Mt. Prindle!

Spent a picture-perfect weekend in Interior Alaska hiking up in the White Mountains at Mt. Prindle! It was my first time up here, and a trip that has been on my list of "things to do" (which is excessively long and growing with time) for a few years after I was told "you'd love it up there!" You were right, I DID love it up there!
There are a few small stream crossing at the beginning of the trail, which I have heard can become swelled and swift with excessive rain. Luckily for us, rain, nor the threat of rain, was an issue whatsoever!
There was a trail for a short time, but shortly after we ended up in a boulder route through the valley.
The going was easy through the valley even though we lost whatever social trail there was, if there was one.
Then, the ascent! The ascent was pretty gradual, but upon coming up to the first ridge, there was a lot of descent and ascent still left to get to Mt. Prindle.
The weather was perfect, and there was a nice breeze that kept ALL OF THE BUGS AWAY! I could not grasp the concept of backpacking in Alaska in 80-85 degree temperatures at 4000 feet with NO BUGS. So rad!
Up on the ridgeline, we manuevered around these big giant tors, which are a part of "some of the best rock climbing in the Interior". I for one, have NO interest in hauling rope and climbing gear in a pack up to this spot. Good for those who think it's worth it. ;)
After our slow start out of Fairbanks that afternoon, Brian, Cana and I managed to make it to the top with enough sunlight left to descend to a campsite down the ridge aways.

The fading sun gave an incredible illumination of our surrounding mountains.

Cana, above, exemplifies how we all felt at the end of the day.

I have never fallen asleep outside of my tent in Alaska until this trip. The tent was an unnecessary 5lbs to carry, but neither of us expected a bug-free trip. It was a picture perfect weekend!

Staying in AK

I am staying put in Fairbanks for the foreseeable future!

I was forced to make a yes or no decision whether to go full-time at my job about 4 weeks earlier than I was hoping to. Many factors made the decision difficult, and my wanderlust almost made me say no wanting to move elsewhere for a bit. I was so torn because I felt that either way I could potentially have regrets. But luckily this is a decision I was planning to make soon, and whenever I finally HAD to decide, I knew what I wanted. It's only as temporary or permanent as I want to make it, and that ultimately made me say yes to more fun in Alaska. I really had a hard time doing grad school here with all of the distractions, but knew that I loved the place when I was only working and leaving work at work. In any case, it all worked out and I made a decision. I can't tell you for how long, but I can tell you that as long as I am happy, I will stay. The pages are blank for a new chapter in the same place!

Fort Yukon, AK

A trip for work took me back to one of my first villages in Alaska - Fort Yukon.

Fort Yukon lies on the Arctic Circle in the Yukon Flats. It recorded the highest ever temperature in Alaska of 100 degrees F on June 27, 1915.

On the way, we got an awesome view of Denali from the air

I was in charge of putting in the new weather station from scratch.. including digging a ditch for wiring.

Remote villages means an awesome airplane ride! We took a Piper Navajo 6-seater to and from Fairbanks.

I love flying over the open unestablished land. It's fun to picture yourself down at ground level, knowing that from the sky things look so dramatically different.
On the way back, we took the scenic route through the White Mountains, and I got to see aerially where I had been biking all last winter. It looks way scarier and way more in the middle of nowhere from an airplane than on ground!

'Til next time, Fort Yukon.

Quartz Creek Trail Rocks!

You can take that as "Quartz Creek Trail, ROCKS!" or "Quartz Creek Trail Rocks!", because either way works.

But this trail, in all honesty, is not for the faint of heart.

This ATV/backpacking/biking trail is not your afternoon leisurely stroll through the woods on a bike. Though it's a short 14+ mile distance, it's a taxing ride through the heart of the White Mountains, and tricky on the way out from fatigue. The entire mileage you are in full-fledged concentration, constantly finding the route of least resistance, wondering if your tire can clear that big rock. Amazingly, your tires can, and will with enough momentum! It's not the concentration as much as the fatigue in your upper body which is bound to set in, from CONTINUAL jolting of rocks. If one had a full suspension mountain bike, I feel like things would be a lot easier, but so it goes. If I would have remembered my cycling gloves, that would have even been better. But a great trail - the first 0.8 mile is an uphill with loose rocks - it's rideable if you like hills, but for me, it saved a lot of energy and just went as fast pushing my bike up. Once up that hill, the elevation change is easy going with some fun but technical decents, not to mention some fabulous views.Though the trail is merely an ATV trail, and never does go to singletrack, it has the same feel as singletrack in the sense of obstacle-avoidance, in that there is none in many places! I enjoyed the rocks, despite the fatigue, because it was a challenge.There was some water on the trail, but not a whole lot, and nothing deep like I read about before going on this trail. The creeks were welcome during our ride in order to cool off!


