Rando: Stevie, death hike, glaciers, and research.

I've had a collection of photos on my desk top thinking that I have been meaning to use in a blog post...so here we are.
Since going to Homer with Stevie we haven't taken her back out, but we have a plan to in away a week for a Mermaid Festival in Seward AK :)
During our first outing, our shake down, with Stevie there are some things that we figured out:
Although a spot looks level, it probably isn't!

Joe's awesome make shift leveling job!

If it's going to fall over in transit and spill everywhere, it will. On the way home our bottle of olive oil spilled.  There are worse things to spill, so we are grateful for the nice smell in Stevie.  We did manage to get it all cleaned up, just kicked ourselves for wasting the expensive stuff :(
We did a pretty decent job at keeping our packing down to a minimum with not a whole lot of extra stuff, but we did realize that some other things would have been useful.

1 for food, 1 for kitchen stuff... this was just for 2 nights/3 days

We are traveling with a notebook so we can write everything down for our next travels!  It is helpful to plan meals for the weekend and think about making the meal and pack along those lines :). 
Another thing we found out traveling early in the season is that a lot of dump stations were not open and we had to figure out where to get potable water.  

Thanks Sanidumps.com!!!

Sanidumps.com is a great website/tool that will let you know where the dumps/water is at in your area, what they provide, when they are open, and if there is a cost!
Overall... a good first outing with Stevie!  We need to get a new mattress which is a pain but will probably throw a topper on for now and hope for the best :)

As was noted in the previous post, both Joe and I are "in-between jobs".  He's working on his last two classes for he bachelor's degree and as for me, I'm trying not to spend money on things I don't need just because I'm bored.  One thing about Alaska is there is always a hike to do near by!  There is no excuse not to get out and enjoy the beauty of this state!  I have a book of local hikes and the app AllTrails, which is awesome!  
One day we decided to hike Bird Ridge.  We've past it numerous times and I've noticed the sign for it.  It's right across from Turnagin Arm in the Chugach State park.  It's an out and back hike, 4.6 miles, with 3218 ft of elevation gain!  We've done other "hard" trails so we didn't think about this one too much.  We just packed up our packs, grabbed our hiking sticks (life savers), and headed out!

pay the $ people!

I've noticed that a majority of "locals" don't pay the $5 that most of the hiking tails ask for.  It's FIVE DOLLARS and it keeps the trails nice and the trail heads clean.  Please give or pay for an annual ticket!  

The views were amazing! It's always a tad easier going up!

We took a decent amount of breath breaks going up and to appreciate the scenery.  We see a lot of folks just flying up trails but we like to stop and look around.  It's so quiet at times and we saw a good amount of bald eagles doing their thing!  So much amazing beauty in our back yard!

We might have been half way up!

tide is going out...

Getting above the tree line we came across this bench.  We thought about taking our snack and a rest here but it was windy.  Plus we wanted to get to the top and then rest so we took a breather and moved on.  What is so amazing is that someone carried that big slab up there?!  I was worn out with just a small pack of essentials!

Be awesome!

One thing about this hike is that there is multiple false ridges and it does kill one's motivation after walking straight up!  We found a place to hunker down to avoid the wind, enjoyed the scenery while having a snack and water, then went back down.

our break spot before going back down

hiking sticks, don't leave home without them

I took no pictures going down due my knees were screaming at me!  My body is not use to that type of extended movement, straight up and straight down.  Whenever I found a some what level path my knees were praising the lord!  We both need to strengthen our legs for this type of hike before doing it again.  We were both proud of ourselves for doing it and getting as far as we did but we were exhausted!

After the Bird Ridge hike we took a small time out from hiking.  Yesterday we drove to Whittier.  I remember going there with my guard unit back in 2010 but it was Joe's first time and it's just about an hour drive.  We stopped at the Portage Glacier.  In 2010 you could see it from the road but now you have to take a boat :(

Glacier is back there...

One thing that is fun about going to Whittier is the tunnel.  It's a one late train tunnel that you drive through.  It's about 2.5 miles long.  Whittier itself is a small port town and in my view could make for a great setting for a suspense slasher film!  We drove around, took some pictures, and headed home.  

a lot of wooded wet areas for a killer to hang out in 

only two, maybe three, ways in...the one way train tunnel, boats, and a small prop plane or helicopter

The Buckner Building!

waiting to go through the tunnel to leave Whittier

We've been keeping busy but not too busy :P. This is my last free week before starting a new job which is always a wee bit nerve wracking.  
Joe and I are amazed daily of the beauty and how much nature we see around here.  Just driving around we see moose and bald eagles regularly.  The bears are waking up so from the stories I hear, we will be seeing them on hikes.  We have bear spray and we are trying to be smart about what we are doing and where we are at.

So here we are... I'll be back being an "adult" before I know it but we will keep on getting out and enjoying what this state has to offer!