Indian Peaks Wilderness

Katrina, the great-organizer-of-all-things-wilderness-related, put together an overnighter at Woodland Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness back in August.  It was the perfect excuse for me to finally try out my new GoLite backpacking gear, even if it was a super-short trip.

Nick, the mountain climber, finds things to climb wherever we go.

The lake itself...beautiful view

Wildflowers in Colorado are unbelieveable!

The place we set up camp seemed straight out of an REI catalog.

We got in early enough for Ryan to build a level cooking surface.  He was very proud of it.

The level cooking surface sure came in handy for cooking Backcountry Burritos!

Dessert time! Mmm sopapillas.

We were hoping for a clear view of the Perseids...but sadly, the fog  rolled in before sunset, and remained throughout the evening.

Dirt Series MTB Camp

I just discovered this in my drafts, waiting for photos...but then I found out that photos of this event are forever lost.  Sad day.  Oh well, the blog entry lives on.

I was lucky enough to win a scholarship to attend the Dirt Series Mountain Biking Camp for women during a weekend in June.  Much thanks to Race Face for sponsoring my fees!

Dirt Series is a two-day camp that tours western North America.  They are based in Whistler, BC, and this was their first year coming to Colorado.  They did a stint in Fruita, and also added Boulder to their list.  The camp in Boulder was immediately following my trip to Maui, and I couldn't have been more stoked.  Unfortunately, a deluge came through, and soaked us to the bone for both days.  We still had a lot of fun and I learned a ton, though!

They set up obstacle courses for us, and we did clinics on straight-line riding (I successfully rode a teeter-totter!), cornering, drop-offs, wheel-lifts, descending, braking, and climbing.  The first day was 12 hours (there were breaks and food and socializing/downtime), and the second day was about 7.  Since it was still raining and we couldn't get out on the trails, we decided to hit up the indoor mountain biking park in Boulder.  The second day was not as successful in terms of performance, but I blame this on exhaustion and the closed-quarters of the indoor park.  I still had fun, and picked up a lot of good tips and tried my best to break bad habits.

I'm glad that I'll be moving to a state that will be conducive to improving upon my new hobby...

Gemini, my mountain bike when I first purchased it

The Famed Mt. Marathon

Seward is the home to the country's 2nd oldest foot race...and it happens to be a beast.  3022 ft elevation gain in ~1.5 miles, and that includes the flat pavement leading up to the mountain.  Shiway is crazy enough to have started the commitment of doing the race every year...you get in via lottery, and once you do, you are guaranteed entry the following year.  However, you have to do it 10 years in a row to gain entry "immunity"--if you skip a year, then you start over in the lottery pool.  So, Shiway had 2 years down, and 8 to go. :)

I'm going to pull stats from Shiway's blog to give a general idea...the trail averages a 38-degree pitch, is unmaintained and, at some places, unmarked (which results in multiple, ever-changing ways up), and the average pace of a racer 2 mph up the mountain, and 12 mph down.  Lots of people venture it with taped ankles and shoes, gardening gloves for scaling rock and tree root walls, and fly down the broken shale slopes with enormous leaps.

Shiway's detailed diagram:

You're probably gathering by now that Shiway convinced me to do the race route with her.  While I wasn't going for anything near the record time (~40 min, I took ~4 hours), it was still a challenge and quite an adventure.  Unlike any hike I've done before!

At the beginning of the "roots" trail.  Beate joined us, and led the way!

This would be part of the "climbing on rocks next to exposure" section.

Hanging on for dear life at the halfway marker!  They're not kidding about the steep pitch.

Me and Shiway, with Seward and Resurrection Bay in the background.

After getting through the jungle and roots of the first half, the rest of the way is composed of shale.

The fog settled in for the second half, but it made for really cool views at the top.  We were literally in clouds at the summit!

Victorious at the summit!  

We spent a really long time taking goofy pictures at the summit.  A really long time.  The German (?) family who followed us to the top started to give their distance quickly.

At the top, the ridge continued into the fog.  It gave an eerie and mystical feeling.

The way down was FUN!  Not that the way up wasn't...but...I'd rather be sliding down the shale than sweating up the jungle with the mosquitoes.  :)

Alaska Backlog - Sea Life Center

I'm not entirely sure how I went the entire month without finishing up my last thoughts on Alaska, but I suppose late is better than never.  Summer is almost over!

During our time in Seward, Shiway took me to the Alaska Sea Life Center...her old stomping grounds, and Dave's, too.  We had a behind-the-scenes tour, visiting her old colleagues and animal pals!  Her friend Pam showed me their remote monitoring site for stellar sea lions, and we also had a chance to check out the birdies.

The puffins act like dogs...they sure do love human company.

The highlight was probably checking out the mammals!  The seals were adorable.