As you can see, our weather was just incredible. 80 degrees and sun shining brightly! Hooray for summer! This was potentially our last true day of summer weather in the Interior. I wouldn't be surprised if we hit the mid to upper 70s a couple more times, but I doubt it will get into the mid 80s again.

Someone turn off the heat! Not the sun.. I enjoy the sun! But it's a little too hot out for working this hard!
I was totally pumped for the downhill at the end. Here Celine comes down with her expression about the downhill.. it was kind of sketchy with all of the loose rocks, but we made it out of our 16 mile rocky ride unscatched. No branches in the legs or even falls.. guess we weren't going fast enough?!!

Maybe it's a good goal to do the full potential 35 mile ride.. maybe I'll save that for next year!

Map o' route.

Oh and beware of bears if you go up here. There was a big grizz spotted on July 30th around 10pm.. we were yelling and singing the entire ride and avoided such encounters. Lots of yummy berries alongside the trail for such furry creatures (and humans) to eat.

Post thesis defense shenanigans

Well I did it - I've added another two letters to the end of my name! (those academic M.S. ones!) The time since I arrived back in AK and hit the ground sprinting in a 4 week race all blends together in my memory, and now here I am, trying to figure out what is next. I finally got over my post-Vortex2 depression a couple weeks ago, so have been able to kick back and enjoy Fairbanks again. The really good thing is, that I have some time to blow before having to either commit to taking a job here or making a move. So, I'm going to just bide my time and have fun during my favorite non-snowy months! I have a week til I am completely off the hook with academia, but then - my true playtime begins.

But, to start it all off right, some friends and I went booze cruising to celebrate my defense, visiting the classy local establishments alongside the Chena River.
I had some pressure on me for this float, being the weather girl and all, because it hasn't stopped raining all week. But I was convinced the weather gods would work with me and sure enough they did, and all attendees had a fun time on the rain-less float!
I am almost positive that I didn't paddle our canoe more than 30 strokes the entire night, good thing I had Brian manuevering us around. I am normally better about contributing to a boating adventure, but Friday I was distracted by seeing friends rather than my cubicle wall and computer.On Saturday, Goldstream Sports and the Fairbanks Cycle Club threw together a 12-hour fundraiser event on the Ester Dome singletrack. I went up there to make a quick appearance and ride a couple of laps, and ended up riding more. Lorien, below, dressed up as a bird for the race. I laughed when I realized it was him because I heard someone say my name and was talking to me and I didn't even recognize him at the time, and thought it was another cycling friend.
Tyson and Joel coming down the course. I think most people just tooted around and didn't really "race" but some of these guys did. If I was in better health and shape, I would have been all over racing this event.. but it just wasn't feasible this year. It was a blast though and I hope they put it on again next year!

Davya helped out in recording our laps. Thanks Davya!

Celine, Jim, and I. That's the only time you will see a Penn State and Ohio State jersey together. :-) Go Nittany Lions!!

Ester Dome Singletrack

"It's only about a foot high" - famous last words. I would like to say that I think that jump was higher than a foot! Amazingly, had just enough speed to clear without flipping. Not exactly what I'd call good form by any means, but cleared, nonetheless. This is one of a few jumps on the brand new Ester Dome Singletrack. I'm pumped that Fairbanks finally has a trail with some obstacles other than roots. Rumor has it the trail crew is wanting to host a 12-hour race in a couple of weeks to raise money for the rest of the trail building. Hopefully something official will be announced sooner rather than later.
Finishing up my thesis post-summer project has been ridiculously difficult. The only thing I can do to concentrate is to block out the last two months temporarily. Hanging on with a tiny bit of exercise a day to stay sane, endless hours of thesising, and eating crappy processed food that doesn't take any preparation time. This will be all over in a couple weeks and then I'll do something interesting for you to read about.. maybe figure out what my next step is in another month!

The 4th of July in Eagle, AK

Spent the 4th of July in a very patriotic small town on the mighty Yukon River. Not a full week later, the Taylor Highway would be completely shut down for most of the remainder of summer due to continual heavy rains, and Eagle would be no longer accessible by vehicle until DOT got the road back into stable shape.Eagle saw their bout of flooding last spring, which wiped out most of the shoreline buildings.

Below is the remains a year later, with signs of rebuilding.

Sent friends off on their week long float trip to Circle. It was fun to be a part of their journey!