Bird Ridge

I have bizarre luck.

Yesterday afternoon I took old bones to Downtown Rental, where I'd purchased her on Sunday, because the gears were acting up. The man I'd purchased her from was exceedingly rude to me, offering a lesson in counting when what I needed was a primer on simple bike maintenance (he spent three minutes pedantically listing off the number of each gear, and when I tried to 'ha ha' interrupt he yelled over me and continued counting). This was the first bad experience I'd had with anyone in AK and it left me rattled, not to mention with a bike that was still not working well.

I rode up toward home and came across another bike shop and decided to drop in on a whim, see what they had to say - this one had an incredibly friendly staff who checked out my bike and agreed that not only did the gears need some tuning up, but had I noticed my brakes weren't really working? (I had). What I hadn't really anticipated was that by taking old bones into the shop, I'd probably be parting with her for a few days. So after my nice-and-friendly interaction and filling out a nice-and-friendly form I found myself out on the sidewalk, bikeless, with my kickass bike lock hanging lonely and useless from the strap of my backpack.

Pretty dejected now, and on foot, I headed to REI to read about hikes from their extensive Alaskan library - er, inventory and look at expensive equipment. I had been trying to scheme up ways to go hiking sans-automobile all day - it seems like most of the local trailheads are only accessible by car. The guy at Downtown Bicycle offered a $20 shuttle/guided tour of Flathead Mt., which I was thinking about doing until he was such a jerk, so now that option was even out.

Anyway, in the parking lot I saw a guy on a yellow bike spot me as he turned onto the road. Thirty seconds later, he cruised back around and said 'What are you doing with a bike lock and no bike?'

I responded, 'I am having separation anxiety. I just left it at the shop, it needs a tune-up.'

He said, 'Aha, 'cause I was about to say - I rent bikes for a dollar a day, sort of a community service thing.' He pointed toward a cell tower five or so blocks away. 'My house is over there and I've got 20 bikes in my backyard.'

I said, 'Wow. Well I still might get in touch with you - I will be bikeless 'til Tuesday. Do you have a card?'

He grimaced and told me they were at his house. He gave me his number instead, and offered: 'I also rent sea kayaks. And give tours.'

'Tours?! Do you do hike tours?' I blurted, wondering if I was even seriously considering this.

'Well - yeah, I mean when the season starts up -'

'Do you have any hikes going out this weekend? I've been trying to figure out a way to get to Flattop, or Bird Ridge or somewhere all day.'

'Well...what are you doing tonight?'

'I, uh - yeah, nothing.'

'My friend and I who usually meet at Kaladi Coffee [that's the place I posted my first blog from, a couple storefronts down from REI] were gonna hike Bird Ridge tonight. He's got a two-year-old - actually, you might have seen them ride out on his bike a minute or so ago - and if he can manage to get him taken care of, we're going to go at around 6:30. We've been talking about hiking together for a while now, and we're finally gonna do it.'

So, I told him - Alan - that I'd call him at 5:30. Which I did, even though when I picked up the phone to call I had decided it was a foolhardy idea and I probably shouldn't do it and there would be plenty of opportunities to hike over the summer and I was simply going to ask what his rates were and then check back with him over the weekend and - and - when I called I found myself asking, 'So, what's the story with tonight?'

Right. So continues the legacy of my strange traveling fortune, coupled with somewhat rash decision making in the far north, which even while I chide myself for it is what got me to this place last night between 7-10:30pm:

Needless to say, it was stunning. Here is a discription of the trail - basically, we got up to 3,500 feet over 2.5 miles within a couple hours, which may not be anything out of the ordinary for those crazy Alaskans, but I was impressed. I learned two key things on that hike - first, while going downhill lean downhill even though it's counterintuitive because it'll save you a lot of skidding and falling (two things for which I am famous). Second, that astringent-pine-distinctively northern smell I was describing a couple of posts back? It's called Cottonwood, and apparently everyone is agreed that it's fragrance is lovely, but not everyone loves the tree itself because it's an invasive species. It has very sticky leaves.

We got back to Anchorage at 11:30 and it was still only dusk, think 8pm lighting in the northeast. I tried to sleep but I was still too jazzed and it wasn't completely dark until well after midnight...this place is something else.

In other news, my internship will begin 12 noon on Tuesday (my birthday!) and I'm really excited. I went by the building yesterday (it's on N street, at the corner of a park and the Coastal Trail, it looks like the offices probably have really nice views of the sound). I've been in touch with the outreach coordinator at Alaska Conservation Association and Matt Rafferty and apparently Tuesday will be a sort of meet-and-greet and get the lay of the land day, which will be a great way to figure out what I'm going to do for the next 11 weeks. Again, I'm really excited - even though I can already feel the time slipping out way faster than I want it to.