked down to Nanana River at twilight, & got a chance to talk with everyone 1:1 throughout the evening. Their generosity was over the top & they all seemed geniunely pleased to have been included in my adventure. Wow! Up late by the fire with Don (guide, organic farmer, heavy equipment operator, & gentle soul), Sara, Marcia, & Richard (traveling furniture salesman).
Sep 2:
15 miles from Savage Creek CG to Denali train station, Denali NP. 900-1030. I heard "Coffee!" & got up to oatmeal & ham for breakfast with the SC gang. They are so nice, so friendly, so generous. We were all packed up & heading out by 900, they to the shuttle stop, me biking out. Beautiful morning with clearing weather, great fall colors, moose (the 1st I've seen with a rack!), & a huge smile plastered on my face - I'm heading home to Rae! I arrived at the train station & discussed getting the bike & trailer on - all that was required was to remove the trailer's tow arm. Yea! A quick ride down to the Wilderness Access Center to return the bear canister (Brad was there & I thanked him again for his enthusiasm) & retrieve gear from the locker, then back to the station to re-sort gear & remove the tow arm. I called Rae & she's thrilled to have me on my way. Yea! There were some wonderfully funny & engaging Mississippians in the observation car & they dug it when I told them Mississippi was, by far, the friendliest state I'd ridden through. Then one of the SC gang spotted me & I wandered down to their car to share family pictures & chat. A great, long chat with Marcia, who I really dig. They got off at Taklinika for the next 2 days of their adventure. I got lucky finding a room in Anchorage late on Friday at the Bent Prop Inn & Hostel that was less than a mile from the train depot so, after piecing the trailer back together & loading the gear, it was easy to pull everything uphill. Shower, nice long chat with Rae, then a cheeseburger & 2 Mirror Ponds (Yea! Deschutes Brewery!) at Humpy's. Hip still throbbing but improved.
Sep 3:
Hostel folks are always interesting & here is no exception. 74-year-old Ron has been travelling his whole adult life, using a MA in ESL to teach & live all over the world. He's settled in Turkey for winters the last 15 years & goes wherever he wants in summer. Brazil & Argentina in 2012 ... cool. Booked train to Whittier for Sep 5 & Inner Passage ferry Sep 5-10. On my way to Rae for real! Eventually I walk 2 miles to downtown to return the REI pad & get shoe goo & a new headlamp. I also pick up brownie mix & return to the hostel to make them before the end-of-season cookout at 7pm. Brief stretch in the wet grass, then off to Humpy's for too many beers while watching a decent blues band & chatting with a local. Joe, a 46-year-old NY cop, & I sit outside & chat until 2am, enjoying a mild evening & a trickling parade of guys in drag leaving some party down the block. Ha! Good social distortion!
Friday, August 26, 2011
FLASK August 20-25
FLASK August 20-25
Aug 20:
Happy Birthday, Rachel! 67 miles to Sears Creek (14 miles west of Dot Lake). 1100-530. Rained all night & into the morning ... again. I just waited & by 830 it was done. I walked to Fast Eddies for breakfast (biscuits, sausage, eggs, gravy, hashbrowns - yes, real US hashbrowns. Hey Canada, hashbrowns are shredded, not cut). Talked to Rae - she's so cool. Talked to Jon at PBS - they're negotiating details with the park & on track for 2 days of shooting around Sept 5. The tent dried a bit during breakfast - yea! With the new pad, the load just got bulkier (I've got to turn the old pad into the Anchorage REI to get credit for the warranty). Groceries. Postcards. Out of town ... oops, left camera battery charging at camp so go back 1 1/2 miles & head out again. Threatening sky, dry pavement, a separate bike path, & flat terrain - what else could you want? A tailwind, you say? Done. Fun spinning out of town. Cool, close mountains with new dustings of snow. Color still spotty but underway. Eventually, some very gentle rollers are presented for my pedaling pleasure. Salami & pita, snacks for lunch. Scenic lakes roll past, though they are not the mirrors that were on display on yesterday's near windless ride. At Dot Lake I stop at the post office (seriously? No one lives here. No one) because I see 2 tourons. Dan & Guy are Isrealis going to school in Champagne-Urbana, cycling from Anchorage to Haines, ferrying to Bellingham, riding to Spokane, & train-ing to Chicago. Of course, I offered to help with the Spokane transition. Nice kids. I roll on, content. The sun is out, the day is warm enough that I cycle without the pullover (or raingear!) for the 1st time since ...? I don't like the garbage strewn pullout at Berry Creek but the next one - just 3 miles farther - at Sears Creek is fine. Paved but no garbage & a little gravel spot for my tent. Mosquitos attack. Spray solves the problem & camp is soon up. Stretching is connected - the sun shines through distant clouds, striking the wheat-like tall grass undulating in the wind. I cook & eat away from the tent, string the food, & decide not to repair the tent sack that tore this morning, or patch the hole in the tent floor that I noticed setting up, or glue my hiking boot soles & sandals. With those tasks & a typical remote camp start, it'll be a good excuse to stop early tomorrow. I feel better than I have recently & it's from (1) having a good sleeping pad, & (2) not having put any effort into the bike today. Wrists are better but ... Anyway, we'll see tomorrow when I hit Delta Junction.
Aug 21:
60 miles to Delta Junction. 1000-400. Sunshine. Horizon to horizon. Slept in & got out when it was hot in the tent - hadn't happened in ...? 9-grain (when is this gonna end?), cocoa, pack. Roll on easy terrain. Stop to take pictures of mountains, chalky rivers (Robertson & Johnson were both wide, gravel islanded, tree strewn, & braided, with sunlit snowy peaks behind nearer treed hills), butterflies, ... Salami on rounds for lunch. Nice change. Lounging & meditating in the sun. Also nice change. The trees are so dense & close that distant mountains with permanent snowfields are seen only when fire or man has cleared a sight line. Delta Junction is the end of the Alaska Hwy (at milepost 1422) so I took a picture, even though I'd failed to get one at Mile 0 in Dawson Creek. Light grocery shopping then another mile - this on the Richardson Hwy - to a State Park CG. Tent up, then chores: glue hiking boots (optimistic), sewed tent bag, patched hole in tent floor, tightened trailer. Connected,effective stretch again. Nice. Dinner was same as last night,except I added real Tillamook cheese to mac'n'cheese & tuna. Plus I ate the whole 6-pack of tapioca pudding snacks & nearly the entire pound of Bing cherries. Rae's exhausted with all her obligations before leaving Phoenix Aug 23 so I'll call again in the morning for a longer chat. Missing her is the most difficult part of the trip.
Aug 22:
59 miles to Salcha River Rec Area CG. 1000-500. Slept in again, purposefully avoiding creating opportunities for long mileage days by being out too early. 9-grain - Thank goodness, that's the last of it. Now on to regular oatmeal. Got to talk to Rae again - what a treat & we coo'd at each other before hanging up. Sunshine horizon to horizon. Are these last 6 days gonna break the rain spell? I get pulled over by Jarred in a red pick-up & he wants to know if I'm part of the Valdez-to-Anchorage group. "Nope." "2 of 'em's got hurt last night. Choppered to Anchorage. Well, free breakfast back in town 10 miles if you want it." Tempting ... but I roll on. Easy terrain with ocassional short sets of rollers as I parallel the wide, chalky, braided Tanana River. I stop anywhere & everywhere. Ooh, lake? Ooh, river view? Ooh, goggles? Schwag! I add them to the construction helmet I picked up for Phin 4 days ago. The lunch view from a bluff above the Tanana - easily a braided 1/2 mile wide, resplendent with gravel bars - is serene but wild. Later, it's especially lovely at Birch Lake so I strip & wade in. Very brisk. An older couple in an RV pull in as I'm dressing. Naked tush seen in Alaska? Check. Just ride off, Craig. Coming my way in my shoulder is ... well ... Fred Knudson ... pulling what looks like a 20' dragster. I mean walking/pulling. He got a bad GM pick-up in 2006 & they didn't want to fix it so he made this 400 lb. GM Bolt racecar/cart thingy & has signs all over it about how GM sucks. He can sleep in it & has but now he sleeps in his truck camper. He'll drive the truck 8-12 miles up the road, park, walk back to his Bolt, & pull it to his camper. Repeat until done. He's pulled it once from Fairbanks to Haines. This trip he's only going to Delta Junction as "that's plenty of exercise." The 69-year-old says, "Now you can tell your wife you've met somebody crazier 'n you! Ha!" Neat. I stop for soup & coffee in Salcha in late afternoon & get asked again if I'm with that Valdez ride. This time someone's got a flier: it's a 750 mile rondannae that started Aug 21 (yesterday). These cyclists ride unsupported & carry almost nothing, relying on the communities they ride through for water, food, lodging, etc. They're not races but they're pretty popular & this one's billed as The Wild Ride. Good to know. Threatening clouds don't spill rain as they pass overhead & I finish 8 easy miles to Salcha River Rec Area, set up (this time I dig a little to confirm that the tent stakes have indeed been hitting permafrost these last few nights), rest in tall grass watching golden leaves fall & rock their way down to me, stretch, & make & eat dinner (Ramen, pepper, tuna, parmesan). I pop back on the bike & go back 1 mile to a little store. Yes, beer! So now I sit at the nice CG picnic table, that storm wreaking thunderous havoc 15 miles off, sipping Alaskan Amber, in Alaska. Seriously?! Sister, Brother - I don't know what you got goin' on right now but, man, my life is good. 3 easy days to Healey - the entrance to Denali. Closing in. [Not 20 seconds later, it begins to sprinkle. As I'm crawling into the tent the deluge comes, with that thunder right on top of me now. Hold on wee-tent!]
Aug 23:
44 miles to Fairbanks. 1000-200. Rained all night & drizzled the rest of the day. Packed quickly while eating oatmeal (yummy!) & on the road as the drizzle continued, though the roads weren't too sloppy. Terrain very easy on this brisk, windless day. A big aircraft deployed a parachute to decelerate on the airbase - pretty cool. Rode past North Pole, AK, unwilling to stop at a gaudy tourist trap but willing to snap pictures of the 50 ft. Santa outside. After some helpful direction from locals, I was held captive at the visitor center from 200-400; everyone wanted pictures, to hear an answer to a crafty question ("Have to repair anything?," from a 12-year-old girl. Then, "How'd you fix it? Got tools?," from her mom), & to tell their stories. Like Patrick, 54, & a new father of a 14-month-old boy, whose momma's in jail. They're going back to Ketchikan where there's more family. Or Bruce & his dad, Dwayne, from Decorah, IA, &, of course, I dated the 1980 Decorah Dairy Princess while attending ISU we had plenty to talk about. Or Karen, from Lincoln, NE, but went to my rival HS (Bellevue East). Fun. I make it to Chena River SP CG, in the middle of Fairbanks, set up camp, stretch, talk to Rae, & eay a huge plate of Chili Rellenos & 3 good beers (props to a sponsor, Deschutes, as Mirror Pond was by far the best beer on tap amongst a decent selection). Talked to Rachel for a nice, long time - what a sweetie. Boot repair looks solid, though a touch-up with more epoxy & some insoles are required. Squirrels chattering & throwing down pine cones from high overhead. Fixed incessant bike squeak - Hey, Julie Callan! Remember that ride where you pointed out the loose bolt on the back rack? Yep, that was it again! Made me think of Rob & how much I already miss that guy & how long it'll be til I see him again. & those wonderful grandkids. Weepy ... Okay, 2 days to Denali!
Aug 24:
54 miles to Nenama. 100-600. I got up early for a few reasons. (1) The guy in the next campsite was crazy & angrily, loudly talking to himself late at night & in the morning. (2) There's construction going on in the CG. (3) I had a list of things to do to prep for Denali. Breakfast at Sourdough Sam's was yummy & filling & I used 3G to email ride photos to PBS, look for Denali-Anchorage shuttle info, & find a local bookstore & outdoor store. Went looking for touch-up shoe glue & insoles but when I pulled the shoes out, it was obvious the repair had already failed - the sole has delaminated. Dangit, Noni! Luckily I found a pair of size 10 Chaco waterproof hiking boots for $40 in the clearance area. (Now if I could just get Chaco to fix my sandal resoles that exploded 2 weeks after receipt.) Also bought 2 weeks of dehydrated meals for in Denali. I'll get oatmeal & trail mix in Healy. The bookstore took my book & I got a hard cover (not in paperback, apparently) of Larsson's The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (3rd of the trilogy). Then McDonalds for free WiFi where I downloaded books & movies while chatting with Rae. Josh is driving the U-Haul toward Spokane while Rae follows in the Highlander with Bailey. They should be there the day I go into the park. Finally ready, I roll out of town & up an at-times-steep 10 mile hill. There's a set of stiff rollers on the ridge I've climbed onto but the expansive scenery distracts wonderfully. Colors aren't turned in whole sections of forest yet - indvidual trees are often resplendent, though - but from a good vantage, it's lovely to see the huge patches of light green amidst the dark conifers, interspersed with lakes & connecting rivers, alight with reflective sunshine, clouds in the background ... wild, open, intimidating, lovely. I stop before Nenama at a lightly trashed, hidden pullout next to the Tanana River. Tent up. Stretch. The river is at least 1/4 mile wide here & laden with dirt. It moves by talking, sucking, & pulling. Logs float, eddies form, whirlpools combine gracefully. With the long sunset behind distant blue & orange clouds, I sit on the silt bank contemplating the adventure, my life, the destruction & turmoil of humanity, ... etc. Looking out across the scenic, wild river with all the trash behind me & thus out of view is a perfect situational metaphor for how we all live: keep the blinders on, ignore the chaos resulting from our collective desire for comfort & convenience ... "Ignore the man behind the curtain." A sour taste forms in my mouth from my part in it. Sadness overwhelms me so easily at times on this adventure & I realize that missing & longing for Rae is like an undertow. The adventure, all I've seen, all the great people I've met ... all that exuberance & wonder have been slightly undermined, slightly diminished, simply because I miss her so constantly & so deeply. I know she wants me to enjoy every minute as thoroughly & as engaged as possible, so I try & am glad that there are so many times in any given day where I can claim success. But there are days when I cannot & I just cry all day while turning the pedals. There are too many evenings to count when melancholy is invited into my head. A natural hazard of an odd, somewhat troubled person traveling alone for so long, I think. - On another topic, I am quite used to being really dirty now. & my mustache looks so ridiculous. Somehow, I'm reluctant to shave it for the PBS filming. I know I look stupid but I'm somehow still thinking it might really improve with another month. Re-tard.
Aug 25:
59 miles to Healy. 1000-530. Got up early to watch sunrise on a very clear morning with great colors over the river, then back into bed for a little longer. Good breakfast in Nenama, then some cute old ladies wanted to chat in the sun. Easy, crisp rolling on flat roads to Clear where I made a salami sandwich, had an ice cream bar, & talked to Rae. But a trivial parting comment from her left me brooding all afternoon &, unfortunately, the weather & terrain changed, too. A fierce, cold, gusting 25-35 mph headwind & stiff rolling hills made me work pretty hard on this, the last long day of riding (there's just 12 miles from Healy to Denali NP from here, & I intend to ride back down the park road - camping & backpacking along the way - after having the park shuttle take me up it.) It took awhile to finish in that wind & I was chilled & tired but satisfied that I didn't whinge. The local store/CG has nice wooded tentsites & I put the tent up, stretch, walk over to the 49th State brewery for a cheeseburger & beers (they have the bus used in the film Into The Wild. Mostly because there's been folks tramping out to the real Magic Bus & some 22-year-old Swiss gal drowned trying to get out there. I'm sure I'll take some pics today.) Rae didn't answer so I continued to brood, showered, then watched The Big Lebowski on my phone. I'll take the $1 shuttle to Denali tomorrow to plan & get permits, then come back to Healy to do laundry & stock final groceries. Then it's Into The Park Saturday!
Aug 20:
Happy Birthday, Rachel! 67 miles to Sears Creek (14 miles west of Dot Lake). 1100-530. Rained all night & into the morning ... again. I just waited & by 830 it was done. I walked to Fast Eddies for breakfast (biscuits, sausage, eggs, gravy, hashbrowns - yes, real US hashbrowns. Hey Canada, hashbrowns are shredded, not cut). Talked to Rae - she's so cool. Talked to Jon at PBS - they're negotiating details with the park & on track for 2 days of shooting around Sept 5. The tent dried a bit during breakfast - yea! With the new pad, the load just got bulkier (I've got to turn the old pad into the Anchorage REI to get credit for the warranty). Groceries. Postcards. Out of town ... oops, left camera battery charging at camp so go back 1 1/2 miles & head out again. Threatening sky, dry pavement, a separate bike path, & flat terrain - what else could you want? A tailwind, you say? Done. Fun spinning out of town. Cool, close mountains with new dustings of snow. Color still spotty but underway. Eventually, some very gentle rollers are presented for my pedaling pleasure. Salami & pita, snacks for lunch. Scenic lakes roll past, though they are not the mirrors that were on display on yesterday's near windless ride. At Dot Lake I stop at the post office (seriously? No one lives here. No one) because I see 2 tourons. Dan & Guy are Isrealis going to school in Champagne-Urbana, cycling from Anchorage to Haines, ferrying to Bellingham, riding to Spokane, & train-ing to Chicago. Of course, I offered to help with the Spokane transition. Nice kids. I roll on, content. The sun is out, the day is warm enough that I cycle without the pullover (or raingear!) for the 1st time since ...? I don't like the garbage strewn pullout at Berry Creek but the next one - just 3 miles farther - at Sears Creek is fine. Paved but no garbage & a little gravel spot for my tent. Mosquitos attack. Spray solves the problem & camp is soon up. Stretching is connected - the sun shines through distant clouds, striking the wheat-like tall grass undulating in the wind. I cook & eat away from the tent, string the food, & decide not to repair the tent sack that tore this morning, or patch the hole in the tent floor that I noticed setting up, or glue my hiking boot soles & sandals. With those tasks & a typical remote camp start, it'll be a good excuse to stop early tomorrow. I feel better than I have recently & it's from (1) having a good sleeping pad, & (2) not having put any effort into the bike today. Wrists are better but ... Anyway, we'll see tomorrow when I hit Delta Junction.
Aug 21:
60 miles to Delta Junction. 1000-400. Sunshine. Horizon to horizon. Slept in & got out when it was hot in the tent - hadn't happened in ...? 9-grain (when is this gonna end?), cocoa, pack. Roll on easy terrain. Stop to take pictures of mountains, chalky rivers (Robertson & Johnson were both wide, gravel islanded, tree strewn, & braided, with sunlit snowy peaks behind nearer treed hills), butterflies, ... Salami on rounds for lunch. Nice change. Lounging & meditating in the sun. Also nice change. The trees are so dense & close that distant mountains with permanent snowfields are seen only when fire or man has cleared a sight line. Delta Junction is the end of the Alaska Hwy (at milepost 1422) so I took a picture, even though I'd failed to get one at Mile 0 in Dawson Creek. Light grocery shopping then another mile - this on the Richardson Hwy - to a State Park CG. Tent up, then chores: glue hiking boots (optimistic), sewed tent bag, patched hole in tent floor, tightened trailer. Connected,effective stretch again. Nice. Dinner was same as last night,except I added real Tillamook cheese to mac'n'cheese & tuna. Plus I ate the whole 6-pack of tapioca pudding snacks & nearly the entire pound of Bing cherries. Rae's exhausted with all her obligations before leaving Phoenix Aug 23 so I'll call again in the morning for a longer chat. Missing her is the most difficult part of the trip.
