Prepare to high boat carry

DISCLAIMER: MY WRITING IS POOR, AND I CONSIDER MYSELF TO BE MUCH FUNNIER THAN I ACTUALLY AM. THAT SAID, IF YOU WANT TO SKIP THE WORDS AND MOVE ON TO THE PICTURES THEN GO TO THIS LINK:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=434270&id=572250523&l=ee2161bff3

P.S. (it's okay to read this and still follow the link later)


UP BOAT!!! RRT boys and folks whose hobbies include recon Marine lingo will know that this refers to the action of lifting a zodiac above one's head (with the help of 5 others) in order to make said individual suffer. This suffering must take place in order to gain entry into the fraternity that is reconnaissance. It's actually better than a fraternity, because there are a million rules, you have to shave daily and cut your hair weekly, and there are no single women..... I digress.

The whole reason I bring this up is that a zodiac (the boat often used to torture young Marines) was the boat we took out today during the annual "Resurrection Conservation Alliance Beach Clean Up", which takes place in and around the bays of Seward, Alaska. I had seen the event publicized all over town and eagerly volunteered hoping to meet some folks and see more of my new home. And that is exactly what happened, as seen in the photos above. The weather was absolutely perfect, enabling us to land at 5 separate beaches in the area. Some of them are rarely visited as the surf is often too rough, so we were amped to be able to visit/clean/survey the beaches. The wildlife viewing was on point, as usual. I'm now 4 for 5 on bear sightings (more later), and we also saw orcas, seals, sea lions, and sea otters. The sea otters are the best, as they float on their back and are always just chillin' watching you roll by. The day was long (about 12 hours) but we managed to collect between 50-75 over-sized garbage bags worth of mostly plastic bottles and styrofoam. It was tough to roll on to a beach that might see less than 3 visitors a season, and have it completely covered in plastic bottles. Anyway, the cause was good, and we were able to enjoy a day that more than made up for puke-fest 2010 (last Sunday's maritime adventure w/ Dad).

So that wraps up today. Here's a quick recap of the last two days:

Thursday- Helped mark a trail to the 300 square mile (1,100 if you include its glaciers) Harding icefield which makes up the bulk of Kenai Fjords National Park. The hike was amazing, especially as it took the place of working in the office that day, thus I was paid to do it. The snow was 6-8' deep in most places, and we saw (drumroll please) a brown bear sow w/ her 2 year old cub (we watched them playing in the snow for almost 30 minutes), a black bear, two wolverines, and a number of mountain goats. (I won't even go in to the fact that there are as many bald eagles here as there are mullets at a monster truck rally.) I'll post photos from that day later, but the scenery on and around the glacier is out of this world.

Friday- Hiked about 1/3 of the way up Mount Alice, the tall, gorgeous peak that looms over Resurrection Bay and stares me in the face as I eat breakfast each morning. This hike too was awesome (I need to think of better ways to word these, lest ya'll stop reading my blog). The last 2 hours we were hiking up a steep snowfield past someone's ski tracks, which meant that the hike down was done on my butt, sledding w/ my rainjacket as my sled. Sweet.

I'm not feeling too creative, thus my writing is probably a bit dry tonight. I'll try better next time..perhaps some more sleep will help. Tomorrow evening I am going backcountry skiing in the alpine bowl behind my house..it's going to suck but my boss virtually insisted that I borrow his tele skis and learn how to "free the heel so I can free the mind." I don't want to make him angry during my first week, so I am going to humor him and make myself hike into the alpine and cruise down the 8' of snow that is lingering there. Man, life is so unfair sometimes. Oh, check this link for more photos of today: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=434270&id=572250523&l=ee2161bff3


Cheers!
-Mike