This Week’s Adventures
August 11, 2011
It’s August in Alaska which this year mean’s it’s already fall, or so the weather says. It’s been a challenging week in regards to getting out into the outdoors because, despite the early date, it appeared that summer was over. Still, Alaskans know that in order to make the most of this great state, sometimes we just have to ignore the weather and rally.
First, we headed up to the mountains on a blustery day, in an attempt to enjoy a ridge walk. It was windy enough to inspire us to keep moving, but when we crested the ridge, the wind was so strong that walking there was just plain dangerous. We dropped down the leeward side about twelve feet so that we could walk underneath the wind as it was deflected off the ridge. This was OK, but the sidehilling was hard on our ankles and we were unable to enjoy the 360-degree views the ridge afforded. We tried to angle around one of the corners, striving for a bit of windblock, but instead we walked straight into a maelstrom that almost blew Geardog off the ridge. I grabbed him and we all beat a hasty retreat back down the slope. We opted to go straight down the slope, over the slippery heather, and bushwhack down to a road by which we could walk out. Despite scanning the landscape for animals, we completely missed a giant bull moose who stood staring down at as once we reached the road.
It wasn’t what we’d aimed for, but it was still a good day out:
The next day I tried to head up for a mountain bike ride, but once I left my house I saw this:
Those clouds promised rain and gloom, right where I wanted to ride, so I did an about face and rode across town to Kincaid Park, where the weather is usually better. It was better, and the ride was good, but I had underestimated the distance to the park and instead of the twelve miles round trip, it was twelve miles EACH WAY, which, combined with the ten or so miles I rode for a hill workout at the park, made for a long day and a grueling ride.
Today dawned gloomy and rainy, but a hopeful check of Intellicast revealed that the clouds were to clear completely by the evening. We picked up a demo bike for my other half, who is shopping around for a new ride (wait ’til I start writing about bike shopping…ugh) and did a quick shakedown cruise on easy trails with Geardog. We then dropped him off at the house and headed back out for a singletrack ride. The sun was shining and it was warm and dry …until the sprinkles started as soon as we got to the parking lot. We thought we’d get rained on, but we didn’t care so we headed up – into a total deluge. It was one of the heaviest rains I’d ever been out in in Alaska, but I could see the other side of the rain cloud so I knew it would be a quick storm. Still, when it turned to hail I had my doubts, and we crouched under a tree until it passed. And pass it did, revealing, finally, a nearly cloudless, sunny, perfect evening.
Though summer’s almost over, we were caught unaware of the lateness of the hour, because it still stays bright sunlight until ten PM even though it now does actually get dark eventually. Winter’s coming, but it’s not here yet. Things are changing fast so every day will bring something visibly new and different. It’s a nice reprieve from the nine months of “same” the winter will bring – but even “same” in Alaska is pretty damn spectacular.
