Running Bear

Saturday I completely vegged out… I read an entire book! My body really needed the rest though. I also went on a junk food craving shopping spree which included multiple bags of chips, salsa, meat, cookies, and beer.  Now I have no choice but to keep exercising…

On Sunday I did my first solo trail run here! It didn’t go perfectly but that’s what made it fun. Not only was it down pouring the entire time, I was warned at the beginning of the trail head that there was a sow (mama bear) and cubs coming down from the trees only tens of meters up the trail. My first thought was of extreme frustration. I had summoned up the courage to come out here and run by myself, and now there was no way I was going to be able to. I stood frozen for minutes, totally unsure of what to do. Finally, a group of men came up the trail, I warned them about the bears, and I was relieved that they looked as scared as I felt. Right behind them, a park ranger came to the rescue. I was so happy I wanted to give her a hug! We all walked up the trail together, found the bears in the trees going about their own business, and then I continued my run. A group of women stopped me and asked if I was alone (yes), if I had bear spray (no) and then decided I was extremely brave (hopefully not stupid…). I also ran by a tour group and one of them called out “Look, it’s a running bear!” So now I like to think of myself as the running bear. I also saw a piece of glacier calve (aka fall off)! Well, actually I was standing next to a man who saw it calve, but close enough right? The ice was bright blue where the piece had calved off.

I SAW MY FIRST BEAR IN ALASKA

The bright blue part is where the glacier calved 

I made it!

Later that day I took the bus into town which is about 13 miles away, a little bit too far for me to run too. It was two bucks each way. There were some sketchy characters on the bus- a man with an eye patch, more than one tattooed bald man, but I made it downtown fine. I got off at what seemed like the most touristy stop and I was thrown right into the mix of clueless cruiseshippers. I couldn’t believe how different it was from the rest of Juneau. I went into a bunch of gift shops, got a snack, and called it a day.

On Monday and Tuesday, I helped with yellow cedar plantings “up the road” (that’s what locals call the road that goes north out of Juneau). A group of eight of us from the lab spent all day finding yellow cedar plants, measuring their height, and clipping back other trees and plants. In total, we did work on 1600 plants! By the end of the day on Tuesday, my back felt like an 80-year old’s, and I could barely grip my shampoo bottle. But I did manage to go for a run on Tuesday night and I found the trailhead for what seemed like an awesome bike/running path. Also, on Tuesday while driving back we saw a bear cub sticking its head out of the shrubs next to the road!

A view from "up the road"

After a day of field work

On Wednesday Mark and I went to McGinnis to measure carbon dioxide flux, collect tree litter, and install temperature probes at nine different sites. We biked part of the trail then hiked and bushwacked the rest of the time. It was a pretty long day (8am-6pm). When we got back to the lab I was so hungry and tired that I decided to go down to Hot Bite for another delicious dinner. To my extreme sadness and anger, they were out of power and closed. So instead, I snacked on a Snicker’s Bar bought from the gas station and consumed four bags of chips when I got home. Whoops.

I had Thursday and Friday off from work in preparation for a 6-day work trip starting this Saturday. On Thursday I took the bus downtown again. This ride was much more fun than last time- I talked to someone from Austria the whole time. His lifelong dream was to travel to Alaska and he’s finally doing it. His joy and appreciation for Alaska made me amazed at this place all over again. We also saw a few bald eagles! Anyway, I had decided to do my first solo hike today (Mount Roberts), and of course there were troubles. The sketchy trailhead I came to was closed and it said to start the trail from another area, about three-quarters of a mile away. I was already tired and sweating and didn’t feel like going anywhere else but up the trail, so up this closed trail I went. Well, the trail branched off in about twenty different directions, and again I felt this sense of extreme frustration. I had mustered up the courage to hike alone and I was about to be thwarted again, just like on the trail run. I finally turned back and walked all the way to the proper trail head, which was much more popular and so worth the walk. I crossed over a wooden trestle high above a river. As I was examining the map, a friendly man asked if I needed any help. I told him I was aiming to hike to the tram station and then take the tram down. He assured me that it would only take about an hour to get to the tram and that they had water up there. Could he see the desperation in my eyes? I didn’t have any water with me because I had left both of my bottles in the lab. I had contemplated bringing a Tupperware full of water, kind of like a doggy bowl. But it looked too weird and spilled everywhere so I ended up bringing nothing. So this man and I hiked part of the way up together.  He told me he had retired but was now pretty high up in a non-profit called Trail Mix that does trail work around Juneau. Later that day I read about his organization in a library book and they are a pretty big deal here. He had to stop to supervise trail work and I went the rest of the way up alone. The tram station was something else- restaurant, gift shop, theater, nature center, the works. I took a bunch of pictures, ate my lunch, and bought a souvenir then rode the tram down.

Downtown Juneau and Douglas Island 

Today (Friday) I woke up early and biked to the beginning of that bike path I had found a few days ago and ran out and back on it. There were some beautiful views. Now I’m in the library getting my internet fix and contemplating treating myself to Hot Bite tonight… Tomorrow we leave for a work trip to Prince of Wales Island! I am absolutely loving Alaska. 

 

The bike path I ran on