Last of the Labor Day weekend – ice trekking and zip lining

Monday was a day of riding, but not together. Birdie and 101 were on the road at 7 a.m. to Livengood, about 70 miles up some road, since she needed a photo for her ABCs of Touring.

We stopped at Creamer's Field on the way out of town.  There was an abundance of cranes and Canada geese.  The cranes lead the flock ... "Follow me!"  Famous last words when Zookeeper and Peppermint are leading.

Hey, look over there.  Is that Superman? No, it's Zookeeper!  Run, I mean fly.  Hurry.

Coming in for a landing.

Flying in formation, plus one.

Zookeeper, Jaz and I headed home, but that included a stop at Rose's in Healy for breakfast, where we met up with Pam and Chuck. They were our chase and buffer -from-the-cars vehicle from there to Anchorage. Of course, they had to run 80 mph or better sometimes to keep up. But they did a good job for us. The day wasn't looking bad. But that was shortlived, and we ended up riding in a lot of rain and some heavy winds.

Pam and Chuck running the buffer vehicle.

The colors were even more brilliant with the cloudiness and rain.

At Talkeetna we pulled over for gas and I finally decided to remove the chaps and put on the snowpants. Why not? The chaps were totally wet and so was my butt. The ride home continued, wet, windy and not that much fun. But it was still way better than working.

On Tuesday (Sept. 4), Jaz and Birdie had taken the day off work. We were going to the Matanuska Glacier to do ice trekking up on the glacier, and then the Matanuska zip line.

This photo of the Matanuska Glacier was taken a few days earlier.  It's a view from afar.  The one we usually get.

We were on the road at 7 a.m., and it appeared we would have a great day. Sun, blue sky. The road was mostly clear for us, and we motored along, on the straights, swerving left, then right as we took the curves along the river, up into the mountains. My mojo's nearly intact again. Yahoo!

Once again, Jaz has taken us on dirt. The road down to the area where we'd go do the ice trekking on the Matanuska Glacier was dirt, with some rocks, and there was a parking lot that was never, ever intended for motorcycles. We parked, helping each other push back. I was just grateful it wasn't raining and mud. It would have been a motorcycle throwdown, I'm sure, with big-ass Harley motorcycles laying every which way. We didn't test that theory.

We got all our waivers signed and met our guide, Reece. Then we were fitted for crampons, boots for me, and helmets, loaded up our backpacks, and got in a van for about a 15-minute ride down near the glacier. This was already way closer than I'd been to this glacier. Everyone going down has to pay a fee to the person who owns the property and it is a deterrent to many who might venture closer. Not this time. We were going trekking on the ice.

Crampon fitting.

The glacier and the dirt, mud and rocks we'd be crossing to get to it.

Once we got parked we walked, crossing mud and little rivulets of water on boards and metal grates set for foot traffic. This mud can be like the mud on the inlet, quicksand although with not exactly the same result as there is no tide coming in. We were told to be careful where we stepped, so we were like little ducks, following our mama (okay, guide), exactly.

Our guide, Reece.  There was only the three of us on this tour.  Special.  Just for us.

Mud.  Glad I was wearing their boots.

As we approached the glacier, it was even more magnificent than I could have imagined.

While there are dirt and rocks and mud, under much of it is ice.

The colors may not be what you get on the East Coast, but they are gorgeous and so colorful.

Muddy and wet crossings.

Jaz putting on crampons.

Birdie gearing up.

As we ventured closer to the big ice pack called the Matanuska Glacier, we could see the orange, yellow and red fall colors all around us, mountain tops high and in the distance, some with fresh snow.  We stopped to put on the crampons.  Our guide showed us points of interest … the designs in the mud, the ice under the mud that looked deep and sometimes very black but treacherous if you stepped on one of them wrong, dirt piles made by the glacier as it moved, back and sometimes forward.

The black ice looks like tar oozing out from under the lighter color ice crystals.

On the ice.

Treachery awaits those who do not watch nor pay attention to their guide. 

It reminds me of some moon photos I've seen.

There are so many beautiful parts to the glacier, it was difficult to photograph everything, but I tried.

