OK SO this is us before we began our hike.  Jessica is on the left, shirley is in the middle and I am on the RIght.  We look happy and ready to go.  

This is Shirley and I at the top of a big Hill.  I don't think they were really hills.  It felt like mountains everytime we had to climb up one.  You can see behind us are many many more "hills" and that is what we saw in all directions.  It was pretty cool.

This is a picture taken in the morning.  WE were on the side of one of these hills and the ridge top is behind me.  This big cloud was coming up over the ridge and flowing down the side.  So you can see the bottom of the cloud coming over.  On the other side it was clear and blue.  IT was so cool.  Jessica and Shirley were still sleeping and missed this.  I think i'm standing in front of our tent.

This is part of the plane crash wreckage.  It was a pretty big plane.  This is one wing that is connected to the body of the plane.  the other wing is in lots of pieces scattered about.  you can see a lot of debris in front of the plane. The entire hill was covered in small pieces of metal and plane parts and wireing and such.  it was pretty amazing.  

So this is my cabin that i moved into on June 1st.  I will be staying here for the remainder of my stay in Alaska.  I had to go into the woods to take the picture from this angle.  I think they positioned the cabin wrong when they built it.  It is pretty cozy.  I like it.  I am not there very much of the day though.  I usually go and take showers at the University so i leave to do that and just plan on being gone most of the day doing stuff.  There is my scooter of course in the front.  I was just able to park there because there is a big mug whole but half of it dried up so i can pull in better.  Puma likes it there too i think.  He learned how to climb a latter because that is how i get up to my loft where my bed is.  He doesn't go down the latter yet.  Well a couple times he tried but fell most of the way down.  

Well that's there is to say about my cabin!

Water Skiing in Alaska? Am I crazy?

So yesterday I went water skiing in the Chena River.  This was pretty crazy.  I have never been water skiing in a river before so that was a little creepy.  The water was 40 or 50 degrees not sure but either way it was ice cold.  I got out on the shore and then walked in.  If you have ever gone in really cold water or had to take a cold shower you know what i mean.  As i was getting all the water in the water it was so cold i could hardly breath.  In a about a min or less my entire body went numb and i could no longer even feel that the water was cold.  So at that point I was thinking , mmm this isn't so bad.   I hadn't skied for a long time and the boat didn't have a lot of power so i took a 2nd try to get up and then it was really cold again because i was all wet and it was of course windy.  Luckily the sun was out and it helped.  The first person to go skiing skied for almost 30 min.  it was cloudy and raining the entire time he skied.  

So i skied past this restaurant along the river called Pike's Landing and waved to all the tourist who took pictures of the crazy person water skiing.  Then about 30 secs later i let go.  So i can say i went skiing in a freeing cold river on a crappy day.  

Someone took a picture but haven't gotten it yet.  will try and post it when i do.

OK so this worked better.  This is a picture from our hike.  This was the coolest thing.  We had to set up our tent in not the best location because it was raining and it was windy.  But as you can see we were very close to the end of this cliff.  This picture was taken in the morning.  Behind me is a big hill that goes to the top of the ridge.  The clouds were coming over that ridge and you can see the edge of the cloud in the right corner.  In the left corner was blue skies.  It was pretty cool.!

Facebook is better

OK so i like this blog thing so i can just ramble on and people will read it.  But it is terrible for posting pictures.  It took 15 min. to upload one picture and the so i tried another one and it never did upload.  And they have to be at the very bottom.  Maybe i just don't know what i'm doing but i don't have time to wait 15 to load one picture.  So all of you who do not have facebook should get an account and add me as a friend and then you can see all 70 pictures i have added already from Alaska and my Chena Dome hike.  

trust me everyone who is everyone has a facebook account.  Even my dad has one.  You would be surprised who is on that thing.

Thanks

Chena Dome

Alright!  So we went our on backpacking trip.  I have decided to get internet at my cabin because i do not get online as often as i like so when i do i end up spending all day at the university catching up on all my internet things and never getting to everything.  

