Auroravukku aroogaraa!!!

It has been a little over 2 months since I turned 50. After my 35th birthday, a bunch of people reminded me of my "mid life" point. Basic math then suggested that they expected me to live to 70 or thereabouts. A few months ago, was told that it is time to start doing things on the "bucket list" as this is a mid life point. On the one hand was happy to see that the logic of midlife had extended the 70 to past 70, but was also sad to see this bucket business. 

I am just happy on a 6 feet by 2 feet yoga mat (with at least an extra 3 feet on either side where my hands are, just to do a few yoga asanas that require stretching my hands out like an airplane). The idea of trying to list just a few things to go see or do, within a time frame seems to extend the rat race to outside of work and on to retired life and that did not sit well with me. All that said, I love to travel and will gladly experience new places. 

One thing that both me and San have wanted to see together in this lifetime is the Northern lights (Aurora Borealis). Our past plans were fails. Our friend in Iceland sees this from her window and has been asking us to visit, but we couldn't make a plan to go yet given other things that keep coming up. So we jumped at a chance to do a weekend trip to Alaska to see the lights. 

Going to the arctic circle in Feb to see the lights and back over a weekend, especially where you get two chances over two days (in case day 1 was a dud) was a good plan. We just had to take a Friday afternoon and Monday off. So far so good..

For the second time within a year we heard this statement "there is no bad weather, only bad gear!" and this time it was even more apt. We booked tours through Viator and the Alaska Wildlife guide for the two days. 

The weather in Fairbanks when we landed was -4 F. We did dress up in layers using the "32 degrees" brand we get in Costco which goes for thermals in "Northern California Winter".. ha ha ha.. The joke was on us! Northern California Winter is an oxymoron. It isn't really winter. 32 degrees doesnt work in -4 degrees. Regular new balance shoes with double socks... what were we thinking?

We landed, were picked up by the Best Western in a taxi and shortly after reaching the hotel and putting things in our room, were picked up within an hour to go 45 minutes north to more desolation. There was a heated shack where all the folks on the tour had a chair and were huddled around tables. There was hot cocoa for everyone. A TV on the wall which showed the lights from a point 20 miles north (kind of a one minute heads up) and some very passionate locals who gave us tips on how to take photos, how be safe outside etc. 

Aurora Pointe lodge does not have any living space. It is a warm room with two doors to run out take pictures and come back to warm yourself before running out again. There was also a restroom there, which was a blessing. 

The outside temp by 11:30PM when we reached the point was -9 to -10 F. Once there, one of the folks who work at the place runs in and says "It's happening" and also tells us "look at parking lot side" or "back of cabin side".. and all the photographers and models run out in a straight line to try and find a vantage point on the snow to take a few pictures and run back. You are lucky if you get even a few pictures. Nothing to do with the aurora.. it does its thing. Your face, fingers all freeze once you are out for more than 4-5 minutes. At that point, cannot find the button to click the photo. Forget trying to change any shutter speed or ISO settings.. You have to set it up inside the room, run out, click, run back in. If you walked further into the snow with New balance walking shoes and double socks which are already wet, good luck to you!

We did maybe 10 such runs in and out between 11:45 and 2 AM and got a bunch of shots. Here is another thing. You can get great shots of the Aurora, as it is pitch dark outside. The timer is usually set to 4 to 6 seconds to get these shots. The lights keep dancing around. It gets interesting if you have to be in the picture also! We literally have to "light paint" ourselves. I did this for the most part by using my iphone flashlight and taking it out of my pocket and shining it in our face towards the end of the 4 seconds, or if lucky asking another photographer to shine it on us just in time. Depening on their experience and how much their hands are shaking, it becomes an interesting photograph where you can see others folks in the background getting lit up as well. 

All said and done, wear snow boots if you go. Then you can wade further in the snow. Have double gloves where the inner one can still be used to touch screen controls (capacitive gloves apparently). Wear the right puffy jackets. If you have a camera with touch screen controls, even better! My camera is 12 plus years old and it was a challenge to use the set button to go to different parameters to adjust! 

