When I was younger, I rode my bike over 75 miles across the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. I swore I would never get back on a bike again. And I've done pretty well with that promise since then. But it just seemed like the right thing to do up here: you know, being all "back to nature conservative-y" and stuff.
So my friend and I decided to test it out. We took them out to Heart Lake. It was a fun bike ride even though it was pouring like nobody's business. When we finally got to the lake, we were completely drenched.
So we decided to jump in. I know. I know. What were we thinking, right? I don't know. It seemed like a good idea at the time. It was FREEZING!!! But definitely worth the experience. :) Here's a video so you can experience it too:
My roommate Bryan and I (Matt wouldn't go after last time) hiked Indian River Falls. Don't let the guidebooks fool you. It's a LOT longer than they say. But we were determined, so we made it all the way (I've already been beaten by one hike this year, I wasn't about to lose again - btw, I haven't forgotten about Verstovia, I'm still planning on beating it some time). Go ahead and watch the video and then I put some pictures below too.
Before my mom died, I used to call her after all my big adventures and tell her all about them. I would always start with the same line: Mom, before I get into this story, I just want you to remember that I'm talking to you right now. I'm alive and well with no serious injuries. Everything is ok. I thought it would help her keep things in perspective.
I've gotten myself into some serious situations before, but I always knew I would survive. Maybe not come out unscathed, but survive, yes.
Not so today.
We hiked Harbor Mountain today and things turned bad surprisingly quickly. We (my roommate Matt, who will never hike with me again, and I) hitchhiked out to the trailhead. The trail goes up and over the far side of the mountain, and then it comes down the near side into town and it's just a short walk to our apartment from there. As usual, no map, no water, no anything. At least I wore shoes. :) Well, we lost the trail at the top, and then found it. We went down this trail for about a mile or so and then it dead ends. So instead of hiking back up to the top and searching for another trail, we decided (rather foolishly, in hindsight) to just cut diagonally down the mountain towards town. We almost fell off cliffs, we both got cut up pretty badly, and there were several times when I wasn't real sure we were going to make it off alive. The one good thing is that we're in Alaska, so at least I knew we would never run out of sunlight. :)
But I'm alive and well. And I'm talking to you right now, so everything is ok. :)
**Update**
Here's the short video:
**Update again**
My Mac crashed so I lost all the footage I had on this and so I won't be able to post the longer version like I had intended. Sad, huh? But at least this one was already up.
Yeah, they're everywhere. I don't know why but I always associate starfish with warm waters. Perhaps it's because I never saw them in New England, but I'm more familiar with them in the Caribbean. But yeah, they're here:
And if you have a minute, you have to go check this video out. My friend Elaina and I were walking around and saw a Limousine for sale, so we took it for a test drive. :)
The store is open, cruise ships are coming, tourists are shopping. Life is good. We had a solid opening and I'm really impressed at how successful we've been thus far. I hope it keeps up.
But I'm not going to talk business on here. Just wanted to let you know that I'm super ridiculously busy and I haven't been able to explore much lately. But I will. When have you ever known me to go somewhere and not make time to get out there and have some crazy adventure, right?
For now, you can have this picture, which we took yesterday out at Indian River:
Just thought you'd like to know that my camera is happy.
By the way, that last picture of St. Michael's Church has Mt. Verstovia in the background. And we know from last week that the snow at the top is at least waste deep. :)
Oh, and I just posted a contest video on my Perfect Little Life channel. So if you want to try and win some free stuff, go over there and guess where I am. Well, where I was when I took the picture, you know where I am now. :)
So yesterday, my friend and I attempted to hike Mt. Verstovia. It's a beautiful mountain just next to Sitka. The base of the mountain (like all of Sitka) is a rain forest. So it's muggy and it gets rather warm when you hike. But then it cools off as you ascend the hill, and then it starts to snow, and then you're up to your waste in snow and it's an all-out blizzard. My friend stripped down to his shorts at the base and he was too stubborn to put his pants back on when it got COLD. I was in jeans and sneakers, so although I was not completely prepared, I was in better shape than he was. :)
I've never been on a hike where the weather and hiking conditions changed so dramatically in such a short amount of time (our entire time on the mountain from base to "top" back down to the base was about 3 hours). This is also the first hike EVER in my life that I have not completed. We couldn't make it to the top because of the weather conditions, although we came dang close. You can watch the video and decide for yourself if you think we should have proceeded.
My personal favorite part of the hike, aside from the rapid descent in the snow, was my hat. :)
