Hiking in Oregon

This year I've spent the holidays in central Oregon, and it is WAY too gorgeous here to keep it all to myself so I wanted to share a few pictures. Yesterday I went on a hike with Peter and his sister up to Black Butte, a mountain that peaks at 6,400'. I've never seen such vivid colors in my whole life! Here are a few of the highlights:

Thanksgiving and the folly of profligate consumerism

I didn't expect my jaw to drop today when I ran out for a quick trip to the store to return an unneeded item. But drop, it did, when I parked at the shopping center and saw a line of tents set up in front of Best Buy. Today is Wednesday, two days before Black Friday, and a day before Thanksgiving.

I wasn't even ashamed to stride up and snap this photo in front of the crowds of shoppers already shuffling in and out of the stores. I felt a wave of nausea as I turned away from taking the photo to hear a family next to me bribing their child with candy. It was as if every disgusting stereotype of American consumerism was happening right then and there in the worst way. And it's not even Black Friday yet.

The Power of Kindness and a Very Small Instrument

In Nome, I learned to swing dance. In Sitka, I learned to play the ukulele. I guess I like to take up completely irrelevant skills whenever I go to a new place. I think it's becoming my new thing. In both cases though, these opportunities were afforded to me by incredibly generous people in incredibly serendipitous situations, so I wanted to take some time to pay my respects to my ukulele guru from this summer.

Her name is Jeannie and she's a little fireball of energy. With her signature buzz-cut hair, baggy overalls she wears all the time and contagious smile, she's hard to miss. And indeed, she has made a lasting impression on me and the entire town of Sitka.

Summer 2014 Film Montage

I've had terrible writer's block lately. I mean seriously, I've started and stopped about half a dozen posts since my last one, and just can't seem to find the words to say what I want to say. So instead, I ventured into my other creative outlet, and finished editing together my film montage of footage from this summer. I hope you like it.

Huge shout-out to Charlie Jones for letting me use her music in the background!

My last week, mostly in photos

Caution: This post is mostly going to be a HUGE dump of photos from the last week and a half, so if you're looking for deep reflective writings, give me a few days. Otherwise, if you're content with pictures, carry on. You have been forewarned.

My last couple weeks in Sitka were a great balance of work and play. I had a bit of comp time to use up and some annual leave, and with one of my best friends visiting, I was able to get out and have some extra fun in the great outdoors.

Local 1st graders studying macroinvertebrates

In addition, with my newly acquired camera, I was tasked to shoot photos for the park for work on several days, which to me, doesn't even feel like work at all. One of the park's biggest programs was a week of salmon education for every first and third grader in Sitka. We set up stations along the trail where the classes would rotate through to learn about salmon biology, life cycles, predation, and survival. It was pretty fantastic. I mean seriously, how many kids do you know who get to dissect a salmon in first grade??

The visitor center where I worked all summer

My favorite view (and my future house, FYI)

My other favorite mountains

Indian River estuary

My favorite part of the trail

Last whale flukes of the season

One of our other big end-of-the-year events was the National Public Lands Day beach cleanup. This is a national event where public lands across the country engage their communities in volunteer projects. We didn't expect many people to show up in Sitka, but we turned out to have over a dozen participants! Growing up in Florida, I've done my fair share of beach cleanups, but I must say, this was definitely one of the most epically scenic ones I've ever helped out at.

Families spread out along the beach

We found an otter skeleton!

Those mountains.

After my last day of work, I had a few days before my flight back to Florida, so one of my colleagues was generous enough to loan his kayaks to my friend and I. It also turned out to be the one sunny, non-windy day we had all week -- I couldn't believe how fortunate and grateful we were!

We muscled the kayaks down several blocks to the water, and took off across the glassy harbor out to the open seas. The water was crystal clear, so you could see the kelp almost all the way down to the bottom. Sea lions cruised along in formation in the distance, and we even spotted a sea otter doing rolls and flips at one point! A pair of puffins also graced us with their presence, an extremely rare sight so close to shore.

Paddling with a view

Although I didn't risk taking my D7000 along on this endeavor, I did have my GoPro and spent the whole time filming and taking photos from my kayak.

Smooth seas

Fresh snow barely visible on the mountains

We threw in a line to see if we could catch any coho, but we were much too far from any river mouths. At one point, we paused to untangle the line, and when we reeled it up, we found we had caught a tiny rockfish! It must have been THE laziest rockfish on the planet, because it hadn't pulled on the line at all or even put up a fight. After a couple photos, we released the poor guy and he swam away just fine.

