Tag Archives: Adventure

Five Fingers Running

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I have five toes on each foot.  My mom made sure when I was born.  And those toes have gotten me far in life. I mean really, who stops to appreciate your toes.

I have a new appreciation of my toes and my whole foot since I began running in my hot pink Vibram FiveFingers.  It began in 2004 when I decided to run the Seattle Half Marathon and then kept running and several months later did the Mercer Island Half Marathon, cutting 20 minutes off of my time. Woo! But after each race I was adamant I would never. NEVER. ever. run a full marathon. Obnoxiously adamant. I mean who does that?! 26 miles. Eeehhh. I had just experienced 2 hours of running, and I would only be half way done if I did a full 26 miles of pavement pounding.  Misery. Pain. Boring.

That’s a lot of time to just think. 26 miles of thoughts.

Never fails that what ever I say I won’t do…I end up doing.
Determined?
Enjoys a challenge?
I’m pretty sure people have said that about me before…

So I registered for the San Diego Rock n’ Roll Marathon in 2005 and bought a plane ticket before I would back out.  After one run with a friend who said she’d do it with me, I was on my own. Quitter. I could tell you about the endless long runs alone through Seattle’s streets, planning my route around the Starbucks or McDonalds for an urgent bathroom break, or the time I fell flat on my face outside of a restaurant patio seating….but I’ll save those.

Fast forward to this winter when I read the book “Born to Run,” by Christopher McDougall and a light bulb in my brain turned on.  My feet were not made to be stuffed inside a man-made shoe! I have muscles on my feet I never knew about! I tore my meniscus during the marathon. Major bum-er. It was from not enough cross training and lots of boring pavement pounding. I haven’t done more than 10 miles since then.

My hot pink feet have been tramping through the tundra and racing down the runway recently.  I’ve been amazed at how natural it feels and how my feet muscles really are sore at the end of the run.  I’m enjoying running again and having a goal to reach. I’m training for the Big Wild Life Run Half Marathon in Anchorage on August 19th! Yes, I’ll be running it in my Vibram FiveFingers. I will sneak it in just before I turn the big 30. So hold me accountable!

A bucket list goal is to do a full marathon in another country.  Who knows…maybe I’ll keep running and do that this fall! Anyone want to join me?

Alaska Backcountry Ski Trek Video

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There we were….

On top of the world…. or at least a glacier.  I’ve relived the first glorious day of our ski trek in my head over and over wanting to be back up there and explore more of the glacier basin.

Our ski trek was a fabulous success and held a great sense of accomplishment.  Overall, it was 30 miles in three days…from glacier top to my front door. Literally.  It’s hard to capture the beauty of our first day and landing on the glacier.  We wanted to just stay there and enjoy the powder and sunshine!  The whole corse held diverse terrain and varied weather but best of all we had a blast. I also got a nice sunglasses tan. Score. The Lord blessed us with complete safety the entire trip, too!

A highlight was the air drop of Mooses Tooth Pizza and fresh fruit toward the end of the second day.  It came as a big morale booster, as we’d had a challenging day of navigating through woods and only a partially snow covered river bed.  Thank you Lyle!

Instead of a long, dry narrative of our adventure… I offer you this video… Enjoy!

I can’t wait until next year and a chance to tackle another trip.  Hopefully longer and in another part of this glorious land I now call home.

Until next year!

Mountain Mamma’s Ski Trek Prep

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Heidi, Kristen and I have packed our bags and sleds and are ready to be flown up to Tuxedni Glacier to commence our Mountain Mammas Ski Trek! My prep has also included lots of rest, fluids, sinus rinses and vitamins to fight off a cold that I caught last week. Thanks to those who’ve prayed for my recovery.  I’m feeling much better and ready to go!

After a waffle party and a final packing review, we are set for a morning departure. I feel like a 5-year-old on Christmas Eve!

Let’s call this the “before” picture.

The plan is 3 days 2 nights.  Go-Pro for documentation. Sun tanning along the way.

No, I will not be live blogging along the way.

Alaska Backcountry Ski Trek

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Last March my brother Jon and five other men skied 100 miles down Lake Clark Pass onto Lake Clark and home to Port Alsworth.  This adventure inspired me to challenge myself to a winter adventure and do a similar trip.

After mulling over the idea for a year, I found two other women who are going to take on the challenge with me! We are planning next weekend to be dropped by a plane on nearby Tuxedni Glaceir, ski down the valley, follow the river through the woods, head down 15-mile long Kontrashibuna Lake and connect with the trail that leads home to Port Alsworth.  We are planning for three days two nights and praying for wisdom, safety and good weather!

In preparation for the trip, we’ve been gaining wisdom from the skiers who have accomplished such a trek along with a few other things…

1. I typically ski 5-6 days a week and headed up to Lake Kontrashibuna last weekend for some uphill, downhill and lake skiing.  It was -5 degrees outside, but clear and sunny which made it glorious.  The round trip was about 5-6 miles and gave me a good idea of what we’ll face breaking new trails and skiing up off the lake on our last miles homeward. Challenging but doable and very rewarding!

