1400 Cloudy Kilometers And A Very Short Pencil

Friday I passed the 1400 kilometer mark on my bike since April. According to Google that's 869.9197 miles.  That's more than I did last summer or the summer before.  And it's only early September.  200 more kilometers shouldn't be an issue.  1600 would be, well I was thinking 1000 miles, but since I had the conversion table up, I checked.  It's only 994.2 miles.  Google says I need to go 1609 km to get to 1000 miles.  But that's doable too.  

While that may seem like a lot (I hope it does), in perspective it's not that much for a whole summer.  Kristen Faulkner, of Homer, Alaska, won the Olympic road bike race. 

She rode 158 km (98 miles) in "a fraction under four hours."  That's more than a tenth of my summer production in four hours!  Even accounting for the fact that getting to and from the bike trail includes some stop signs and traffic lights, and the bike trail requires some slowing down for walkers, dogs, and occasionally moose, and that she's to a bike much more suited to going fast . . . well you get the idea.  My 1400 km is good exercise, but nothing sensational.  

I did see an obituary today for a man older than I am.  He died after an ebike accident on the Bird to Gird route.  Mine is not an ebike. 

You can watch Faulkner below.  [It seems you have to click the link and watch it on YouTube, not here.]

In recent weeks there have been lots of cloudy, even rainy, days.  But most days had times when biking was good and the sun even made appearances.  

I've mentioned in an earlier post that I'm back in the third grade - as a volunteer.  I don't want to say much about that, because the privacy of the kids is a paramount concern.  I do want to say that working with these kids is pure joy.  And given the education cuts in the State budget, the kids and their teachers need all the help they can get.  

I'd call out to any retired teachers to volunteer.  But also to people who weren't teachers, but also just people who are good with kids.  I contacted the school first and they told me to fill out a volunteer form on the Anchorage School District website.  Figure out what skills you have to offer.  Just being a caring person. who's willing to follow the lead of the classroom teacher, is all you need.  Sometimes I'm walking around and just watching kids doing their work and helping out if they have trouble.  Sometimes I've been given a group of kids and listen as they read from their reading lesson book.  Sometimes I spend more time with one kid who needs extra attention.  You can work out how much time to spend - from an hour a week on up - with your local school.  

I imagine that there are people who would cause the teacher more grief than having no one helping.  But most people can do this.  I guess my superpower here is that I remember being a kid - especially things I got in trouble for, or would have if I'd been caught.  I remember what I was thinking.  Like during nap time in pre-school when I couldn't sleep.  There was a finger-sized hole in the paint on the wall next to my cot.  This was thick greenish (in my memory anyway) that bulged a bit from the wall.  By the time nap time was over, the hole was much, much bigger and Aunty Helen (the pre-school owner) was not happy with me.  But it wasn't malicious.  It was just curiosity.  So when kids are curious, I'm much more understanding than Aunty Helen was. (Actually, she and I were generally good friends.)

So while I don't want to say too much specific, I can show you this picture of one kid's pencil.  While I'd like to say it's a sign of thrift, I think it's more about the kids' general fascination with pencil sharpeners, both manual and electric.

 

Bird to Gird and Winner Creek Sunday

We took advantage of the sunshine Sunday.  I got out of the car with my bike at Bird Point and biked to the Forest Service Office in Girdwood, where J was waiting to pick me up.  A woman was getting ready to ride back as well and we agreed to go together.  But as soon as we started - the first mile or so is uphill at a more than gentle incline - I was going really slowly and it was clear that she could do this much faster with her rented electric bike.  So I told her to just take off and she pushed the button and zoomed up the hill.  

This ride goes along the route of the old road above Turnagain Arm.  It was narrow, steep, and curvy.  There were lots of crashes.  Now it's down to bike path  width, not that curvy, and with great views.  Here's a cliche Alaska photo of blooming fireweed with mountains, water, blue sky and clouds.  Lots of views like this on the path.  

Another view of Turnagain Arm without the foreground fireweed.  The tide seemed to be going out.  

Here we're down back to the new road level - but well separated.  This valley goes into Girdwood.  

And just for fun, I tweaked this with curves Mac Photos, just to remind everyone that if a picture looks too good (or weird) to be true, it probably isn't.  

Then a pick up at the Forest Service Office and a short drive up to the Prince Hotel and the Winner Creek trail behind the ski tram.  