One day to fly in, see the lights. If no lights, see them second day. That was the plan! We got lucky and were treated to an amazing light show by mother nature, the same night we landed. Once the moon came up at 2PM the shack closed. 15 minutes before that the lights were almost too faint and the buses and vans started leaving one by one. We were the last ones out of the place and we got to see the moon rise over the Aurora Pointe.

The highlight pictures are here.. 

We did not see any kids on this trip! Some teens who worked at the hotel but that was it. Mostly bearded men.. and a few women! Interesting demographic in this place!

this was the view inside the Aurora Pointe.. photo of me and my valentine... grow a beard they said..it will come in useful in Alaska they said... my beard wasn't Alaska grade.. my face still froze!

This was what we drove through to get to Aurora pointe..it was a very black and white world we were driving through till we entered the room..

The rest of the pictures are in this slideshow gallery!

It was a long day for us and we were happy to reach the hotel room by 3AM and just crash.. we used hand and leg warmers but still couldn't feel our toes and fingers and we woke up at 9AM and the sun was not out yet!

Finally a short video of our experience...

Our next day was equally adventurous and will write about it soon..

Banff- return with a few interesting stops

The previous post on this series is here..

We had started Friday afternoon to go from SFO to Calgary. We were coming back Monday afternoon. That meant we had half a day to spend on the return.

Given we were used to waking up early the last two days, we did the same on Monday, checked out and started driving towards Calgary from Banff.

First stop was Lake Minnewanka. We were pretty much the only folks there. We did a short hike around the lake and realized it was getting pretty hot and we were hungry.

There is a steam boat ride on this lake which is a family owned business (or so it appeared). When the family showed up, we started out of the park!

Our plan was to go to a place called Cochrane on the way to get ice cream at McKays. Every person we knew from this area had told us "do not miss this ice cream!"

Thing was that this shop opened at 10AM. We would be at least an hour early after we drove from Banff to Cochrane. We walked around the closed shops on what was the main storefront in this cute town and decided to have breakfast at a place called Sunny side up. The service was fast and the food and hot cocoa were excellent. We had managed to kill an hour. 

Then it was ice cream time! The folks were right. This ice cream was delicious. It was finished in record time.

We were still too early for our flight. The new friends we made at ink pots, had suggested that we check out downtown Calgary on the way back if we had time. They had mentioned something about a Rodeo and Cowboy festival called Stampede that we might see. 

We spent a good 15 minutes trying to find a parking spot. The whole place was festive! There were cowboy hat stores on the streets, everyone dressed up for the event, square dancing lessons on the street, etc.  

 

We spent a good hour walking around downtown, checking out what I thought was Canadian crows (turns out they were part of the crow family), enjoying the skycrapers.. and we said a quick goodbye and went to the airport!

A video of the morning..

This was a good vacation. I was hesitant to go on such a hectic trip, but San convinced me to go! Good thing I listened.  

We did get COVID the day after we landed and the next 10 days was a blank! Chances are we got it in SFO as masks were mandatory in Canada and optional in the US! 

I for one am glad that these posts are delayed. COVID put a negative touch to the whole trip, but looking back, the trip in itself was amazing and we had a great time! 

We will definitely visit Alberta again in a few years, just to go to Jasper National park and also spend a few more days instead of doing a "sampler weekend trip".

Now the blog has to catch up on a few more hikes we did locally! 

Banff Day3 - Sulfur Mountain and Sanson Peak

We went to Banff July 8-12! Hit a lot of spots, hiked 38 miles in 60 hours and the series of blog posts that were still pending never made it.. thanks to covid recovery, Half dome prep and hike, a sick kid at home, not to mention other major events that don't merit a mention here for weird reasons!

Finally getting to finishing that blog series (as I have to clean out photos on my iPhone) over the long weekend. The last post in this series is here..

