Are We Crazy?

Joel and I just bought a book titled "Outside in the Interior". It's a book filled with over 50 hikes, bikes, skis, and floats that are fun to do in interior AK. It's a dangerous book for us to have. This past weekend Joel and I decided to do a long hike....one that would take more than one day and we'd backpack. I have never backpacked before, so I was a little intimidated. 

     Often times when we talk about going hiking I get a little scared of what could happen (I get this from my mom's family line I think), bad weather, BEARS, etc. It seems that I think of these things and then see if these excuses will keep Joel from wanting to go. When deep down I really do want to go, and if we didn't I would end up hating myself. I mean, who wants to stay cooped up in their apartment all weekend because they're scared of raindrops, mosquitoes, and big, furry, vicious, man eating BEARS....not me! 

Early last week Joel and I set the goal of hiking the Chena Dome trail. Its a 30 mile trail that gets to almost 4,500 ft. Once above the tree line, the trail is all ridge walking with an occasional dip into the tree line. I kept an eye on the weather as the weekend approached, and the forecast called for isolated thunder storms, isolated rain showers, and gusts of 30 mile per hour winds. Perfect for ridge walking! When we were past the stage of Julia not finding any legitimate excuses, such as the WEATHER, we packed up and went to bed ready to leave early the next morning. 

On Sunday we woke up, packed the car, and headed to mile post 50.5 on Chena hot springs road. We were hiking by 10:00. The beginning of the hike starts in a forest that was burned a few years ago and by mile 3 we were above the tree line. 

This a place we a took a rest a little after the third mile

This little guy we saw near mile 5 or 6. We heard him whistle before we saw him, and I could swear he was a human. His whistle was impressive. No use for the bear spray. 

This is me hiking on the ridge. As you can see, there is no sign of thunderstorms and rain.This might explain the sun burn that I got on my legs and arm. 

 

Here is Joel, it may be on the summit, but I am not sure. It was a beautiful day! 

This is the trail shelter at mile 16.75. If it is empty when you get there, you can sleep in it. If its full you can camp. We were kind of happy that it was empty because it seemed like the Ritz to us in comparison to the tent that Joel carried (which we didn't use). We slept like babies for 10 hrs. 

Day 2

On the second day it was again sunny skies and hot. I set a grueling pace and wanted to truck on. Joel and I reached the steepest part of the trail and I wasn't going to let up on the pace. Joel figured that up this hill he was sweating a drop a second off of his head. He asked me to take these pictures so that he could show his students and ask them if he sweats 1 drop per second, and 20 drops is l ml, how many ml does he drop in a set amount of time, such as 20 min, the time it took him to hike the steepest part.   

About the title of this post. Both the days that we were hiking one of us sporadically said, "Are we crazy?" and the other would answer, "Yeah, but it's okay." I think after 30 miles we were confident in the idea that we're crazy and okay with it!

I was really glad when we got back to the car that day. Joel and I both have some impressive blisters to show for the trip. By the end of the trip I realized that though I can come up with all of the things that could go wrong while hiking, once I get on the trail with my husband, life isn't so scary, and I am just where I want to be. That is "showing Joel where the bear went through the buckwheat." (Coulter language for kicking his butt).