Well I guess I was back awhile ago but since my return from the wilderness of Alaska I have been quite busy and neglectful of my blog, my sincere apologies blog.
Where did I leave off? Oh yes ALASKA! I don't even know how to begin to describe the experience I went through. It was the most challenging/rewarding/fun/scary/miserable/successful/eye opening/and beautiful thing I have ever done all at the same time. I know it sounds like these are contradictory but trust me you can have fun while being miserable and feel successful all while being scared for your life.
I will give you the overview of our travels. I flew into Anchorage on the 20th, stayed there for one night and then the next morning I hiked all my stuff down to the train station to meet the NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) bus and all my new best friends. From there we drove to Palmer, about an hour and a half northeast to the branch headquarters. That whole day was a whirlwind of activities from packing our rations for the whole month to deciding what we wanted our community while on the course to look like. I was a little nervous to meet all my course mates (eleven others) and my instructors (three lovely ladies) but it turns out that we were all in the same boat and eager to get to know each other. It was quite rare for NOLS but on my course we had eight girls and four boys (normally the courses are heavily male dominated) and all three of our instructors were females (even rarer then the majority of students). I was pleasantly surprised because I was thinking I would be one of a handful of girls which would had made for a different experience, not worse, just different.
We started kayaking in the Prince William Sound and our route took us from Whitter in the farthest west town to Valdez in the farthest east town. As a whole we paddled 109 miles. It was supposed to take us two weeks but because of terrible weather we were only able to move seven times which meant that our travel days were pretty epic. We saw tons of wildlife from whales to sea otters, so many birds and even bears! From Valdez we met the bus again and drove to the Chugach Range, northeast of the sound, and began our backpacking portion. On our first day we hiked out of the tree line and from then on we were in the tundra. The vastness of that place is staggering and we were only in a small section of it. As a total we hiked 43 miles but gained 11,400 feel of elevation, it was quite the workout. I have a hard time calling it backpacking because it really doesn't resemble anything that I've done in the lower 48. Some days it was rock climbing, bush-wacking, swamp walking or mountain climbing. I'd call it extreme backpacking to say the least.
Oh did I mention it rained all thirty days? Yep it was very wet. It took some getting used to and I'm not going lie, there was some crying but overall I learned more about myself then I ever thought possible. I came away with extensive knowledge about group dynamic, technical kayaking and backpacking skills as well as fourteen friends that I feel blessed to know. If you want to see some pictures of this adventure there are on my Facebook page, the link is http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107745&id=504663286&l=3aac7daf93 .
Since that adventure I have been to Wisconsin to visit family, Bend, OR to do some epic mt biking and I start classes (for the last time) Wednesday. Oh and I move next weekend, just a little busy. I promise I will update you shortly as well as post some pictures from WI and OR.
For now that all folks!
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