Aug 22:
59 miles to Salcha River Rec Area CG. 1000-500. Slept in again, purposefully avoiding creating opportunities for long mileage days by being out too early. 9-grain - Thank goodness, that's the last of it. Now on to regular oatmeal. Got to talk to Rae again - what a treat & we coo'd at each other before hanging up. Sunshine horizon to horizon. Are these last 6 days gonna break the rain spell? I get pulled over by Jarred in a red pick-up & he wants to know if I'm part of the Valdez-to-Anchorage group. "Nope." "2 of 'em's got hurt last night. Choppered to Anchorage. Well, free breakfast back in town 10 miles if you want it." Tempting ... but I roll on. Easy terrain with ocassional short sets of rollers as I parallel the wide, chalky, braided Tanana River. I stop anywhere & everywhere. Ooh, lake? Ooh, river view? Ooh, goggles? Schwag! I add them to the construction helmet I picked up for Phin 4 days ago. The lunch view from a bluff above the Tanana - easily a braided 1/2 mile wide, resplendent with gravel bars - is serene but wild. Later, it's especially lovely at Birch Lake so I strip & wade in. Very brisk. An older couple in an RV pull in as I'm dressing. Naked tush seen in Alaska? Check. Just ride off, Craig. Coming my way in my shoulder is ... well ... Fred Knudson ... pulling what looks like a 20' dragster. I mean walking/pulling. He got a bad GM pick-up in 2006 & they didn't want to fix it so he made this 400 lb. GM Bolt racecar/cart thingy & has signs all over it about how GM sucks. He can sleep in it & has but now he sleeps in his truck camper. He'll drive the truck 8-12 miles up the road, park, walk back to his Bolt, & pull it to his camper. Repeat until done. He's pulled it once from Fairbanks to Haines. This trip he's only going to Delta Junction as "that's plenty of exercise." The 69-year-old says, "Now you can tell your wife you've met somebody crazier 'n you! Ha!" Neat. I stop for soup & coffee in Salcha in late afternoon & get asked again if I'm with that Valdez ride. This time someone's got a flier: it's a 750 mile rondannae that started Aug 21 (yesterday). These cyclists ride unsupported & carry almost nothing, relying on the communities they ride through for water, food, lodging, etc. They're not races but they're pretty popular & this one's billed as The Wild Ride. Good to know. Threatening clouds don't spill rain as they pass overhead & I finish 8 easy miles to Salcha River Rec Area, set up (this time I dig a little to confirm that the tent stakes have indeed been hitting permafrost these last few nights), rest in tall grass watching golden leaves fall & rock their way down to me, stretch, & make & eat dinner (Ramen, pepper, tuna, parmesan). I pop back on the bike & go back 1 mile to a little store. Yes, beer! So now I sit at the nice CG picnic table, that storm wreaking thunderous havoc 15 miles off, sipping Alaskan Amber, in Alaska. Seriously?! Sister, Brother - I don't know what you got goin' on right now but, man, my life is good. 3 easy days to Healey - the entrance to Denali. Closing in. [Not 20 seconds later, it begins to sprinkle. As I'm crawling into the tent the deluge comes, with that thunder right on top of me now. Hold on wee-tent!]
Aug 23:
44 miles to Fairbanks. 1000-200. Rained all night & drizzled the rest of the day. Packed quickly while eating oatmeal (yummy!) & on the road as the drizzle continued, though the roads weren't too sloppy. Terrain very easy on this brisk, windless day. A big aircraft deployed a parachute to decelerate on the airbase - pretty cool. Rode past North Pole, AK, unwilling to stop at a gaudy tourist trap but willing to snap pictures of the 50 ft. Santa outside. After some helpful direction from locals, I was held captive at the visitor center from 200-400; everyone wanted pictures, to hear an answer to a crafty question ("Have to repair anything?," from a 12-year-old girl. Then, "How'd you fix it? Got tools?," from her mom), & to tell their stories. Like Patrick, 54, & a new father of a 14-month-old boy, whose momma's in jail. They're going back to Ketchikan where there's more family. Or Bruce & his dad, Dwayne, from Decorah, IA, &, of course, I dated the 1980 Decorah Dairy Princess while attending ISU we had plenty to talk about. Or Karen, from Lincoln, NE, but went to my rival HS (Bellevue East). Fun. I make it to Chena River SP CG, in the middle of Fairbanks, set up camp, stretch, talk to Rae, & eay a huge plate of Chili Rellenos & 3 good beers (props to a sponsor, Deschutes, as Mirror Pond was by far the best beer on tap amongst a decent selection). Talked to Rachel for a nice, long time - what a sweetie. Boot repair looks solid, though a touch-up with more epoxy & some insoles are required. Squirrels chattering & throwing down pine cones from high overhead. Fixed incessant bike squeak - Hey, Julie Callan! Remember that ride where you pointed out the loose bolt on the back rack? Yep, that was it again! Made me think of Rob & how much I already miss that guy & how long it'll be til I see him again. & those wonderful grandkids. Weepy ... Okay, 2 days to Denali!
Aug 24:
54 miles to Nenama. 100-600. I got up early for a few reasons. (1) The guy in the next campsite was crazy & angrily, loudly talking to himself late at night & in the morning. (2) There's construction going on in the CG. (3) I had a list of things to do to prep for Denali. Breakfast at Sourdough Sam's was yummy & filling & I used 3G to email ride photos to PBS, look for Denali-Anchorage shuttle info, & find a local bookstore & outdoor store. Went looking for touch-up shoe glue & insoles but when I pulled the shoes out, it was obvious the repair had already failed - the sole has delaminated. Dangit, Noni! Luckily I found a pair of size 10 Chaco waterproof hiking boots for $40 in the clearance area. (Now if I could just get Chaco to fix my sandal resoles that exploded 2 weeks after receipt.) Also bought 2 weeks of dehydrated meals for in Denali. I'll get oatmeal & trail mix in Healy. The bookstore took my book & I got a hard cover (not in paperback, apparently) of Larsson's The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (3rd of the trilogy). Then McDonalds for free WiFi where I downloaded books & movies while chatting with Rae. Josh is driving the U-Haul toward Spokane while Rae follows in the Highlander with Bailey. They should be there the day I go into the park. Finally ready, I roll out of town & up an at-times-steep 10 mile hill. There's a set of stiff rollers on the ridge I've climbed onto but the expansive scenery distracts wonderfully. Colors aren't turned in whole sections of forest yet - indvidual trees are often resplendent, though - but from a good vantage, it's lovely to see the huge patches of light green amidst the dark conifers, interspersed with lakes & connecting rivers, alight with reflective sunshine, clouds in the background ... wild, open, intimidating, lovely. I stop before Nenama at a lightly trashed, hidden pullout next to the Tanana River. Tent up. Stretch. The river is at least 1/4 mile wide here & laden with dirt. It moves by talking, sucking, & pulling. Logs float, eddies form, whirlpools combine gracefully. With the long sunset behind distant blue & orange clouds, I sit on the silt bank contemplating the adventure, my life, the destruction & turmoil of humanity, ... etc. Looking out across the scenic, wild river with all the trash behind me & thus out of view is a perfect situational metaphor for how we all live: keep the blinders on, ignore the chaos resulting from our collective desire for comfort & convenience ... "Ignore the man behind the curtain." A sour taste forms in my mouth from my part in it. Sadness overwhelms me so easily at times on this adventure & I realize that missing & longing for Rae is like an undertow. The adventure, all I've seen, all the great people I've met ... all that exuberance & wonder have been slightly undermined, slightly diminished, simply because I miss her so constantly & so deeply. I know she wants me to enjoy every minute as thoroughly & as engaged as possible, so I try & am glad that there are so many times in any given day where I can claim success. But there are days when I cannot & I just cry all day while turning the pedals. There are too many evenings to count when melancholy is invited into my head. A natural hazard of an odd, somewhat troubled person traveling alone for so long, I think. - On another topic, I am quite used to being really dirty now. & my mustache looks so ridiculous. Somehow, I'm reluctant to shave it for the PBS filming. I know I look stupid but I'm somehow still thinking it might really improve with another month. Re-tard.
Aug 25:
59 miles to Healy. 1000-530. Got up early to watch sunrise on a very clear morning with great colors over the river, then back into bed for a little longer. Good breakfast in Nenama, then some cute old ladies wanted to chat in the sun. Easy, crisp rolling on flat roads to Clear where I made a salami sandwich, had an ice cream bar, & talked to Rae. But a trivial parting comment from her left me brooding all afternoon &, unfortunately, the weather & terrain changed, too. A fierce, cold, gusting 25-35 mph headwind & stiff rolling hills made me work pretty hard on this, the last long day of riding (there's just 12 miles from Healy to Denali NP from here, & I intend to ride back down the park road - camping & backpacking along the way - after having the park shuttle take me up it.) It took awhile to finish in that wind & I was chilled & tired but satisfied that I didn't whinge. The local store/CG has nice wooded tentsites & I put the tent up, stretch, walk over to the 49th State brewery for a cheeseburger & beers (they have the bus used in the film Into The Wild. Mostly because there's been folks tramping out to the real Magic Bus & some 22-year-old Swiss gal drowned trying to get out there. I'm sure I'll take some pics today.) Rae didn't answer so I continued to brood, showered, then watched The Big Lebowski on my phone. I'll take the $1 shuttle to Denali tomorrow to plan & get permits, then come back to Healy to do laundry & stock final groceries. Then it's Into The Park Saturday!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
FLASK August 12-19
FLASK August 12-19 (Alaska!)
Aug 12:
114 km (71 mi) to MON (about 15 km from Otter Falls junction). 1100-630. It rained all night & into the morning but desisted temporarily as I got up reluctantly around 730 to pack up. The tent was a wet, dirty mess, as was the tarp. I got a chance to talk to Markus (Austrian touron heading to SA) before heading out - he was taking another rest day, intimidated by the ominous sky. I went to the same bakery as yesterday (free WiFi, which was hard to find) & called Jon at PBS, confirming that I'd been selected for a PBS promotion TV spot where I'll get to talk about how the Ken Burns National Park series inspired elements of the trip. He's tentatively selected September 5-7 as the dates to interview & film me riding & backpacking in Denali NP! So humbled & excited! I called Rae immediately after & she squealed with delight - fun! Groceries, then on the road, again with no intentions, to which I am becoming accustomed. The terrain has eased considerably & the rolling hills are less difficult. Around 2:00 I got to chat with Danny & Janie from Vancouver. They're finishing a 10-day Anchorage to Whitehorse tour & were spry & chipper, though unhappy that they spotted so little wildlife. They may tour AZ in November so I intend to send them some beta. Rain began to fall soon after we parted company, then a persistent, somewhat cold headwind developed. Ah well. I almost stopped at Medenhall subdivision (not what you think it means) because Janie'd said Irene, the store owner, let cyclists camp free & had a good bakery. But the road looked long & muddy & it was still early so I decided to keep riding. More rain but it was offset by some cool clouds - low ones at the middle of rising mountains were somehow lit bright white through an invisible gap in the higher dark grey ones. Surreal. Beautiful. Eerie. I finally turned up a steep gravel road that looked like it might yield a spot well off the highway, pushed the bike up 1 km, & set up in the rain. I hope I don't get eaten by a bear ... but I cooked in the tent to be out of the downpour & was unable to find sturdy enough trees to hang the food (the Takhini Valley was burned a number of years ago & there's really only young aspen, spruce, & scrub). I picked up The Girl Who Played With Fire (the 2nd in the Larsson trilogy) yesterday & am already over 100 pages in. Captivating. No stretch, no meditation today - rain wreaking havoc on my well-being - haha! Rain likely to persist so I intend to maintain an attitude similar to today's ... just ride, look around, don't work too hard, don't fret. Besides, I know how to pack & unpack in this weather in such a way that everything but the tent & tarp stay dry & they will dry out & clean up eventually.
Aug 13:
80 km (50 mi) to Jarvis River. 900-400. I waited out the rain, popping out of the tent in a lull to pack. Messy, but critical things stayed dry. After about 25 km of riding into a drizzly, cold, persistent headwind I came to the Otter Falls junction & had 2nd breakfast with a fun group of long-haul truckers. Ron & Sonny insisted that I take their #s to call if I got in trouble or needed a ride - even down to Seward after Denali. Wow! It was damp but no longer raining & I got to talk to Kobayeshi, a young Japanese dude riding from Anchorage to "maybe Mexico. I have vacation 1 year!" Once in Haines Junction, there was good intermittent sun directly on the Kluane Mountains with fresh snowfall adorning jagged peaks. I stopped at a cafe for a shake, talked to Sammy & Erin about their upcoming Kluane NP & Chilcott Trail backpacking trips, & read an article about the 20-year-long Russian touron (he's 62!) in the Whitehorse paper - cool! It was on the long climb out of HJ that I realized a trailer tire is worn through, so when I came upon an early remote camping option, I took it. I put 3 tire patches under the exposed tread & am gonna hope I can somehow resolve this in Destruction Bay - 70 km from here. I also sewed velcro on the elastic leg openings of my rain pants (so I can quit fussing about & with rubber bands), cleaned & dried the tarp & tent, tightened the wobbly trailer wheel, stretched, ate a sandwich & soup, & relaxed in front of some of the best camp scenery of the trip. The rippled Jarvis River is really a big creek & makes a lovely bend right at the gravel parking area next to the bridge. A snowy portion of Kluane peaks bask in low sun behind this bend as ducks float & paddle the eddies & currents. I'm certain I hear a wolf howling for awhile - aaah, wait ... there it is again from a different angle. F'in Wow! Some Quebecers working the summer at a local research center have stopped to flyfish - they're very friendly & I share a beer with the gal's dad who's visiting. I put on the puffy to ward off the chill wind & stay out in this wilderness beauty, enjoying a long, late evening out of the tent with no rain. It's lovely. I wish Rae were here to see it with me. She'd dig it the most.
Aug 14:
80 km (50 mi) to Destruction Bay. 1000-230. Awoke to slate grey skies, low clouds, & mist, which made the river & nearby mountains seem quiet & contemplative. Meditation with pesky mosquitos is not ... well, meditative. That 9-grain cereal hasn't gotten any better - not even a liberal dose of honey helped. I can hardly wait to pour the last serving in a bowl & finish it so I never have to eat it again. Haha! The climbing was pretty easy up & over the 2nd highest point on the AlCan between Whitehorse & Fairbanks. On the way I saw a lynx! Wow! About 2 ft tall at the shoulder, long legs, stubby tail, tan & grey coloring, & pointy ears. It sauntered across the road, pausing to look at me as I paused on the shoulder taking pictures before it padded silently into the vast, dense forest. F'in' cool, man. Brigette & Charles from Berlin stopped their car in their lane (the benefit of traveling the emptying AlCan) to get out, take pictures of me & the cycle, & tell me their son had cycled Anchorage to New Mexico 10 years ago. The trailer tire is coming apart, tearing through the threadbare portion so I reduce the tire pressure when I patch the tube & try to reinforce the tire patches with superglue. A stop at the Kluane NP Tachl Dahl visitor center allows me to spot Dahl sheep with their powerful telescopes high on the steep tan & burnt orange slopes. Kluane Lake is a serene light blue but the light's so flat it isn't brilliant & the low clouds obscure the distant peaks, but it's quiet & beautiful, nonetheless. A tailwind doesn't seem to help the pedaling as I'm tired for some reason. I struggle with the tire some more, adding worry to my weariness, but make it to Cottonwood RV Park. They don't allow tents as this area has the highest concentration of grizzlies in North America, so I move on. Eventually - after another tire/tube patch - I make Destruction Bay. I check at the tire/repair shop but Charles can't help, though he offers to get me a tire in Whitehorse when he goes on Tuesday (2 days from now). The Talbot Inn offers the same as they have a supply truck coming Tuesday. No tents allowed here either & the trailer tire's really totally toasted so I feel frustrated to have to pay $88 a night for 2 nights but ... that's the way it goes sometimes. I get a calling card to try to find a tire in Whitehorse, eventually finding one at Canadian Tire (kinda like a US Walmart chain), though the transaction isn't clean because the guy in the sports department speaks with a heavy French accent. Supposedly I've placed an email order & the tire'll be at customer service for the supply truck to pick up, though if I don't get confirmation I'll ask Charles for help getting it tomorrow. Trying to be happy, open, accepting despite the growing tension ... Hot bath, stretch, 2 beers & a cheeseburger, Hangover (unedited!) on TV, a lovely chat with Rae & Phin (shoulda got a calling card months ago). He says I "shoulda take an airplane, Gampa. Riding is not easy." Hahaha! I miss that little guy. I miss Rae.
Aug 15:
Slept in on the comfy bed. Meditated. Breakfast & internet in restaurant. Called Rae & can still make her laugh - yea! In-room movies, stretching, laundry in the tub - including the tent (I'm anxious about bears here & in Denali so I felt like I should get out any food smells, plus all the dead bug smears on the inside - haha!). Cheeseburger & beer for dinner. To bed late - reading Larrsen. I don't like the people here - they're surly - so I'll ride to Burwash in the morning & come back tomorrow night for the tire.
Aug 16:
16 km (10 mi) to Burwash Landing. 11-1200. Meditate. Breakfast (pancakes & eggs). While my tire will show up around 9 I decide to ride to Burwash Landing since I see in Bell's Mile by Mile (1985 edition was only $1!) that they have tenting. Easy ride despite the cold headwind. I ask about bears when I arrive & they report that the dogs keep them off the property but there hadn't been one here in years, though they're spotted often just 5 km south. Crazy! I set up, visit the Kluane Museum up the road (boring), then sit in the lodge dining room with soup, grilled cheese, & coffee for company until the 1st pair of an 8-person group rode in. They were sweet, though there appeared to be some discord of ambition that threatened the group - mostly about what time of day riding should occur. The rest showed up an hour later - all equally nice & fit. They all started in Anchorage, some are done in Whitehorse, others in NoCal. Stretched in a brief bit of sunshine, then wandered up the road to a garage to borrow a crescent wrench from Ollie to tighten a loose trailer axle. Ollie agrees that the wheel bearing is a little wobbly, too, but that it should last the trip if lubricated. We packed some grease in & I rolled back to camp. When I went to the lodge for a burger & beer they asked me to move my tent closer since a bear'd been spotted on the nearby road! We agreed my food should be indoors, too, & I went out into the drizzle to move camp. Talked to Rae - nice, rambling conversation. Dinner. Beer. Book. Bed.
