Mountain climbing and forest frolicking

It is Saturday night and me and Maggie just returned from the Solstice Festival in Moose Pass! Moose Pass is a tiny little town about 20 miles outside of Seward. And when I say tiny, i mean microscopic. Seward is tiny. We were afraid we had driven right through the town it is so small. But their one known event is their annual Solstice Festival, where they have live bands, music, arts and crafts and beer to celebrate the almost 24 hours of daylight! It was nice to get out of Seward for a change of pace and sceneary. But we didn't realize until we got there that nobody took credit cards and we had no cash. So basically we were just wandering around and listening to the music, but it was still very nice.
The past couple of days at work have been long. I am ready for my weekend, which starts tomorrow at 5pm after work. Last week I jump started my weekend by climbing Mt. Marathon with Katie. It is the mountain that is right outside my window! It was a hot sunny day and perfect for a hike. Periodically up the mountain we would scream "Hey BEAR" to warn any bears nearby. We got a little more creative, singing songs to the bears and making up loud stories as well. The sceneary was breathtaking, as always here in alaska. For a little bit we lost the trail and were basically bushwhacking, trying to avoid Devils club and other nasty plants. The really hard part of the trek was right near the summit where the landscape took a sharp turn toward vertical. I was huffing and puffing and was not sure if I was going to make it up. We passed a patch of snow and I made Katie stop so I could roll in it, I was so hot. That was another bizzare thing about the hike, it was like 75 degrees and sunny and we were wearing shorts, but for a portion of the hike we were hiking through snow patches. It was the strangest feeling.
Reaching the top was the best, we could see for miles even out of the bay into open ocean. And Seward and the marina looked like tiny dots from above.

The view out of the bay into open ocean

Made it to the top!

sittin at the top

Tiny Seward!

We look awkwardly tall

We ate our dinner at the top of the mountain and just sat there, soaking in the view. Mountain tops are my favorite place to be. So we came up this trail on the jeep trail, the switch back, slightly less steep trail. The runners trail is how they run up for the Mt. Marathon race each year on fourth of July. This one is literally straight down. I don't know how they do it. At the top me and Katie both agreed that we definitely did not want to take that route down and we would do the slower winding one. So we were chatting and walking down a trail on the mountain, basically looking at our feet to make sure we didn't trip. A few minutes later we looked up, and there we were. going down the runners trail. Somehow we missed the other trail and we were too far along to walk back up, so we decided to go for it. This was a quite treacherous way. The first stretch down was basically us skiing down on our feet trying to avoid huge avalanches and losing our balance. When we finally reached the trees we thought things would get easier. Not so. The path dipped down at an even more impressive angle and we were forced to take a million tiny baby steps to ensure that we didn't fall. (This was not 100% efficient, as I spent a lot of time falling). At one point we sort of gave up as did our legs and we scooted down on our butts for an impossibly long amount of time. We had a great time laughing at the situation and working our way slowly down the mountain. My legs gave out several times and when we finally reached the bottom they were complete Jelly.
The very next morning me and Maggie when Hiking to Tonsina point! Luckily it wasn't as vertical of a challenge but we did have to bike three miles to get to the trail. A lot of the trail was along the beach which was really beautiful. We had our lunch on the beach and then had to head back to town because Maggie had to go to work. Later, I was unexpectedly called back into work to go on an Eider pick up (a shore bird). I don't really know why they needed me because all I did was ride along, assist slightly with tubing the bird and then came back. Me and Hannah (the bird employee I went with) had an awesome time and at one point we were laughing so hard that she was having the orange she was eating come out of her nose. It was a very fun trip afterall. I guess we'll talk about work. I am not sure if I have said it yet, but its worth mentioning that I have learned to tube feed seals now! It is very exciting and not as hard as it looks.
Ok it is actually getting dark out which must mean its very late because this is the longest day of the year. I am going to get some sleep so I can be in at work at 7am! Goodnight world!

Watching whales

Alaska has started redecorating. On the trail I run daily the forest has decided to lay down a vibrant lime green carpet with purple and pink flower accents. The mountain outside my window has reduced its snow cover and begun to look distinctly like a large chia pet, sprouting trees and shrubs and coloring the view. Everything around here has seemed to get brighter and more vibrant.

