Hike to Agamgik Bay

Several weeks ago, a woman posted on Facebook, "Is there a hiking club in town?"  The answer was no; though many people hike and there have been some organized hikes in the past, there's no actual "club."  Mary Ellen is new in Unalaska and jumped right in, deciding to start a club herself.  Rich and I joined a few other people at the organizational meeting and we scheduled a hike for each Sunday in September "weather permitting."  The weather didn't "permit" on the first week, but last Sunday was one of the most gorgeous days we've had all summer.  Rich and I ended up being the only ones to join Mary Ellen and Bert for the hike to Agamgik Bay and we enjoyed getting to know them a little while making our way along the trail.  We'd attempted this hike once before but the weather was terrible, windy, rainy and cold, and we turned back.  Not to mention the fact that we somehow got off the trail and were climbing up and down the hills in the rain, trying to figure out where were!

 It's an 8 mile round trip hike, which we didn't think would be any big deal but it ended up taking us a lot longer than we thought it would!  And my muscles were sore for almost a week!

 Still, it was sunny and warm and the lovely fall scenery is in its beginning phase.

Yes, we even had to climb down a rope and then back up another rope on the other side of a stream.  We didn't remember  the rope being there before and when I mentioned it to a friend (a much hardier Alaska girl), she laughed and said, "you don't need the rope, just walk down!"  And she said that she didn't like the ropes and was sorry someone put them there.  But I kinda liked having the extra help, truth be told.

 Beautiful colors!

 Mary Ellen and Bert, who just moved here from a very small village near Barrow.  And they got married the day after the hike! 

 Rich and me

 We made it to the bay!

 Rich got these great panorama shots on the way back.

Passing Summer Bay Lake on the drive home

We started the hike at 1 PM and didn't get home till almost 8!  I definitely had a few "what were we thinking?" moments.  Sometimes I think something will be so much fun and after about an hour, I am over it!  But there's not much you can do when you are already 4 miles in and you have to do the other 4 miles back.  By the time we got to the end, I was kinda dreading the whole return trek, especially since there were a couple of pretty steep inclines to climb.  Happily, it was not as hard as I expected it to be.  And there's that little sense of accomplishment that makes the sore muscles worthwhile.

Life has been pretty busy here in the last month.  I keep looking at the blog and then closing it out and vowing to write another day.  I'm working on two different projects/events at work and Rich has had a lot going on at the hotel with no sign of a let up any time soon.  My ESL/GED classes started  and we are meeting two nights a week again; I had 16 students from the get-go and have had a couple more join in since the first week.  As always, I am enjoying the class and it keeps me on my toes!

Summer in the Aleutians is beautiful, short, and fleeting.  It's always nice to take the time to get out and actually enjoy it while it's here.  I am not quite ready for the cold but I can feel it coming!

Nice enough for a hike

It was still sunny and warmish when I got home from work so we decided to hike up Bunker Hill after supper.  It felt so good to be out in the fresh air after all of our nasty weather.  I could tell I haven't had much exercise lately. This is NOT a tough hike but I could feel my muscles protesting working hard.  :)

 Looking down on the new boat harbor

We spotted two ptarmigans...or maybe it was the same one twice.  A little hard to see in the grass.  Nice camouflage!

 Still lots of snow on the mountains

Sitting at the top and taking in the view.  It was a lovely day but I still needed a hat to keep my ears warm.

It's June!

Rich is working all weekend again (insert my usual whine here). This morning, I was sitting at the computer in my pjs, emailing back and forth with my friend Donna. She mentioned that she and her friend Marti were going to take a hike today if I was interested in joining them. Since I totally sabotaged my diet at Bunco last night, I thought it was probably a good idea!

We were supposed to meet at the base of Bunker Hill. The road has been closed due to construction but we heard it was opened up so I drove on over, thinking I was late, having left on short notice. I parked in the usual spot to begin the hike but no one else was there yet. Before too long, Marti drove up, but no Donna. After a few more minutes, Marti called Donna, who said, "The road is closed!" "No, Jane and I are already down here," Marti informed her. Oh, did I mention that when I drove in, I passed a sign stating "Construction area--enter at your own risk"?

Donna told Marti that a guy in a truck got onto her pretty strongly and told her she couldn't go in. She asked, "Have you seen a couple of other people pass by?" He said yes, and that he was about to "go run them off, too." So Marti loaded up her two dogs, the other dog she's dogsitting, and her daughter, I got into my car, and we backtracked outta there. Heaven forbid that we would be on anyone's *&%$# list.

We re-grouped and met at the end of the valley to hike up by some waterfalls. I don't really know what this trail is called and they just called it "the waterfalls," so I am going with it. I can tell I have not hiked in awhile. It is an easy trail but some of it had a bit of an incline, which I could definitely feel. But I kept praising myself for working off those M&Ms I had last night. haha

Here's Donna

Someone had anchored a rope at the top of this hill. There's no way I would even attempt to lower myself down but I would have loved to have seen someone else do it! Who wants to volunteer?

Flowers are starting to pop out, even at the higher elevations.

Maia, Marti, Donna and dogs

Three waterfalls--actually, there are four all in a row but I couldn't get them in one shot.

Ahhhhh, spring!