Aug 17:
121 km (75 mi) to White River Lodge. 930-600. It rained most of the night, I think, but cleared when I got up at 730. Breakfast. New trailer tire installed but the pump lever broke inflating it. Hmm ... will make do. Tent fly damp but everything else dry - yea! Uphill out of Kluane Valley but no wind. Very crisp so I had on the pullover all day. Fantastic day of snow-capped peaks surrounded by intermittent clouds. The Wrangell St. Elias range is in view - stunning. Lots of little lakes, ponds, hills. The tree size seems to be shrinking. Colors are starting to change - just on the little trees but it's coming. Nice folks at the lunch pullout, including Austin & Paul cycling from Anchorage to Phoenix, & Koduska, a Japanese fellow they'd picked up who's got an open schedule & destination. Nice kids all. The Pine Lake bakery wasn't friendly & the cinnamon roll was flat - disappointing. I made the Lake Creek CG but it was still early & I felt like riding since it was nice out, so I rolled on looking for something else on the roadside. Panhandle Lake was nice - it's part of the Shakwak Trench, a migratory bird corridor that is formed between the Coast & St. Elias ranges - but the rest area parking lot it was fully occupied by a poorly-parked RV with a tow & there were no flat, dry spots for my tent in the woods. On to White River, which had great reviews in the 1985 Bell's book but one of the kids yesterday said the owner came out to tell them to leave because he hated cyclists. Bob & Amanda are super nice folks, it turns out. She fed me the work crew dinner & offered the same for breakfast. After stretching, I chatted with Lucas, a 32-year-old Pole hitchhiking & odd-jobbing his way around Canada - compelled to move by his wiring. Currently digging samples for geologists in search of gold. Also met some hitchikers, Shawna & Steve, trying to write a book, "The Lost Art of Hitchiking!" (www.thelostartofhitchiking.com has GREAT photos, check it out). Missed talking to Rae. Miss Rae.
Aug 18:
89 miles (83 km + 35 mi) to Lakeview CG near Northway Junction, AK. 1000-830. That's right ... Alaska! I've made it here! I'm so excited! Up at 730, packed up, & had a lovely, connected talk with Amanda as we ate breakfast together: kids, divorce, strong women, family drama BS, US entitlement & arrogance, ... great chat. She also decried cyclists (makes sense what the group of 8 said now) because too many of them seem to expect things free. Take water, she says: no consuderation for the fuel cost to run the generator to run the pump. She & Bob agreed that if they just bought something (candy bar, souvenier) & lost the attitude, everything'd be fine. So hey! Bikers! Be nice! Very crisp this morning. 15 km into tje day I notice the rear tire is showing threads ... What?! I looked that over in Destruction Bay! The roads have been very rough since Burwash ... hmmm. I make it to Beaver Creek & stopped in the VC to find Sid (the hitchhikers had a cool photo blog entry about this junk collector/museum director). "No store in town gonna have that but I got a pile a junk bikes in my backyard." VC map as my guide, I find the bikes & two good, knobby tires. Whew! I tell Sid to use the $20 for the museum to change his mind about taking money. Coffee, soup, & so-so cinnamon bun at Buckshot Betties then more uphill rollers to the border. I meet Scott motorbiking from Nebraska taking pictures at the border sign. Nice guy. 20 minutes later & down a sack of peppers confiscated by customs I'm in Alaska! Beautifully paved road - daaang! But it's just for show hecause it lasts only 5 miles before it becomes patchy, too, though in much better condition than the last 180 km in Yukon (Burwash Landing to the border was, by far, the worst road I've been on). I'm tired but I have to push on today so I can make Tok tomorrow; otherwise I'll have to wait the weekend to get the boots Rae mailed. It's tough rollers uphill. They seem endless & I feel the need to tell myself out loud to "Quit expecting this to be easy. Get tough!" I push out 35 miles already fatigued. The St. Elias range to the south is an endless chain of distant, dense, continuous snow-capped peaks. Immense. Like the Olympic Mountains on repeat - horizon-to-horizon. Distracting, thank goodness. I smile at the grandness of it. The audacity of nature resonates with me. The effort through all these hills is very tiring physically & mentally but satisfying. There's a big black bear crossing the road ahead but he stops roadside to eat some more so I "pop" my tongue & he scares to the woods. I meet Mike (Anchorage to Minnesota) & Ken (UKer on a 'round-the-world tour) a few miles from camp. Good beta exchange, tons of mosquito bites & I hear again, "You're nearly done!" Lakeview CG is lovely. Fantastic long, colorful sunset over a mirror lake. I had seen Matt & Chantell in Beaver Creek having coffee & they let me join them at the lakeside picnic table while I eat dinner (Ramen & spicy tuna). Super nice young Swiss-German couple car touring for 6 weeks. We talk comfortably: politics, travel, being outside, US arrogance, French food. As I go to bed I hear swans trumpeting, owls hooting, ducks quacking, terns splashing, & geese flying overhead. A winged symphony lulls me to sleep. Lovely end to an effortful but very special day. I'm in Alaska.
Aug 19:
60 miles to Tok, AK. 900-230. It rained into early morning but stopped as I got out. 9-grain (blegh!), cocoa, fruit bar. Pack. Pedal. It's all so familiar. The St. Elias range is outstanding again, even under threatening skies. The Chisana River cuts a meandering path through many lakes in the Shakwak Trench - some times I ride next to it, others above. The steep rolling hills are hard & seemingly endless. PBJ on CB, cheese curls, snacks. A tailwind develops & ensures a swarm of gnats on every uphill, but the route flattens dramatically 10 miles from Tok & I love the wind! Haha! At the bridge over the Tanana River, I ask a French tourist to snap a pic of me trying a Y-scale while balanced on thin railing above the fast, wide flow of cold water 30 ft. below. She snaps with her camera, as well, "No one would believe my story if I didn't!" The relacement sleeping pad is not at Tok RV . Dangit, Noni! But my hiking boots are at the post office - thanks, my love! After futilely trying to find an address in Delta Junction to which to get UPS to eventually ship the pad & as I'm re-centering the rear wheel at camp, a dude drives up with my pad! Yea! I wash biking clothes in the laundry sink, then, after stretching in the laundry room, strike up a conversation with an older Tea Party guy, Dave. He's surprised I'm so well informed & respectful, concedes a few things, & agrees it's government of, by, & for the rich. Shower. All-you-can-eat salad bar $9.95? 6 plates. Suckets ... Nice chats with Rae, Hogan, & Rob - though Rae had a tough day & it hurt not to be there to offer a little comfort. Raining ... again. My wrists hurt badly enough that I may need to stay on pavement through Fairbanks instead of taking the very scenic 135 mile dirt Denali Hwy. Will decide in 3 days when I leave Delta Junction. Still giddy about being in Alaska. Wow!
Aug 12:
114 km (71 mi) to MON (about 15 km from Otter Falls junction). 1100-630. It rained all night & into the morning but desisted temporarily as I got up reluctantly around 730 to pack up. The tent was a wet, dirty mess, as was the tarp. I got a chance to talk to Markus (Austrian touron heading to SA) before heading out - he was taking another rest day, intimidated by the ominous sky. I went to the same bakery as yesterday (free WiFi, which was hard to find) & called Jon at PBS, confirming that I'd been selected for a PBS promotion TV spot where I'll get to talk about how the Ken Burns National Park series inspired elements of the trip. He's tentatively selected September 5-7 as the dates to interview & film me riding & backpacking in Denali NP! So humbled & excited! I called Rae immediately after & she squealed with delight - fun! Groceries, then on the road, again with no intentions, to which I am becoming accustomed. The terrain has eased considerably & the rolling hills are less difficult. Around 2:00 I got to chat with Danny & Janie from Vancouver. They're finishing a 10-day Anchorage to Whitehorse tour & were spry & chipper, though unhappy that they spotted so little wildlife. They may tour AZ in November so I intend to send them some beta. Rain began to fall soon after we parted company, then a persistent, somewhat cold headwind developed. Ah well. I almost stopped at Medenhall subdivision (not what you think it means) because Janie'd said Irene, the store owner, let cyclists camp free & had a good bakery. But the road looked long & muddy & it was still early so I decided to keep riding. More rain but it was offset by some cool clouds - low ones at the middle of rising mountains were somehow lit bright white through an invisible gap in the higher dark grey ones. Surreal. Beautiful. Eerie. I finally turned up a steep gravel road that looked like it might yield a spot well off the highway, pushed the bike up 1 km, & set up in the rain. I hope I don't get eaten by a bear ... but I cooked in the tent to be out of the downpour & was unable to find sturdy enough trees to hang the food (the Takhini Valley was burned a number of years ago & there's really only young aspen, spruce, & scrub). I picked up The Girl Who Played With Fire (the 2nd in the Larsson trilogy) yesterday & am already over 100 pages in. Captivating. No stretch, no meditation today - rain wreaking havoc on my well-being - haha! Rain likely to persist so I intend to maintain an attitude similar to today's ... just ride, look around, don't work too hard, don't fret. Besides, I know how to pack & unpack in this weather in such a way that everything but the tent & tarp stay dry & they will dry out & clean up eventually.
Aug 13:
80 km (50 mi) to Jarvis River. 900-400. I waited out the rain, popping out of the tent in a lull to pack. Messy, but critical things stayed dry. After about 25 km of riding into a drizzly, cold, persistent headwind I came to the Otter Falls junction & had 2nd breakfast with a fun group of long-haul truckers. Ron & Sonny insisted that I take their #s to call if I got in trouble or needed a ride - even down to Seward after Denali. Wow! It was damp but no longer raining & I got to talk to Kobayeshi, a young Japanese dude riding from Anchorage to "maybe Mexico. I have vacation 1 year!" Once in Haines Junction, there was good intermittent sun directly on the Kluane Mountains with fresh snowfall adorning jagged peaks. I stopped at a cafe for a shake, talked to Sammy & Erin about their upcoming Kluane NP & Chilcott Trail backpacking trips, & read an article about the 20-year-long Russian touron (he's 62!) in the Whitehorse paper - cool! It was on the long climb out of HJ that I realized a trailer tire is worn through, so when I came upon an early remote camping option, I took it. I put 3 tire patches under the exposed tread & am gonna hope I can somehow resolve this in Destruction Bay - 70 km from here. I also sewed velcro on the elastic leg openings of my rain pants (so I can quit fussing about & with rubber bands), cleaned & dried the tarp & tent, tightened the wobbly trailer wheel, stretched, ate a sandwich & soup, & relaxed in front of some of the best camp scenery of the trip. The rippled Jarvis River is really a big creek & makes a lovely bend right at the gravel parking area next to the bridge. A snowy portion of Kluane peaks bask in low sun behind this bend as ducks float & paddle the eddies & currents. I'm certain I hear a wolf howling for awhile - aaah, wait ... there it is again from a different angle. F'in Wow! Some Quebecers working the summer at a local research center have stopped to flyfish - they're very friendly & I share a beer with the gal's dad who's visiting. I put on the puffy to ward off the chill wind & stay out in this wilderness beauty, enjoying a long, late evening out of the tent with no rain. It's lovely. I wish Rae were here to see it with me. She'd dig it the most.
Aug 14:
80 km (50 mi) to Destruction Bay. 1000-230. Awoke to slate grey skies, low clouds, & mist, which made the river & nearby mountains seem quiet & contemplative. Meditation with pesky mosquitos is not ... well, meditative. That 9-grain cereal hasn't gotten any better - not even a liberal dose of honey helped. I can hardly wait to pour the last serving in a bowl & finish it so I never have to eat it again. Haha! The climbing was pretty easy up & over the 2nd highest point on the AlCan between Whitehorse & Fairbanks. On the way I saw a lynx! Wow! About 2 ft tall at the shoulder, long legs, stubby tail, tan & grey coloring, & pointy ears. It sauntered across the road, pausing to look at me as I paused on the shoulder taking pictures before it padded silently into the vast, dense forest. F'in' cool, man. Brigette & Charles from Berlin stopped their car in their lane (the benefit of traveling the emptying AlCan) to get out, take pictures of me & the cycle, & tell me their son had cycled Anchorage to New Mexico 10 years ago. The trailer tire is coming apart, tearing through the threadbare portion so I reduce the tire pressure when I patch the tube & try to reinforce the tire patches with superglue. A stop at the Kluane NP Tachl Dahl visitor center allows me to spot Dahl sheep with their powerful telescopes high on the steep tan & burnt orange slopes. Kluane Lake is a serene light blue but the light's so flat it isn't brilliant & the low clouds obscure the distant peaks, but it's quiet & beautiful, nonetheless. A tailwind doesn't seem to help the pedaling as I'm tired for some reason. I struggle with the tire some more, adding worry to my weariness, but make it to Cottonwood RV Park. They don't allow tents as this area has the highest concentration of grizzlies in North America, so I move on. Eventually - after another tire/tube patch - I make Destruction Bay. I check at the tire/repair shop but Charles can't help, though he offers to get me a tire in Whitehorse when he goes on Tuesday (2 days from now). The Talbot Inn offers the same as they have a supply truck coming Tuesday. No tents allowed here either & the trailer tire's really totally toasted so I feel frustrated to have to pay $88 a night for 2 nights but ... that's the way it goes sometimes. I get a calling card to try to find a tire in Whitehorse, eventually finding one at Canadian Tire (kinda like a US Walmart chain), though the transaction isn't clean because the guy in the sports department speaks with a heavy French accent. Supposedly I've placed an email order & the tire'll be at customer service for the supply truck to pick up, though if I don't get confirmation I'll ask Charles for help getting it tomorrow. Trying to be happy, open, accepting despite the growing tension ... Hot bath, stretch, 2 beers & a cheeseburger, Hangover (unedited!) on TV, a lovely chat with Rae & Phin (shoulda got a calling card months ago). He says I "shoulda take an airplane, Gampa. Riding is not easy." Hahaha! I miss that little guy. I miss Rae.
Aug 15:
Slept in on the comfy bed. Meditated. Breakfast & internet in restaurant. Called Rae & can still make her laugh - yea! In-room movies, stretching, laundry in the tub - including the tent (I'm anxious about bears here & in Denali so I felt like I should get out any food smells, plus all the dead bug smears on the inside - haha!). Cheeseburger & beer for dinner. To bed late - reading Larrsen. I don't like the people here - they're surly - so I'll ride to Burwash in the morning & come back tomorrow night for the tire.
Aug 16:
16 km (10 mi) to Burwash Landing. 11-1200. Meditate. Breakfast (pancakes & eggs). While my tire will show up around 9 I decide to ride to Burwash Landing since I see in Bell's Mile by Mile (1985 edition was only $1!) that they have tenting. Easy ride despite the cold headwind. I ask about bears when I arrive & they report that the dogs keep them off the property but there hadn't been one here in years, though they're spotted often just 5 km south. Crazy! I set up, visit the Kluane Museum up the road (boring), then sit in the lodge dining room with soup, grilled cheese, & coffee for company until the 1st pair of an 8-person group rode in. They were sweet, though there appeared to be some discord of ambition that threatened the group - mostly about what time of day riding should occur. The rest showed up an hour later - all equally nice & fit. They all started in Anchorage, some are done in Whitehorse, others in NoCal. Stretched in a brief bit of sunshine, then wandered up the road to a garage to borrow a crescent wrench from Ollie to tighten a loose trailer axle. Ollie agrees that the wheel bearing is a little wobbly, too, but that it should last the trip if lubricated. We packed some grease in & I rolled back to camp. When I went to the lodge for a burger & beer they asked me to move my tent closer since a bear'd been spotted on the nearby road! We agreed my food should be indoors, too, & I went out into the drizzle to move camp. Talked to Rae - nice, rambling conversation. Dinner. Beer. Book. Bed.
Aug 17:
121 km (75 mi) to White River Lodge. 930-600. It rained most of the night, I think, but cleared when I got up at 730. Breakfast. New trailer tire installed but the pump lever broke inflating it. Hmm ... will make do. Tent fly damp but everything else dry - yea! Uphill out of Kluane Valley but no wind. Very crisp so I had on the pullover all day. Fantastic day of snow-capped peaks surrounded by intermittent clouds. The Wrangell St. Elias range is in view - stunning. Lots of little lakes, ponds, hills. The tree size seems to be shrinking. Colors are starting to change - just on the little trees but it's coming. Nice folks at the lunch pullout, including Austin & Paul cycling from Anchorage to Phoenix, & Koduska, a Japanese fellow they'd picked up who's got an open schedule & destination. Nice kids all. The Pine Lake bakery wasn't friendly & the cinnamon roll was flat - disappointing. I made the Lake Creek CG but it was still early & I felt like riding since it was nice out, so I rolled on looking for something else on the roadside. Panhandle Lake was nice - it's part of the Shakwak Trench, a migratory bird corridor that is formed between the Coast & St. Elias ranges - but the rest area parking lot it was fully occupied by a poorly-parked RV with a tow & there were no flat, dry spots for my tent in the woods. On to White River, which had great reviews in the 1985 Bell's book but one of the kids yesterday said the owner came out to tell them to leave because he hated cyclists. Bob & Amanda are super nice folks, it turns out. She fed me the work crew dinner & offered the same for breakfast. After stretching, I chatted with Lucas, a 32-year-old Pole hitchhiking & odd-jobbing his way around Canada - compelled to move by his wiring. Currently digging samples for geologists in search of gold. Also met some hitchikers, Shawna & Steve, trying to write a book, "The Lost Art of Hitchiking!" (www.thelostartofhitchiking.com has GREAT photos, check it out). Missed talking to Rae. Miss Rae.
Aug 18:
89 miles (83 km + 35 mi) to Lakeview CG near Northway Junction, AK. 1000-830. That's right ... Alaska! I've made it here! I'm so excited! Up at 730, packed up, & had a lovely, connected talk with Amanda as we ate breakfast together: kids, divorce, strong women, family drama BS, US entitlement & arrogance, ... great chat. She also decried cyclists (makes sense what the group of 8 said now) because too many of them seem to expect things free. Take water, she says: no consuderation for the fuel cost to run the generator to run the pump. She & Bob agreed that if they just bought something (candy bar, souvenier) & lost the attitude, everything'd be fine. So hey! Bikers! Be nice! Very crisp this morning. 15 km into tje day I notice the rear tire is showing threads ... What?! I looked that over in Destruction Bay! The roads have been very rough since Burwash ... hmmm. I make it to Beaver Creek & stopped in the VC to find Sid (the hitchhikers had a cool photo blog entry about this junk collector/museum director). "No store in town gonna have that but I got a pile a junk bikes in my backyard." VC map as my guide, I find the bikes & two good, knobby tires. Whew! I tell Sid to use the $20 for the museum to change his mind about taking money. Coffee, soup, & so-so cinnamon bun at Buckshot Betties then more uphill rollers to the border. I meet Scott motorbiking from Nebraska taking pictures at the border sign. Nice guy. 20 minutes later & down a sack of peppers confiscated by customs I'm in Alaska! Beautifully paved road - daaang! But it's just for show hecause it lasts only 5 miles before it becomes patchy, too, though in much better condition than the last 180 km in Yukon (Burwash Landing to the border was, by far, the worst road I've been on). I'm tired but I have to push on today so I can make Tok tomorrow; otherwise I'll have to wait the weekend to get the boots Rae mailed. It's tough rollers uphill. They seem endless & I feel the need to tell myself out loud to "Quit expecting this to be easy. Get tough!" I push out 35 miles already fatigued. The St. Elias range to the south is an endless chain of distant, dense, continuous snow-capped peaks. Immense. Like the Olympic Mountains on repeat - horizon-to-horizon. Distracting, thank goodness. I smile at the grandness of it. The audacity of nature resonates with me. The effort through all these hills is very tiring physically & mentally but satisfying. There's a big black bear crossing the road ahead but he stops roadside to eat some more so I "pop" my tongue & he scares to the woods. I meet Mike (Anchorage to Minnesota) & Ken (UKer on a 'round-the-world tour) a few miles from camp. Good beta exchange, tons of mosquito bites & I hear again, "You're nearly done!" Lakeview CG is lovely. Fantastic long, colorful sunset over a mirror lake. I had seen Matt & Chantell in Beaver Creek having coffee & they let me join them at the lakeside picnic table while I eat dinner (Ramen & spicy tuna). Super nice young Swiss-German couple car touring for 6 weeks. We talk comfortably: politics, travel, being outside, US arrogance, French food. As I go to bed I hear swans trumpeting, owls hooting, ducks quacking, terns splashing, & geese flying overhead. A winged symphony lulls me to sleep. Lovely end to an effortful but very special day. I'm in Alaska.
