He’s baaaack. Back where it all started, BIG WILD beautiful ALASKA! 5 years ago, my run journey began in Anchorage. Marathon Numero Uno. Saturday in Juneau, targeting #124. Whatta life adventure – 50 States, 4 Canadian provinces, 5 continents.
Predawn flight outta Denver, 2-hour connection in Seattle, Juneau arrival just after noon. Lyft ride downtown (no rental car this trek), hotel check-in, bag drop-off (backpack/extra run shoes/travelled lite) – much too early to settle in, plenty of daylight hours to explore. Summer sunset in the Great White North not ‘til 10pm, up again before 4am. Nothing free airline eye-shades couldn’t fix 😊
Juneau, Alaska’s official state capital but as residents will tell ya, everything happens in Anchorage. More than 40% of the state’s sparse population reside in Alaska’s largest city. Juneau’s a former GOLD rush town. Large Inuit population, the Tlingit, still call the peninsula home. Lotta Russian influence too, Alaska’s caretakers ‘til 1867 ☭ 🇷🇺
Another unique trait? No roadtrippin’ here. By air or by sea ONLY.
BIG, WILD, primitive & GREEN. Surrounded by mountains, closer to British Columbia than mainland Alaska. Scoped out lunch/early dinner options on my walk to the Tramway. Ticket please. UP UP UP Mount Roberts, lift every 30 minutes.
Top of the tramway: restaurant, gift shop AND a trailhead. Just 2 hours in Alaska, already found myself a hike. BESTEST views of Juneau & Gastineau Bay.
LUSH vegetation, mountain flowers, BALD EAGLES & bugs. Crazy HUMID too. POWER HIKED UP, movin’ fast/protecting my blood supply from insect vultures. Whole lotta, whole lotta going on. Limited to only four months of temperate weather – live, breed & die.
Father Brown’s Cross, Gold Ridge, Gastineau Peak. Snapped my scenic shots & trail-ran returned. Felt GREAT to RUN.
Bathroom splash bath, cooled-off watching a documentary ‘bout the local Tlingit’s Raven & Eagle clans. Crab bowl at Tracy’s King Crab Shack (gotta/hafta/must); SPRUCE TIP ice cream for dessert. Voted Juneau’s BEST Ice Cream – how could I go wrong?
Tomorrow’s kayak/crampon-hike itinerary: Mendenhall Glacier ❤️
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- diggin’ the summer temps
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- UP UP UP Mount Roberts
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- Tlingit totem
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- BIG, WILD, primitive & GREEN
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- Father Brown’s Cross
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- Gastineau Peak
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- downtown Juneau
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- Alaskan King Crab
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- Native Soldier Memorial
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- Lady Baltimore
Mount Roberts Trail, Juneau
SUPER Saturday: Bozeman ➜ Yellowstone ➜ Earthquake Lake ➜ Ennis Montana.
Fishing lodge check-in (closest sleeps to Sunday’s marathon finish). Dinner bit of a struggle. Folks arriving Friday nite cleaned out much of the local restaurants’ provisions. Out of box pasta? Bigger surprise. Montana’s TROUT capitol – completely outta TROUT. Sad face ☹
Early to bed, early to rise. Exxon Pump Station 5:15am. Bib pick-up, hopped aboard a school bus. Hour-15 minute ride over dirt to today’s Big Sky start. High in the mountains: elevation 8,560ft. Steep decline first 15 miles; steady flat run followed, past multiple cattle ranches to Ennis.
Scenic MONTANA, surrounded by peaks & mountain flowers; mirror-similar to Colorado but with biting flies. Pre-race coated with insect repellent, kept the majority at bay (big RD thanks).
‘America the Beautiful’ acapella-sung by a Boston-based runner. Unexpected & super patriotic.
Small marathon field, under 100. 50-50 mix of locals & out-of-state participants (destination location/Yellowstone hour-half away). Stayed close to 2 runners from Helena. Pushed too hard too early, but mighty good to have company. They ended at 13 (Halfers); quick goodbyes, I ran on.
Struggled ALL second half. Sad Strava stat: 12-minute/pace miles 15 thru 20.