The laziest rock fish

After 19 hours of flying and a lot of mixed feelings about leaving Sitka, I'm back in my hometown for the time being.

Washington looking all epic on the flight home

Not gonna lie, I really hate this feeling of limbo, of not knowing where I'm headed next, of having bigger aspirations than I can currently fulfill. But here I am. I will try to keep blogging as I embark on my next adventures, and maybe try to backpost some of the stories I've collected over the summer, now that I actually have some time to sit back and reflect. Til next time!

Small wins

This week has been SO good, for once! On Wednesday, I finished my last night working at the pub, which was a huge relief mainly because it's been getting VERY dark at night and I hated the walk home. It's so dark on my street that even a flashlight barely cuts through the blackness, and because it's almost always raining, the dripping noises in the woods always made me think there was a bear lurking nearby. That, and the fact that I would be so exhausted from working two jobs, I'd collapse into bed at midnight with my body sore from running around for so long, and then wake up again at 6:30 or 7 to do it all over again. It was a great learning experience, though. It toughened me up, kicked my butt, and helped me earn a little extra cash this summer that I wouldn't  have had otherwise. :-)

Life from death

I want to say there is nothing serene or comforting about the Sitka woods right now. The air reeks of dead salmon, seagull feces, fungus, mushrooms, and the rotting substrate of the forest floor. The soundscape is not the usual quiet whispers of the woods, but now a cacophony of screeching, whining gulls and eagles piercing the air with their bombastic cries. Every sense is filled with the rawness and harshness of nature's less-romantic side, the side we don't want to see, the side we often choose to pretend doesn't exist.

The DSLR Saga

When I first took this job in Sitka back in mid-April, my goal was to buy a DSLR camera with my second paycheck. My savings had dwindled to a frightening level after 3 months of winter travel. But I had my mind set on purchasing my first professional quality camera after having fallen so deeply in love with photography from my last job in Nome. It was like learning to paint with oils, and then moving away and only having crayons to use.

Well, my second paycheck came. Then my third. Then my fourth. Unexpected expenses arose, student loans nagged to be paid, the cost of living out here was more than I anticipated. I realized I couldn't just spare an entire paycheck to throw to my frivolous dream of owning a nice camera. So I got a second job.

As I've mentioned before, waitressing is not exactly my cup of tea, but I've always been taught that sometimes you need to do some things you don't like in order to get to what you do like. This summer has been a good example of that, and it feels good to know that I'm finally reaching my goals AND I've worked my butt off for them. It really hasn't been that bad, either -- I love my 40 hours a week as a park ranger enough that I can put up with 15 hours of hell on the side.

What's more, I'm a strong believer in having the right tools for the job (even if that job is just a hobby at this point). As I'm looking to explore media more for my graduate studies, I see this as an investment in my future. Taking all these factors into consideration, you can see now how badly I've been wanting to get this camera. I promise, I'm not completely crazy.

Well, some 12 paychecks later and 5 months into the summer, I finally made the big purchase today.  In two weeks when it arrives, I will be the proud new owner of a Nikon D7000, with an 18-105mm lens. It's a huge investment, but I'm hoping it will pay off.

Despite the mini-heart attack I had when I first hit the "purchase" button, I feel so good! I can't wait to receive it and start posting the millions of photos I plan on taking my last few weeks in Sitka! Thanks to everyone who has morally supported me through this crazy summer, given me all sorts of great camera advice, and helped me remember why I'm here. I love you all!

Where to next?

It’s getting to be that time of year where people are starting to ask me the dreaded question: “Where to next?”

It’s an exciting question, to be sure, but unfortunately for the asker, not one to which I have an answer.

I had one of those shower epiphanies the other night, thinking about this question. It occurred to me that around this time last year when I was living in Nome, I was considering the novelty of not going straight home after my season ended, for the first time in my life. I remember the giddiness I felt when I bought a one-way ticket to Anchorage, and quickly soon after, plans formed to spontaneously move to Washington state for no particular reason, and then take a road trip across the country with my boyfriend. These dreams crystallized into reality.

I had no idea how these experiences would change me, or even that they did change me, until recently. I realized in the shower tonight, that these experiences now define who I am. A year ago, if you’d asked me “where to next?” I would have said, “back home I guess.” But today my answer is a confident and content “I don’t know!”

Of course I have some ideas. But the novelty of living on the road without a plan is somehow different, now that I know what it’s like, and have been essentially living out of a couple backpacks and a duffle for almost a year.

