an alaskan marathon

i found it emotionally impossible to post my farewell to alaska as i was actually in the process of leaving it. six months removed and i can finally share some of our last great experiences there.
up first: the best date i've ever been on

thanks to our wonderful friends "the hartzells" who entertained our kids for at least 36 hours so we could tackle a great alaskan institution: the 26 miles of iditarod trail from Girdwood to Eagle River. no words can possibly describe so here is a visual tour of the best hiking in the world.



the beginning


one of many waterfalls along the way.

our first view of the first mountain climb on the hike.

glacier melt waterfalls.

at the top of the mountain there is a public use cabin if you want to camp. most people were just using tents however.


see.




raven glacier.


heading down the mountain we had to go through some snow, it was challenging because if you fell you were headed for a steep ride down into the glacier fed stream.

a look back at how far we'd come, about 3 miles since the beginning.

this is our first "river" crossing. it is raven stream or creek or river.....i forget. it was cold, but nothing compared to what was to come....

the flowers were incredible, i really wanted to frolick...

this is were the creek drops into a spectacular waterfall. it falls over 100 ft. these pictures just don't do it justice. about 5 miles into the hike...


just up and to the right of my head is the raven glacier. and this rock's name is sylvester.


ginormous bull moose.

mike is standing on the trail here. the foliage was so thick and deep we had to look down alot. we took turns whistling to scare off the bear. we didn't see any, much to mike's sorrow. but we found out later we were close to a crazy incounter....



awww...

just so green......

bear poop. i guess this one likes berries.



our first view of eagle glacier, that feeds the Eagle River, that is 40 yards across, that we have to cross, that people have died trying to cross it.......
so we get to the crossing, about 13 miles into the hike and we are hot and a little dusty, and so we get some sticks and hold hands and plunge into the river. it is up a little past my knees and my first thought is "this feels good on my feet" immediately followed by, "someone is pounding my feet with hammers," and rapid breathing and panic. i started to head for a sand bar in the middle of the river because i was seriously dying of pain and luckily mike wouldn't let me go and said, "we can make it across. if he hadn't been there, i'd be a causualty of that river too. love that man. so we get to the other side, (but we still have to cross another 20 very shallow feet) and my body feels like it is going into shock and i tell mike to build a fire (it is 75 degrees) and he says, walk around you'll be okay!!



this is me trying to deal with the pain on the other side of the river. all the blood left my face and hands and arms for a minute to rush to my legs and warm them up. i couldn't move my hands or face for a few minutes. it was kinda funny though.




after the river we made good time. on one of these ladders mike's knee suddenly gave out. he had to limp the last 7 miles. we found out later that he just had severely fatigued tendons.

bear poop. 18 miles in.

a dryer, warmer, river crossing. 20 miles in.

oh my. i'll never forget this view. 22 miles in.


this is the eagle river nature center. 25.75 miles in.

the end!! 26 ish miles.

it took us from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to hike it. it was one of the greatest days of my life. mike and i had so much fun. when we got to the end there was a sign that said a big grizzly bear was gaurding a moose kill on the trail (at about mile 18) and that it had charged several hikers and that the trail was closed!!! crazy. we didn't even see it. i think it was the whistling.