Aug 19:
60 miles to Tok, AK. 900-230. It rained into early morning but stopped as I got out. 9-grain (blegh!), cocoa, fruit bar. Pack. Pedal. It's all so familiar. The St. Elias range is outstanding again, even under threatening skies. The Chisana River cuts a meandering path through many lakes in the Shakwak Trench - some times I ride next to it, others above. The steep rolling hills are hard & seemingly endless. PBJ on CB, cheese curls, snacks. A tailwind develops & ensures a swarm of gnats on every uphill, but the route flattens dramatically 10 miles from Tok & I love the wind! Haha! At the bridge over the Tanana River, I ask a French tourist to snap a pic of me trying a Y-scale while balanced on thin railing above the fast, wide flow of cold water 30 ft. below. She snaps with her camera, as well, "No one would believe my story if I didn't!" The relacement sleeping pad is not at Tok RV . Dangit, Noni! But my hiking boots are at the post office - thanks, my love! After futilely trying to find an address in Delta Junction to which to get UPS to eventually ship the pad & as I'm re-centering the rear wheel at camp, a dude drives up with my pad! Yea! I wash biking clothes in the laundry sink, then, after stretching in the laundry room, strike up a conversation with an older Tea Party guy, Dave. He's surprised I'm so well informed & respectful, concedes a few things, & agrees it's government of, by, & for the rich. Shower. All-you-can-eat salad bar $9.95? 6 plates. Suckets ... Nice chats with Rae, Hogan, & Rob - though Rae had a tough day & it hurt not to be there to offer a little comfort. Raining ... again. My wrists hurt badly enough that I may need to stay on pavement through Fairbanks instead of taking the very scenic 135 mile dirt Denali Hwy. Will decide in 3 days when I leave Delta Junction. Still giddy about being in Alaska. Wow!
Friday, August 12, 2011
FLASK August 3-11
FLASK August 5-11
Aug 5:
Granola, french toast, eggs, bacon, & coffee for breakfast. The float plane out was not as scenic as it was coming over - the Cirque & Bricknell has spoiled me. We flatted on the gravel road & after some frustration with unfamiliar tools we put on the inadequate spare & had to drive much slower. We got the flat fixed within 30 minutes of arriving in Watson Lake & then went to the library for internet & the bank so everyone could hand me cash for the backcountry permits I'd fronted. They dropped me at the Downtown RV park & left, seeming a little worn by my laconic company while in the Cirque. I walked to get my bike after setting up the tent, then went to get beer, stretched, & chatted with Abe & Helen while finishing a sandwich & soup pilfered from Inconnu Lodge. Former truckers, they were returning slowly to Manitoba from their 1st trip to Alaska. Talked awhile with Hogan, sympathetic as always to the plight of former studs fading in strength & willpower. Then Rae called back & all was finally getting right with the world. I miss & love her so much it hurts to be gone. Adventure ... Rae. I pick Rae but she insisted again I finish what I started & do the Denali/Whittier Bay bonus round. She's beyond wonderful.
Aug 6:
63 km (39 miles) to Big Creek CG. 1030-600. Mediocre breakfast at Kathy's Kitchen. Grocery shopping. Brief chat with Rae. Called REI - they will warranty & free ship new pad. Yea! Pack up camp. Ride into a cold, steady (better than gusting, IMO) headwind. Right wrist extremely painful. Tired but not depleted so I ride slow, with no intentions or destination. Mediocre lunch of hot ham & cheese sandwich & fries at Junction 37 Cafe. Came across Bjorn from the UK astride his GS650 on the shoulder with a flat, so I helped him get the wheel off. 2 other motorbikers (Jeff & his 70-year-old dad were riding Atlanta to Anchorage & back!) stopped & all the needed tools were pieced together. They worked well together & it was ridable in 30 minutes. Another Jeff, this one a touron who left Anchorage 3 weeks ago & is heading to Patagonia, pulled over with his puppy in a trailer & we had a nice chat. Just 2 km more after the long stop to the CG. Walt, anothe 70-year-old motorbiking from Washington to Fairbanks with a buddy, came over to chat, mostly about being old & active. Nice. Stretch. Dinner of ravioli & pepper (I need to get salt), the rest of the beers I got in Watson Lake, & PBJ on cinnamon-raisin bread. Wrist very sore but otherwise feel fine, if a little listless. Missing Rae acutely.
Aug 7:
78 km (49 miles) to Continental Divide CG/Lodge. 1030-530. Slept in. Sunshine. 9-grain hot cereal (yuck) & cocoa. Meditated. Uphill into a cold headwind. With no ambition or schedule, I don't mind it at all - pedaling slowly, taking frequent breaks. Wrist trouble unchanged. PBJ on cinnamon-raisin bread (yum), soup & coffee late afternoon at Rancheria Lodge, saw a young bull moose dancing through a pond near the road, had a great, relaxing sit on the banks of the swift-moving Rancheria River, & a nice walk along a boardwalk through a boreal forest recovering from a fire 100 years ago to Rancheria Falls. Met Graham, who'd left Anchorage 2 weeks ago in will head south on Cassiair Hwy (37) to Victoria. Nice kid. Stopped for the day at Continental Divide CG ($15 for a nicely wooded site, shower, firewood, WiFi). Tent up. Stretch. Dinner of rice, peppers, garlic, & Tasty Bite. Bugs aren't horrible. Comfortable temps (no puffy jacket). Forecast looks great. Strength returning slowly, though listless & uninspired, despite wild, open, beautiful scenery. Untroubled by it - it's just different for me.
Aug 8:
95 km (59 mi). 1100-600. Rain pattered the tent during the night & into morning so I slept in before a mediocre breakfast at the lodge (the "1st day" gal didn't know how to make the menu's breakfast burrito so I said, "Make me whatever you want." Wala - omelette). The rain'd stopped but the clouds were low & grey &, for the 3rd day, a cold, steady headwind was blowing. Within minutes I spy a moose cow & calf at a pond's reedy shore. They gently, nimbly disappear after a bit. I didn't see the Continental Divide sign, though this ones goes to seas, not oceans: Bering & Beaufort. Wrist still loads of trouble. At lunch at a rest area, I talked for awhile with Richard - a semi-retired trucker from Ft. Lauderdale, FL - who was alone, having neither wife nor girlfriend & "ain't gay," because he cared not a wit to have someone wanting to know when he was gonna be home. Fun to talk to. Robby & Monica are some Swiss-Germans a few years into an around-the-world tour in their early 60s! Super nice, humble, funny. After a lay-by-the-bike snack I met Brian & Liz, touring from Fairbanks back home to Victoria. They'd started in Prudhoe Bay but had so much tire trouble that they van'd down to Fairbanks - & the van had 4 flats! Brian (a bery big dude - 280 lbs?) handed over a mango - yummy! Liz recommended the free camping at the Morley River Rec Area, "next to construction but nice." In improving spirits from the chats, with the terrain leveling a bit, & with the clouds breaking up, I easily pedal the 20 km to this lovely site - wooded, set well back from the road, tables & fire rings down near the beautiful, fast, shallow, tumbling Morley. Tent up. Stretch. Dinner of macaroni & cheese (to which I added a pilfered Cheez Whiz packet), pepper, garlic, & tuna - yum. I eat down by the river with trout leaping under a low, hanging sun peaking under grey clouds. Serene. Peaceful. Wild. The rain starts gently but, despite the fact that I'm sheltered by a tree, I get up to ensure all the camp stuff is stashed in the tent or panniers before it picks up - into the tent just in time. My head's not been good since LFT but while meditatively stretching I remember that I pick how I feel in each moment - including this one - so I feel better because I have to; especially given that I'm on my adventure, it's wild & beauitiful here in the Yukon, I adore my wife & she tolerates this BS, & I will soon see Denali. Life is very, very good & I'm glad I finally remembered that again. I grapple with desire in contemplative moments - trying to subordinate it to enjoying what's here with & in me. But ... if I could have 1 thing with me in this moment, it would Rae. 2? Her with a pint of Hagen Das Caramel Cone ice cream.
Aug 9:
114 km (71 mi). 800-600. Sun! Break camp. Meditate. Pedal, hopeful for breakfast within minutes but disappointed to see Morley River Lodge is closed. Breakfast can wait as it's nice out. Crisp weather. No wind. I eat an expensive, sparse, but good breakfast at Dawson Peak CG at 1000. I see Reginald & Inu coming my way. The adorable 63-year-old Dutch couple are pedaling from Prudhoe Bay to Miami! Limited camp beta - "Our one luxury: we motel when we can get it." Cute! Then Johann & Mary, a 20-something Swiss-French couple pedaling from Prudhoe Bay to Tierra del Fuego! Everyone's talking about a Russian ahead of me: 20 years of cycling, around the world many times, & nearing the end of a quest to circumnavigate each ridable continent! What?! I hope to meet him! Stopped in Teslin on beautiful Nusitlin Bay - picturesque - to mail postcards I've had since leaving Watson Lake. Rode comfortably on rolling hills next to the dark, scenic, 50 km long Teslin Lake. After brief climbing out of the valley I stop at Johnston Crossing for a cinnamon roll, coffee, WiFi, & a book suggestion from the proprieter. It's just 20 km to a Squanga Lake Public CG ($12), where I replace a broken spoke before going to say Hello to wheelchair-bound Ryan, my neighbor. He fell asleep drunk at the wheel & broke his lower back. He can walk with canes & is improving. Since it happened while he was working on an "out" road repair crew, he's on disability, using the money travelling whenever he can. He also plays a mean harmonica! I make & eat dinner at his camp so we can chat more, then go stretch before crawling in the tent. Feeling better still, though wrist is still painful. Whitehorse & a cell signal (?!) so I can chat with Rae tomorrow!
Aug 10:
114 km (71 mi) to Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon Territory. 830-430. Clear skies when I awoke early. Crappy 9-grain hot cereal & cocoa. Meditated. Crisp morning & pedaling felt sluggish until I realized I was climbing - haha! 2nd breakfast at Jake's Corner with great homemade bread for toast & the owner was a cute, flirty gal my age, to which I responded by stroking my scraggly-ass beard with my left hand & talking longingly about Rae - she cared not a whit! Haha! Skies darkened & a persistent cold headwind developed but I rode with some strength today past Marsh Lake. I stopped for a late PBJ on CB at the Yukon River, when Mike & Gabriel pulled up. Native T'linglit with huge toothless smiles, they responded to my, "What're you guys doing today?" with "Smoking pot. Want a hit?" Haha! Fun guys. 2 cool looking big dogs came out of nowhere to happily run alongside me for about 3 miles. Fun! I stopped for yummy homemade barley soup & coffee at Sourdough Country CG. Using their WiFi, I discovered that I waa selected for one of the PBS promotional spots. I'll get details in a call tomorrow morning. Crazy! All the way into Whitehorse (1st stoplights since Ft. Nelson, I think) then back 3 km to Roberts Service CG - now I'm a little disappointed. I'd rather either be in town so I could easily walk to a pub or be remote camping. Oh well. Great chat with Hogan, then stretched & managed to miss Rae returning my call. Eventually we connected - mmmm. Thank goodness. Man, I miss her. We got all caught up (packing up the house, dealing with IRS fines, getting a pool fence installed fir her Vs pedaling for me) then coo'ed at one another for awhile. I just adore that woman ... An Austrian touron was in the next campsite. Markus is heading from Fairbanks to Patagonia, though he says he tries not to think of a destination so far away in time & distance ... smart.
Aug 11:
Rest day. Rain all night, all day. Slept in. Meditated. Bus into town. Breakfast. Sports store to look at boots (too $$), thrift store for boots (no luck), travel agent to get Inner Passage schedule, coffee shop for WiFi where I met Maricon. She's doing addiction research in isolated Arctic communities through University of Alberta in Edmonton. Interesting, tough, independent gal. Fun to talk to & seems to have her head on straight about important stuff, like money, relationships, & community. Talked to Rob for 1st time in months - really missing that connection. We're both bummed about the prospect of not seeing each other for awhile ... Pub for the 1st decent beer in a month or more, & burger. Yum. Rain ... Nice long walk back to camp talking to Rae all the while. The rain is worrisome but I will definitely set out tomorrow AM.
Aug 5:
Granola, french toast, eggs, bacon, & coffee for breakfast. The float plane out was not as scenic as it was coming over - the Cirque & Bricknell has spoiled me. We flatted on the gravel road & after some frustration with unfamiliar tools we put on the inadequate spare & had to drive much slower. We got the flat fixed within 30 minutes of arriving in Watson Lake & then went to the library for internet & the bank so everyone could hand me cash for the backcountry permits I'd fronted. They dropped me at the Downtown RV park & left, seeming a little worn by my laconic company while in the Cirque. I walked to get my bike after setting up the tent, then went to get beer, stretched, & chatted with Abe & Helen while finishing a sandwich & soup pilfered from Inconnu Lodge. Former truckers, they were returning slowly to Manitoba from their 1st trip to Alaska. Talked awhile with Hogan, sympathetic as always to the plight of former studs fading in strength & willpower. Then Rae called back & all was finally getting right with the world. I miss & love her so much it hurts to be gone. Adventure ... Rae. I pick Rae but she insisted again I finish what I started & do the Denali/Whittier Bay bonus round. She's beyond wonderful.
Aug 6:
63 km (39 miles) to Big Creek CG. 1030-600. Mediocre breakfast at Kathy's Kitchen. Grocery shopping. Brief chat with Rae. Called REI - they will warranty & free ship new pad. Yea! Pack up camp. Ride into a cold, steady (better than gusting, IMO) headwind. Right wrist extremely painful. Tired but not depleted so I ride slow, with no intentions or destination. Mediocre lunch of hot ham & cheese sandwich & fries at Junction 37 Cafe. Came across Bjorn from the UK astride his GS650 on the shoulder with a flat, so I helped him get the wheel off. 2 other motorbikers (Jeff & his 70-year-old dad were riding Atlanta to Anchorage & back!) stopped & all the needed tools were pieced together. They worked well together & it was ridable in 30 minutes. Another Jeff, this one a touron who left Anchorage 3 weeks ago & is heading to Patagonia, pulled over with his puppy in a trailer & we had a nice chat. Just 2 km more after the long stop to the CG. Walt, anothe 70-year-old motorbiking from Washington to Fairbanks with a buddy, came over to chat, mostly about being old & active. Nice. Stretch. Dinner of ravioli & pepper (I need to get salt), the rest of the beers I got in Watson Lake, & PBJ on cinnamon-raisin bread. Wrist very sore but otherwise feel fine, if a little listless. Missing Rae acutely.
Aug 7:
78 km (49 miles) to Continental Divide CG/Lodge. 1030-530. Slept in. Sunshine. 9-grain hot cereal (yuck) & cocoa. Meditated. Uphill into a cold headwind. With no ambition or schedule, I don't mind it at all - pedaling slowly, taking frequent breaks. Wrist trouble unchanged. PBJ on cinnamon-raisin bread (yum), soup & coffee late afternoon at Rancheria Lodge, saw a young bull moose dancing through a pond near the road, had a great, relaxing sit on the banks of the swift-moving Rancheria River, & a nice walk along a boardwalk through a boreal forest recovering from a fire 100 years ago to Rancheria Falls. Met Graham, who'd left Anchorage 2 weeks ago in will head south on Cassiair Hwy (37) to Victoria. Nice kid. Stopped for the day at Continental Divide CG ($15 for a nicely wooded site, shower, firewood, WiFi). Tent up. Stretch. Dinner of rice, peppers, garlic, & Tasty Bite. Bugs aren't horrible. Comfortable temps (no puffy jacket). Forecast looks great. Strength returning slowly, though listless & uninspired, despite wild, open, beautiful scenery. Untroubled by it - it's just different for me.
Aug 8:
95 km (59 mi). 1100-600. Rain pattered the tent during the night & into morning so I slept in before a mediocre breakfast at the lodge (the "1st day" gal didn't know how to make the menu's breakfast burrito so I said, "Make me whatever you want." Wala - omelette). The rain'd stopped but the clouds were low & grey &, for the 3rd day, a cold, steady headwind was blowing. Within minutes I spy a moose cow & calf at a pond's reedy shore. They gently, nimbly disappear after a bit. I didn't see the Continental Divide sign, though this ones goes to seas, not oceans: Bering & Beaufort. Wrist still loads of trouble. At lunch at a rest area, I talked for awhile with Richard - a semi-retired trucker from Ft. Lauderdale, FL - who was alone, having neither wife nor girlfriend & "ain't gay," because he cared not a wit to have someone wanting to know when he was gonna be home. Fun to talk to. Robby & Monica are some Swiss-Germans a few years into an around-the-world tour in their early 60s! Super nice, humble, funny. After a lay-by-the-bike snack I met Brian & Liz, touring from Fairbanks back home to Victoria. They'd started in Prudhoe Bay but had so much tire trouble that they van'd down to Fairbanks - & the van had 4 flats! Brian (a bery big dude - 280 lbs?) handed over a mango - yummy! Liz recommended the free camping at the Morley River Rec Area, "next to construction but nice." In improving spirits from the chats, with the terrain leveling a bit, & with the clouds breaking up, I easily pedal the 20 km to this lovely site - wooded, set well back from the road, tables & fire rings down near the beautiful, fast, shallow, tumbling Morley. Tent up. Stretch. Dinner of macaroni & cheese (to which I added a pilfered Cheez Whiz packet), pepper, garlic, & tuna - yum. I eat down by the river with trout leaping under a low, hanging sun peaking under grey clouds. Serene. Peaceful. Wild. The rain starts gently but, despite the fact that I'm sheltered by a tree, I get up to ensure all the camp stuff is stashed in the tent or panniers before it picks up - into the tent just in time. My head's not been good since LFT but while meditatively stretching I remember that I pick how I feel in each moment - including this one - so I feel better because I have to; especially given that I'm on my adventure, it's wild & beauitiful here in the Yukon, I adore my wife & she tolerates this BS, & I will soon see Denali. Life is very, very good & I'm glad I finally remembered that again. I grapple with desire in contemplative moments - trying to subordinate it to enjoying what's here with & in me. But ... if I could have 1 thing with me in this moment, it would Rae. 2? Her with a pint of Hagen Das Caramel Cone ice cream.