On Tuesday I took a nine hour boat cruise deep into the Kenai Fjords national park, which is pretty much only accessible by water. It was a fantastic day with sunny skies. Without even leaving the bay we saw a sea otter floating on its back. The wildlife was abundant and captain said it was one of the best tours they had had ever launched. Not ten minutes later we saw a pod of orcas swimming by the boat. Mostly you could just see their tall fins but every so often their black and white faces would peer out of the water. I was completely awestruck. free willy in real life! I took out my camera and blindly took pictures, resulting in about 30 extra shots of just crooked ocean.

Orca fins! the only semi good picture I got of them

Next on our wildlife checklist we have humback whales! These were literally everywhere. I saw at least 15 on the whole tour. We saw a mom and calf, blowing spray into the air. we also saw one whale breech unexpectedly which is really rare. Bubble feeding is another behavior we observed where the whales work together to create bubbles which round the fish up. Then one by one they dive deep and come up straight through the school of fish. The boat was crowded with photographers and wildlife enthusiasts. Every time there was a sighting people would push and shove to the front and there would be comeplete silence except for the clicking of cameras. It got a little ridiculous, it was like a bunch of children in a candy store trying to find willy wonka's golden ticket. If something was spotted on the left side of the boat the entire cruise would rush over to that side. When, say five minutes later, that same animal had migrated to the other side, there was a frantic scrambling to change locations to the other side of the boat. The ferry was rocking so violently that a few times I;m sure we were going to tip over. When the whale breeched out of the water everyone FREAKED out. people were climbing on the deck and shoving to get a better view even though it happened way to fast for anyone to get a decent picture of it. but we stayed and stared at the same spot for 20 mintues, everyone had their cameras ready and focused. I thought it was even cooler that way, nobody got a picture of it, but every single person on that boat will remember that breeching whale forever. It was so magnificent when it thrust its whole body out of the water and just so huge. Its way more special that we got to witness that moment and only have it in our memory. 

While all this craziness was happening about 4 porpoises swam right next to and under the boat. Everybody ignored them, searching for the humpback. I thought the porpoises were awesome though! It is one of the fastest of the marine mammals being able to reach speeds of 25miles per hour. So they get a special segment in this post and a nice picture I captured of them. 

The entire boat ride was gorgeous, filled with mountain views and so much wildlife. I spent pretty much the whole nine hours outside. And the 15 minutes inside I spent eating lunch I just felt incredibly guilty that I wasn’t outside. Through the remainder of the trip we saw harbor seals, sea lions, mountain goats on shore, puffins, eagles, and lots of different shorebirds. Our halfway stop was at Northwestern Glacier. We broke through the field of ice to come up close to the glacier and parked to boat there for a half hour to watch for falling glacier ice. So. Awesome.

It was an overall spectacular adventure day. I can’t wait for what tomorrow has in store. 

Kaitie, Emily, Me and Sarah. And some mountains

Us at Northwestern Glacier

Big fat sea Lion

Also If you would like me to help decorate my walls and make me very very happy mail me things at

P.O. Box 1329, Seward AK, 99664!!!

help decorate my walls!

A rescue adventure

Today was the first day of my weekend. I was ready to sleep in and enjoy a relaxing mornng ing after working about ten hours each day (we really have gotten much busier, hence the lack of writing.).
Last night at around 10:30 pm I got a call that was I was needed at the sealife center at 7am the next morning for a seal pick up.  A stranded seal was spotted out in Homer, AK and needed immediate care. We arranged for a volunteer in the area to gather the seal up and meet us halfway in a town called Soldotna. The arranged meeting spot was the parking lot of a Fred Myers (kind of like walmart). The drive me and Halley, my boss, had to make was about two hours long through GORGEOUS sceneary.

We arrived at the parking lot about 45 minutes too soon, anticipating more traffic than we encountered. So we wandered around the store and spent at least 20 minutes deciding what we wanted to eat for lunch. we sat outside in the parking lot trying too look inconspicuous sitting next to a ginormous truck with MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE plastered all over it. We got approached by many and a small crowd had gathered to watch the seal transfer.