Ice and rocks are a beautiful thing.

The glacier is 26 miles long.

We walked past little rivers of water, some were larger, and we were warned to not step in them as many were not shallow, but quite deep. They were very deceiving and we were cautious.

On either side water was deeper than you could imagine, and we had been warned to not step into it.  Our guide used his pick to demonstrate on some of them that it couldn't touch the bottom.

There are sections of ice crystals that look like diamonds.

And we were on the glacier, and in the glacier, photographing as quickly as we could, walking and photographing, stopping and photographing. I shot several hundred photos over three hours time.

There's so much beauty in a glacier.

Tracks in the mud makes me think of little birds walking around.

Everywhere you looked there was a photograph waiting to be taken.

The glacier rose all around us as we neared a lake. It was a most beautiful sight, with pieces of glacier everywhere, black lines crisscrossing from the dirt, pushed up and around by the glacier, looking like diamonds of baklava. This was a true adventure, walking on the glacier, seeing things up close that we had only seen from a distance or through glass.

Doesn't it remind you of those diamonds of pastry filled with honey and nuts?



The dirt is pushed up by the ice, leaving piles of it reminding me of ant hills, except bigger.



Jaz by the lake.

Reece making steps for us to go down by the lake.

So while we waited I just took photos.

Or had someone else take photos.   Our professional photographer, Jaz.

The lake from above.

Going down the steps Reece made in the ice to the lake.

Wandering around by the lake, watching our steps.

Mother Nature does a tremendous job of providing beauty for us to see if we only go after it.

At one end of the lake.

And the view looking toward the other end of the lake.

There was just one photo op after another and I know I've been posting way too many photos.  But ... it is my blog.  Ha!!!

Everywhere ... what more can I say?

Reece and Jaz trekking.

Ice formations are never the same although many seemed to be. 

Up and over, heading to the ice cave.

Hey, Birdie, wait up and let me take a photo.  (I needed a moment to catch my breath.)

Picking up a rock for my friend, Sarah

Reece took us up and over, and down, and then, led us to an ice cave. He said this glacier doesn't produce much in the line of ice caves, but there was one he'd take us to. We followed him through a narrow path through tall ice, which got narrower and narrower as we walked through the towers of ice. We crawled over chunks of ice, and down steps made in the ice, through a little creek of water and could hear water rushing furiously as we got further in. We could see sunlight and blue sky up above us in some places. In others we could see a deep blue of the ice. The blue color means the ice is compressed. It was fascinating to see.

Heading through walls of ice into the cave.

We just kept going, some places were so narrow we had to go sideways.

The further in we got, the deeper the color.

Not for the claustrophobic.

On our way out.

Squeezing through.

Almost out.

Survived again.

Rocks have melted ice in some places and have become a part of the landscape or icescape I'd guess is what it would be called. There is moss which isn't mostly attached and blows away in the wind. Come to find out, a glacier is more than just a big chunk of ice.

The rocks are like little jewels set in the ice.

There are so many different designs on the rocks you can't begin to photograph them all.

Don't fall in.

Then it was time to head back, trekking across the ice, stopping to see the holes in the ice that lead down to the cave, trudging back across the mud, removing the crampons and taking the van back to the parking lot where our bikes were.

Crampon removal.

The trail back to the hill where the vehicle is parked.

Trekking across the board and metal grate trail back to the van. 

We grabbed a bite of lunch at Long Rifle Lodge, seeing the view of the glacier from the window and looking at where we'd been. Then it was on to the next adventure, zip lining.

Zip line coming up

The Matanuska zip line is down a dirt road, probably a mile long or so. It also has rocks and gravel, and is sometimes quite steep. It ends on the edge of the river, and large gravel and rocks. So I made sure to pull around so I'd be facing out. It's easier for me to keep going and get turned than to park and try to get started and turn.

Only Birdie and I were doing the zip. Jaz would be our personal professional photographer, taking photos of us as we zipped … 1,500 feet of zip line, 250 feet above the ground. More than a quarter mile … woo hoo.

Our guides got us outfitted, harnessed and helmetted once again. I wore my Harley helmet for style.

