Ag leim don deireadh.

Finally got my lazy ass out the door, on my bike and over to Crevasse Moraine for a bit of fun. It's been way too long, and I really have no excuse. The leaves have nearly all given up the fight and fallen helplessly to the ground, where I crush them with my wheels of fury.... or something like that. I was surprisingly not feeling like Jabba the Hut, and had little problem getting up the steeper hills. Took my usual route, west side parking lot at Loma Prieta, up the gradual ski trail climb, into the University singletrack. The trails were frozen and fast, with a little bit of tack where the sun had managed to beat down.




Hard left onto the powerlines. Noone else seems to go this way and that's fine by me. Right turn, over the log pile get's me through Mooseberry Mesa's backdoor, which frankly, is way more fun than the front. Hit the switchback head on and go right. Fly down hill, catching little air off the humps. Stop to take some photos of the mini-meadow before heading back up again. Left at the 4-way, right onto Moose Poop Loop. Much more fun in this direction. Nice work repairing the bermed turn where the tree was uprooted by VMBaH. Out to the ski trails again and go right.












Right at the picnic table, left at the Y. This lolli-pop loop is much more fun for me in this direction. A little disappointed at the log crossing being gone, but understandable on that trail. Back up to the picnic table, pushing the lungs a little, feels good.



No stopping for photos for the rest of the ride. Right turn on Long Lake, and left into Crev-Mo's finest. Rooty didn't get the leaf-blower treatment Moose Berry Mesa got, and I like it that way. It's a more primitive trail, and the leaves don't detract from it's goodness. Legs are starting to burn on the short climbs, getting winded at the tops of them. Right onto Tighty-Whitey. No stopping, cleaned all the trees. Those short steeps near the end always hurt. Are they really as steep as they seem?? Left onto the old trail/alternate exit. Log hopping goodness. Keeps me happy. Cruise home.

The end.

Deireadh Or....

An Alaskan rosehip homage to the end of Autumn.















....and last but not least, a photo of the recently discovered Alaskan Bog Wolf. Upon discovery, it was promptly shot, butchered, and mounted to a tree in the Valley.

sneachta bui

wintumn has arrived in the matanuska-susitna valley. it rained down in the valley all day yesterday, and the one time i left the house, the hills were all obscured by low hanging clouds. it was a very grey day. looked out the window this morning after watching the salton sea to spot a newly snow-capped pioneer peak through the yellow and gold. ran some errands in wasilla, and upon leaving lowes, i noticed that wasilla baldy was blanketed with a thick white layer up top. i almost crashed into someone pulling into the post office parking lot because i was looking up.

got home and debated my options over a beast ice. i've been wanting to check out the april bowl trail in hatcher pass, so that seemed like a reasonable option. got some light hiking clothes on and headed out the door. in had stopped raining for the most part, so i had an enjoyable drive to the little su, lots of folliage. as i continued on i ascended through at first a dusting, then enough to cause some slush on the road. the views were really inducing of giddiness. i actually jumped and skipped a little back to my truck after taking one of the photo stops on the way up.

up past archangel mine road, they had been plowing. kept going. indy mine parking lot. debated the pass. the gravel road looked maybe slippery and someone had been backing down in an suv when i passed it. i locked the hubs, put it in four X and went for it. i was relatively certain that my cracked negative terminal clamp would rattle loose at some point up the washboards, and it did. but not untill i got to where i turned around. once the actuall pass was in view, i pulled over to let a descending truck pass. got out to take in the view, and when i got back in there was no ignition response. simple matter of popping the hood and re-attaching it. the pass was getting dumped on though, so i knew there would be no hike, and likely no view. a look back where i came from told me that it was also now snowing again down below. so i called it as good a spot as any to turn around and head back home.













a few more of these and it'll be here to stay.

let it snow!