Spring Running and Hiking

Views while running in Eagle River

Between the half marathon I'm training for in June and the absurdly snow-free warm spring we are having, I've been inspired to get outside and enjoy as much of it as I can. On Friday night I did my first long run for my training - 7.7 miles. The last bit of it by accident - due to a mis-measurement on Google Maps, I thought I was doing a 6 mile loop until I got home and measured again (due to the large discrepancy between how fast I normally run and how long it actually took me).

Unfortunately many trails are still glare ice, so I'm keeping my running to the gym and sidewalks for now. With views from our neighborhood like those above, I can hardly complain. Hiking with ice grippers however, is totally do-able right now. Even on the peaks where there is snow, it is not deep and it's hard packed and easy to walk on.

On Saturday I hiked Wolverine Peak (my first time) with my cousin and another friend. By the end of that one (11 miles round trip), my legs were tired (my cousin had even hiked Bird Ridge on Friday!). But we all rallied for an easy hike in the South Fork of Eagle River on Sunday anyway. You just can't keep Alaskans inside when the weather is fine; no one appreciates 50 degrees like we do.

Emily, Ann Marie, and Max the dog on our way up Wolverine Peak

Ann Marie on Wolverine

Last push to the summit of Wolverine

View to the Northeast from Wolverine

Almost to the top!

Easy South Fork hike

Mile High Pass Coyotes

Taking advantage of the absurdly warm temperatures today, we hiked one of our usual trails, Mile High Pass. When we got to the pass we turned west, rather than our usual east and were lucky enough to see four coyotes ahead of us on the ridge. They watched us climb for a while, howled at us, and then took off.

Neither Ryan nor I have ever seen coyotes around here, but we did hear a few of them while hiking in Arctic Valley recently. We were just there at a lucky time today. It was clear from the footprints in the mud that another person had been up there earlier in the day, but had come and gone before we started around noon. While we were on the summit two other groups of people arrived, non of which got to see the coyotes.

The iPhone doesn't do much for distance shots, but you can get an idea of how the leader of the pack was watching us as we climbed the ridge.

Coyote under the red arrow and Teddy the dog finally noticing the canine strangers

zoomed in so you can see the coyote

Eagle River Walk

View up Eagle River Valley from our front yard

We have an incredible stretch over the last five days of sun and really cold [for Anchorage] temps. The highs this week were in the single digits and the lows just below zero. Today my digital thermometer said it got up to 25 at our house, but there was a little breeze that made it a bit nippy. Our regular thermometer seemed pretty confused by solar radiation because it was showing 55 degrees, which it most definitely was not.

Even though there's ice and a bit of snow around the river, it does not look wintery at all in most of Anchorage and Eagle River. I have had serious cognitive dissidence all week every time I look outside because it is SO sunny, light until 8:00 at night, and there is almost no snow. There isn't even any frost, it is so dry. What I see and what I know is true (that's is really cold), just do not compute.

The run is almost over though, in a couple of days it's supposed to be 46 degrees and raining. However, I took advantage of the chance to wear my knee-length down jacket which has only come out of the closet one other time this winter.

The trail from the river to the condos

One of the annoying things about the lack of snow and these weird freeze/thaw cycles is that many of the trails are glare ice, even where the surrounding forest is snow-free. If there wasn't so much ice, I'd like to be out trail running.

Hotel Reviews in Europe

Our trip to London and Italy was one of the few times we have ever reserved accommodations ahead of time on our travels. Usually we fly by the seat of our pants and rely pretty heavily on guide books, but there is so much information out there on the internet it seemed like a shame not to use it. As everyone knows, you do have to read online reviews with a grain of salt. We certainly stay on the budget side of things, so you do sometimes have to be careful not to end up in a place that has pay by the hour rates or is just plain old crappy. For many of the budget hotels we looked at in Italy, some of the negative reviews really cracked me up. There were three recurring complaints, which based on the language, were mostly written by Europeans:

1. The room was small. I can't believe this is something budget travelers complain about.
2. Did not have a lift (or lift was broken). Buildings in Europe are OLD (to Americans). This should not surprise anyone.
3. Breakfast did not have: eggs, ham, fresh fruit, yogurt, you name it, European budget travelers are apparently quite picky about their complimentary breakfast. My FAVORITE breakfast complaint review was "The breakfast was not very good, although not as bad as American hotel."

The reviews just cracked me up because I wanted to say to every single one of them "WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FOR $37/NIGHT??" Obviously, none of these things bother us. We travel with backpacks, it hardly matters if the room is larger than a double bed or that we have to carry our bags up a few flights of stairs. Breakfast? Total bonus. Also, breakfast is a cheap meal if you do have to eat out.

The things that I do take note of in reviews are things like: the toilet/window/lock was broken and the hotel staff couldn't/wouldn't fix it or things about terrible customer service. Those are deal breakers for me.

The hotel we stayed at in London had worn out carpet and furnishings, but you know what? It was completely perfect for the price we paid, given that it was two blocks away from the South Kensington Tube Station (it didn't hurt that they upgraded us to a nicer room for free - it gets 5 stars for customer service from me).

In Venice I found a heck of a deal on Kayak.com. I ended up on some booking website that I was only 50% convinced was legit. But, turned out it was and we got a pretty nice room, a Jacuzzi tub, and breakfast (eggs, ham, yogurt, and fresh fruit included!) for what we paid for okay places in other cities.

I'm not sure if we'll book ahead again in the future or go back to flying by the seat of our pants, but it turned out well for Italy (some places we only booked a day or two ahead).

Hiking in the Sun and Fog

This morning Eagle River was completed socked-in, but it's not unusual for it to be foggy here in the morning and then burn off and get sunny. We decided to take our chances in Arctic Valley for a hike, but it was foggy there too...until we were almost at the trail head we broke out into the sun and it was crystal clear. They valley floor still had fog though, and the trail took us right down into it. We spent the day hiking in and out of the fog as it rolled in and out of the valley. When we got home to Eagle River, it was still socked-in. I don't think it ever cleared.

On a day like today, how can you not love this place?? We even heard coyotes howling while we were out hiking.

Of course, we still cannot believe how non-wintery it is. Plants are starting to bud out and that is never good in March in Alaska. As far as hiking goes, I think this is the spring that will drag on forever.

fog rolling in

fog lifting!

All clear! (briefly)

fog rolling in again

fog in the valley floor as we hiked out