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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

My competitions and hiking trips

Good afternoon.  I have not posted pictures in a long time. I have been busy playing now that school is out. I thought I would share some of my competitions and hiking trips.  As you all know, and probably very tired hearing about, our Bear Adventure on Admiralty Island starts this week.  I can hardly wait.  I will definitely post when I return to Memphis on June 13. 

This is Alaska's Bike Ride for Women. It always takes place the first Sunday in May.  I did not participate in this event last year so this was a new adventure. The real reason we all particpated was to earn our Artic Women's Athlete Patch. You have to compete and finish, important requirement, in 3 of the 4 competitions for Women to earn your patch.  Beth, on the left, and Niki, right, had ridden the course (14 miles) several times. It is on a very hilly course. I just returned to AK after 2 1/2 weeks in FL with family stuff, and I so wanted to quit half way through the course. The hills went on for MILES! I forced myself to finish so I can get my PATCH!  I finished and I vowed to do several long bike rides before the Gold Nugget Triathlon in two weeks. So the next weekend, the three of us, rode on one of the scenic bike paths from Eastern Anchorage to downtown and back. It is about a 24 mile bike ride. Can you see a moose in the background? He was about 30 feet from the bike path.

Then about 1/4 mile down the path was a barking dog. The owner pointed to the Eagle in the tree right next to the bike path. Gosh, what a wonderful way to start a beautiful day of bike riding.













Then on Sunday we decided we needed to hike to Dew Mound Lake at the Nature Center. It is about an 11 mile hike and we saw some wonderful sights.
This rock reminds me how small we are in our universe.

As we hiked we noticed a lot of bear scat and moose scat.  We decided we are going to become "poopologists".  We see so much of this stuff we might as well be experts. 



Dew Mound Lake was very very cold. You can see some of it was still covered with ice/snow.  It is pretty remote back here and nothing but the sounds of birds and mosquitoes. The mosquitoes don't bother me as long as I am hiking with someone who is much sweeter and tastier.  Thanks Beth for attracting the pesty bugs!
The Animal Rescue Center was at the Nature Center showing off some of their favorite animals.  This is a Horned Owl and he was very interested in the bugs flying around. She taught us that owls heads don't really rotate 360 degrees but a mere 270 degrees. This rotation is important so they can see in almost every direction without moving their body to give its prey a heads up.Their eyesight is so keen but so is there hearing.  They can hear  miles away because their ears on not placed the same place on their head.  One ear is set slightly higher up than the others which is why they tilt their head to hear even farther.  A mated owl is very territorial where as a nonmated or teenage owl fly far to search for company and mates. The claws were so sharp you couldn't want to be a ground rodent because those claws would have you snapped up in one fall swoop.  Their grasp is about 200-300 pounds of square inch of crushing power with these talons.  Run for your life if you a little cat or dog! A human fist has about 60 pounds per square inch of crushing power.
Our next guest was a bald eagle.  This mature female was rescued over 16 years ago. She was pretty beat up and since recovery has been a "touring eagle" for schools and nature centers. The average lifespan of Eagles is about 20  years or more in captivity.   Her eye sight is so keen she can see over 8 miles and look at her talons.  They are big and he said her grip would crush the skull of a rodent or small pet. The female is about 14 pounds or about 6 pounds larger than the male eagle. The wingspan is about 66 inches on average.


Her wingspan was about 70 inches according to her keeper.Eagles are powerful fliers as well. They average about 40 mph when gliding and 30 mph when carrying a fish - preferably a salmon. When diving for fish their speed can be between 70 and 99 mph.  I hope I am never mistaken for a large fish!
When it is mating time, the Eagle returns to where it was born and they mate for ever.

This puts the size of this female Eagle in perspective with her keeper.
Next was the Gold Nugget Triathlon. It was my second year of participating and it was easier than my first year. I improved my time by about 10 mins. I swam a bit faster and had a little assistance with my sport bra this year. Last year no one would help pull down the back of the bra on my wet body. I lost a lot of minutes in my transition last year. This year I beat my transition time by 4 mins.  The bike ride was wonderful on Elmandorf Air Base.  It is not everyday you are riding a bike and a fighter plane flies over your head. Then a few minutes later an Air Force Cargo plane goes overhead. They are both loud.  The run was much easier this year. I did train a bit by running mornings in Florida.  It was fun and right now I am saying, "I will volunteer not participate next year."  If I can get Jenna to join me next year I will run it one last year.  All my friends are having friends join them.  Come on Jenna, come do a triathlon one time with your mom!!!!
Sheryl, Beth (roommate),Niki, Vanessa.
We are all teachers up here in Alaska.
The Gold Nugget is the oldest all Women's triathlon in US.  It began 39 years ago and only had 24 participants and 6 mom/daughter teams.  This year there were 1550 participants and 240 mom/daughter teams and 12 grandmother/mom/daughter teams!  The registration was filled (1550) in 20 mins this year. It is very popular and they only take 1550 ladies.  You must be ready to push your computer buttons when registration opens at 10 pm at night 2  moths before the race.  Come on Jenna, let's do it on the 40th anniversary. I am sure the tee shirts will be spectacular.

Then when school finished, we hiked Hatcher's Pass. It surprised me that there was still snow thigh high when we got there May 28.  I guess it is so high up it takes a while for the snow to melt.  We were accompanied by so many ground squirrels and their "chattering" to each other was a bit annoying.  The red roof house was one of the newer barracks for the gold panners.  There is still a gold mine still working up there. It is private and you need to schedule a tour to see it. But anyone can hike the area at anytime.  We would have gone closer to the buildings but we did not wear our snow gear this day. 