The volunteer rolled up and we carefully took the seal out of the carrier. He was small and the left half of his jaw was severely swollen. I could see puncture wounds littering his tiny face and one eye stared up at me sadly as he mustered a small moan. His other eye was crusted shut and discharging heavily. My heart went out to the little guy instantly. We did a quick exam in the parking lot, checking for broken flippers and more lacerations. People loitered nearby and snapped photos while we heated up his fluids and gave him a quick tube feed. His flippers were very warm so we knew his temperature was elevated. Seals flippers are a good way to tell if the animal is too hot or too cold. If they feel hot to the touch their temperature is probably too high and if the flippers are curled up under each other it’s a good indication that the animal is too cold. The journey home was interrupted every hour to check on him and take another temperature, it was hot in the back of the truck and with the combined stress of moving, his temperature was still rising. We put some ice on his back flippers to cool him down. I was more aware of every turn and bump on the way home, worried about how it was affecting him in back.

The vet was ready for us when we got back to the sealife center. I got to restrain the seal while she drew blood, took fecal and nasal samples, flushed all of his puncture wounds and administered the antibiotic injections. Dr. Pam thinks he was picked up by his head by something and chewed on a little bit. For the next 24 hours he will be on a fluid diet and subcutaneous fluids trying to rehydrate him and then we will slowly transition him onto formula. The first few nights are the most critical, I really hope he makes it!  I got really attached to his sad little face.

It has gotten loads busier at the rehab center, we are now caring for 4 seals and two otters. With stranded animal calls coming every other day. The shifts have slowly been increasing from 8 hours and now we work about 10 hour shifts every day. Today was supposed to be my day off and I was at work for most of it. I feel that as it gets busier I will be spending less and less time at my apartment and more with the animals who need 24 hour care.  But this is why I am here, and I had an exciting day rescuing the seal and awesome days taking care of the other animals there. I can't wait to help more animals admited!

seals the deal

Such an exciting week! First and foremost, we got a seal!! The call came midday on wednesday and I was scheduled to work 4 to midnight. It didn't arrive in the rescue truck until around 11:30 but as soon as he arrived the vet performed the exam, weighed him, and took fecal and blood samples. His temperature was only 95 when he came in so we administered some warm subcutaneous fluids and stuck a heating pad in his bin with him. Rehabilitating a seal is completely different than an otter. Since otters can't be returned to the wild and have to go to a zoo/aquarium we are encouraged to talk to them, play with them, and get them used to human interactions. Seals, on the other hand, should not have any positive interactions with humans, they have to remain wild so they can be released. So our interactions with them are brief and concise. We tube feed them instead of suckling them so they don't get attached to us, and we are not allowed to talk to them or near them. Now that the seal has arrived we are back on full quarantine. if you are on seal shift you work only with the seal, same goes with otter shifts for otters. There can be no cross contamination of laundry, dishes or anything else. In order to enter the main part of the building you have to shower and completely change your clothes. Any time you work with the seal you wear full rubber suits and gloves then have to scrub yourself with chlorhexadine after completing a task.
 I have learned to restrain the seal for tubes and have assisted in sub-Q fluids. In a few short weeks I will be trained to do both of these things as the rehab center gets more crowded with animals. There is something so breath taking about being so close to such a beautiful animal. Those huge black eyes seem to stare directly into your soul.

This is not our seal, as we are not allowed to take pictures. but you get the idea.

As the seal pups progress in their rehabilitation (ours was about a week old when we picked it up) they have to gradually progress from formula to hunting fish. Seals are usually successful at learning to catch fish on their own by instinct. Right now, our little seal is on a mix of formula and oralyte just to make sure he is fully hydrated.

So apparently it rains a lot in Seward, which I still don't believe because it has been sunny and warm pretty much the whole two weeks I have been here. Monday and Tuesday are my new weekend and this week me and my roommates Katie and Maggie went out to dinner and had some wine down by the beach. We saw some dhalls porpoises in the water and an eagle flying over head. 

Thursday we went kayaking! Sunny cove kayaking offered us a free 3 hour kayak trip for working at the sealife center. It was a perfect day for it. The sun was shining and it was relatively warm out. It was the most amazing feeling to be on the ocean with snow-capped mountains to our left and uncharted expanse of forest and trees to our right. We came out of the water to do a short hike. It was an absolutely gorgeous view and I could have stared at it for literally hours. The sky was blue with a spattering of clouds and there was a 3rd year juvenile bald eagle circling our heads. It is seriously the most beautiful place, and I don't think I could ever get used to or bored of the mountain views. 

From the left: Maggie, Me, Katie, and her boyfriend John

Mountain bliss