You might be surprised (and relieved [looking at you, Mom and Dad]), but believe it or not, I’m starting to feel ready for grad school. My wanderlust remains strong as ever, but an even stronger part of me has an urge to reach for something greater. I’m starting to miss the structure and directness of school, and I’m beginning to see how easy it would be to hit a dead end if I stop trying to achieve.

Maybe working at the pub is helping with this too. Not to say there’s anything wrong with waiters and bartenders – I have high respect for many of them who have clearly come up by their bootstraps to get where they are in life. But there’s also something maddening and saddening about the fact that some of them will never be anything but bartenders and waiters. It’s not that difficult of a job, and I can see how it would be easy to just go from place to place working at restaurants for quick money once you have the skill. I don’t want to do that though, tempting as it is. This experience has been a good kick in the butt to get myself into gear for higher aspirations.

If we’re going to be completely honest here, I probably have at least another year of vagabonding ahead of me, if not more. I don’t mind at all – in fact, I’m looking forward to a little more wandering, now that I’m so used to it and have learned a lot. But wherever I end up this fall, my main goal is to research my higher education and further career options. I’m ready to get focused again.

So, for real: Where to next? Well, I told you: I don’t know! Of course, the answer is more complicated than that. I’ll go here and there, figure out some things in my personal life, go home and visit the family, hopefully pick up a job somewhere for the winter to support myself while I look for grad schools. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that all realities start with the seed of an idea. Last year, that idea was to wander the country for a while, and look what happened. This year, I’ve planted the seeds of higher achievement into my brain, and hopefully if I nurture them enough and refrain from the entangling distractions of life, they will grow into fruition and I’ll find myself a little more ahead of the game.

We shall see. Please don’t hold me to any of this. Like I said, I’m partially going on a shower epiphany here, and we all know where things in the shower usually end up (down the drain).

Picturing Sitka

It's been a long 3 weeks. We had something like 6 inches of rain in one weekend and it rained almost nonstop for 2 weeks straight. And I hate to think that something as simple as the weather can affect my mood, but I have to be completely honest and admit that that much rain definitely put a damper on my attitude for a while. That's part of the reason I haven't felt like blogging, but I am so far behind I thought I would throw these pictures up anyhow from our last sunny day, whenever that was.

The sea walk, with Mt. Verstovia in the distance

Crescent Harbor

Mountains across from the park

Fireweed and mountains

World's Most Beautiful Trailer Park Award goes to...

Can't get enough of those mountains

Modern totem pole

One one of my days off last week, I finally managed to get some decent salmon footage as well. The spawn isn't quite at its peak yet, but it's still absolutely incredible to witness and I had way too much fun throwing my GoPro in the river all day. Here are some of the shots I got (and make sure to watch the video in HD):

Perhaps tomorrow I'll try to actually write a post (rather than just throwing pictures up) and put into words some of my reflections and observations from the last few weeks. Until then, enjoy the photos!

Living Alaska

I forgot how much I love late summer in Alaska. There is so much to do; the scenery is ever-changing; salmon are schooling at the mouth of the river; and the rainforest has exploded with a buffet of wild edibles. Salmonberries, blueberries, and huckleberries weigh down the bushes and color the landscape with dots of blue, red, orange, and yellow.

I've vetoed blueberries for the rest of the season though, ever since I picked an entire 32-ounces worth only to find they were infested with horrifying maggot-worm-things. STUFF OF NIGHTMARES. Apparently that's normal here, and all the locals told me just to flood them out overnight or "chew really well." I'm going to just say no, and stick to salmonberries.

Salmonberries are, of course, named for their likeness to salmon eggs, which I have also seen a lot of lately. Over the last few weeks, I've been fortunate enough to get out on a friend's boat several times for some salmon fishing in the nearby coves around Baranof Island.

Out on the water, Alaska is a whole different world. Humongous sea lions roll out of the way as we cruise along at our top speed of 7 mph in the tiny vessel. Murrelets and auklets dive into the crystal clear water when we pass by, while gulls fly in closer to see if we have any fish to spare. Sometimes a seal will poke its head up, with just its eyes blinking curiously above the water's surface. 

A very skinny, very far away brown bear

My favorite thing by far, however, are finding brown bears on the islands. They usually look up and sidle into the forest when we cruise by, often disappearing before I'm close enough to get a good picture, but so far I've seen several every time I've gone out. It kind of drives home the fact that there are a LOT of bears out here, despite the fact that I never see them when I'm on land.