 The river is the Little Susitna River. You can see how fast the river is flowing from the snow and glacier melt.It was very cold. Niki stood it in for a few seconds and the water was so cold it hurt her toes quickly.

 
This is a fairly fresh moose scat pile.  It is said to test how fresh you pick up a piece and throw it at your friend. If it sticks then it is really fresh.  Niki said it was just kind of fresh. I guess it didn't stick!

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Then yesterday to prepare for our Bear Adventure (kayaking and hiking to view bears) we decided we should hike Bald Mountain. Baldy can been seen from my back porch. It is 2800 feet elevation and about 7 miles.  We went up the tundra side of the mountain instead of the gravel path. I find gravel very unstable when hiking.  The tundra was spongy and we had very sure footing.  We found a few flowers starting to bloom.  There was still plenty of snow shoots. In fact, we saw a group of people sledding down the snow areas.


 This is the view of Anchorage from the top of Baldy. It took us a bit over an hour to get to the top.  This is looking towards Anchoarge downtown.Downtown is about 13 miles from Baldy.  A lot what you see if the joint Air Force Bases, Elmendorf and Ft. Richardson.
This peak, which we did not hike, is known as Black Tail ridge. Some people were coming down from here and said there was a moose but otherwise no other wildlife. We were a bit cautious since it is bear season. There have been several sightings of bears in town going through people's garbage and trash.

So this is what I have been up to for a month or so.  I look forward to seeing everyone once I return in a few weeks. Once again, David and I have an extremely busy summer planned. Then it is only 190 more days until I return to Memphis for good. Until then, I hope you all had a safe and fun Memorial Day Weekend. We had sun shine and about 70 degrees.  We are up to 22 hours of day light. It is so bright at midnight. In fact, the little kids were still playing outside at midnight the other night and being very vulgar and loud. I called Eagle River Police to ask them to go inside and bother their parents rather than keep all of us awake.  Then it gets like dusk from 1:30 am - 4:15 when it starts getting bright and sunny again. My roommate, Beth,can't sleep well with this light so she has placed black paper in her windows. It doesn't seem to bother me. I have never been in Anchorage this late, or into the summer. It is quite beautiful.  David, are you sure you don't want to move up to here?  How about retiring up here?
Until my next blog - Bear Adventure in June.  Hugs from Nanuq of the North, Sheryl

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Nome, AK part 2

Happy Mother's Day to you all  I hope you had a wonderful day.  Today in Anchorage it was 63 and very very sunny.  My friends and I went on a 6 mile hike up Dew Mountain.  My triathlon is next Sunday, May 15 and I am training for these last few days. 

While I was in Nome, there was a 9 hole golf course tournament.  Town people from Nome plant their exhausted Christmas trees in the snow covered Bering Sea.  The tournament required a three person team to use three clubs, driver, and two pitching wedges.  The snow was about 8 feet deep and they placed indoor/outdoor green carpet for the putting green.  My three friends won Second Place.  They had a stroke penalty because someone grounded their club in the hazard.


Here are some of the sights from downtown Nome The welcome sign is an old Gold Pan,.



  The church has been renovated about 2 years ago. Nome has so many churches and then a whole lot of bars.


  Here is the famous Gold Nugget Hotel. It cost $240 a night at the Gold Nugget during the finish of the Iditarod  Otherwise the cost is $80 per night. 

My favorite is the Bar/Laundry Mat. It is called Soap and Suds.  What a cleaver idea and how multitasking friendly!

I want to show a few more pictures of my Nome, Alaska pictures 
















This is the City of Nome seal. I love it because it has the bears, gold diggers, and the never ending sun in the sun.









This is me and Martin Buser. He has won the race several times but this year he fell asleep several times on the trail. He came in 18th this year.
























Here is the first lodging in Nome.

This is the bus stop. Notice how tall the fire hydrant is above ground.  This bus stop is so necessary because the winds off the Bering Sea is ferocious.  The town has only a few paved roads and most everyone lives in town but the high school and grade school is the farthest point from central downtown. 

This is this the mural on the outside of the high school.  Inside the school there are so many beaded bears hanging all over the school. The Natives have perfected the art and skill of beading.  The bears banners are about 12 feet wide at the top, according to a teacher.





This is John Baker, the first Western Native to win the Iditarod.  John finished this year's race of 1049 miles from Anchorage to Nome in record time: 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes and 39 seconds!





Nome is a cozy but very very cold town because the house I stayed at was 3 feet from the Bering Sea.   I can't wait to go back next year.

One of my sunsets from my porch.

My next blog will be about Safety, AK.  It is the last checkpoint before the end of the race.  I am loving Anchorage this time of year.  We have a bright sun by 4:35 am and the sunsets about 11:30 pm.  It doesn't really get dark now but more of a dusk light as we move closer and closer to 24 hours of sunlight.  I would suggest if you are a golfer Anchorage would be a great place to play golf. Think how many rounds of golf you can get in from early morning until late at night.  We have nice golf courses here but you do have to take some delays to let the wildlife (moose, fox, eagles, wolves) take their time crossing the fairways.
I hope everyone stays dry in Memphis as the BBQ Fest begins real soon.
Until my next post.
Sheryl the Nanuq of the North.