So.  The backpacking trip was really fun and really hard.  I went with these two girls that i met, Jessica and Shirley.  This was their first backpacking experience.  The trip we were planning on doing was 30 miles, 2 nights 3 days.  We got off to a good start.  we were on the trail at about 11:30 the first day.  it was very hot and sunny for the first 3 miles.  not much shade.  we were in the trees only it was a burned forest so not much regrowth yet and very little shade.   we were really hot and it was mostly up hill for 3  miles.  Just past 3 miles was a nice rocky outcrop that was shaded and we stopped there for lunch.  we were going pretty slow because of the heat and the fact that it was up hill.  I think it took us about 3 hours.  Our trail discription told us that from mile 4-7 it was flat tundra with little elevation change. So we thought we'd make much better time for those 3 miles since it was FLAT and LITTLE ELEVATION CHANGE.   mile 4 was mostly up hill and miles 5-7 were hilly up and down.  we were beginning to think they were lying to us.  We did not make any better time the next 3 miles.  At mile 7 to 7.5 was suppose to be a steep decline followed by a half mile of very steep incline.  in 1/2 a mile we climbed 900 ft.  it was literally the cliff of insanity.  not only was it incredibly steep but the wind picked up considerably about half way up.  when we got to the top i could not believe that we had just hiked up it.  it was by far the most difficult thing i've done besides grand canyon.  

At the top of that awful hill it was very very windy with no place to get out of the wind.  we quickly dressed warmer and noticed the rain clouds blowing in.  We hiked another 1/4 mile to this little rocky outcrop and sat down to get out of the wind and get our rain gear on.  Only i was the only one with rain gear and water proof foot wear.  We were also starving so we managed to eat and get our bags protected from the rain and then it started to rain.  Jessica and Shirley got wet and cold very quickly.  So i decided to go and try to find a place to set up our tent.  I hiked about another 1/4 mile and found a relatively decent place to make camp.  It was down the side of the ridge and about 20 feet from a complete drop off cliff.   It was a little more protected from the wind but the wind was still really blowing.  So we began trying to set up the tent.  It was realy scary because the wind was strong we were afraid we would let go of the tent or the rain fly or the tarp or the tent bag and it would blow off the cliff.  It was raining and blowing and i had to remind myself how to set up my tent because it's a little confusing and i hadn't set it up in a while.  So after we finally got the tent set up and it was pretty we, the rain stopped and we got the rain fly on.  JEssica and Shirley got dry clothes on and i was still toasty warm and dry as could be.  I have been in their position before.  IT was nice to have all the proper equipment.

We had a good night.  I was cooked our ravioli on the cook stove.  The rest of the night was uneventful.  We woke up the next morning and hiked up to mile 8ish and saw the plane crash.  It was pretty cool.  The plane crashed in 1950.  THere was metal and plane pieces all over the side of the hill.  Then we went back to our tent and packed up and decided that it was going to take too long to complete the 30 miles.  I had to work on THursday night so we decided to go back the way we came.  we thought for sure because the way back was almost all down hill that we would make really good time.  We did not go any faster.  IT was hard going downhill for 6 out of 8 miles.  We got hailed on and the wind was really really strong.  the last 3 miles which were lower elevation so it was warm again and the sun came out so we got sun burned.

We made it back to the trail head after about 7 and 1/2 hours of hiking and found a cool little spot along the river and camped for the night.  We decided we had a lot of food to eat still so we camped and ate our food.  

IT was a really fun trip.  After we got back, Riana (my sister) told us that we hiked the hardest part of the trail and it was not nearly as challenging the rest of the trail.  Also the first time she had attempted to hike that trail she only made it to mile 4.  So we were proud of our accomplishment.  I think though that i might have to hike the whole thing because i don't like not finishing something.  But probably will wait until the end of the summer.    Will post pictures later cause i am out of time.