Even though it's always been cloudy and rainy when I've gone out, the scenery never fails to disappoint. Southeast Alaska was born for the rain, and as much as I love sunshine, the rain fits this place much better.

All the light blobs are jelly fish!

Our last fishing trip was the most exciting. A small group of us puttered two hours out to a hidden cove near a Forest Service salmon weir, where we were sure to land some pinks before they launched themselves up the waterfalls to the river. We tied the boat off on a buoy and rowed to shore in a little inflatable raft, carefully balancing the four of us along with our fishing poles and backpacks.

As we got closer to shore, we realized that the water was jam packed with jelly fish! Huge, amorphous globs of flesh-colored jellies were congregated in the cove, some caught in the tide pools, and others moving more intentionally along through the gentle current. I still have no idea what species they were, or why there were so many, but I managed to get some awesome GoPro videos of them, nervously holding my camera underwater and hoping they weren't the stinging-type.

 

During our couple hours on shore, there were at least two bears that came by, both of which I missed. The first one was sighted by some nearby Forest Service workers who happened to be on bear watch, and phased it away with an airhorn; apparently it walked right by where we had left our backpacks up in the trees. The second bear was wading through the fish weir, and by the time my friend called me over to see it, it had wandered back into the depths of the woods. It was one of the few days I was actually really glad to have my bear spray on hand. 

By the end of the day, we had only caught two salmon, but they were huge and had enough meat on the fillets for several days worth of meals. The next day, we grilled them up with a honey mustard marinade and a side of fresh salad. YUM!

 

Other days out on the boat have been equally interesting, though we don't always come back with fish. The first time out, I was set on filming the sea lions underwater with my GoPro, but they stayed too far away to capture on camera through the silty water.

That time I almost got frostbite

On top of that, I also got some first-hand experience (no pun intended) on how cold the water is here. It didn't feel too bad, but after we got back on shore, my last two fingers didn't get the memo that the rest of my hand had warmed back up! They were completely numb for about 45 minutes until I got home. Once there, I ran warm water over my fingers and rubbed them vigorously until the bloodflow returned, but they stayed slightly tingly and sensitive for about half a day afterwards.

So Southeast Alaska right there...

Really though, Sitka is by far the most incredible place I have ever lived.  There is so much to do and see and experience. Clearly, others feel the same way as well,  as evidenced by this love letter to the town that was found on the fence at the Russian Bishop's House a few weeks ago:

Someone left a love note to the town on the fence

I have so many more pictures and stories to post, but the last piece of news I have time to share tonight is that I've picked up a second job in town.

After work four nights a week, I change out of my ranger uniform and into an apron to wait tables for 5-6 hours.  It's exhausting and overwhelming and stressful, since I've never worked at a restaurant before, but I'm learning a lot and it's nice to have a little extra cash in my pocket. The main motivation is that I really want to get my DSLR soon, and with the additional income, hopefully within a week or two I'll be able to do that. Fingers crossed! I hope this is all worth it, because MAN, am I beat! It's all part of the experience though, and will make a great story one day.

I'll try to catch up on more posts in a few days, next time I have a night off. I have a lot of new observations I want to share, and simply not enough time to write everything down! Such is the life.

Playing catch-up... again

It rains all the time here now. I always heard that it rains a lot in Sitka, but for real: IT RAINS A LOT IN SITKA. Like, every day, all day. I seriously need to get some rain gear, because I've pretty much spent the last few days wearing pants ranging from annoyingly-damp to outright-soaked. And that's just from everyday activities, like walking out of my house. It's becoming a problem.

With that rant aside, I have come to love the rain, despite my lack of proper attire. I continue to take every opportunity to explore Sitka's many trails and islands and waterways, taking lots of videos and a few photos. The videos you'll see at the end of the summer; the latest photos you can enjoy below:

Herring Cove bridge

My previous favorite trail (Indian River) has now been bumped down to second-favorite after I hiked the Herring Cove/Beaver Lake trail the other day. This one is a bit shorter, and offers incredible views of some of the biggest waterfalls I have ever seen! It goes through a huge variety of ecosystems as well, from Dr. Seuss-like muskegs to riparian habitats, to old growth rainforest.

250 foot waterfall

I still can't believe I live here.

On a rare sunny day last weekend, I hit the Cross Trail early in the morning for a short solo hike before the weather turned. I took my time, enjoying the ripening salmonberries and blueberries, taking photos and GoPro videos, and just feeling completely in the moment, letting my thoughts wander wherever they'd go.

