Greeting from Ketchikan!!
I have to keep this one super short, although I have much to say. Unfortunately I do not have the internet at my house. I am a friends and Alaska charges the internet somewhat like phones: by the minute or something. I can't quite wrap my head around it. Anyhow, a brief recap of the week and the weeks to come.
This week was our training week at Spirit of Alaska Tours. My official title is tour coordinator. Unofficial title is dock girl. We direct tourists off the boats and on to their buses to "experience" Alaska in 6 hours. I don't think I have any desire to ever go on a cruise. I had trouble believing my boss when she told me that we would sometimes have problems with weights on our float plains being that the maximum weight is 1500 per plane, six people to a plane. That is 250 pounds per person. On my first day I was proved wrong. Cruisers are large!
Being that I will be telling thousands of people about our various tours, we spent the majority of our training doing the tours, and I got paid for them! We started with zip lining through the rain forest (where Benjamin is a guide) rode Adventure Karts through the mountains, had a crab feast at George Inlet Lodge and rounded out the trip with a float plane trip through the Misty Fjord's which brought me to tears.
With training for work over, my own outdoor training has begun. I am reading "The Bible" which is A Mountaineer's Guide and it truly details everything that you could ever want to know about hiking, backpacking, climbing, etc.
Benjamin, Krystal, Kiera, and I climbed Mt. Minerva on one of my half days this week. It was my first summit ever and one that I will never forget. There were many lessons learned.
One: going up is not always the hardest part.
Two: Snow is fun for awhile, but not so much when you are not properly dressed for it. Freezing feet and a sweaty upper half is not a fun combination.
Three: Bring sunglasses and sunblock.
Four: DO NOT LEAVE THE TRAIL EVEN IF YOU ARE WITH STRONG HIKERS. A strong hiker is not necessarily a smart one. We ended up getting fed up with the snow and it was suggested we cut across the mountain to the road we set our compass to. I for one wanted to stick to the trail, but did not speak up enough.
Five: Learn to use a compass and read a topography map. Luckily Benjamin excells at that.
Six: Bushwhacking is not very fun, it's exhausting and when twilight is approaching it is a bit scary as well (DISCLAIMER: at no point were ever in danger! Just uncomfortable).
Seven: Stay calm and positive. Nobody likes a negative nancy on the trail.
We finally made it to a road and were able to hitch a ride into town. The girls are powerhouses, both claiming they felt like they could go for a jog. I, being the slowest of the group, find that slightly hard to believe, although they both have grown up in the mountains. I grew up in the midwest.
After that day I have decided to go into training. Not only will I be a smart outdoorswoman, but a strong one. I do push ups and sit ups through out the day and will jog the trails with my pack on my days off. I also happen to live next to a horrifically horrid hill to climb after work, but will begin to go up and down up and down as many times as I can with my pack full.
Wish me luck. I've never put this much effort into anything, but I guess I've never wanted anything this much.
Sidenote: Call me, people!! You can't have forgotten me this quickly.
As for now, good bye until my next post. I'm sure new adventures will arise soon!
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