A Beautiful November Morning

It was a great morning to kayak into work today. Work on the kayak took a break for the weekend. Instead, I made key lime pies and went to the movies. There was also a Monthly Grind, I didn't perform but I did help on stage. Pictured below is where the kayak progress is at right now. I accidentally cut the strongback a foot too short. So I'm gonna run to the lumber store, pick up another 16-footer, and run and carry it back here. So, yes, quite literally "run to the store" and "pick up."

Mt. Verstovia got some snow

I learned something recently (from my friend Paul) that I appreciate knowing. You will often hear Mt. Verstovia called Arrowhead, because the tip of it resembles an arrowhead.  And if you call it Arrowhead, you will often be corrected and told, "Arrowhead is actually about 2 miles that way," as the person points. So why is there a mountain that is not given much attention the one that actually gets to be named Arrowhead?  Because a cartographer didn't like one mountain having two names: Arrowhead and Verstovia.  So this cartographer moved the name Arrowhead to arbitrary peak, and that has led to much confusion and annoying corrections I'm sure. Now that you know that, I will share some pictures.

Kayaked to work

I'm going to blog backwards. I have so many blogs I want to do that go back to my visit home to Idaho this summer. I have a feeling if I work backwards I'll more likely get them done. So this blog will be the most recent one.

I finally started my kayak. The western red cedar that I ordered from an outfit in Hoonah finally arrived.  It arrived on the day I was leaving on the ferry to run in a race. Well, a couple days before my cedar arrived my friend and neighbor said she was selling her kayak. I thought it would be very nice to have a kayak that I could actually use since I had no idea when I would be able to finish my kayak. So I bought the kayak and she and I kayaked to work Wednesday. (She used her newer one that she had just bought.)

It was such a gorgeous day and it was supposed to be the last gorgeous day that we'll have in a while. We had nearly 2 weeks (I believe) of sunshine. It was quite overwhelming!

When I got to work, I was asked if I wanted to accompany a group from the high school hiking up Mt. Verstovia.  I said of course I did.  So, I have pictures from that, too.

Compare this picture to the bright green picture from a hike up Mt. Verstovia in August.

Pictured below is the path of kayaking to work. Some people asked if I live on an island when I said I kayaked to work. No, just kayaking along the shore; simply an alternative to taking the road.

A hike up Mt. Verstovia

I joined some friends on a hike up Mt. Verstovia on a gorgeous day in August. I will share some pictures.  Right before the hike, my good friend and co-worker Eileen and I were at work.  I was going to drive us and someone else out to the trail head.  As Eileen was preparing some snacks to eat on the hike, I was casually throwing my keys into the air and catching them.  They landed in the light fixture up above and I had to stack some tables up to retrieve them! I have a SketchUp drawing of the building I work in that I update from time-to-time. I thought since I was up there that I might as well take some measurements of the light fixture so I could include it in the SketchUp drawing. I just wanted to tell that story and share a picture from that.

SketchUp drawing.

Compare this vibrant green picture to the picture from a hike in September.

Bear Mountain hike

You may remember this mountain from some of my early blog posts; its name is Bear Mountain. This weekend I joined a couple of friends for a hike to the very top. We had great weather. When we got above the Alpine tree line it got pretty windy and we had to trek through some snow. The snow was the hardest part for me. We hiked some pretty steep spots with rocks but on the snow I really had trouble staying balanced and thought I was going to slip and rocket down the snow covered side of the mountain.

We reached the very peak and stayed up there for a bit, telling stories and just enjoying the view. On the way down we took a different route and walked quite a ways along the ridge of the mountain. One spot we had to descend one at a time because we were knocking down rocks as we went. We talked about what kind of food we were going to eat that night most of the way down. Actually, I was probably the one that kept bringing that subject back up. When we got back to town we had a nice steak dinner. Thanks, Arlo! :)

Blue Lake

Mt. Edgecumbe in the background and Mt. Verstovia on the right

Some lichen

Water droplets on the lichen

This is a part where it was hard to stay upright walking on the snow

There's a glacier in the background

Patrick, Ben, and I looking at stuff

A crevasse

Getting close to the peak

Self-portrait

Pretty little blue pond

The peak after we started our descent

Walking along the ridge

We were talking about food and this looked like a dish my mother used to make. It was something like cheesy potatoes and I can't quite remember what was sprinkled on top but all I could think of was bacon bits.

A Super-Mario mushroom!

A hike up Mt. Verstovia

A cruise ship came into town on a very sunny day in Sitka. I hiked Mt. Verstovia with my friend Ronny. It was about a 2 hour hike up and 1 hour hike down. We had a few rests, too. It was such a gorgeous day for a hike. My favorite part of the hike is heading back down where there is ample snow on the mountain and it is steep enough to just sit and slide down on your butt. I am hoping to go again soon just to enjoy that again.