Aug 9:
114 km (71 mi). 800-600. Sun! Break camp. Meditate. Pedal, hopeful for breakfast within minutes but disappointed to see Morley River Lodge is closed. Breakfast can wait as it's nice out. Crisp weather. No wind. I eat an expensive, sparse, but good breakfast at Dawson Peak CG at 1000. I see Reginald & Inu coming my way. The adorable 63-year-old Dutch couple are pedaling from Prudhoe Bay to Miami! Limited camp beta - "Our one luxury: we motel when we can get it." Cute! Then Johann & Mary, a 20-something Swiss-French couple pedaling from Prudhoe Bay to Tierra del Fuego! Everyone's talking about a Russian ahead of me: 20 years of cycling, around the world many times, & nearing the end of a quest to circumnavigate each ridable continent! What?! I hope to meet him! Stopped in Teslin on beautiful Nusitlin Bay - picturesque - to mail postcards I've had since leaving Watson Lake. Rode comfortably on rolling hills next to the dark, scenic, 50 km long Teslin Lake. After brief climbing out of the valley I stop at Johnston Crossing for a cinnamon roll, coffee, WiFi, & a book suggestion from the proprieter. It's just 20 km to a Squanga Lake Public CG ($12), where I replace a broken spoke before going to say Hello to wheelchair-bound Ryan, my neighbor. He fell asleep drunk at the wheel & broke his lower back. He can walk with canes & is improving. Since it happened while he was working on an "out" road repair crew, he's on disability, using the money travelling whenever he can. He also plays a mean harmonica! I make & eat dinner at his camp so we can chat more, then go stretch before crawling in the tent. Feeling better still, though wrist is still painful. Whitehorse & a cell signal (?!) so I can chat with Rae tomorrow!
Aug 10:
114 km (71 mi) to Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon Territory. 830-430. Clear skies when I awoke early. Crappy 9-grain hot cereal & cocoa. Meditated. Crisp morning & pedaling felt sluggish until I realized I was climbing - haha! 2nd breakfast at Jake's Corner with great homemade bread for toast & the owner was a cute, flirty gal my age, to which I responded by stroking my scraggly-ass beard with my left hand & talking longingly about Rae - she cared not a whit! Haha! Skies darkened & a persistent cold headwind developed but I rode with some strength today past Marsh Lake. I stopped for a late PBJ on CB at the Yukon River, when Mike & Gabriel pulled up. Native T'linglit with huge toothless smiles, they responded to my, "What're you guys doing today?" with "Smoking pot. Want a hit?" Haha! Fun guys. 2 cool looking big dogs came out of nowhere to happily run alongside me for about 3 miles. Fun! I stopped for yummy homemade barley soup & coffee at Sourdough Country CG. Using their WiFi, I discovered that I waa selected for one of the PBS promotional spots. I'll get details in a call tomorrow morning. Crazy! All the way into Whitehorse (1st stoplights since Ft. Nelson, I think) then back 3 km to Roberts Service CG - now I'm a little disappointed. I'd rather either be in town so I could easily walk to a pub or be remote camping. Oh well. Great chat with Hogan, then stretched & managed to miss Rae returning my call. Eventually we connected - mmmm. Thank goodness. Man, I miss her. We got all caught up (packing up the house, dealing with IRS fines, getting a pool fence installed fir her Vs pedaling for me) then coo'ed at one another for awhile. I just adore that woman ... An Austrian touron was in the next campsite. Markus is heading from Fairbanks to Patagonia, though he says he tries not to think of a destination so far away in time & distance ... smart.
Aug 11:
Rest day. Rain all night, all day. Slept in. Meditated. Bus into town. Breakfast. Sports store to look at boots (too $$), thrift store for boots (no luck), travel agent to get Inner Passage schedule, coffee shop for WiFi where I met Maricon. She's doing addiction research in isolated Arctic communities through University of Alberta in Edmonton. Interesting, tough, independent gal. Fun to talk to & seems to have her head on straight about important stuff, like money, relationships, & community. Talked to Rob for 1st time in months - really missing that connection. We're both bummed about the prospect of not seeing each other for awhile ... Pub for the 1st decent beer in a month or more, & burger. Yum. Rain ... Nice long walk back to camp talking to Rae all the while. The rain is worrisome but I will definitely set out tomorrow AM.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
July 18-August 4 (Cirque of the Unclimbables)
I know Wes & Quinn will post about our Cirque experience, too. Theirs was a much more successful venture & it will be very intetesting reading.
Summary: I got my ass handed to me. Thoroughly. Read on for the gorey details.
July 18:
Up late, then into Watson Lake proper for 3 1/2 hours of gear sort & packing with Wes, Quinn, & Giovanni. Packs are SO heavy ... Very likely this'll require 2 days/trips. We stopped to jump in a lake on the gravel road drive, arriving at Finlayson Lake's float plane base around 430. Stretched on the dock then wandered up to the cabin, assuming Warren'd find us when he was ready. Started dinner & tried futiley to repair my pad with Hotbond & super glue - Dangit, Nonni! Still gonna haul it in since it's way better deflated than just the yoga pad is to sleep on. Warren showed briefly but said he'd be back at 930 after making a call back at his lodge, since we'd just started making dinner. After we finished eating, the Johnson family pulled in to occupy the cabin, preparing for a long canoe trip with lots of remote hiking. Dad had broken his leg so was just gonna paddle. Cool! We waited on the dock, pestered to distraction by mosquitos, throwing & skipping rocks, watching the long sunset. The float plane ride was the bomb. He banked so we could see 2 female moose wading &, later, a large bull swimming. Immense forest, hills, ridges, mountains, tundra, marshes, ponds, streams, rivers, & lakes. Inconnu Lodge is the bomb. Beautiful, rustic, stocked with food, & Warren, his wife, Anita, & super-strong 15-year-old son, Shawn, are super nice, generous, & friendly. After beers with Warren in the lodge proper, I went back to the mess hall for 2nd dinner at midnight - a giant plate of vegetable curry over rice, Naniamo bars, cookies, & cheesecake - while chatting with Anita about politics, the Yukon, & kids. Night, night.
July 19:
Met Bernie, a 30-year-old climber/skier, cooking me breakfast & who'd spent time in Squamish. Big, strong kid working as a cat ski dude 4 months a year & cooking ocassional summers somewhere remote & scenic, like this great gig here at Inconnu. Gio was up early but inexplicably late, even though Warren was 1 hour later than the 9am start we were told to be ready for. Super cool flight in from the co-pilot seat. Wonderful, rough, wild country, undiminished by the rain & clouds. Landing on Glacier Lake - whitish blue with glacial sediment - was smooth & somewhat surreal. Warren was nice to point out our route past Harrison-Smith Buttress, the scree looking steep but short. Wrong. After final-final sort & pack in a lakeside cabin, I thought the total pack weight was tolerable & decided to go in one push instead of two. Gio roared ahead with one pack, leaving the 2nd for retrieval tomorrow. Wes, Quinn, & I immediately lost the faint trail & wallowed on the fringe of - & often in - a huge beaver pond & marsh. Quinn tumbled in once but was quickly out with nothing soaked except her legs & hip. We found distinct trail perhaps 1 hour after losing it, yet I fell going through the rocky, rooty, wet, treefallen mess so many times I lost count. Sometimes able to right my ownself, other times unclipping then grunting the pack to a potential loading position (for I could not lift it with my arms onto my back), & sometimes, when lucky, had Wes or Quinn in a position to help - all while absolutely swarmed by mosquitos. Each of us had sprayed before we'd left the cabin but soon went through the laborious task of unhitching Wes's overloaded pack to get our individual spray bottles out so that we could each re-spray as often as possible (I used nearly an entire small bottle through the remainder of the day). A neat log crossing with a long handline over the roaring river then we started up the scree. At first, I was impressed with how well I was doing under an immense load but about 2/3 of the way up I was no longer strong enough to maintain either my balance or my judgment, abondoning clothes & climbing gear in the tarp stashed under an overhanging rock. Wes was conveniently nearby when I devised the scheme & he helpfully unloaded my gear & stashed it while sorting for climbing gear he might want for tomorrow. I constructed a cairn with one hiking pole as a marker, also turning to memorize a large detached, tan pillar on Harrison-Smith. I surged ahead of Wes & Quinn confident now I'd make it - though barely - without (s)tumbling to my death. I dropped the pack as I wandered into lower Fairy Meadows, unable to find Gio or the Korean party. I went down to Wes & Quinn, somewhat revived by walking briefly unloaded, & took her light 2nd pack & 1 of his ropes. After finishing the bouldery creek climb, I strapped the loads pilfered from W&Q to my pack & pushed on, soon finding a trail, at the top of which was Gio & a magnificent boulder overhang. Perfect for 2 tents, with a cooking area, food boxes, & stone seating & cooking surfaces. Gio had made it in just over 6 hours, I in about 8, & Q&W in 8 1/2. I unpacked food & stove & began making dinner immediately as we were all wet, tired, cold, & hungry. A strong breeze blew ocassionally & I wanted to have hot food & get into my bag. Gio put up our tent. Wes & Quinn sorted & stored food, gear, hung wet clothes, organized, & put up my Kelty for their use. Rice & Tasty Bites in big bowls, everyone happy, though, inexplicably, Gio was last to dinner. Haha! It's so Gio & I dig it. The dude's nice, interesting, generous - though he works as a geologist for oil research! - & late everywhere! Haha! Quinn lent me her leg warmers for my feet, I hung my wet raingear, socks, & boots, & I got into the bag. Gio came in, we talked, & planned tomorrow's retrieval of the remainder of our gear: he'd be at the bottom of the scree field with his 2nd pack & a walkie-talkie 5-6 hours after leaving, I'd be at the top with binoculaurs, then meet him near my stashed gear where I'd take some of his load (since I'd be more rested), & we'd finish together. It's serious team bonding that I'm eager to do so that this is the experience of a lifetime from every perspective. Nothing wrong with putting in some effort to make not just a great rope partner but a great new friend - who lives in Columbia, which I'd love to visit someday! I fell asleep before he was done talking ... bummer, but too tired to keep my eyes open. Legs leaden but I thankfully do not cramp. Pad deflates within minutes but it doesn't matter ... I'm in the Cirque of the Unclimbables! Wow!
July 20:
Gio was up earliest, yet inexplicably didn't leave for his gear til 2pm - 4 hours after getting up! Haha! I slept in. Up around noon for breakfast where Q reminded me that we each got only 1 oatmeal packet. It was OK this once since she'd put an extra one in mine as a treat. After a little time firing rocks at bold, pesky pikas & marmots, I got back into bed til W told me it was near 7pm - time to go get my stuff & help Gio. Wes offers to come along, also looking for team bonding & generally just a great dude, but after clearing up a potential radio channel interference with the Koreans, he gets ahold of Gio & finds out that he's decided to stay the night at the cabin below. I go on down to my gear, load the empty pack with the stash - which is not heavy, thank goodness - & make it back in 1 1/2 hours, where Q&W have made dinner. I put on warm dry clothes & string up wet stuff while Wes unpacks & hangs my climbing gear - these guys are awesome roommates in the remote outdoors, too! Warm food, kit-kat bar, sleep some more ... & with Gio gone, I use his inflated mattress atop mine & sleep on a princess bed. Oh, glorious sleep. Muscles twitch with tiredness still. Without Gio here tomorrow, I will not climb even if the weather is good. This is good since I need more rest. I realize that this immense fatique means I'm only marginally capable of this whole biking/remote alpine climbing adventure combo so I'm thrilled to not have waited too late in life to give it a go. Excited to be here!
July 21:
W&Q were up when I got up, gearing up for an FFA attempt on the formation right of LFT. Oatmeal & water for breakfast, then a go at super glue-ing the water filter nozzle back on (broken yesterday in its 1st use), which may have worked. Meditated. Watched through binocaulars a Korean hand drilling an anchor on a big boulder near their camp. GORP & jerky lunch before tramping down to help Gio. I waited near where I stashed my gear, reluctant to go all the way down for fear of missing him in the giant scree field - calling loudly & into the walkie-talkie frequently. The view of Glacier Lake, river, creeks, & wildness all around were more than enough company for me as I rested - swatting mosquitos for sport. Eventually he called on his radio to tell me he was at the base of the scree eating & would come up the creekside of the scree, so I slowly wandered that way. He called again to say he had to make it toward the toe of the buttress instead & about 20 minutes later we found each other. I took 1/2 his gear & we started back up. I'd found a decent traversing path with minimal scree uphill around & through the uppermost part of the alder patch, then up the creek to the cairned trail to camp. He said he'd made the entire trip in just 4 1/2 hours & though he'd suffered at the cabin last night with the cold, he was in bouyant spirits - feeling strong & grateful for the help & comraderie. I stashed his food, strung up wet shoes, socks, & shirt, then stretched while he fussed & ate. Cold, I climbed into the tent for a long nap, dreaming of Rae. Around 730 it rains for an hour so, worried, Gio & I walk to the upper meadow with binoculaurs to look for W&Q on the rock, though within an hour they walk right up to us & remind us rescue can wait 1 full day. They were thankful for our worry, nonetheless. I hope the weather clears, though if it holds off raining like it has today then Gio & I may have a go at the 1st few pitches of LFT tomorrow. I am already struggling mentally & physically with the drastic shift in food availability & consumption. My metabolism is still firing away from the last 2 intense weeks of harsh weather & long riding days. I'm not recovering well.
July 22:
It looked sunny on the tarp outside when I finally rolled out of the tent, relishing what I hope is the final rest day. It is cold & damp, with cloudy mists swirling up the Meadows from the river below. 1 oatmeal, a weak hot cocoa, & water. Lots of water today to help me feel fuller. Water filter repair appears to have been successful! Q&W head out to climb on sport routes near camp, encouraging me to join them. After meditating & drying wet stuff as the sun came out (!), I did & climbed well. Wes had a go at the Penguin (hard 12?), yarding on gear on what was a ridiculously shallow, thin tips corner crack leaning back a bit, followed by a frightening barndoor sharp arete. Q, with her smaller fingers & superb strength & technique, followed the corner with only 2 takes & lead 1/2 way up the penguin's "bill" arete before tuckering out. I ran back to camp as Gio got on it (his 1st route of the day) because it sprinkled & too many critical things were outside to dry - including sleeping bags. Once in camp, I stretched. The others returned in the bright sunshine bathing Fairy Meadows. Peaks drying & blue sky on the weather horizon have us immediately making plans & preparing for LFT early tomorrow. We all suspect the Koreans will be seiging the wall tomorrow, as well, since they have already fixed ropes the 10 pitches to the bivy ledge. Gio & I will leave at 5am, W&Q around 7am. I am thoroughly stoked at the serious potential for making a 11 year dream come true. Lotus Flower Tower! OMG!
July 23:
Gio set the alarm for 3:45 & the sky was brilliantly clear with a 1/2 moon hanging above the eastern ridgeline. 2 packets of oatmeal, cocoa, & water - inexplicably, Gio was ready when I was! Haha! W&Q left camp before us & were quickly well ahead. By 6:30 we'd all made it to the base of LFT, which had a sunny cap & just 20 ft of snowfield to cross under the route. Windless. Perfect day. Q led off, struggling slightly with the still wet cracks. I led the 1st 5.8 pitch after Wes left the ground (intent on not losing them early in the day) & it felt bold & alpine & slightly harder than I anticipated. Wes led pitch 2 & 3 as they were sopping wet under a leaky corner, water still coarsing down, the walls & cracks black & slick - remarkably he fell only once on pitch 3. Q struggled to follow. Gio chose to jug pitches 2 & 3 using the Korean's fixed lines, but I intended to climb as 2nd in both. Only part way up pitch 2 & I was flailing badly, unable to clear a very wet, slightly off-width section, eventually choosing to jug the line. However, since the 6 Koreans had arrived as I sat at the 1st belay & began their fixed rope ascent, I was relegated to an older line & found my prussic didn't work nearly as well on the slightly algae-d rope. It took a lot of time & energy to laboriously push the ascender, sit, unload the prussic, move it, stand, ... lather, rinse, repeat. I arrived at the top of pitch 3 nearly 3 1/2 hours after leaving the ground, sopping wet & worked. Unfortunately, Gio's attitude was already flagging so I took the lead on pitch 4 but was stymied by the lack of pro & damp rock not even 20 ft up. After discussing it with Gio but unable to communicate with the Koreans nearby, I eventually chose to clip my ascender to their fixed line as protection & free climb until I could get a piece in. Gio was unwilling to lead pitch 5 so I took the rack again, intent on reaching the summit no matter how long it took. I was also anticipating that we would simul-climb the easier 5.7 chimney pitches to the top of pitch 10, allowing us to recover somewhat. Gio led pitch 6 with an agreement to go past the belay for the simul-climb if he found the climbing sufficiently easy. It wasn't. This pitch & the remaining chimney pitches were remarkably awkward, insecure, & taxing. I took the rack after Gio's lead & strung together 2 hard pitches, or so I thought. Gio lead a pitch & then I strung 2 more, thinking we'd be at the top of pitch 10 & the famous "bivy ledge" where the Koreans had set up camp. But I didn't have enough rope to finish to the ledge, so Gio led a short, hard 5.8 to get us there. We ate, drank, talked to W&Q on the radios, & rested, then I took the rack for an intimidatingly steep 5.9+ finger locks corner. Still wet, the crack's locks weren't "locker" but my gear was frequent & thankfully solid as I took 1 fall & 1 take. The topo suggested pushing this pitch higher to "The Edge" but I was worried when I hit the original belay position that I had so little gear left & the last 25 ft looked hard. But the last corner pinched in & I used back scums to move confidently. Unfortunately, now I was completely worked. That pitch felt like 5.10c & the next pitch was also rated 5.9+. I had developed abdominal cramps from the initial jugging. The middle & ring fingers on my left hand were locking straight frequently, making it much harder to grasp features. Weariness pervaded my entire being. Gio arrived at the bekay, having pulled on gear to clean the pitch, then let me know he couldn't lead due to intense neck cramps. We looked up longingly at the Xenolith Headwall, reluctant to give up on the summit but realizing that 8 more of this route's 5.8 & 5.9+ pitches weren't likely & perhaps unsafe in our condition. We talked about it, reluctantly deciding we really were cooked. Now we were reconciling ourselves to being here on the LFT if not the summit, trying to be happy with the journey, adventure, scenery, & our effort. W&Q had just started the 5.11 roof pitch (16), climbing fast & clean - indefatigible. The Korean leader, Han, arrived at our belay, sweaty & pumped, but English-speaking. Over a decade ago he'd been in the Bugaboos, Cerro del Torro, Makalu, Salathe ... an accomplished climbing resume. Another Korean arrived, lit the ever-present cigarette (handing Gio one, too, as they'd done at the bivy ledge without a word exchanged), & another cluster of ropes & people ensued so I tried to rappel back to the bivy ledge with the Korean leader off to fix pitch 12 & another Korean attempting the pitch below - both belayed by the smoker on top of 11. Gio finally escaped the cluster & we prepared to descend, then decided to wait til we saw W&Q summit. I saw Wes lead the crux 5.11 roof clean, then Quinn followed it clean & continued up the headwall. When they finally disappeared over the top we congratulated them over the radio & got on our rappel, thinking they'd catch us by the base since they had 2 ropes. The route beta suggested a 60m rope was sufficient for the descent off the right of the bivy ledge (avoiding the bad rope pulls required if descending the chimney pitches) but I was unable to reach the next anchor! So I swung back into the chimney, having to untie for the final unprotected scramble to the slings at the top of pitch 9. Gio pulled the rope & tossed it back down to me & I slowly, wearily reclimbed pitch 10. When W&Q arrived 1 1/2 hours later, we agreed that Gio & I would rappel on our single 60m line fixed to the anchors, fix the far end again, then W&Q would undo & toss the now-freed end past us before rappelling on their 60m doubles. It became a minor cluster when Gio went into the chimney instead of staying on the rappel line, forcing Wes or Quinn to then go retrieve our stuck rope twice. Finally down, we packed up & started the hike to camp. Within 1/2 an hour, headlamps were on - meaning it was midnight - & not soon after I began to seriously flag. We couldn't keep the faint trail through the boulder fields but whenever Gio & I stopped to reconnoiter, I would sit & nearly fall asleep. I had to keep moving or I would succumb to the pervading fatigue, so I began a continuous stumble simply pointed in the general direction of camp that got me there 1st. I immediately dropped the pack & the incredibly uncomfortable gear-laden harness before getting water & starting dinner. Quinn, Wes, & Gio arrived within 15 minutes or so, weary but glad to be done. Faultily remembering our food surplus, I made 50% more rice than our daily ration, which worried Quinn. Into bed at 230am. Exhausted, twitching & cramping, I struggled to fall asleep - the weight of failure heavy in my bones, joints, & muscles.
