Archive for the ‘Hike’ Category
Saturday, June 28th, 2008
My parents are in town for two weeks. Today we wanted to go for a hike, so I convinced the whole clan to try the Summit Creek trail on the Kenai. I’d never been up the trail before, but on the map it looked like a nice gentle grade. Perfect for family fun. It was cold and windy, so we bundled the lil’ dude in all of our extra clothes to keep him warm. It is summer, right? I can’t tell anymore.
But other than the chill in the air and the occasional sprinkle, it was a great hike. We just went up to the first alpine valley, then turned around. Its a really neat area with lots of open tundra and low passes. There are multiple route options connecting with Devil’s Pass and Resurrection Pass. I hope to come back soon, maybe without a baby on my back, so that I can explore further.
Tags: dad, linda, mom, summit
Posted in Hike, Kenai | No Comments »
Friday, June 27th, 2008
We (wife, baby and I) recently went to California for ten days. While we were there, we went for a two-night backpacking trip with some friends who also have a baby. After our recent botched camping attempt in Alaska (lets just say that the kid was not into sleeping outside in near-freezing temperatures and broad daylight at 10:00 PM), we were very nervous for this trip. Our friends, on the other hand, took their infant for a 4 month bike trip across Europe when she was 4 months old, so we figured that they’d know what they were doing. We were just hoping to survive and learn from them in the process.
It turned out to be a great trip. The hikes were mellow, the weather was warm and sunny, and both of our camping spots had great swimming holes. The kiddo slept pretty well in the tent at night. Our main difficulty was (again) the daylight. He did not want to nap in the tent in broad daylight. But that was overcome by getting him to sleep in the backpack while we hiked. It was a lot of fun and it gave me hope that we can do some more backpacking this summer. I’m still not sure how we’ll deal with the midnight sun and colder temperatures in Alaska, but we’ll see.
Backpacking with an infant – its definitely the kind of fun that you have to endure.
Tags: backpacking, henry coe, linda
Posted in California, Hike, Kids | No Comments »
Sunday, June 8th, 2008
On Sunday, the local adventure racing club was having a low-key 8 hour adventure race. Since the weather wasn’t great and some of my desired summer trips are on hold because of lots of snow in the mountains, it seemed like a great way to spend the day and beat myself up a little bit.
Ian and I paired up to compete against 5 other teams. Darren’s course consisted of various controls around town, with each control worth a certain number of points depending on the difficultly/time involved in reaching it. The object was to get as many points as possible. The course involved mountain biking, hiking in the Chugach front range, ‘ reverse orienteering’, and paddling Campbell Creek.
It was a lot of fun. I managed to flip my packraft in Campbell Creek (with my bike attached to it), which was quite stupid and embarrassing. Mental note: Do not try to step, feet first, into a packraft in moving water. The hiking part (in the Williwaw-Wolverine-Long Lake area) was a bit trippy because the mountains were completely enshrouded in low clouds. We ended up coming in late (and losing some points) because we chose to get the high-value control at Long Lake. But no matter, we still did well in the points and we were glad we pushed out to the Lake. You can view the results here. The point values aren’t quite right, but they are close enough. Our team name was ‘Ask Cory’ because when Darren asked Ian what the team name was he said – yep – “Ask Cory.”
For many of the controls, we had to take a picture to prove that we made it there. Thus, I have a few photos from the event. And because I’m a geek, I also drew up a map of the controls and plotted our route. Check it out:
Thanks to Darren for a fun, challenging course, and thanks to Ian for hauling my ass around town.
Tags: campbell, darren, ian, long, near, race, williwaw
Posted in Anchorage, Bike, Chugach, Hike, Orienteering, Packraft, Run | No Comments »
Monday, August 13th, 2007
Supposedly the three peaks we bagged had never been climbed before. But even so, whoever named this bay must have known how spectacular it is up on the peaks, because the views definitely hit the Jackpot!
Tags: bear, bushwhack, chenega, endured fun, glacier, jackpot, nassau, princeton, tim
Posted in Hike, Peakbagging, Prince William Sound | No Comments »
Sunday, August 5th, 2007
These days I don’t have as much time for big adventures, so I have to ration them. But that doesn’t mean I’m not getting outside. I’ve been doing more runs in the mountains right near home. Here’s a great one I just did: up the Falls Creek trail to South Suicide peak, then drop down the ridge behind McHugh Lake, then run out the Rabbit Lake trail. Its amazing that all of this is less than 20 minutes from home!
Tags: falls, mchugh, rabbit, suicide
Posted in Chugach, Hike, Run | No Comments »
Friday, July 20th, 2007
Erik, my ski buddy from the Park City days, and his wife Emily were in town recently. Erik really wanted to try this packrafting thing that I’m always raving about. And you know me – I’m always up for a run-n-float!
Tags: berry, erik, girdwood, twenty, winner
Posted in Chugach, Hike, Packraft, Run | No Comments »
Friday, October 13th, 2006
October 13: It was probably our last weekend of nice weather before winter sets in, so I really wanted to go packrafting. So what if the water is already freezing?
Tags: bear, eagle, symphony
Posted in Chugach, Hike, Packraft, Run | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 13th, 2006
On Sept 13, Rob Whitney and I joined Tim Kelley for a peakbagging attempt in Prince William Sound.
Tags: bear, blackstone, endured fun, glacier, rob, tebenkof, tim
Posted in Hike, Peakbagging, Prince William Sound | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 5th, 2006
Sept 2-4: After a summer of generally miserable weather, Linda and I were treated to sunny weather and beautiful blue skies on Labor Day weekend. We went to Denali National Park to hike over Windy Pass and packraft the Sanctuary River.
Tags: bushwhack, cantwell, caribou, linda, sanctuary, windy
Posted in Camp, Denali, Hike, Packraft | No Comments »
