Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Round 1

Well, I finally jumped on the band wagon and started a blog. Seems like everyone today has one so why not me? While I doubt "Round 1" will garner much attention, I'll fill everyone in on what this blog will be. My plan is to document all of my outdoor adventures. Most weeks from April till December I'm out and about in the Alaskan outdoors. I hunt, fish, hike, boat, and camp whenever possible.


Last weekend my wife and I spent most of our time hiking. Saturday was our weekly trip up Mount Roberts. Mount Roberts is a local mountain that tops out at about 3,800 ft. The one unique feature of this mountain is a tram was built to carry tourists up to the 1,800 ft level. This makes the hike an enjoyable one. After hiking the first 1,800 ft (about a 2.5 mile trail) there is a visitor center complete with restaurant and bathrooms. Some days we will just hike to the visitor center and have lunch in the restaurant. Last weekend we kept going past the visitor center to about 2,300 ft (or just below the snow line).

On Sunday we made our semi-regular pilgrimage to the Mendenhall Glacier ice caves. This involves hiking about 3 miles along the west edge of Mendenhall Lake. At one point this hike requires a small portion of rock climbing. Then you descend down to the west edge of Mendenhall Glacier. The glacier is always moving and changing so the caves are different each trip. It's always a little nerve racking to go into an ice cave. The edge of the glacier is always breaking off, and the entrance to the cave can be sealed. Or worse the cave itself can collapse. With all that in mind, I still venture in if I feel the conditions are right.



This cave dropped about a 100 ft below where I'm standing, then leveled out. It's definitely an erie blue world down there.

Well, next week I plan to chase some local sockeye salmon so tune in for a write-up of that trip and many more to come. Thanks for reading.

6 comments:

  1. Welcome to the blogosphere!

    It was great seeing you out on the trail Sunday. Quite the pleasant surprise to see someone we knew on the trail!

    Perhaps we'll have to join forces for another hike sometime soon, eh?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fun blog, more pictures!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. What interesting adventures you go on. This is the perfect way to share them. I can't believe you actually go into the ice caves. I'm sure it must be scary and fascinating at the same time. Keep the stories coming.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Cody, It was great to see you guys out there. We've been trying to do more hiking this year. Keep us posted Anne loves taking pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Don't worry, there will be plenty of pictures in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Don't worry, I'm careful in the ice caves and take time to find one that is "safe" to go into.

    ReplyDelete