We had already had a long day hiking in Lake Louise, Lake Moraine, Paradise creek, Johnston Canyon, Inkpots and now we were told that if we got lucky, we could go to the top of the highest local mountain in Banff downtown area called Sulfur mountain.. that too on a gondola. Then if there is enough time at the top, go hike to Sanson peak on that mountain range. 

San is my lucky charm. She has good parking karma! We managed to find parking at the gondola, get tickets right in time and were up and away! Once up there, we saw a bunch of folks walking to Sanson peak. That is a mile plus walk one way on a nice boardwalk that is set up. It has a lot of steps though. San was hesitant about us making it to the top of the peak and back, in time for our return Gondola. We had an hour and 20 mins at the top total and when we realized this hike was staring at us, 10 mins had gone by. 

We did make it to the top and back with 5 minutes to spare. San was super proud of me (let this blog remember that even if I don't, as such moments are rare) for making it after all that hiking. 

If you are in Banff, don't miss this. It is a literal copy of the gondola in Interlaken, Switzerland. In fact the gondola is made by the same company! The scenic beauty of Banff as you go up a fast gondola is amazing!

 

Did I already tell you about San's photo skills improving on this trip?

It was a long way down and up to Sanson peak.. after all that previous hiking in the day! It was also a hot afternoon..

They had a few restaurants in the four story building at the top (very similar to Interlaken) but they were very crowded and expensive. We didn't have the time to even get a chai there with the lines. In Switzerland, they do some crowd control, here they don't. 

The views along this walk were just amazing! 

All said and done, we had a great experience on Sulfur mountain. After this it was a quiet ride back to our hotel area, to the desi place for one last dinner. The Indian resturant did not disappoint. I asked for the paneer again and gobbled it up. If I visit Banff again, the number one reason might as well be the Paneer butter masala at the Indian curry house! 

guess it is lunch time as I am typing the blog... Back to Banff..this photo was taken in the middle of the road as we crossed. They block the main road so restaurants can seat folks outside for the evening. Great place to walk. Lots of flowers, decorations! Should visit this Christmas time if we go again!

A video of the Sulfur mountain experience.. 

Don't miss it!

The next morning, we made a few stops before getting back to Calgary airport. Every stop was interesting..

More to come..

Half Dome hiking experience

This weekend we finally made it to the top of Half dome. This was not the usual weekend hike. It was an experience. Something that will stay with me for a long time. Three years ago, would have thought this impossible.. thanks to COVID, the regular walks that turned to short hikes, the short hikes that turned to longer and longer hikes.. we eventually made it to this point! This is all thanks to the ladies who push their hubbies in our hiking group. 

We had the permit months ahead. We all had our ups and downs and last minute setbacks, but somehow things came to place for the most part and we made it. There were intense planning sessions, zoom calls, training hikes (Mission peak twice back to back, El sombroso in half a day, Black mountain with extra load etc.), but none actually close to the real deal. 

San always told me that she was not sure if I would make it to the top of Half dome.. but "if you make it past the sub dome, you will make it to the top". Heights was not an issue for me or almost rapelling down. The slow and steady climb for hours was the challenge. 

To top things off, the one day we left the kid alone at home, she got sick and we had to drive back as fast as we could.. after hiking for 15 hours, drove back 4 hours straight. Not sure if my legs are sending back signals to the rest of the body anymore.. they have gone on strike after the events of yesterday!

Usually this blog starts with pictures.. but this time, starting with a video of the entire hike.. stitched together from 10 second clips recorded at around every mile.. 

and now for pictures..

We got a glimpse of the golden face of Half dome as the sun set across it the previous evening. We were going to the top of this thing the next day! That realization was something in itself... we checked out the parking situation at the closest lot to the trailhead and decided it would be best to park there and start. Otherwise it would have added another two miles to our trip. The plan was to leave the Curry Village lodgings at 4AM, start hiking by 4:15. 

we were on plan!