Temp cracked 85 degrees, personal puke fest started at 23. Tough day at the office. Heat staggered this one in – but a finish. Frown upside down: afternoon soaked at nearby Norris Hot Springs.
Sunday nite HOME, out again Thursday morn. Next adventure: Alaska! ⛰️🐻🐟
4th Annual Big Sky Marathon – Final Results 2018
Event Location: Ennis, MT 59729, USA
625 K R HAGA Full Male 5:37:23.6
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- Welcome to Bozeman!
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- Montana’s TROUT capitol
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- peaks & mountain flora ❤️
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- temp cracked 85 degrees, tough day at the office
Geyser Day 2018, Montana Take 2.
Paid registration for Sunday’s marathon once before. 2016 was a marathon no-show. Whole lotta puking that summer/didn’t stop a family vacation with Ash & Tom though. Rode horses in the Tetons, bear watched in West Yellowstone, geyser-gazed for 2 days in USA’s first National Park. Ever dependable Old Faithful: filmed its eruption, ate lunch in the Lodge. AWESOME LIFE memories.
Fast forward two years. No cancer, no 10-hour monster ride to Wyoming. Hour-15 direct flight to Bozeman. Marathon Eve plans? Yellowstone NEW. Whole section of geysers never seen on the Montana border. Same GREAT Park, NEW life adventure 😊
7am wakeup, FREE hotel breakfast, MT Highway 89 South to Gardiner. Crossed under Roosevelt Arch, Yellowstone’s North Entrance. Dedicated in 1903, this was the Park’s origin – directly across from Fort Yellowstone, established to protect the Park. Quick stop at Albright Visitor Center (ya’ll know I dig museums), then moved the rental forward another half-mile to Mammoth Hot Springs.
How have I NEVER visited Mammoth Hot Springs before? WOW, WOW, WOW! 2 mile hike-about. Naturally-formed terraces of crystallized calcium carbonate. Reminiscent of Death Valley’s salt flats. Walked the perimeter to Canary Springs before looping back.
Time check: 3 hours. Old Faithful & Grand Prismatic Spring, tops on my list.
Walked right up & watched Old Faithful spew. Not the front row seat I secured 2 years ago – but the timing, mighty perfect. Ya can’t visit Yellowstone & skip the Main Event, duh. Gotta/hafta/must experience EVERY time. Remarkable force of nature.
‘BEST of’ finale: Grand Prismatic Spring, an eye candy WOWser & my Park personal fave. “Named for its striking coloration, the Spring’s colors match the rainbow dispersion of white light: red, orange, yellow, green, and blue.” It’s a CAN’T miss.
Yellowstone 2018. No regrets; saw something old, saw something new. LOVE LOVE our National Parks ❤️
Drive to Ennis — spotted a BRAND NEW Visitors’ Center (Gallatin County MT). Earthquake Lake. Unplanned stop/didn’t know its story. Trees & rock from the seismic mountain collapse (blocking the Madison River/forming Earthquake Lake), creepily still crest water’s edge, stand trapped/barren/dead today. Well done retelling of events (actual pics & video).
Lodge check-in, early sleeps. Marathon eve. School bus road-trippin’ in the morning 🚌
Story of Earthquake Lake
It was near midnight on August 17th, 1959 when an earthquake near the Madison River triggered a massive landslide. The slide moved at 100 mph and in less than 1 minute, over 80 million tons of rock crashed into the narrow canyon, blocking the Madison River and forming Earthquake Lake. This earth- changing event, known as the Hebgen Lake Earthquake, measured 7.5 on the Richter scale. At the time it was the second largest earthquake to occur in the lower 48 states in the 20th century. Twenty-eight people lost their lives in the event.
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- Roosevelt Arch (1903)
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- Fort Yellowstone (1891)
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- Mammoth Hot Springs
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- dormant Liberty Cap
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- Minerva Terrace
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- crystallized calcium carbonate
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- Canary Spring
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- Old Faithful
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- every 90 minutes
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- discovered during the Washburn Expedition of 1870
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- Midway Geyser Basin
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- Excelsior Geyser Crater
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- Grand Prismatic Spring
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- US’ largest hot spring
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- ‘brilliantly colored’
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- created by tragic West Yellowstone earthquake (1959)
Geyser Day 2018