July 24:
Awoke very late to sunshine, into which W&Q had moved their bags for 2nd sleep. Heavy with disappointment still, I made oatmeal & cocoa, then cleaned my smelly-ass shoes & socks, re-bandaged my scrotum wound, & unwound in the sun. Body still racked, twitching, & weak, I got back into the tent & bag for 2nd sleep when the sun disappeared & the wind picked up. Around 4, Gio finally clambered out of the tent for the 1st time & I followed. Wes was still in bed, suffering from a cold, but Quinn was up & about so we sat in the sun, chatting comfortably. I apologized for the excessive rations last night & tried to assure her that, just because she organized the food (she & I planning it together months ago in my kitchen), it wasn't her fault that Wes, Gio, & I were hungry. She'd walked to an abandoned camp during the day & found a Trivial Pursuit game that we all decided to play. During a lull in the game in which Quinn wandered off to pee, Wes mentioned that Quinn was worried about our rations since the boys were so hungry, so we decided to evaluate our supply. Us boys were in a panic til Quinn returned & patiently reorganized things, which showed us we had dinners for each remaining night if we ate the extra pancake mix one night. Yea! But then we started talking about how these rations weren't really working, especially for Wes or, if I somehow manage to rally for another LFT attempt, me. Quinn was upset, beginning to cry, & I tried lamely to comfort her with an awkward hug. We discussed shortening the trip by a few days but finally agreed that if you chose to eat double to get through something, you'd go on 1/2 rations for the rest days afterward. Throughout the tense food discussion, Wes & Gio patiently worked on me until they convinced me that a 2nd LFT attempt was worth the effort. Instead of free-climbing in one continuous push, we'd jug the 3 opening pitches & climb to the bivy with the leader carrying a small pack & the 2nd carrying a bigger pack, rest overnight, & finish the 2nd day. Pestered relentlessly by mosquitos, we crawled into Gio's tent to finish our game (Gio & I both too high to really play but we all had fun); finally going to bed around midnight.
July 25:
Still twitching throughout the night, though I had no severe cramps. But a new malady appeared: hand numbness, especially the left hand. So I slept poorly & felt weak, tight, & fatigued when I finally crawled out of the tent into bright sunshine. 2 servings of oatmeal this morning (somehow I have extra ... I suspect from Quinn, the worried sweetie), cocoa, lots of water, then a small pity party that Wes tried to get me past - 1st with a "not a winner's attitude" pep talk, then with a "be smart, rest, & do what's right for you" reconciliation - before he & Quinn left for an FFA attempt on Bussel Tower (exciting! Thouugh they end up doing 3 pitches in Terrace Tower instead). Gio also seems to have recovered: his neck & shoulder just minor complaints & generally feeling energetic. I get back into the bag for more rest. Weary. Wary. Bummed that my body & spirit are flagging. Gio works on me some more in early evening & I agree we should try tomorrow if the weather looks good, & that we could start as late as 10 from camp & still comfortably make the bivy ledge by the time it starts getting cold at 7. We go through our climbing plan & packing list again. I am more bouyant after the decision & a nice (though skimpy) dinner with good friends. We always boil water to put into the remains of the Tasty Bite packages for soup, which Giovanni excellently spices & we dub "Estonian Tea", & add bits of peanut butter or honey to our dessert. I go to sleep optimistic & energized.
July 26:
I have 2 oatmeal packets & cocoa before finishing preparations for our 2nd attempt: lubing 3 stuck cams with olive oil, filtering water into Quinn's Camelbak & Wes's Platypus for our use, sewing a glove, & finalizing our pack contents. Gio doesn't like the looks of the gathering clouds, though, so we don't leave. James, a tough 46 year-old physical therapist from Urbana, IL, (UI) & Julien, a post-doc at UI from Grenoble, come over offering good company & bouldering for awhile. The Koreans return from scoping the ice cave under Club International, their next planned route - friendlier each time we see them. It sprinkles around 7, scaring the 2 bold 30 year-olds also with U of Illinois connections who are just below the LFT crux roof only 4 pitches from the summit into retreat - visible through binoculaurs. We eat yummy stuffing, tuna, & Tasty Bite then crawl into Gio's tent for another round of Trivial Pursuit, at the end of which a downpour gets underway - I'm very glad we're not on LFT's bivy ledge but worried as there's now no climbing tomorrow & the route's cracks will be wet for days ... Gio is nearly out of lunches with only 3 of the next 8 days covered. We discuss buying food from the Koreans, who have bags of rice, crates of oranges, & coolers of beer. The option of leaving early to accommodate Gio's mismanagement was brought up by him but quashed by me - I'll skimp, too, if needs be, so we get another shot at LFT. Trivial Pursuit in our tent again is fun & funny.
July 27:
Rain all day, heavy at times but mainly a steady drizzle, which brings the nearby creek back to the level it was when we 1st came. I meditate before a breakfast of 1 oatmeal & weak cocoa (we're nearly out of that & the group peanut butter). Then back into the tent for rest, achey & stiff because my pad deflation is worse & the tarp under it & my hips isn't enough to keep a battered, withered body comfortable. I fold the pad double & put the tarp & my backpack under my feet ... better. Gio goes for a walk & I borrow his book again (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), enthralled by this excellent murder mystery with well-developed characters, until a call for dinner of tuna & Tasty Bite soup & 6 yummy 3-bite pancakes. We discuss food options again as all the boys are weak & wasting away: barter with Koreans, call Warren to see if he's bringing anyone in in the next few days & ask for either more food or an early trip out for Gio & I, cutting 2 days off the remaining 7 ... options that we'll act on tomorrow at the Korean's camp, which has food & the satellite phone. Our diet: 1 oatmeal packet for breakfast, 1/2 cupof GORP & 2 small jerky sticks for lunch, 1/2 cup instant rice or 1 ramen packet with 1/2 of a foil packet of Tasty Bite or tuna for dinner, & a candy or granola bar for dessert. Too little to keep me functioning & not enough to recover from any signifucant effort. Trivial Pursuit again in our tent is fun, as usual.
July 28:
It actually gets dark now at some point in the night - the change from the constant illumination through Gio's yellow tent fabric was drastic enough to wake me. Hips very sore, as the pad doubling wasn't as effective as I need it to be. This could turn into as much trouble as the skimpy diet for me as I feel like I at least need good rest for another LFT attempt, though it's really socked in & drizzling still late this morning. Gio & I agree that it needs to stop raining tomorrow or we're not gonna make a 2nd attempt. We need 2 days of decent weather minimum to dry enough of the route, we need 2 days to climb & descend, & 1 day to recover before the hike out on August 3: 6 days of the 7 remaining. It's quite cold, too, so we all hunker in the tents til nearly noon (except Gio, who lies in until 2 or so). That's when Wes returned from a trip to the Korean's camp. He'd left with $10 & a bolt + hangar & came back with that stuff ... & about 10 cups of rice & 2/3 of a jar of peanut butter & 5 dehydrated dinners & 2 lbs of sausage sticks! Saved! We cook rice immediately then add sausages for a filling, hot lunch ... mmmm. All returned to the tents, as it was raining & cold, feeling considerably better. In a brief lull, W&Q called me out to see blue sky. Eventually I wandered to James & Julien's camp with my mattress since James'd suggested he had repair stuff. He did but it wasn't gonna work with my series of little holes near the seam ... ah, well. They made tea then I made the mistake of burning my entire mouth with it when I opened the top on my water bottle too soon. In a brief lull in the drizzle, I ran back to camp - having to use another crossing 50 m up as ours is now submerged by the roaring creek. It continues to intermittently clear when Han, the Korean team leader, drops by. We all thank him again for his generosity but he demurs, "Climbers are friends of one community." Then proceeds to tell an awesome adventure of climbing/hitch-hiking his way from Alaska to Mexico over many months with a 90 kg (200 lb) pack - knowing no English - about 10 years ago, during which he gave himself the name Han Solo because he was doing everything solo. A gruesome, disheartening story of the Himilayan death of a female Korean legend & related inter-team intrigue followed. Dinner tonight was Ramen-Salmon + a dehydrated Korean dinner - yummy! PB on granola bar for dessert. Gio stays outside longer than I, apparently tolerant of the cold. Before I submit to the warmth of my bag, we talk optimistically about the weather, tweak our plan (J&J may be planning to fix pitch 1 - maybe tomorrow - & W&Q want to keep their jumars), & share some great sentiments about being here in the Cirque (which is breathtakingly beautiful, even in the small slices you're often left with), having a really good, new friend with which to spend time, & encouraging each other about our improving chances. We spend part of the afternoon talking about Columbia's torturous battles between government, private armies of land owners, & the FARC - all of which became intensely personal for his folks when their business was attacked in an unsettled region. He's been in the FARC-controlled mountain regions many times for mountaineering & geological sampling but because he's a former student at left-leaning university he's been accepted by the peasant-guerillas & fan travel safely. Fascinating. We needed the food & weather situations to improve & we got both. Optimistic.
July 29:
Up late to a little sunshine that soon changes to a light drizzle, but the clouds look the same as the day before the previous 3-day good weather window (misty, broken clouds roar up from the valley below - it's beautiful & fun to watch) so we stay positive. Oatmeal ... No cocoa but some weak coffee from Gio (breakfast food is skimpy, so I tend to sleep in). Meditate. The sun breaks through, though it stays cold. Drizzle returns intermittently throughout mid-afternoon. Lunch of Korean rice & sausage is not filling but quite good & still satisfying. Gio's restless so we decide to hike to the ice cave in the Proboscis Glacier. W&Q are keen to see it, too, but have plans to fix 200-400m of rope on a FA line they've spied on Middle Huey Spire so we all hump gear up the steep slope into a stunning, hidden 2nd cirque between Proboscis & LFT! Huey's steep southern face has several stout aid & mixed lines through a cavernous, complex roof system (though their FA line is to to the right of the roofs, under & along an aesthetic zig-zag overhang) so the main wall is nearly dry. Wes grunts up the wet, mossy lower terraces, cleaning cracks with the hammer's pointed end, banging in pitons with the other, all while laden with a huge rack of gear. After 1-1/2 hours, he's put up 50m of 5.9 A3 &, though eager for more, descends. We walk down the steep, loose slope to the morraine, then along it to a grey morraine lake below the glacier's snout. The ice cave is colossal, easily 15m tall, rippled interior surfaces, & goes back a long distance - all this reported by the trio, as I elected not to hike the last 30 minutes to get inside. I'm not sure I can describe the difference between tired & low on energy, but I'm the latter. Having carried the lightest load today, I felt decent: good strength, fitness, balance, etc. but know that another LFT attempt will require all remaining energy, especially given the little food remaining. The Korean gift has kept me upright but has in no way restored energy, just arrested the depletion. Fantastic views down to MacKenzie & Glacier Lakes, spotted with sunbeams. Proboscis is steep & glowering with low clouds when I turn for another look, then another ... The scenery here is so wild, forbidding, & beautiful, & the scale is immense - nothing as close as it seems when you strike out into it. Couscous & Tasty Bite dinner, then a walk to see James & Julien, & to meet Kevin (Seattle) & Andy (LA, though a heavy Polish accent belies his roots - & he's very quiet). Everyone is intimidated & cowed by the weather. Today, they'd managed to set up an elaborate tarp system to improve their leaky cave roof & to fix pitch 1 of LFT with some harvested marmot-chewed rope. The young guns may retrieve another rope from the cabin & fix pitches 4 & 5 tomorrow or just on their way up in (hopefully) 2 days. Gio optimistically intends to carry our climbing gear & stash it at the base tomorrow, as well. I will rest. Comfortably ensconced in my bag, Gio lulls me to sleep with extraordinary descriptions of the geological processes that form not only the Cirque's granite spires but also why these areas are of such great interest to the extraction industries. Visions of flowing magma seep into my dreams.
July 30:
Trouble sleeping - really, really missing Rae's company ... The clouds do not look promising when I awake. W&Q left early for their FA attempt, which will be a long, long day as they anticipate 7-8 more pitches like the 1st, to which they must add the time for the 2nd to jug each pitch, hand-drilling bolts, & descending. Tough to interpret today's weather: cloudy, spit, cold. Gio insists it rained on LFT but I disagree - unwaveringly hopeful I will get another shot. James comes over to chat more & divulge he trained as a power lifter. He & I quite similar in many ways but as different in others. Nice dude, for sure. Gio jumped in the creek in a brief moment of sun - he's much thinner than last week. Cold so into the tent for a nap for me, saving energy for the next 2 days of effort. LFT beckons me to its summit & I want to accept - badly. W&Q return in early evening after fixing 3 more pitches of A3, anticipating a pendulum on their next effort since the line they're on has become impassable. Ramen & tuna + Korean dehydrated for dinner, &, in anticipation of the upcoming effort, I eat all my GORP with the exception of that I set aside for LFT. I stand before the spires as I brush teeth & pee in preparation for sleep, realizing that this cirque has completely humbled me. My aspirations & limited physical ability are no match for LFT. Defeated. Weakened. But willing, nonetheless, to make another effort. I nearly beg the spire to let me up ...
July 31:
It rained last night & I awake to temperamental skies: dark clouds around the cirque, clear over the mighty Proboscis, & LFT absolutely socked in. Even W&Q remained in bed this morning, though they need just 1 of the next 3 days (2, excluding today) to be decent for their last hard push for the Wet Zig Zags FA (my name, referring to wet rolling papers in camp & the wet main feature of their line). I'm disappointed that I can't muster strength or tenacity, of course, though not depressed. I thought I was, at best, marginally capable of this combined adventure & it's no surprise that the margin was just on the wrong side. It's certainly not the 1st time my abilities & will did not match my ambition (failing to qualify for Kona Ironman being just one example). Effort is important to me, too, so I am reconciled to being happy with that, & being in the wild, remote, rugged, vast beauty of this place, & sharing it all with wonderful Giovanni! More perspective on & from this failure will come with contemplation. Wes & Giovanni work to convince me that we can try again tomorrow - that I should eat as much as I need & stop worrying about hiking out gear if it doesn't make the Aug 2 Korean helicopter down to the lake. I sleep more, up late to find they've made a huge dinner & obviously left their 2nd portion in the pot for me to eat. Janelle & Mark Smiley arrive - they're 30 climbs into a 5.10 sponsored effort to climb the 50 Classics (http://smileysproject.com/Committed__Fifty_Classic_Climbs_of_North_America/Committed.html)! Cool couple running a nordic center in Crested Butte, CO. With them (kind of) are Laurel & Andy from Seattle. She's tiny, Asian - wierd seeing someone so unrugged-looking in this forbiddingly hostile setting. But, of course, I don't belong here myself - I'm both unprepared & just plain not tough enough. Maybe tomorrow my perspective will change if I can be sleeping on the bivy ledge tomorrow night.
August 1:
Rain in early morning then more spit & clouds before 9am means Gio is unwilling to go. I do not protest, though I wish I knew I was strong & tough enough to try despite the conditions. But I do not trust myself to aid continuously in wet cracks &, despite the big dinner & 2 oatmeal packet breakfast, I am still weak & unenergetic. I guess I think it wouldn't be prudent but, f%$#! where are my cojones?! Grrf. Portlanders Daryl, Brad, Ryan, & Scott arrive via copter (Ryan's shredded tibia precluding the hike). I feel like a hardened old hand in the Cirque after 14 days but try to be quiet since LFT has so humbled me. We find that James & Julien are climbing in these rough conditions, moving through the bivy ledge by 10am so they must have left camp around 3am & decided to just giv'er! Wow! We watch throughout the day (W&Q are simultaneously pushing their FA attempt on Middle Huey - also WOW!) & they push through multiple dumps of rain & a hard wind in an heroic effort - finally topping out at 10pm (on the headwall for 12 hours!)! I am so excited by their accomplishment & humbled by their achievement. Unbelievable ... I go to bed exhilerated & bereft. I wish I could have rallied that kind of effort & envy their toughness, fortitude, perserverance, & commitment. I will admire 46-year-old James & remember his heart opening onto that 2200 ft spire forever, I know. W&Q return a little dispirited. Rotten rock halted their effort after the pendulum & another 2 pitches of A3. I feel for them & say so but they're quiet.
August 2:
A very pleasant weather day & regret so fills my heart & gut that I won't eat breakfast. Up & out of the tent at 7, I walk to the upper meadows to prostrate myself in front of LFT, trying to register in the core of my being the defeat here & have it meld more comfortably with my other wondrous impressions of the raw beauty, Giovanni's company, W&Q's success, & all the cool, rugged, energetic outdoor people here. I am not quite successful - the disappointment has sunk into my core & is hard to dislodge. Overlay that with the good stuff? Maybe ... in time. Andy & Laurel are moving very slowly up LFT - at the top of pitch 1 at 10am. Hmmm ... W&Q go off to do 4 pitches of a 5.11c on the spire closest to camp & they look fabulous climbing a corner & roof crack. The Koreans had brought a cardboard box of food - potatoes, cabbage, onion, garlic, carrots, flour, peppers, sausages, honey, eggs - to our camp while I was gone & I find a big egg/veggie breakfast awaiting me. Oh my! So happy to have another filling meal. Gio moves all the climbing gear to his haul bag, hoping to get in on the copter shuttle. W&Q go over to FA Han's "Family" just-finished-bolting-but-attempted 5.12- sport route - Wes figuring out all the bold moves but unable to link them despite excellent climbing technique & strength. Everyone watches: Han & his team (packed & waiting for the copter), James, Julien, Andy, Kevin, Mark, & Janelle. All basking in the long stretches of sun. The copter arrives & our heavy bags leave for the cabin - yea! Parting with the super-gracious, generous Koreans - especially Han - is heartfelt. Huge dinner of 2 big bowls of vegetable, rice, sausage soup. Gio & I walk up to again look at the tower in glorious late evening weather. Joy & regret tussle again, though this place is really too wild & beautiful for regret. Portlanders are walking back down after exhausting themselves on pitches 1-3. I question the wisdom of an intended 1-day push tomorrow but -hey! seriously - what do I know? Andy & Laurel return late from "checking out" the pitches to the bivy ledge, which took all day. We call Warren & confirm for noon tomorrow. Into bed late - I'm sleeping on piled tarps since I sent the (deflated) 5lb pad down on the copter.