The first two hours were difficult because it was very smoky. The air quality was bad at the lower altitudes. We just kept going. That is mars you see in the picture through the haze! It was a new moon day and before this early light, it was pretty dark.

As the sun came up, we were treated to amazing views and colors. We were already above Nevada falls by sunrise. 

Then the mosquitos came.. in numbers! They preferred me for some reason. Having learned that lesson from the Clouds rest hike, this time I was ready to turn into the mosquitos bride with a net around my face. 

You see the first light strike the half dome and realize how amazing, creation is! 

it is something !!

Took a lot of panos, but nothing topped this one from the golden hour!

Shortly after this we managed to take a wrong turn and instead of hitting Nevada falls, we ended up walking towards Illilouette falls! Luckily we realized we were on the wrong path and turned back. that added another 30 minutes to our effort.. but we laughed it off and kept going.

She keeps smiling like that, I can go hiking hour after hour.. and if you have a bunch of giggling ladies who lift up the groups mood, any hike is easier... (note .. I just said easier.. not easy!). The next two hours were a blur. Nothing eventful, no amazing views.. we were going to Yosemite village and it was a slow and steady climb. the group was slowly losing steam visibly, but we kept going.

Then we were at the start of the sub dome to show the ranger our permits and ID's. Every day only 300 folks are allowed up on the cables to go to the top. We did some rough calculations to see what percent of folks make it to the top of the sub dome, then make it to the top of the cables. If 2/3 reach, that is 200 people a day and the cables are open for a 100 days ? That is 20,000 people a year. They have an average of two fatalities on the last part or so we were told. We just didn't want to be part of that statistic. Tied up the shoes, took some electrolytes and off we went!

The sub dome is indeed the hardest part of this hike. It is a steep climb on rocks with a high risk of slips and falls. The camera never came out during this part. Was just reciting mantras (yes, that works) and kept going one step at a time. There are no photos of me clambering up.. here is my friend walking up the last part..

Correction.. two of my friends sent pictures of me on the subdome.. so here it is.. we go up this and then come down and up the horn sticking up on the top right!

Making it to the top of sub dome! For once the person who is considered the photographer in the group did not take enough photos but the rest of the gang did! Again, it is great to go with friends!

There is no trail anymore.. it is just a test of will power at this point. Once you climb up sub dome, you climb down a bit to reach the cables.

The cable section tests your fear of heights. Need gloves (preferably Gorilla gloves), but I just used the regular costco winter gloves. Many folks made it up and realized they didn't have gloves and were asking folks if they could borrow?!

You are going up a 60 plus degree slope with wire cables and a bunch of 2x4's on the floor every 8 feet to stop yourself. At one point there is no 2x4's and you have to rapell down a 20 foot stretch. Luckily for us there was not a big crowd here. Still there were two folks who held us up. A lady who went halfway up and got scared and just clung on to a pole and refused to move and a guy whose backpack ripped open halfway and hurtled water and gatorade bottles on the people below. A water bottle missed me by a few inches as it came down. You see the power of gravity as a water bottle hurtles so fast from above!

It is a good idea to leave backpacks below (however one of our friend's backpack got chewed on by squirrels as they tried to get the food inside! So there is no easy way out. Best to go with backpacks where the zippers don't give. Let's just say we got lucky!

Once there at the top, there is a flat open space and a ledge... this ledge is a photo op dream.. folks on the flat side can take pictures of the people on the ledge. So I gave the camera to San and went to the ledge. She started screaming.. everyone on the top probably thought I was on some kind of suicide mission. In any case, did take some pictures. I started trying a standing bow and there was a mini tremor from San's screaming from the other side a good 200 meters away. So backed off and came back to try yoga poses in the flat side of half dome. 

