It's very comical to me, but I think that Alaskans have never heard of switchbacks. They probably think a 'switchback' is some sort of camel. Actually switchback camel has a nice ring to it. I joked with on fellow hiker something about how "you Alaskans don't know what switchbacks are, obviously!" He replied, "Ah yeah we don't need 'em." I said, " well you're going to have erosion problems on this trail soon," and he asked me what erosion is. This conversation brings up two interesting points about Alaskans that I find very interesting. One, they are convince their ruggedness translates to superiority, and two, they seem to love being in the outdoors but don't really care what they do to their environment.
To understand point one, all you have to do is mention something about the lower 48 to any true Alaskan. Anything that you bring up will be harsher, colder, bigger, pricier, or more hard core than it is in the lower 48. This, for the most part is true. Especially the price part. Food has to be about 1.5 times more expensive here. Also, it is much colder. I, in fact, am cold all the time, but I'm getting used to it. I would agree that Alaska is more rugged or hardcore than anywhere else I've been. Also the ruggedness is closer in proximity to major cities (major being Anchorage, pop. 250,000). An Alaskan's logic would say that the rugged climate breeds more rugged people. This might be true, but they also think that this means that they are superior, which is simply false. Everybody knows that Texans are superior to everybody.
Point number two: every Alaskan that I have met seems to love the outdoors, but doesn't really care about the environment. This is quite different from the lower 48 stigma that only hippies and environmentalists go on hikes to the mountains. Everyone enjoys the outdoors here. But nobody cares about erosional problems caused by not having adequate switchbacks on trails. If a trail went straight up a mountain in Colorado, someone would quickly make switchbacks so that there would be minimal impact on the environment. In Alaska, if you want to get to the top of a hill, you walk straight up the ridge until you get there. Nobody cares about erosion. I have a theory to why this is: its not that Alaskans are intrinsically uncaring, it's just that they have come to realize that there are so few people in Alaska, it doesn't really matter where you go, you still won't impact the vast spaces. In Colorado, if there is a magnificent view two miles from the highway, you will soon have to concrete the path because hundreds of thousands of people a week will want to do that hike. I guess in Alaska, if everyone in the entire state did the hike once a week, they might have to take the same measures.
Bird Ridge was no exception to the lack of switchbacks and went straight up a ridge for 2000 ft of vertical elevation gain in four miles. While we hiked, the Cook inlet tide was coming in. It was neat to see how the water rises from an areal point of view. The top of the ridge was breath taking and had 360 degree views of mountains and snow. I couldn't believe that we had just driven 15 minutes out of Anchorage for this! I still had 3G service on my phone! I used this in fact on the way down, to the dismay of my hiking buddies, to call Ally and my parents. It was funny because when you ask someone what they are up to at the first of a conversation, you never expect them to say, "Oh, just hiking down a mountain."
Anyways, here are some pictures below. It's supposed to rain the rest of the weekend so I'm sure I'll have some ridiculous story about how I rode my bike in the rain, which is really gross here because of all the sand they use for the snow in winter. I guess no one bothers to pick it up.
Sorry to nerd out, but this is a perfect example of a glacially formed valley. Notice the 'U' instead of the 'V' that you usually see with river formed valleys.
Bird that tried to attack me and then sat very still for a picture. Ptarmigan, I believe.
Turagain Arm of the Cook Inlet. This was soon full of water.
Beautiful Fireweed in the mountains.
No comments:
Post a Comment