2.  I purchased Rossignal BC70 Backcountry skis (found them on clearance in the attic section at REI. Score!).  These skis are different than regular cross-country skis as they have a wider base, are shorter than a typical ski, have metal edges and more scales on the bottom of the ski that will help with uphill terrain. I’m very happy with my purchase and how they’ve performed thus far.

3.  We will pull our supplies behind us on sleds (approx 40lbs), so I have begun skiing with a sled to get used to the weight.  My first weight was Warren, who is much cuter than the log I had to replace him with when he got too cold. I decided the two logs weren’t enough weight, so I put in 16 lbs. more and headed off to practice some “hills.” Which were more like sloping terrain. I struggled. Sled in tree well. Skis off. Sweat. Skis in tree well. More sweat. Ugh. Determination. Repeat. And finally I managed to end that brutal trip. I took the sled to weigh it and found I had been lugging around 86 lbs… no wonder! Glad to dump half that load for my next ski!

4.  We flew the route last weekend to get a glimpse of what the terrain will look like, scope out any weak ice spots (thankfully very few), and look at the challenging part of coming down off the glacier.  Risk vs. reward.  We have yet to finally decide on the route and weather will impact our ability to land on the glacier. The picture below is the far end of Lake Kontrashibuna.  We will be coming down the valley on the left into those woods and onto the lake.

Please pray for wisdom, health, safety, good weather and that we’d have a blast!  Stay tuned for updates about the trip!

Escape to Little Lake Clark

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Lake Clark Pass empties glacier water out of craggy peaks by force creating dozens of glorious waterfalls.  Fortressed by 10,000 foot peaks, Little Lake Clark is an impressive area and easily my favorite place nearby Port Alsworth.

With a boat loaded with gear and a pirate flag, we forged out late Friday night for our destination.  The weather left something to be desired, but we weren’t complaining because the lake was a flat calm lake making it easy sailing. And the misty clouds made the adventure a little more exciting.

The trip by boat is about 45 minutes, which we passed by swapping pirate jokes and snacking on fresh smoked salmon. We arrived at our destination and dressed in full rain gear, bush-whacked through the wet foliage beside a roaring turquoise stream to the cave falls.

Part of my favorite thing about these type of mountain streams is hopping from rock to rock and clamoring through the icy cold water.  BUT this wasn’t the best day for this type of hiking as it was cold outside and the rocks were slippery from rain.  Thankfully, Micah is always prepared and had some sweet portable waders we used to cross the stream several times.

Note the pirate flag made it up the hike with us.  Arrrrr. With the deafening roar of the falls surrounding us, we scrambled up the shale rock into the cave, careful not to slice an ankle (I still boast a scar from last year’s trip) and perched on the rocks above marveling at the size of the cave. The view is incredible from inside.

After scampering down and making it back to the boat, we quick caught some fish…I mean Micah and Taylor caught a Lake Trout and a Dolly Vardon to accompany our hobo dinners.  It was a late 10:30 pm dinner and the sun was setting, making it feel that summer was coming to a quick close.

The next morning was much brighter and the clouds blew through the mountain peaks, giving us a glimpse at their majesty. We packed up camp and struck out to explore some waterfalls.  My favorite.

Micah led us to the perfect waterfall and we whacked our way through the Alders and brush, scampered up the rocks and stood with neck craned upward at the massive cascading water rushing over the edge.  Micah and I were determined to find some good climbing and rappelling.  Well maybe Micah was and I eagerly tagged along.  Up one side of the waterfall we went until we found ourselves clinging to tree branches, feet grasping to a few clefts in the rock and decided we were cliffed out.  Unable to pursue that route, we went down to the base of the falls again and headed up the other side.  Easier going, this route took us beside the falls, with about 100 feet of open rock below to rappel down. Score.

Micah proceeded to secure the rope and Ryan contemplated his first rappel.  I provided moral support. I was ready to go! Micah tested it out first, heading down and then climbed back up the rock face.

After Ryan bravely made his way safely down, I swung around and rappelled my way down the face, taking time to soak up the reality of it all.  The feel of the taut rope in my hand, my feet bouncing me off the rock face, the spray from the water fall… It was a good adrenaline rush!   I was ready to climb up and do it again.  I am so grateful Micah was able to make it work during his time in Alaska this summer.  One of my highlights!

After conquering the granite giant, we found a little stream with grayling and had a snack as we each caught a fish.  It was fun to fly fish again and catch a big one! I did my celebratory “I caught a fish!” dance. Woo!

Taylor caught the most unique Grayling with a rich, dark color accented by turquoise. So beautiful.

Sherry didn’t make it last year on our Little Lake Clark adventure so it was perfect she could be there for the weekend. It was the anniversary of our epic summer 2010 camping and kayak adventure on Kontrash…that ended very… well creatively.  We celebrated in our “uneventful” trip and reminisced about our first big Alaskan adventure.