When I first attempted this trail, it was several inches deep in mud.  But even with rubber boots it quickly became impossible to go further.  That was in the early 80's  Alaska Airlines had sold Alyeska to Seibu/Prince Hotels, and if the Prince Hotel had been imagined then, it was only on paper.  This is a beautiful natural spot that over the years has gotten lots of attention.  Perhaps too much.  I'm ok with the various boardwalk sections that have been put in.  But the ski-loop that has been put in nearby has cut an ugly dirt road through the previously lush landscape.  

This is near the beginning of the trail.  No hint of the muddy past.

And there are a few long sections of boardwalk through the woods.  

And here again I played with curves.

I've always admired the calculations it takes to do curves (actual curves, not digital ones) in boardwalks, so here's a focused look at a curve.  

One of several creeks that intersect the trail.  Lots of Devil's Club.  

The trail itself is just a beautiful place to walk in the woods.  And compared to the trails along the Seward highway, which go steeply up, this trail is relatively level.  Some ups and downs, but nothing drastic.  The key destinations on this trail have been the small gorge with water squeezed into a roaring torrent and the hand tram.  

Here's the bridge over the torrent.  

And here's looking from the bridge as the water roars by below.  

The hand tram is a quarter mile beyond this gorge.  It has a metal cage and ropes and pulleys to take you across a much bigger gorge.  But someone working the ropes to get people across fell to his death a couple of years ago and the tram is no longer open to use.  We didn't go the extra way to see exactly what's still there.  

A good day of enjoying Alaska on a beautiful sunny, then cloudy day.     Here's a better view of the water rushing through the gorge.   Or maybe not.  (It's not working in the preview.)  I'll try to fix it later.  Nope, not working.  Tried Blogger's upload video directly from my computer and that doesn't seem to have worked.  Maybe I can figure it out. Or just upload it to YouTube.  It's just a few seconds.  

It's Summer, A Beautiful Day, So Biked The Bird To Gird Trail And Left My Computer Behind

When they rerouted the Seward Highway many years ago from the perilous two-lane, no shoulder road that went well above the water below to a four lane road at the water's edge, the old road was revisioned into a bike trail.  And it's a wonderful six mile ride from Bird Point to the Girdwood turnoff.

The first two or so miles from Bird Point go up with great views of Turnagain Arm.  Though a number of the view points - including telescope-viewers - have cottonwood and other trees blocking the views now.  But not at this point.



















Here's the rock wall on the other side of the trail.  There are lots of waterfalls along the way and I counted 18 piles of bear scat on the trail.  Later at the National Forest visitor center near the end of the trail, the lady said that yesterday one of the workers encountered a black bear.  Someone coming the other way had to zap it with bear spray before it left the trail.

Here's the trail on the way down near the Girdwood end.

And back down to road level, there's duck playground.  She wasn't happy that I stopped and hustled her brood off while I got the camera out of the backpack.    It should be a little sharper if you click on it.

Here's a July view from 2011 when the flowers were all blooming and a September view from last year.  Same trail different moods.

Bird to Gird

My friend Y (why not? there's one in his name) wanted some exercise and there were heavy clouds on the hillside, so I suggested a bike ride from Bird Point to Girdwood.

As luck would have it, the sun was shining south of Anchorage. Here are a few shots that caught my eye.

 

The other white flower in the top picture is cow parsnip.  Here's a close up with customer.


And below some visitors at the monkey flower organic cafe.



The phrase finder has a long entry about the phrase 'the bee's knees.' Here's a tiny excerpt:

Bees carry pollen back to the hive in sacs on their legs. It is tempting to explain this phrase as alluding to the concentrated goodness to be found around a bee's knee, but there's no evidence to support this explanation. It is also sometimes said to be a corruption of 'business', but there's no evidence to support that either.

 Maybe they mean the front knees.

The trail from the rest area at Bird Point to Girdwood takes the path of the old road.  It was the worst and best part of the trip south.  It had great views, but was two laned, no shoulder at all, and curved up and then down.  Now there's a speed track down by the water, and the bike trail that replaced the old road is wonderful.  But it is uphill and downhill both directions.  It's about 6 miles each way. 

Columbine

Getting Close To Girdwood - Y's the white speck on the trail

A raven flew noisily onto the second from the top branch, followed by a bomber squad of swallows.  There's one very close to the raven just on the right of the trunk in the top photo.  It almost looks like a branch.  You can see it's not there in the bottom shot. Presumably they had a nest up there.  They kept returning.  Later a second raven joined the first. 

I'll try to get part 2 up later - with a few shots of the Girdwood Forest Fair.