Bears Like Berries

 

Yesterday on our drive up Pillar Mountain to go mountain biking Nora was asking me if we could ride the trails closer to town.  I was telling her no because there have been lots of reports of bears on the trails in that area.  But Nora is getting bored of the trails elsewhere on the mountain and really wanted to do something different.

And then we rounded a corner in the road and a sow and her 3 cubs sauntered across the road in front of us.  They did not even run off but pushed into the bushes and started to eat salmonberries.  Nora and I watched for 5 minutes or so as very unselectively ate ripe and unripe berries along with the leaves.  It kind of explained the 'look' of the bear scat I have been seeing of late.  Nora exclaimed, 'I was just wondering this morning why I had not seen a bear when they are supposed to be so many in town!'

Then we drove on up the road to the top of the mountain and only biked on the bear free trails in the alpine.

Patrick

Garlic's almost ready

 

Yesterday I harvested the first of my garlic bulbs.  They have done very well this year and all 4 bulbs that I pulled were on the big side.  But it also looks like they are still on the 'early' side and need some more time in the ground.  Good thing I have another 47 bulbs still in the ground!

Next week I'll harvest a bunch more and see how they've developed.  It is Garlic season!

Patrick

Mountain biking on Pillar

 

Yesterday Nora and I mountain biked from the top of Pillar Mountain down to 'Deadman's Curve' on Rezanof Drive.  This is one of the most technical mountain bike trails on the mountain.  And Nora rocked it.  

I will admit I would rather be doing the easier trails closer to town or out by the Buskin, but lately those trails have had issues with bears.  No one wants to surprise a bear on a brushy trail!  The 'Deadman's' or 'windmills' trail is much more open and with no food sources nearby there are far fewer bears on that end of the mountain.  

We did walk the super technical parts of the trail, but I bet it will not be long before Nora is riding the whole trail.  And it is super good exercise - a great way to get ready for ski season!

Patrick

Abbreviated Termination Point Hike

 

Yesterday the kids and I did some hiking and mountain biking.  Nora and I did a quick climb up Bear Mountain where we went skiing back in March (click here).  Nora commented that she'd 'pay a thousand bucks to go skiing right now'.

Then all of us took the dogs to Termination Point.  We decided to check off Termination Point on the 'Foothills' Adjust Your Altitude Challenge list.  For the AYA challenge you only have to go out to the ropes  and rudimentary shelter on the first beach.  It is a FAR shorter hike than going all the ways out to the actual point.  And that's a good thing because we were not up for a long hike and I am fairly sure that I could not have convinced them to do the whole hike.  So thank you AYA for having shorter options to check off!

After the hike we took the mountain bikes up Pillar Mountain and biked the alpine trails.  There have been some bear issues in the bushes on the lower trails so we stuck to the alpine areas.  I showed them some of the trails I do and Nora pointed out the trails she has been doing.  I was SUPER impressed with their abilities on some of the more rugged trails.  It looks like mountain biking might just be our Fall sport.

Patrick

Mountain biking on the 'Yellow Brick Road'

Yesterday Stuey and I went for a mountain bike ride on the 'Three Pillar Point' trail that goes from the end of the road at Anton Larsen Bay.  I have not gone mountain biking on this trail in 20 years.  Back in the day it was a very rough and muddy trail.  ATVs had created huge mud holes and you had to walk most of the trail.  But around 10 years ago the local trail group ITN hardened the trail with geo block (click here for more info) and built bridges over the streams etc.  This dramatically improved the trail - so much so that local trail users dubbed it 'the yellow brick road'.  The trail became almost too 'sterile'.

Since then the trail has degraded and there are some maintenance issues. It is certainly no longer the 'yellow brick road'.  Geo block clearly does need occasional maintenance!  But in general the trail is much better than it was back in the day.  For extended sections the geo block has worked really well and the grass has grown up through the matting - these areas used to be twin deep tire rut sections.  The trail feels much like it did back in the day except there are far fewer mud bogs.  There still are a few bad places and clearly some preventative maintenance is in order.  But all and all, riding the trail is a far better experience than it was 20 years ago.

Patrick

Dog Walk

Wednesday afternoon I went for a hike up Old Women Mountain.  Stuey and Nora had other things to do - so it was just the dogs and I.  It was pretty hot and at every puddle in the trail the dogs stopped to lap at the water.  Up on top the ravens were dive bombing us and Brewster would try and chase them.  I think the ravens enjoyed this game.  

Later, after the hik, the kids and I all went paddle boarding with the cousins at Lake Gertrude in Fort Abercrombie State Park.  The water is pleasantly cool and it was a good way to cool off after a hot hike.

Patrick

Garden Update

 Last night we had new potatoes cooked with lots of butter for dinner.  This meal is the main reason I grow potatoes because you certainly can't buy new potatoes.  I think the potato starch changes or something within hours of digging them up - new potatoes are sweet and turn into mashed potatoes all on their own.  Mmmmmmmmm!  I 'robbed' my potato plants by serrupticiously digging around the stems of the live plants.  No plants died to make my dinner.

The garden is seriously booming - carrots, salad, and even the beets are ready.  Best of all the raspberries are ripe and it looks like this year there is a bumper crop.

Patrick