August 3:
Up at 6am to absolutely the best weather of the trip. Not a cloud. Bright, warm, ... stunning. Andy & Kevin, Mark & Janelle already long gone for their 1-day pushes. Gio is inexplicably late leaving (10am vs. W&Q's 8am departure) but he's able to report that Kevin & Andy were at pitch 13 already! With such a glorious weather day, they seem assured of success & I hope the same for Mark & Janelle. I had seen The Portlanders in camp when I left at 830am so maybe they want the wall to themselves tomorrow? With a light pack, the hike out is easy - no real trouble in the scree, very few mosquitoes out (?), & I stay on the trail easily enough. When I hear a plane near noon I hurry & twist my ankle - ouch! But it's not our plane. Erin & another park employee who helped us with logistics are hiking into the Cirque & glad to put faces with names - even sharing home-baked cookies! We jump in the freezing Glacier Lake & bask in the sun until Warren arrives around 3. The flight is amazing! Spiraling in a deep gorge twice to gain altitude slowly to make our way up & over the vast Bricknell Snowfield, then a continuous display of glaciers, alpine lakes, with multi-hued peaks arraying off to all horizons. Truly wild & beautiful. Wow! We land at Macavoy Lake & are asked if we would mind staying at the lodge til the morning of Aug 5! Sure! Free lodging, endless food, showers, laundry, rest ... Yeah, you betcha! I go immediately to the mess hall for 3 Naniamo bars & a plate of ribs, stuffing, turkey, & pork chops. Dinner is in 1 hour & I'm warmed uo & ready. Shower. Chat with Bernie about working here but Warren says he can't hire me because I'm not Canadian. Dangit, Nonni! Dinner's a big helping of potato salad, burger, 2 bowls of soup, 2 cups of coffee, chocolate-banana bread, & another Naniamo bar ... Being in a civilized environment brings strong Rae-motions to the surface & I ache to see my beautiful wife. Pool & shuffleboard in the lodge along with a few beers. Late to bed after another burger, 2 cookies, Naniamo bar, & 2 snack bars.
August 4:
My stomach was too full to let me sleep so I got maybe 2 hours. Oh well. Laundry. Meditate. Breakfast (burrito, granola, toast, coffee, Nanaimo bar). Emails with Rae - OMG, do I miss her! Reading. Stretch in the sun. Lunch (soup, sandwich, granola, snack bars). Stretch again. Nap in the sun. No plans except dinner.
Summary: I got my ass handed to me. Thoroughly. Read on for the gorey details.
July 18:
Up late, then into Watson Lake proper for 3 1/2 hours of gear sort & packing with Wes, Quinn, & Giovanni. Packs are SO heavy ... Very likely this'll require 2 days/trips. We stopped to jump in a lake on the gravel road drive, arriving at Finlayson Lake's float plane base around 430. Stretched on the dock then wandered up to the cabin, assuming Warren'd find us when he was ready. Started dinner & tried futiley to repair my pad with Hotbond & super glue - Dangit, Nonni! Still gonna haul it in since it's way better deflated than just the yoga pad is to sleep on. Warren showed briefly but said he'd be back at 930 after making a call back at his lodge, since we'd just started making dinner. After we finished eating, the Johnson family pulled in to occupy the cabin, preparing for a long canoe trip with lots of remote hiking. Dad had broken his leg so was just gonna paddle. Cool! We waited on the dock, pestered to distraction by mosquitos, throwing & skipping rocks, watching the long sunset. The float plane ride was the bomb. He banked so we could see 2 female moose wading &, later, a large bull swimming. Immense forest, hills, ridges, mountains, tundra, marshes, ponds, streams, rivers, & lakes. Inconnu Lodge is the bomb. Beautiful, rustic, stocked with food, & Warren, his wife, Anita, & super-strong 15-year-old son, Shawn, are super nice, generous, & friendly. After beers with Warren in the lodge proper, I went back to the mess hall for 2nd dinner at midnight - a giant plate of vegetable curry over rice, Naniamo bars, cookies, & cheesecake - while chatting with Anita about politics, the Yukon, & kids. Night, night.
July 19:
Met Bernie, a 30-year-old climber/skier, cooking me breakfast & who'd spent time in Squamish. Big, strong kid working as a cat ski dude 4 months a year & cooking ocassional summers somewhere remote & scenic, like this great gig here at Inconnu. Gio was up early but inexplicably late, even though Warren was 1 hour later than the 9am start we were told to be ready for. Super cool flight in from the co-pilot seat. Wonderful, rough, wild country, undiminished by the rain & clouds. Landing on Glacier Lake - whitish blue with glacial sediment - was smooth & somewhat surreal. Warren was nice to point out our route past Harrison-Smith Buttress, the scree looking steep but short. Wrong. After final-final sort & pack in a lakeside cabin, I thought the total pack weight was tolerable & decided to go in one push instead of two. Gio roared ahead with one pack, leaving the 2nd for retrieval tomorrow. Wes, Quinn, & I immediately lost the faint trail & wallowed on the fringe of - & often in - a huge beaver pond & marsh. Quinn tumbled in once but was quickly out with nothing soaked except her legs & hip. We found distinct trail perhaps 1 hour after losing it, yet I fell going through the rocky, rooty, wet, treefallen mess so many times I lost count. Sometimes able to right my ownself, other times unclipping then grunting the pack to a potential loading position (for I could not lift it with my arms onto my back), & sometimes, when lucky, had Wes or Quinn in a position to help - all while absolutely swarmed by mosquitos. Each of us had sprayed before we'd left the cabin but soon went through the laborious task of unhitching Wes's overloaded pack to get our individual spray bottles out so that we could each re-spray as often as possible (I used nearly an entire small bottle through the remainder of the day). A neat log crossing with a long handline over the roaring river then we started up the scree. At first, I was impressed with how well I was doing under an immense load but about 2/3 of the way up I was no longer strong enough to maintain either my balance or my judgment, abondoning clothes & climbing gear in the tarp stashed under an overhanging rock. Wes was conveniently nearby when I devised the scheme & he helpfully unloaded my gear & stashed it while sorting for climbing gear he might want for tomorrow. I constructed a cairn with one hiking pole as a marker, also turning to memorize a large detached, tan pillar on Harrison-Smith. I surged ahead of Wes & Quinn confident now I'd make it - though barely - without (s)tumbling to my death. I dropped the pack as I wandered into lower Fairy Meadows, unable to find Gio or the Korean party. I went down to Wes & Quinn, somewhat revived by walking briefly unloaded, & took her light 2nd pack & 1 of his ropes. After finishing the bouldery creek climb, I strapped the loads pilfered from W&Q to my pack & pushed on, soon finding a trail, at the top of which was Gio & a magnificent boulder overhang. Perfect for 2 tents, with a cooking area, food boxes, & stone seating & cooking surfaces. Gio had made it in just over 6 hours, I in about 8, & Q&W in 8 1/2. I unpacked food & stove & began making dinner immediately as we were all wet, tired, cold, & hungry. A strong breeze blew ocassionally & I wanted to have hot food & get into my bag. Gio put up our tent. Wes & Quinn sorted & stored food, gear, hung wet clothes, organized, & put up my Kelty for their use. Rice & Tasty Bites in big bowls, everyone happy, though, inexplicably, Gio was last to dinner. Haha! It's so Gio & I dig it. The dude's nice, interesting, generous - though he works as a geologist for oil research! - & late everywhere! Haha! Quinn lent me her leg warmers for my feet, I hung my wet raingear, socks, & boots, & I got into the bag. Gio came in, we talked, & planned tomorrow's retrieval of the remainder of our gear: he'd be at the bottom of the scree field with his 2nd pack & a walkie-talkie 5-6 hours after leaving, I'd be at the top with binoculaurs, then meet him near my stashed gear where I'd take some of his load (since I'd be more rested), & we'd finish together. It's serious team bonding that I'm eager to do so that this is the experience of a lifetime from every perspective. Nothing wrong with putting in some effort to make not just a great rope partner but a great new friend - who lives in Columbia, which I'd love to visit someday! I fell asleep before he was done talking ... bummer, but too tired to keep my eyes open. Legs leaden but I thankfully do not cramp. Pad deflates within minutes but it doesn't matter ... I'm in the Cirque of the Unclimbables! Wow!
July 20:
Gio was up earliest, yet inexplicably didn't leave for his gear til 2pm - 4 hours after getting up! Haha! I slept in. Up around noon for breakfast where Q reminded me that we each got only 1 oatmeal packet. It was OK this once since she'd put an extra one in mine as a treat. After a little time firing rocks at bold, pesky pikas & marmots, I got back into bed til W told me it was near 7pm - time to go get my stuff & help Gio. Wes offers to come along, also looking for team bonding & generally just a great dude, but after clearing up a potential radio channel interference with the Koreans, he gets ahold of Gio & finds out that he's decided to stay the night at the cabin below. I go on down to my gear, load the empty pack with the stash - which is not heavy, thank goodness - & make it back in 1 1/2 hours, where Q&W have made dinner. I put on warm dry clothes & string up wet stuff while Wes unpacks & hangs my climbing gear - these guys are awesome roommates in the remote outdoors, too! Warm food, kit-kat bar, sleep some more ... & with Gio gone, I use his inflated mattress atop mine & sleep on a princess bed. Oh, glorious sleep. Muscles twitch with tiredness still. Without Gio here tomorrow, I will not climb even if the weather is good. This is good since I need more rest. I realize that this immense fatique means I'm only marginally capable of this whole biking/remote alpine climbing adventure combo so I'm thrilled to not have waited too late in life to give it a go. Excited to be here!
July 21:
W&Q were up when I got up, gearing up for an FFA attempt on the formation right of LFT. Oatmeal & water for breakfast, then a go at super glue-ing the water filter nozzle back on (broken yesterday in its 1st use), which may have worked. Meditated. Watched through binocaulars a Korean hand drilling an anchor on a big boulder near their camp. GORP & jerky lunch before tramping down to help Gio. I waited near where I stashed my gear, reluctant to go all the way down for fear of missing him in the giant scree field - calling loudly & into the walkie-talkie frequently. The view of Glacier Lake, river, creeks, & wildness all around were more than enough company for me as I rested - swatting mosquitos for sport. Eventually he called on his radio to tell me he was at the base of the scree eating & would come up the creekside of the scree, so I slowly wandered that way. He called again to say he had to make it toward the toe of the buttress instead & about 20 minutes later we found each other. I took 1/2 his gear & we started back up. I'd found a decent traversing path with minimal scree uphill around & through the uppermost part of the alder patch, then up the creek to the cairned trail to camp. He said he'd made the entire trip in just 4 1/2 hours & though he'd suffered at the cabin last night with the cold, he was in bouyant spirits - feeling strong & grateful for the help & comraderie. I stashed his food, strung up wet shoes, socks, & shirt, then stretched while he fussed & ate. Cold, I climbed into the tent for a long nap, dreaming of Rae. Around 730 it rains for an hour so, worried, Gio & I walk to the upper meadow with binoculaurs to look for W&Q on the rock, though within an hour they walk right up to us & remind us rescue can wait 1 full day. They were thankful for our worry, nonetheless. I hope the weather clears, though if it holds off raining like it has today then Gio & I may have a go at the 1st few pitches of LFT tomorrow. I am already struggling mentally & physically with the drastic shift in food availability & consumption. My metabolism is still firing away from the last 2 intense weeks of harsh weather & long riding days. I'm not recovering well.
July 22:
It looked sunny on the tarp outside when I finally rolled out of the tent, relishing what I hope is the final rest day. It is cold & damp, with cloudy mists swirling up the Meadows from the river below. 1 oatmeal, a weak hot cocoa, & water. Lots of water today to help me feel fuller. Water filter repair appears to have been successful! Q&W head out to climb on sport routes near camp, encouraging me to join them. After meditating & drying wet stuff as the sun came out (!), I did & climbed well. Wes had a go at the Penguin (hard 12?), yarding on gear on what was a ridiculously shallow, thin tips corner crack leaning back a bit, followed by a frightening barndoor sharp arete. Q, with her smaller fingers & superb strength & technique, followed the corner with only 2 takes & lead 1/2 way up the penguin's "bill" arete before tuckering out. I ran back to camp as Gio got on it (his 1st route of the day) because it sprinkled & too many critical things were outside to dry - including sleeping bags. Once in camp, I stretched. The others returned in the bright sunshine bathing Fairy Meadows. Peaks drying & blue sky on the weather horizon have us immediately making plans & preparing for LFT early tomorrow. We all suspect the Koreans will be seiging the wall tomorrow, as well, since they have already fixed ropes the 10 pitches to the bivy ledge. Gio & I will leave at 5am, W&Q around 7am. I am thoroughly stoked at the serious potential for making a 11 year dream come true. Lotus Flower Tower! OMG!
July 23:
Gio set the alarm for 3:45 & the sky was brilliantly clear with a 1/2 moon hanging above the eastern ridgeline. 2 packets of oatmeal, cocoa, & water - inexplicably, Gio was ready when I was! Haha! W&Q left camp before us & were quickly well ahead. By 6:30 we'd all made it to the base of LFT, which had a sunny cap & just 20 ft of snowfield to cross under the route. Windless. Perfect day. Q led off, struggling slightly with the still wet cracks. I led the 1st 5.8 pitch after Wes left the ground (intent on not losing them early in the day) & it felt bold & alpine & slightly harder than I anticipated. Wes led pitch 2 & 3 as they were sopping wet under a leaky corner, water still coarsing down, the walls & cracks black & slick - remarkably he fell only once on pitch 3. Q struggled to follow. Gio chose to jug pitches 2 & 3 using the Korean's fixed lines, but I intended to climb as 2nd in both. Only part way up pitch 2 & I was flailing badly, unable to clear a very wet, slightly off-width section, eventually choosing to jug the line. However, since the 6 Koreans had arrived as I sat at the 1st belay & began their fixed rope ascent, I was relegated to an older line & found my prussic didn't work nearly as well on the slightly algae-d rope. It took a lot of time & energy to laboriously push the ascender, sit, unload the prussic, move it, stand, ... lather, rinse, repeat. I arrived at the top of pitch 3 nearly 3 1/2 hours after leaving the ground, sopping wet & worked. Unfortunately, Gio's attitude was already flagging so I took the lead on pitch 4 but was stymied by the lack of pro & damp rock not even 20 ft up. After discussing it with Gio but unable to communicate with the Koreans nearby, I eventually chose to clip my ascender to their fixed line as protection & free climb until I could get a piece in. Gio was unwilling to lead pitch 5 so I took the rack again, intent on reaching the summit no matter how long it took. I was also anticipating that we would simul-climb the easier 5.7 chimney pitches to the top of pitch 10, allowing us to recover somewhat. Gio led pitch 6 with an agreement to go past the belay for the simul-climb if he found the climbing sufficiently easy. It wasn't. This pitch & the remaining chimney pitches were remarkably awkward, insecure, & taxing. I took the rack after Gio's lead & strung together 2 hard pitches, or so I thought. Gio lead a pitch & then I strung 2 more, thinking we'd be at the top of pitch 10 & the famous "bivy ledge" where the Koreans had set up camp. But I didn't have enough rope to finish to the ledge, so Gio led a short, hard 5.8 to get us there. We ate, drank, talked to W&Q on the radios, & rested, then I took the rack for an intimidatingly steep 5.9+ finger locks corner. Still wet, the crack's locks weren't "locker" but my gear was frequent & thankfully solid as I took 1 fall & 1 take. The topo suggested pushing this pitch higher to "The Edge" but I was worried when I hit the original belay position that I had so little gear left & the last 25 ft looked hard. But the last corner pinched in & I used back scums to move confidently. Unfortunately, now I was completely worked. That pitch felt like 5.10c & the next pitch was also rated 5.9+. I had developed abdominal cramps from the initial jugging. The middle & ring fingers on my left hand were locking straight frequently, making it much harder to grasp features. Weariness pervaded my entire being. Gio arrived at the bekay, having pulled on gear to clean the pitch, then let me know he couldn't lead due to intense neck cramps. We looked up longingly at the Xenolith Headwall, reluctant to give up on the summit but realizing that 8 more of this route's 5.8 & 5.9+ pitches weren't likely & perhaps unsafe in our condition. We talked about it, reluctantly deciding we really were cooked. Now we were reconciling ourselves to being here on the LFT if not the summit, trying to be happy with the journey, adventure, scenery, & our effort. W&Q had just started the 5.11 roof pitch (16), climbing fast & clean - indefatigible. The Korean leader, Han, arrived at our belay, sweaty & pumped, but English-speaking. Over a decade ago he'd been in the Bugaboos, Cerro del Torro, Makalu, Salathe ... an accomplished climbing resume. Another Korean arrived, lit the ever-present cigarette (handing Gio one, too, as they'd done at the bivy ledge without a word exchanged), & another cluster of ropes & people ensued so I tried to rappel back to the bivy ledge with the Korean leader off to fix pitch 12 & another Korean attempting the pitch below - both belayed by the smoker on top of 11. Gio finally escaped the cluster & we prepared to descend, then decided to wait til we saw W&Q summit. I saw Wes lead the crux 5.11 roof clean, then Quinn followed it clean & continued up the headwall. When they finally disappeared over the top we congratulated them over the radio & got on our rappel, thinking they'd catch us by the base since they had 2 ropes. The route beta suggested a 60m rope was sufficient for the descent off the right of the bivy ledge (avoiding the bad rope pulls required if descending the chimney pitches) but I was unable to reach the next anchor! So I swung back into the chimney, having to untie for the final unprotected scramble to the slings at the top of pitch 9. Gio pulled the rope & tossed it back down to me & I slowly, wearily reclimbed pitch 10. When W&Q arrived 1 1/2 hours later, we agreed that Gio & I would rappel on our single 60m line fixed to the anchors, fix the far end again, then W&Q would undo & toss the now-freed end past us before rappelling on their 60m doubles. It became a minor cluster when Gio went into the chimney instead of staying on the rappel line, forcing Wes or Quinn to then go retrieve our stuck rope twice. Finally down, we packed up & started the hike to camp. Within 1/2 an hour, headlamps were on - meaning it was midnight - & not soon after I began to seriously flag. We couldn't keep the faint trail through the boulder fields but whenever Gio & I stopped to reconnoiter, I would sit & nearly fall asleep. I had to keep moving or I would succumb to the pervading fatigue, so I began a continuous stumble simply pointed in the general direction of camp that got me there 1st. I immediately dropped the pack & the incredibly uncomfortable gear-laden harness before getting water & starting dinner. Quinn, Wes, & Gio arrived within 15 minutes or so, weary but glad to be done. Faultily remembering our food surplus, I made 50% more rice than our daily ration, which worried Quinn. Into bed at 230am. Exhausted, twitching & cramping, I struggled to fall asleep - the weight of failure heavy in my bones, joints, & muscles.
July 24:
Awoke very late to sunshine, into which W&Q had moved their bags for 2nd sleep. Heavy with disappointment still, I made oatmeal & cocoa, then cleaned my smelly-ass shoes & socks, re-bandaged my scrotum wound, & unwound in the sun. Body still racked, twitching, & weak, I got back into the tent & bag for 2nd sleep when the sun disappeared & the wind picked up. Around 4, Gio finally clambered out of the tent for the 1st time & I followed. Wes was still in bed, suffering from a cold, but Quinn was up & about so we sat in the sun, chatting comfortably. I apologized for the excessive rations last night & tried to assure her that, just because she organized the food (she & I planning it together months ago in my kitchen), it wasn't her fault that Wes, Gio, & I were hungry. She'd walked to an abandoned camp during the day & found a Trivial Pursuit game that we all decided to play. During a lull in the game in which Quinn wandered off to pee, Wes mentioned that Quinn was worried about our rations since the boys were so hungry, so we decided to evaluate our supply. Us boys were in a panic til Quinn returned & patiently reorganized things, which showed us we had dinners for each remaining night if we ate the extra pancake mix one night. Yea! But then we started talking about how these rations weren't really working, especially for Wes or, if I somehow manage to rally for another LFT attempt, me. Quinn was upset, beginning to cry, & I tried lamely to comfort her with an awkward hug. We discussed shortening the trip by a few days but finally agreed that if you chose to eat double to get through something, you'd go on 1/2 rations for the rest days afterward. Throughout the tense food discussion, Wes & Gio patiently worked on me until they convinced me that a 2nd LFT attempt was worth the effort. Instead of free-climbing in one continuous push, we'd jug the 3 opening pitches & climb to the bivy with the leader carrying a small pack & the 2nd carrying a bigger pack, rest overnight, & finish the 2nd day. Pestered relentlessly by mosquitos, we crawled into Gio's tent to finish our game (Gio & I both too high to really play but we all had fun); finally going to bed around midnight.