Upon return, we realized Marti had an extremely flat tire. Oh, no. She had a spare, but the back end of the vehicle won't open so we couldn't even tell if she had a jack. It was a borrowed car so unfamiliar, to boot. We called a couple of people and couldn't reach anyone. I did not EVEN want to bother Rich since they were in the middle of their biggest event of the year so I didn't volunteer to call my husband. Is that mean? We tried a couple of the local car repair places and no one could come out. Blogger Steve's wife GF and Chico came by on a walk and commiserated with us. She called Steve but he was the only one at work, though they generously offered that he could come help once she got back to work from her lunch break. We made plans for her to call us when she returned to work and see if anything else had worked out. Finally, one of the car guys called Donna back and said he could come. Whew. It's kinda hard to get a mechanic, a tow truck or Triple A out here in the middle of nowhere! When we knew the guy was on his way, I headed out and left them waiting--I know, bad friend, but there wasn't a lot I could do, right?

I stopped by the hotel to check mail and Rich and crew were busily preparing for tonight's catering event. I ran a few errands and have been working around the house. Since I didn't have time for a shower before hiking (and what would be the point?), I just filled the tub and cranked up the heater in the bathroom so I am gonna go soak.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Monday

A couple of nights ago, we took a hike up the front side of Bunker Hill just to get out of the house and into the fresh air for a little while. It had been a somewhat dreary day but the sun came out in the evening so we thought we'd take advantage of the opportunity. The flowers were fading and there were no berries to speak of. It seems like there's a little bit of a chill all of a sudden. Could it be that our short summer is already coming to an end? Saturday we stopped in at the Second Blessings sale at the Methodist Church and I found four sweaters--I am already thinking about winter, as much as I want to avoid that thought. It was foggy, rainy and cold today; I commented to Rich that the family did not get to have the true Unalaska experience during their visit!

On Saturday I had my first piano lesson. It was a little bit intimidating, but mostly I felt happy to be sitting there at the piano, trying to make my brain and my fingers work together. I learned some fundamentals and squeaked out a beginner's version of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," slowly and awkwardly, but quite pleased with myself. I'll be taking lessons on Thursday nights and Saturdays, although my teacher will be gone for two weeks in September so I will have some practice time on my own while she is gone. Given my terrible history of being excited about something and then losing interest or motivation, I am hoping I will keep with it. :)

Our kitchen table is overrun with fruit from the organic produce box, which arrived today--early--and we still had stuff left from last week. We are eating lots and lots of fruit (okay, I admit that some of it has been in a sugary syrup with angel's food cake and whipped cream...see why we need to go hiking?) and still have more than we can finish off. I am thinking we need to make some jam or at least put some of it up in the freezer for winter. And Rich has been doing a fabulous job of creating dinner from the variety of veggies out of the box. Nice!

Looking at my list of books on the sidebar of the blog, I am realizing that I will probably not be successful in reading 100 this year. It's August and I have only finished 26! I knew it was a lofty goal but I thought I would do better than that. Tonight I finished Whatever it Takes--Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America, which returns to the question about why we don't value all of our children and families equally. Can a quality education help lift people out of poverty? What does it take to change a community and a society? And how many of us really care what happens?

A late 'happy anniversary' to Susan and Corey, a late 'happy birthday' to Miles, happy retirement to Kathi, and happy first day of school to Aidan. Off to bed for me.

What a great time we are having!

Eli and Alana on Mt. Ballyhoo

There was a sailboat out in the bay this week.

We enjoyed the Heart of the Aleutians Festival and introduced lots of our friends.

Waiting for an early morning boat ride

The wreck of the Northwestern

We saw lots of beautiful sights out on the boat, including a close-up look at this waterfall, several whales in the distance, a sea otter, puffins, eagles and ducks.

Thanks, Dan, for taking us out!

The Filipino-American Association held a traditional flower parade called Santa Cruzan. All of the girls and guys looked so nice in their finery!

Kristine, Sarah, Jeff and I had the very difficult task of judging several categories in the parade. We thought everyone deserved a prize and could hardly choose!

Aren't they gorgeous?

We have taken several drives around town. Here we are looking down on the valley.

We happened upon two cute little foxes.

Look at this one peeking out at us!

Lunch at the Margaret Bay Cafe at the hotel where the vegetarians enjoyed veggie croissant sandwiches.

This is all that was left of Eli's lunch. :)

Today we hiked up Bunker Hill. The weather has largely cooperated all week. It's a little chillier than the San Antonians are accustomed to, but we Unalaskans have been very happy.

Eli snapping a photo of his sister Alana

Checking out the bunker

What a place!

We drove back out to Summer Bay again today, tried to find the horses but had no luck. We then drove all the way up over the pass.
We've visited the Museum of the Aleutians and shopped at Alaska Ship Supply. We've stopped by my office a couple of times but I haven't managed to do much work. :) Eli hung out at the Community Center for a little while this evening and then walked back to the our house on the other side. Rich has been cooking fabulous vegetarian dishes and finished off tonight with bananas foster--yum, yum! Kathi, Alana and Eli leave tomorrow evening at 8, though we have been teasing them that the weather is due for a change and perhaps they will get stranded! We have really enjoyed their visit and are so glad they were able to come!