Not quite ripe salmonberries

Delicious blueberries!

The sunset-watchers

By evening, the clouds and rain were back, but regardless, a small group of us decided to defy the odds of the weather and drive up to Harbor Mountain to watch the sunset. Well, the weather was not to be defied, so our sunset-watching just turned into a lot of cloud-watching. It was fun anyway, and I got a cool cloud timelapse that you will also see later this summer.

Sunset...

Last weekend was also, of course, 4th of July, a huge event for Sitka and the national park. There was a local food fair for 3 days with vendors selling fry bread, meat kabobs, Indian tacos, Philipino food, and Alaskan King Crab cakes. We played historical children's games on the lawn of the Russian Bishop's House, which attracted a small crowd. And a Russian tea service was offered as well, where we baked over 300 Russian tea cakes and shared strongly spiced Russian tea with visitors. It was actually super fun -- I wish we did events like that more often!

Our anachronistic park service family

The parade was pretty entertaining as well. Decked out in 19th century garb, we joined the ranks of Sitkans gathered for the festivities. I've never seen so many people here before! Where did they all come from?? 

Marching in the parade downtown

During the parade, I mounted my GoPro to the top of our electric park vehicle (lovingly dubbed "The Bubble Car," because it feels like you're riding in a bubble). I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but the result was surprisingly fun, and gives you a mini-tour of the main street through downtown. 

I think I'll conclude today's post here for now. There are still so many stories to tell, but those will have to wait for another day. Enjoy the video, and check back soon for more updates!

Puffins.

Puffins. Need I say more?

My boss certainly didn't have to, when I received a text from him one Saturday morning in May, not long after I had woken up late and just enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, staring absent-mindedly out the window.

The surprise text informed me that there was a free birding cruise for local nature guides, leaving in exactly 15 minutes.

Stuffing my binoculars and camera in my bag, I jogged down to Crescent Harbor. These cruises are usually upwards of $90, so knowing that it was not only full of ornithology experts, but also prime nesting season for seabirds on St. Lazaria, made it a no-brainer to at least try to make it before the boat took off.

Sure enough, As I got down to the dock, a woman closing the gate asked if I was trying to get on the birding cruise. "You'd better run." She said, pointing to a small Allen Marine boat.

I was the last one on, and they were just untying it from the dock. About a dozen other birders were on board, equipped with oversized telephoto lenses and binocular harnesses.

The puffins are coming...

It was another rare pristine day, warm and sunny, but with a chilly seabreeze. I spotted my first Tufted Puffin as we neared the small wilderness island. Before I knew it, I was seeing clumps of a dozen or so bobbing placidly in the waves. More, and more, and more puffins, interspersed with huge flocks of rhinocerous auklets and thick-billed murres. I have never seen so many of these nesting seabirds in my life!

Faraway peregrine falcon

Up on the cliff, as we neared St. Lazaria, the peregrine falcon I had seen a month before was also still there. In classic peregrine form, it was grumpily attacking any bald eagle that flew near its perch on the rocks.

I simply couldn't believe how many puffins and murres there were. We're talking thousands! They flew overhead in their awkward auklet and puffin ways, like tiny footballs flying through the air with minimal direction and control.

Huge floats of thick-billed murres

Thousands of nesting seabirds

Unfortunately, after about the first hour on the boat, I had been looking through my binoculars too long, and sea sickness snagged me in the gut from out of nowhere. I tried to fight it as long as I could, but eventually it became unbearable, and I had to sit down for a while in the cabin.

Little did I know, this was an over 3 hour long cruise! I felt bad, being unable to tough it out on the deck with most of the other birders, but it was the worst sea sickness I've ever had. I was glad I had gotten to see most of the seabirds in the first hour, because they didn't really see anything new in the remaining time they circled the island.

Grey whale flukes

On the way back to Sitka, a grey whale did pull me out of my nauseous daze for a short time. I first spotted the blow as I was trying to talk to (and not throw up on) one of the lead ornithologists; as the boat slowed down, the whale proceeded to breach and roll in the calm waters for us for several minutes, making for some great photo opps.

Grey whale back

Grey whale flukes again

One of my favorite islands

The visitor center where I work, on the left!

Despite being seasick for the majority of the trip, I had a blast seeing the plethora of puffins nesting on St. Lazaria. It's crazy to think there is such an abundance and diversity of life, just a few miles from shore! It's incredible how fast they all showed up as well. I hope to get some more opportunities to see St. Lazaria later this summer, and see what it looks like later in the season!