July 25:
Still twitching throughout the night, though I had no severe cramps. But a new malady appeared: hand numbness, especially the left hand. So I slept poorly & felt weak, tight, & fatigued when I finally crawled out of the tent into bright sunshine. 2 servings of oatmeal this morning (somehow I have extra ... I suspect from Quinn, the worried sweetie), cocoa, lots of water, then a small pity party that Wes tried to get me past - 1st with a "not a winner's attitude" pep talk, then with a "be smart, rest, & do what's right for you" reconciliation - before he & Quinn left for an FFA attempt on Bussel Tower (exciting! Thouugh they end up doing 3 pitches in Terrace Tower instead). Gio also seems to have recovered: his neck & shoulder just minor complaints & generally feeling energetic. I get back into the bag for more rest. Weary. Wary. Bummed that my body & spirit are flagging. Gio works on me some more in early evening & I agree we should try tomorrow if the weather looks good, & that we could start as late as 10 from camp & still comfortably make the bivy ledge by the time it starts getting cold at 7. We go through our climbing plan & packing list again. I am more bouyant after the decision & a nice (though skimpy) dinner with good friends. We always boil water to put into the remains of the Tasty Bite packages for soup, which Giovanni excellently spices & we dub "Estonian Tea", & add bits of peanut butter or honey to our dessert. I go to sleep optimistic & energized.
July 26:
I have 2 oatmeal packets & cocoa before finishing preparations for our 2nd attempt: lubing 3 stuck cams with olive oil, filtering water into Quinn's Camelbak & Wes's Platypus for our use, sewing a glove, & finalizing our pack contents. Gio doesn't like the looks of the gathering clouds, though, so we don't leave. James, a tough 46 year-old physical therapist from Urbana, IL, (UI) & Julien, a post-doc at UI from Grenoble, come over offering good company & bouldering for awhile. The Koreans return from scoping the ice cave under Club International, their next planned route - friendlier each time we see them. It sprinkles around 7, scaring the 2 bold 30 year-olds also with U of Illinois connections who are just below the LFT crux roof only 4 pitches from the summit into retreat - visible through binoculaurs. We eat yummy stuffing, tuna, & Tasty Bite then crawl into Gio's tent for another round of Trivial Pursuit, at the end of which a downpour gets underway - I'm very glad we're not on LFT's bivy ledge but worried as there's now no climbing tomorrow & the route's cracks will be wet for days ... Gio is nearly out of lunches with only 3 of the next 8 days covered. We discuss buying food from the Koreans, who have bags of rice, crates of oranges, & coolers of beer. The option of leaving early to accommodate Gio's mismanagement was brought up by him but quashed by me - I'll skimp, too, if needs be, so we get another shot at LFT. Trivial Pursuit in our tent again is fun & funny.
July 27:
Rain all day, heavy at times but mainly a steady drizzle, which brings the nearby creek back to the level it was when we 1st came. I meditate before a breakfast of 1 oatmeal & weak cocoa (we're nearly out of that & the group peanut butter). Then back into the tent for rest, achey & stiff because my pad deflation is worse & the tarp under it & my hips isn't enough to keep a battered, withered body comfortable. I fold the pad double & put the tarp & my backpack under my feet ... better. Gio goes for a walk & I borrow his book again (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), enthralled by this excellent murder mystery with well-developed characters, until a call for dinner of tuna & Tasty Bite soup & 6 yummy 3-bite pancakes. We discuss food options again as all the boys are weak & wasting away: barter with Koreans, call Warren to see if he's bringing anyone in in the next few days & ask for either more food or an early trip out for Gio & I, cutting 2 days off the remaining 7 ... options that we'll act on tomorrow at the Korean's camp, which has food & the satellite phone. Our diet: 1 oatmeal packet for breakfast, 1/2 cupof GORP & 2 small jerky sticks for lunch, 1/2 cup instant rice or 1 ramen packet with 1/2 of a foil packet of Tasty Bite or tuna for dinner, & a candy or granola bar for dessert. Too little to keep me functioning & not enough to recover from any signifucant effort. Trivial Pursuit again in our tent is fun, as usual.
July 28:
It actually gets dark now at some point in the night - the change from the constant illumination through Gio's yellow tent fabric was drastic enough to wake me. Hips very sore, as the pad doubling wasn't as effective as I need it to be. This could turn into as much trouble as the skimpy diet for me as I feel like I at least need good rest for another LFT attempt, though it's really socked in & drizzling still late this morning. Gio & I agree that it needs to stop raining tomorrow or we're not gonna make a 2nd attempt. We need 2 days of decent weather minimum to dry enough of the route, we need 2 days to climb & descend, & 1 day to recover before the hike out on August 3: 6 days of the 7 remaining. It's quite cold, too, so we all hunker in the tents til nearly noon (except Gio, who lies in until 2 or so). That's when Wes returned from a trip to the Korean's camp. He'd left with $10 & a bolt + hangar & came back with that stuff ... & about 10 cups of rice & 2/3 of a jar of peanut butter & 5 dehydrated dinners & 2 lbs of sausage sticks! Saved! We cook rice immediately then add sausages for a filling, hot lunch ... mmmm. All returned to the tents, as it was raining & cold, feeling considerably better. In a brief lull, W&Q called me out to see blue sky. Eventually I wandered to James & Julien's camp with my mattress since James'd suggested he had repair stuff. He did but it wasn't gonna work with my series of little holes near the seam ... ah, well. They made tea then I made the mistake of burning my entire mouth with it when I opened the top on my water bottle too soon. In a brief lull in the drizzle, I ran back to camp - having to use another crossing 50 m up as ours is now submerged by the roaring creek. It continues to intermittently clear when Han, the Korean team leader, drops by. We all thank him again for his generosity but he demurs, "Climbers are friends of one community." Then proceeds to tell an awesome adventure of climbing/hitch-hiking his way from Alaska to Mexico over many months with a 90 kg (200 lb) pack - knowing no English - about 10 years ago, during which he gave himself the name Han Solo because he was doing everything solo. A gruesome, disheartening story of the Himilayan death of a female Korean legend & related inter-team intrigue followed. Dinner tonight was Ramen-Salmon + a dehydrated Korean dinner - yummy! PB on granola bar for dessert. Gio stays outside longer than I, apparently tolerant of the cold. Before I submit to the warmth of my bag, we talk optimistically about the weather, tweak our plan (J&J may be planning to fix pitch 1 - maybe tomorrow - & W&Q want to keep their jumars), & share some great sentiments about being here in the Cirque (which is breathtakingly beautiful, even in the small slices you're often left with), having a really good, new friend with which to spend time, & encouraging each other about our improving chances. We spend part of the afternoon talking about Columbia's torturous battles between government, private armies of land owners, & the FARC - all of which became intensely personal for his folks when their business was attacked in an unsettled region. He's been in the FARC-controlled mountain regions many times for mountaineering & geological sampling but because he's a former student at left-leaning university he's been accepted by the peasant-guerillas & fan travel safely. Fascinating. We needed the food & weather situations to improve & we got both. Optimistic.
July 29:
Up late to a little sunshine that soon changes to a light drizzle, but the clouds look the same as the day before the previous 3-day good weather window (misty, broken clouds roar up from the valley below - it's beautiful & fun to watch) so we stay positive. Oatmeal ... No cocoa but some weak coffee from Gio (breakfast food is skimpy, so I tend to sleep in). Meditate. The sun breaks through, though it stays cold. Drizzle returns intermittently throughout mid-afternoon. Lunch of Korean rice & sausage is not filling but quite good & still satisfying. Gio's restless so we decide to hike to the ice cave in the Proboscis Glacier. W&Q are keen to see it, too, but have plans to fix 200-400m of rope on a FA line they've spied on Middle Huey Spire so we all hump gear up the steep slope into a stunning, hidden 2nd cirque between Proboscis & LFT! Huey's steep southern face has several stout aid & mixed lines through a cavernous, complex roof system (though their FA line is to to the right of the roofs, under & along an aesthetic zig-zag overhang) so the main wall is nearly dry. Wes grunts up the wet, mossy lower terraces, cleaning cracks with the hammer's pointed end, banging in pitons with the other, all while laden with a huge rack of gear. After 1-1/2 hours, he's put up 50m of 5.9 A3 &, though eager for more, descends. We walk down the steep, loose slope to the morraine, then along it to a grey morraine lake below the glacier's snout. The ice cave is colossal, easily 15m tall, rippled interior surfaces, & goes back a long distance - all this reported by the trio, as I elected not to hike the last 30 minutes to get inside. I'm not sure I can describe the difference between tired & low on energy, but I'm the latter. Having carried the lightest load today, I felt decent: good strength, fitness, balance, etc. but know that another LFT attempt will require all remaining energy, especially given the little food remaining. The Korean gift has kept me upright but has in no way restored energy, just arrested the depletion. Fantastic views down to MacKenzie & Glacier Lakes, spotted with sunbeams. Proboscis is steep & glowering with low clouds when I turn for another look, then another ... The scenery here is so wild, forbidding, & beautiful, & the scale is immense - nothing as close as it seems when you strike out into it. Couscous & Tasty Bite dinner, then a walk to see James & Julien, & to meet Kevin (Seattle) & Andy (LA, though a heavy Polish accent belies his roots - & he's very quiet). Everyone is intimidated & cowed by the weather. Today, they'd managed to set up an elaborate tarp system to improve their leaky cave roof & to fix pitch 1 of LFT with some harvested marmot-chewed rope. The young guns may retrieve another rope from the cabin & fix pitches 4 & 5 tomorrow or just on their way up in (hopefully) 2 days. Gio optimistically intends to carry our climbing gear & stash it at the base tomorrow, as well. I will rest. Comfortably ensconced in my bag, Gio lulls me to sleep with extraordinary descriptions of the geological processes that form not only the Cirque's granite spires but also why these areas are of such great interest to the extraction industries. Visions of flowing magma seep into my dreams.
July 30:
Trouble sleeping - really, really missing Rae's company ... The clouds do not look promising when I awake. W&Q left early for their FA attempt, which will be a long, long day as they anticipate 7-8 more pitches like the 1st, to which they must add the time for the 2nd to jug each pitch, hand-drilling bolts, & descending. Tough to interpret today's weather: cloudy, spit, cold. Gio insists it rained on LFT but I disagree - unwaveringly hopeful I will get another shot. James comes over to chat more & divulge he trained as a power lifter. He & I quite similar in many ways but as different in others. Nice dude, for sure. Gio jumped in the creek in a brief moment of sun - he's much thinner than last week. Cold so into the tent for a nap for me, saving energy for the next 2 days of effort. LFT beckons me to its summit & I want to accept - badly. W&Q return in early evening after fixing 3 more pitches of A3, anticipating a pendulum on their next effort since the line they're on has become impassable. Ramen & tuna + Korean dehydrated for dinner, &, in anticipation of the upcoming effort, I eat all my GORP with the exception of that I set aside for LFT. I stand before the spires as I brush teeth & pee in preparation for sleep, realizing that this cirque has completely humbled me. My aspirations & limited physical ability are no match for LFT. Defeated. Weakened. But willing, nonetheless, to make another effort. I nearly beg the spire to let me up ...
July 31:
It rained last night & I awake to temperamental skies: dark clouds around the cirque, clear over the mighty Proboscis, & LFT absolutely socked in. Even W&Q remained in bed this morning, though they need just 1 of the next 3 days (2, excluding today) to be decent for their last hard push for the Wet Zig Zags FA (my name, referring to wet rolling papers in camp & the wet main feature of their line). I'm disappointed that I can't muster strength or tenacity, of course, though not depressed. I thought I was, at best, marginally capable of this combined adventure & it's no surprise that the margin was just on the wrong side. It's certainly not the 1st time my abilities & will did not match my ambition (failing to qualify for Kona Ironman being just one example). Effort is important to me, too, so I am reconciled to being happy with that, & being in the wild, remote, rugged, vast beauty of this place, & sharing it all with wonderful Giovanni! More perspective on & from this failure will come with contemplation. Wes & Giovanni work to convince me that we can try again tomorrow - that I should eat as much as I need & stop worrying about hiking out gear if it doesn't make the Aug 2 Korean helicopter down to the lake. I sleep more, up late to find they've made a huge dinner & obviously left their 2nd portion in the pot for me to eat. Janelle & Mark Smiley arrive - they're 30 climbs into a 5.10 sponsored effort to climb the 50 Classics (http://smileysproject.com/Committed__Fifty_Classic_Climbs_of_North_America/Committed.html)! Cool couple running a nordic center in Crested Butte, CO. With them (kind of) are Laurel & Andy from Seattle. She's tiny, Asian - wierd seeing someone so unrugged-looking in this forbiddingly hostile setting. But, of course, I don't belong here myself - I'm both unprepared & just plain not tough enough. Maybe tomorrow my perspective will change if I can be sleeping on the bivy ledge tomorrow night.
August 1:
Rain in early morning then more spit & clouds before 9am means Gio is unwilling to go. I do not protest, though I wish I knew I was strong & tough enough to try despite the conditions. But I do not trust myself to aid continuously in wet cracks &, despite the big dinner & 2 oatmeal packet breakfast, I am still weak & unenergetic. I guess I think it wouldn't be prudent but, f%$#! where are my cojones?! Grrf. Portlanders Daryl, Brad, Ryan, & Scott arrive via copter (Ryan's shredded tibia precluding the hike). I feel like a hardened old hand in the Cirque after 14 days but try to be quiet since LFT has so humbled me. We find that James & Julien are climbing in these rough conditions, moving through the bivy ledge by 10am so they must have left camp around 3am & decided to just giv'er! Wow! We watch throughout the day (W&Q are simultaneously pushing their FA attempt on Middle Huey - also WOW!) & they push through multiple dumps of rain & a hard wind in an heroic effort - finally topping out at 10pm (on the headwall for 12 hours!)! I am so excited by their accomplishment & humbled by their achievement. Unbelievable ... I go to bed exhilerated & bereft. I wish I could have rallied that kind of effort & envy their toughness, fortitude, perserverance, & commitment. I will admire 46-year-old James & remember his heart opening onto that 2200 ft spire forever, I know. W&Q return a little dispirited. Rotten rock halted their effort after the pendulum & another 2 pitches of A3. I feel for them & say so but they're quiet.
August 2:
A very pleasant weather day & regret so fills my heart & gut that I won't eat breakfast. Up & out of the tent at 7, I walk to the upper meadows to prostrate myself in front of LFT, trying to register in the core of my being the defeat here & have it meld more comfortably with my other wondrous impressions of the raw beauty, Giovanni's company, W&Q's success, & all the cool, rugged, energetic outdoor people here. I am not quite successful - the disappointment has sunk into my core & is hard to dislodge. Overlay that with the good stuff? Maybe ... in time. Andy & Laurel are moving very slowly up LFT - at the top of pitch 1 at 10am. Hmmm ... W&Q go off to do 4 pitches of a 5.11c on the spire closest to camp & they look fabulous climbing a corner & roof crack. The Koreans had brought a cardboard box of food - potatoes, cabbage, onion, garlic, carrots, flour, peppers, sausages, honey, eggs - to our camp while I was gone & I find a big egg/veggie breakfast awaiting me. Oh my! So happy to have another filling meal. Gio moves all the climbing gear to his haul bag, hoping to get in on the copter shuttle. W&Q go over to FA Han's "Family" just-finished-bolting-but-attempted 5.12- sport route - Wes figuring out all the bold moves but unable to link them despite excellent climbing technique & strength. Everyone watches: Han & his team (packed & waiting for the copter), James, Julien, Andy, Kevin, Mark, & Janelle. All basking in the long stretches of sun. The copter arrives & our heavy bags leave for the cabin - yea! Parting with the super-gracious, generous Koreans - especially Han - is heartfelt. Huge dinner of 2 big bowls of vegetable, rice, sausage soup. Gio & I walk up to again look at the tower in glorious late evening weather. Joy & regret tussle again, though this place is really too wild & beautiful for regret. Portlanders are walking back down after exhausting themselves on pitches 1-3. I question the wisdom of an intended 1-day push tomorrow but -hey! seriously - what do I know? Andy & Laurel return late from "checking out" the pitches to the bivy ledge, which took all day. We call Warren & confirm for noon tomorrow. Into bed late - I'm sleeping on piled tarps since I sent the (deflated) 5lb pad down on the copter.
August 3:
Up at 6am to absolutely the best weather of the trip. Not a cloud. Bright, warm, ... stunning. Andy & Kevin, Mark & Janelle already long gone for their 1-day pushes. Gio is inexplicably late leaving (10am vs. W&Q's 8am departure) but he's able to report that Kevin & Andy were at pitch 13 already! With such a glorious weather day, they seem assured of success & I hope the same for Mark & Janelle. I had seen The Portlanders in camp when I left at 830am so maybe they want the wall to themselves tomorrow? With a light pack, the hike out is easy - no real trouble in the scree, very few mosquitoes out (?), & I stay on the trail easily enough. When I hear a plane near noon I hurry & twist my ankle - ouch! But it's not our plane. Erin & another park employee who helped us with logistics are hiking into the Cirque & glad to put faces with names - even sharing home-baked cookies! We jump in the freezing Glacier Lake & bask in the sun until Warren arrives around 3. The flight is amazing! Spiraling in a deep gorge twice to gain altitude slowly to make our way up & over the vast Bricknell Snowfield, then a continuous display of glaciers, alpine lakes, with multi-hued peaks arraying off to all horizons. Truly wild & beautiful. Wow! We land at Macavoy Lake & are asked if we would mind staying at the lodge til the morning of Aug 5! Sure! Free lodging, endless food, showers, laundry, rest ... Yeah, you betcha! I go immediately to the mess hall for 3 Naniamo bars & a plate of ribs, stuffing, turkey, & pork chops. Dinner is in 1 hour & I'm warmed uo & ready. Shower. Chat with Bernie about working here but Warren says he can't hire me because I'm not Canadian. Dangit, Nonni! Dinner's a big helping of potato salad, burger, 2 bowls of soup, 2 cups of coffee, chocolate-banana bread, & another Naniamo bar ... Being in a civilized environment brings strong Rae-motions to the surface & I ache to see my beautiful wife. Pool & shuffleboard in the lodge along with a few beers. Late to bed after another burger, 2 cookies, Naniamo bar, & 2 snack bars.
August 4:
My stomach was too full to let me sleep so I got maybe 2 hours. Oh well. Laundry. Meditate. Breakfast (burrito, granola, toast, coffee, Nanaimo bar). Emails with Rae - OMG, do I miss her! Reading. Stretch in the sun. Lunch (soup, sandwich, granola, snack bars). Stretch again. Nap in the sun. No plans except dinner.
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