Birdie walking up the path.  The way to take a break is to say you want to take a photo.  I did that multiple times.

Then we started walking on a beautiful path cut through trees, the fall foliage at our feet now. We walked until the top of a hill, then the tower with who knows how many steps awaited us. Up we climbed.

Fall continues to be my favorite time of year because of the wonderful colors and the scents of fall.

I was gettting out of breath. I'd done glacier walking for about three hours, now this walking and tower climbing, and I'd forgotten my blood pressure meds this morning.

The tower has a beautiful curved staircase of metal.  But it's not for the faint-of-heart.  It's narrow and goes up, up, up.  Don't look down ...

Guide Mandy.  They're all quite young, but talented as guides.  Safety is always first on the tours we've been privileged enough to take. 

Ready to ride ... the zip, that is.

Birdie voted for me to go first.

Our guide attached my line to the zip line and I stepped through a gate onto a landing, about a foot wide. You could see forever from the tower., trees, mountains, river. When I looked down, there was the road, and I could see the zip line as it followed the road and down through the trees. I could see the other guide in the distance who would be the brake for us as we would zip 35-to-40 mph … he didn't look that tough so I hoped he'd be able to stop us. At the end past the guide, there was a runway, like the truck runaway areas that go upward to slow and stop them. The same would be there for us. Hmmmmm. I could see Jaz at the bottom, waiting for our descent so she could photograph us as we whizzed by. Hopefully she would not be photogaphing us on crash landings.

The view from the top.  Jaz is sitting on a bench waiting for us.

Then I was told to step to the edge and step off. I had another moment of hesitation. It wasn't the heighth, it was the stepping off into nothingness. I couldn't do it. I had to lower myself and squat then lean off. Wheeeeeeeee. I was zipping along, with my small camera photogaphing everything around me. Snap, snap, snap. I had no idea what I was snapping at, although I pointed it at myself, too. Mostly your body is backward going down the line. I tried using the technique we'd learned with our wrists from the other zip line last week. That did not work. Only body motion made the difference so I could turn and look in different directions.

Blast off.

All too quickly I was down, the braking system working, and then up to the runway. The guide came and unhooked me. What an absolute rush. I've done the Talkeetna one and the Matanuska one, and both are awesome. Each is different, from the multiple shorter zips to the long, fast one.

Our brake man.  He got me safely landed.  He's stronger and tougher than he looks.

Birdie was acoming. I could hear the zing of the line before I could see her. She was flying, and I snapped photos as I could. It seemed so short and then it was over, and she was on the runway, sitting rather than standing. Up she rose, laughing. We'd loved it.

Birdie blasting off.

Zipping on down.

Birdie with our own personal professional photographer, Jaz, catching the action.

Heading for the brake.

Braking.

The HOG has landed.

Our guide zipped down, and told us we could go again for $20 each. Well, hell yeah! As long as we didn't have to take the scenic route. Back up the road we trudged, and back up the tower. I elected Birdie to go first. She had the same problem it appeared. Neither of us wanted to just step off into space. And then she was off. Zipping down the line, fast. I could see her all the way to the end.

Birdie in place, with a magnificent view.

One foot over the line.  The hard part.

Down she goes.

Zipping by the rocks and foliage.

At the bottom of the zip, with photographer and brake man in place.

Going in for the landing.  She stuck it this time.  You get the picture of the whole line and how much fun it is yet?

Then it was my turn again. This time I was going to try to do a cannonball to go faster. Speed might kill, but I was up above the road where no cars could get to me. I still could not just step off into space. I had to squat and lean into it. And then it was cannonball time. More photos. I gathered speed, my eyes were watering but I was screaming and laughing. It was so much fun, and then the brake, the runway and we were finished except for the talking and sharing the experience. I wished I'd had a pocketful of $20s. I'd have gone several more times.

The zip was the final adventure for the long weekend. We'd packed so much into just a few days. New things, new places, new adventures. I'm so lucky to have such adventurous friends, ones willing to do most anything I come up with. It doesn't hurt that they come up with some adventures, too. Wow!!!