Sunday, September 9, 2012

hike-bike-swim = sore muscles

think i will actually grab some water to hydrate while i write. got a betsy sized work out in today. not much of a work out at all by some peoples lifestyles, but for me...
it does feel good and it was an amazingly beautiful day. we won't have too many days left like this. blossom, rio and i headed to check out rovers run. wasn't sure how the tree situation would be or the bear situation. no salmon running which helps. i saw zero scat and also no bear prints.
sun was shining all day. just spectacular. i knew i really should have again, be heading for some power hike in the hills. i'm such an underachiever. what can i say, i prefer to walk in the woods and stop often to look at what is out there. this summer i am admittedly a bit more out of shape than i prefer. hopefully, next summer will be a better hiking summer. so many trails not walked this year. i had some great trips that i wouldn't have traded though.
there were quite a few trees down, but most of the ones on the trails were cleared off. rovers doesn't appear to be one of the trails that was cleared yet. even with that we only had 3 trees down directly across the trail.
at this angle you can hardly tell this tree is down.
tree one. blossom went through the thick brush of the tree. i took rio around the side. she had to go over a trunk that was at least chin high for her. it takes some time and gentle coaxing to convince a large blind dog that she can go over the obstacle and she will be okay. not sure i've always been the best guide human for her, she has been known to run into trees or posts, but she seems to still have some faith in me. eventually, after testing the height several times with one paw and then the other, she made the leap of faith and crossed over the trunk safely. blossom was just happy to be out chasing her tennis ball. we lost it to the creek right before the parking lot, but she is a bit sleepy tonight from her day as well.
here is our next obstacle. a bit higher. i could easily go over, blossom went under easily.
rio was a bit unsure of this one. i've taught her "over" as a command, but not "under". this one took several more minutes to coach her through. she started a few times but backed back out.
eventually she got on her belly and crawled through...treats for all!!! many cheers and several treats later we were on our way again. of course, i realized if the bear threat materialized i was now stupidly several obstacles into the trail and now this would be the last place anyone would look for my half eaten body. stupid is as stupid does, right?
the rest of the trail was mostly uneventful. one more tree across the path, but we could easily pass through that one.
i should have been out cutting up more branches, i should have been out picking up dog shit in the yard, i should have been out mowing the lawn...from chocoat....shouldn't worry so much about shoulda.
watched the latest netflix movie last night. "beginings". wasn't too sure what i was getting into, but in the end i enjoyed it. people who both tend to walk away from love because they never trust it will last get together. it is a leap of faith i agree. you just find someone and then you have to let it go hope it works out. i haven't made that leap for some time. you just get burned so many times and then your base fear stops you from getting burned again. hard to get past that fear. i try not to let fear make choices for me, it's not easy though. fear can be a powerful emotion.
the other part of the story is about the main characters father. he'd grown up watching his parents in a seemingly loveless relationship and after his mother dies his father tells him that all those years he'd actually been gay. he finds his happiness after the age of 75 when he finally allows himself take that leap. interesting movie.
tried to get some dog pictures with this cool red plant in it, not sure they were in the mood for this.
gotta try though. they look good in fall colours.
did get one decent one of rio catalina. she is always the toughest.
back home for lunch and to be entertained by the house squirrel. cute guy. he didn't immediately scram when we all came out on the back deck.
after a minute he did make a leap to the little scrawny pine tree...this is the one that during that storm kept bending over onto the deck. quite impressive. i suspect this guy and his friends chilled in my shed during that storm.
he's cute...he can stay.
next i loaded my bike into the car. i biked from goose lake down to westchester lagoon and then for a short bit on the coastal trail. i'm always surprised at how short a distance that really is. i think it's only 3-4 miles one way. i was there within a half hour so i just kept riding.
again lots of trees down, but they seem to have been removed from the pathways. doubt this was all park service, i suspect many local citizens put their chainsaws to work. people can really be amazing.
the trails were busy as many people were wise like me and decided to take advantage of this beautiful day.
thought this one tree was pretty impressive on campbell creek.
these are at westchester lagoon. in the winter when this freezes up it's probably the most popular ice skating place in town.
today there was a tiny regada of cute little sail boats.
the ducks were the only ones not enjoying the boat race.
you can see the dusting of snow on the chugach range.
the bike path got even busier after westchester.
we may try to hit hanging valley tomorrow. we'll see how my muscles feel in the morning.
after my bike ride i fed the dogs, had a snack and then headed to the gym for some laps. got 20 in. so not a bad day.
it's almost september 11th. in between rides/walks and swims i watched parts of the various shows that have been shown these past few days regarding the events of that day. there is always some new information or stories that i've never heard. i was out of touch on that day and in the following weeks since i was in the process of moving i didn't have a television which i think was a blessing. i'd just listen to npr once i'd gotten to anchorage. on the day i was going from skagway to whitehorse so i had border crossings. when we were on the road we had no radio and we were surrounded by these spectacular fall colours and scenery, it was surreal. my friend carla and i had no idea if nuclear bombs were being dropped as we silently drove through the yukon.
at the border entering canada we were told that there was possibly a hijacked plane headed to whitehorse. this korean plane shows up on a few of the 9-11 shows. it wasn't an actual hijacked flight, but in the melee of the day things got confusing and the concern was it was. us fighter jets tracked it and were given a may shoot down order. luckily, it never came to that and a plane full of very confused people landed in whitehorse instead of where ever it was they were supposed to land. the pilot was taken off at gunpoint, but the mix up was soon cleared up. i'm guessing they spent a few days there. luckily, we had our hotel room booked and were putting my pets in the room when the people from that flight were shuffled in to get rooms. many phone conversations heard in korean with just the words "whitehorse' and "yukon" spoken in english. i remember just imagining their friends and relatives trying to figure out where that was.
below is not the best picture. this dude was working on some rock art under one of the streets the bike trail passes under. kinda cool
a better shot of the big tree down. i thought it was impressive and some other dude stopped to take a photo too.
so a wee bit sore, but it was worth it!
water drank, ibuprofen on board. i think i'll hit the sack. good night....

No comments:

Post a Comment