Caineshead adventure

After ice climbing last weekend, I thought the rest of my break would be uneventful. I was wrong.
I had a very tame monday, spent some time at the library and then went to see the Lone Ranger with my roommate, Katie.
Tuesday morning I woke up to someone knocking at my door around 10:30am. It was my friend Emily telling me that they were leaving for a backpacking trip to Caineshead recreation area in 20 minutes. I didn't have to work until 3:30pm the next day so I leaped out of bed, threw some random items into my pack and left with them. It is the least amount of time I have ever spent packing or even thinking about a trip before going on it. It was pretty exciting. Also I had pretty much zero food which I didn't really take into consideration. The thing about this hiking trip is that it is totally dependent on the tides, the trail is along the beach so you have to go at low tide and you cant come back until it is low tide again, which happens twice a day. So low tide was at 11am on this day. Low tide the next day was at 2:30, which is my mind was a perfect amount of time to make it to work at 3:30. I might have to jog at some points along the trail but I could make it no problem. Not true. but we will get to that fact later.
The trail along the beach was awesome, we saw lots of interesting critters in tidal pools and just about a million jellyfish. the trail was about 7 miles out there and took a lot longer than I had expected. By the time I realized that I would be horribly late to work, there was no turning back, I was stuck out at Cainshead until the next low tide. There was no point in worrying about this fact, there was nothing I could do at that point. then I realized that the next low tide was actually at 2:30 in the morning! so i could totally just not sleep and go back by myself then right? it never gets that dark in alaska right? hm... more on that later. So I just enjoyed the day. Caineshead is BEAUTIFUL and we set up camp and ate some lunch (lunch = my leftover dinner rice eaten with my snowboard bottleopener). Caineshead used to be a military base so there are a lot of cool forts and bunkers along the hike. We got to explore the inside of one that was under the ground. It was so creepy and drippy and dark inside and definitally looked exactly like an abandoned mental hospital. It took quite some courage to get through it.

Emily, Cheryl, Kaitie and me

Its pretty. 

we made it!

our campsite, their tent and my hammock

The scary underground fort

We made it to south beach which was completely different from the beach we camped by but totally awesome. We waded in and sat by the water checking out the cool rocks. The tide must have been rising because after sitting there for a while we got hit with a HUGE wave out of nowhere. At that time we decided to hike back to camp and make fire and dinner. Our fire spot was unreal. Right on the beach with the mountains surrounding the beach in front of us and the woods behind. coolest spot. 

This whole time I had been planning on packing up and leaving at around 1am so I could catch the 2:30 am low tide back. As that got closer and it got darker (yes it actually is starting to get dark here now) I started to get nervous. But it was the only way to make it back to work in time. It also sounded like an exciting idea, hiking along the beach in the dark. So at 1am I said goodbye to my hiking buddies and took my stuff and started heading back towards seward. The first part of the walk back was a .5 mile bit through the woods so I could get to the beach trail. I knew that would be the hardest/scariest part but thought once I got to the beach on the otherside it would be a little lighter and not as terrifying. I set off through the woods singing colors of the wind at the top of my lungs to warn off any bears that might want to eat me. walking through the woods was PITCH BLACK and the scariest thing I have ever done. My flickering headlamp was making scary shadows and I kept losing my footing and hearing sounds all around me. I was relieved to get out to the beach on the otherside. But that was short lived as it was just as scary walking down the beach in the almost complete darkness. The rocks were slippery because the tide had just receded and I was slipping all over the place. My voice was getting hoarse from singing colors of the wind over and over and I was terribly thirsty but also too scared to stop and take a drink. The walk back seemed to take forever and everything looked different in the dark. I wasn't seeing any familiar landscapes and every single large rock on the beach looked like a bear to me. on multiple occasions I felt like I was being followed and then I would practically scream the song in that general direction to ward off whatever ghostly thing was following me. I started wondering if I was going to make it back and cursing myself for what a stupid stupid decision I had made. Yeah sure I'll hike home alone in the dark in grizzly bear country. smart. I couldn't turn back without going to through the wooded part again which terrified me even more and I couldnt stop in case the tides came in and trapped me. I started seriously wondering if I was going to make it back and started getting exhausted from the 13 miles I had already hiked that day without sleeping at all. It was such a relief to make it to tonsina point at the end of the tidal trail. At that point you at least don't have to worry about the tide getting you, but to make it back to seward you have to do a 4 mile section through to woods. I decided to set up my hammock here and at least wait until it was light out to make the rest of the journey home. It was still pretty dark out. I was still scared about curious grizzlys but I was so exhausted that I fell asleep instantly and slept until 7am.
When I woke up I shot out of my hammock and started searching along the beach for the injured seal I had put on the beach last night. Where on earth could it have gone?! I searched through the tall grasses on either side of my hammock and frantically tried to remember where I had left it. I was going to be in so much trouble at work when they found out! It took me a good ten minutes of panic and searching for it to dawn on me that I am a completely insane human being. I had to sit back and seriously consider if I had selfishly removed the hurt seal from my hammock to the beach so I could lay in it. After careful consideration I decided, no. that doesnt make any sense at all. It must have been the remnants of a very strange dream.
When i finally got back to seward 4.5 miles later I was so exhausted. I slept all day until the start of my shift. but I made it on time!!  P.S. Mom if you are reading this I'm sorry that I did something not smart and dangerous but I promise I learned my lesson and won't do it again! :)

dark hiking. The tiny lights in the distance is Seward. It was a long journey

Finally set up my hammock, exhausted and still a little terrified.

Everything is so much less scary in the morning. what a nice place for a little nap.

Work has been slow lately because we have few animals and the ones we do have are on their way to being able to be released! I got a two hour break the other day that I spent making cookies with Maggie. We had a large amount of dough that didn't fit on the cookie sheet so we took it out to the parking lot to eat it in the sunshine. This is seemed like a perfectly normal thing to do but from an outside source we were two strange girls sitting in the parking lot with a ginormous pot between us eating out of it with spoons. 

For the past 5 nights I have been sleeping in my tent that I set up in the living room! Its been a good alternative to actual camping. and me and maggie spent the afternoon watching frozen planet in it to heighten the outdoor experience. I was offered an extension on the internship until mid september! I think I'm going to accept it! I love it here and I really don't want to leave yet!!