I think that's Sarah!

Unfortunately, no, that was not Sarah...but maybe if you squinted it would look like her. Since my last posting I've put on quite a few miles. Once my trip began and all the kiddies flew in to Anchorage, we went on a 10-day backpack in the Talkeetna mountains that are Northeast of Anchorage. We had some HARD days! But, as usual, a combination of beautiful scenery, incredible map reading skills, gentle cooperation from the weather gods, and a few rugged good-looks from the leader combined for a great trip. The mountains are amazing there. Big, rocky things with lots of green, soft tundra.
It's perfect for walking around. Not too many big river crossings, some beautiful lakes, a few caribou. I would definitely recommend that everyone visit, although there is not much Sport climbing...sorry.

At the end of our backpacking trip, we were supposed to raft the Chickaloon river, but a participant got sick and I flew out with him on the bushplane that our rafts and guides flew in on. It was pretty cool to see the river from above, unfortunately, no pics.

We then drove 8 hours to McCarthy, AK to go glacier trekking in Wrangell - St. Elias national park. It's hard in to write about what Alaska looks like, because it is generally awesome, rainy, and extremely beautiful. So here are some photos instead:


We also did a little ice climbing. Very fun to not be freezing cold in NH in February. I'm the one in green. They missed taking a picture of me doing sweet climbing moves I learned from watching Vertical Limit.
After some ice climbing fun, we headed to Prince William Sound to go sea kayaking. Well, so sea kayaking isn't exactly whitewater, but its fun. I guess. It helps when its a beautiful place with otters poking their heads up next to you, whales cruising by, and bald eagles catching fish right in front of you! (no joke, coolest thing I've ever seen. We were cruising by the coast and this huge Baldy comes flapping over and next thing I know, right in front he snags a fish and flies back to shore. They have huge legs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS-FoXbjVI&feature=related ). The cool part of Prince William Sound is definitely the glaciers. They calve (ice falls into the water) all the time and are really cool looking. Paddling through the icebergs is a little nerve-wracking, but also really fun.

We camped at the most amazing black sand beach. It was right next to a glacier that was calving constantly. Isn't it supposed to rain in Alaska?

It was hard to believe that our 35-day Alaskan adventure was over and that we'd have to return from the Last Frontier. I returned to Jackson, WY to clean and organize stuff for the boss-man and reunited with Noah, Tom, Max, Marika, and Richard (6 Dartmouth peeps?!) who were all leading trips for the same company. At the end of the wrap-up, we went out. Flaming Dr. Pepper's were led by Tom, Noah, and myself. We did good. Max dropped a beer on Marika's foot. Older people complained of head ache's the next day because of those "stupid flaming drinks". We did good.

I then got a ride to Salt Lake City where I met up with a friend from Chicago, Matt, who is now living in Park City and studying at Utah. We went mountain biking which is SUPER AWESOME, but hurts the grundle real bad. Once we couldn't mountain bike anymore (2 days), we went on a 3 day backpacking trip to the Uinta's Wilderness in Northeastern Utah. It is so beautiful everywhere, I love it. We climbed the highest peak in Utah, King's Peak. Tough, but very rewarding.

Red Castle:
King's Peak. Grrrr.
It was a great trip and an unforgettable summer. Soon I'll be headed back to Chicago to play some hoops with Obama and afterward I'll be going on tour starting in New York the last week of August.