busy week and Denali trips!

Well, another week has gone by and this one was packed. Last weekend we worked on Saturday and then my friend Chris (fellow Bowdoin '12 grad who is now coaching xc skiing in Fairbanks) came down to Healy to visit! Elizabeth and I treated Chris to a very special and enjoyable  day on Sunday - we ran 15 miles. Sundays are our long days for running (I'm training for a marathon on Sept. 15 and Elizabeth is running one on August 12) because we usually don't work on Sundays so get to run and then laze around. So Chris joined us for a 9 mile run on Stampede road with a few sled dogs on Sunday morning and then we went to the Healy coal mine (called the Usibelli Coal Mine) because we had signed up for a 10k. The race was along mine roads and we saw some huge dump trucks, etc. Chris did very well (placed 4th I think!) and made running after taking an hour break look easy. I struggled up the hills at first but eventually felt ok. The best part of the race was the free food at the finish and being able to shower in the mine facilities! Definitely worth it. On Monday Chris and I went into Denali and hiked around the Savage River. There are only a few maintained trails in the park because they want to keep it very wild, so we chose a ridge to hike to and just picked our own route. We saw some arctic ground squirrels, caribou, and a Northern Wheatear. The Wheatear migrates to summer in Alaska from as far as Saudi Arabia, crossing Asia and the Bering Sea! It was a great day and really fun to see Chris and remember Bowdoin my life! Here are some photos of the hike:

Northern Wheatear

The rest of the week was spent working, until Friday when we left for a backpacking trip in Denali! I'll write a post about that soon! In short, it was amazing and exciting - had sunny weather Friday and woke up to hail and a blizzard this morning! I had a great time but very happy to be back to a bed in a sturdy cabin.