There was an actual conversation with a guy on the cables as we passed each other.. he asks me "what is a 60 day challenge?" and I explained it to him, while hanging on for dear life! Told him that is hard, but this is like doing a 60 day challenge in 15 days!  Of the twenty or so folks who were at the top with us, everyone was impressed with the yoga effort.. a bunch of folks even asked me if I taught yoga! I was in splits hearing that.. pun intended!

There was more screaming after that toe stand and I just had to come down..

Here are the highlight pictures..

that picture on the ledge was something!

then we started the long walk down. We had a good break to wait for water to filter for all of us. Almost all of us ran out of the 2.5 to 3 liters of water per person. I got an allergic reaction to something and my hands broke out in rashes as well as my inner thighs got all bloody thanks to allergies and sweaty wet clothes. Should have worn dri-fit clothes instead of cotton pants. That is a lesson for the future! 

We decided to walk on the mist trail for the last leg and see Nevada and Vernal falls on the way down. While it was a mile shorter, it was a lot harder coming down slippery steps. Next time (when there is one), we will come back on the JMT (John Muir Trail), the same way we went up. Longer is sometimes better!

Even with less water Vernal falls never ceases to amaze me!

We got back to the parking lot, knew that we had to rush back to a sick kid and didn't take a break. Just kept driving non-stop for 4 hours. San ate something and fed me while I was driving.. all the while trying to talk to the little one to make sure she was okay and had our neighbor come in and help. 

Made it before midnight. It is one thing to walk a few thousand feet for a few hours.. another thing to do it hour after hour for 15 hours. This graph tells it all..this is the most I have walked in a day since this health app showed up on the iPhone.. maybe the most in my life!

Now after that and 4 hours of non stop driving on windy roads in Yosemite and route 152, my legs are in bad shape. Have to rest, take it easy on the legs and recover for a few days!

All said and done.. this is something that I thought would be impossible in this lifetime. Thanks to all the yoga, the encouragement and support of the hiking group and the push from San, was able to make it. 

Fortunately, I am already recovering nicely and so is the little one. 

If you decide on going to half dome, no matter your age, do your research, plan well, get the right gear, train properly, go with the right group and you will enjoy the experience!

What next? We will wait for a few weeks and then ask ourselves the question!

Johnston Canyon trail to Ink pots - Banff highlight

The previous post in this series is here..

After visiting Lake Louise, Lake Moraine and doing the Paradise valley hike, we drove to Johnston Canyon. We knew what we had to do..

Hike to lower falls, then upper falls and depending on how we were doing at that time, go all the way to Ink pots. Given we had already hiked 6+ miles by then, this was going to be another 8 miles. Our decision was to go at a steady pace.

Lower falls came and went,

we cross the river and then go along it on a catwalk

There is a small tunnel you go through (there is a line) and you get to see the falls up close and personal..

Then we start towards upper falls. It is a decent, easy to moderate hike to Upper falls.  At this point the crowd has already thinned down and most people turn back..Upper falls is beautiful.. 

tried a few long exposure shots..

we walk to the top of the falls and then deviate from the river to go up the mountain range..

Ink pots deserves a blog post of its own, but given the rate at which I am able to blog, just going to write this as one long post..

you walk past Upper falls through a meadow with flowers that has an amazing vista!

Maybe 10% of folks go past Upper falls to Inkpots, as it is considered a hard hike. We had to go.. San for one actually offered to turn back, but I refused. It is not everyday I am coming to Banff, so off we went. 

The scenery that awaits you once you reach is worth it.. there are 5 to 6 pools of different depths which have different shades of blue and green because of the sediment and the depth of the pools.. the reflections of the mountains in the pools makes for amazing pictures.. I composed this shot and asked a college kid to take this picture.. my camera was on the floor at one end of the pool.. once she saw the end result, she requested me to take the same shot on her phone.. before you know it, there was a line for that!  San was impressed by my photo composing skills for once!

some more shots at this beautiful location..(you can see it in the video also)

we were really happy we did this hike! 

A video of the hike..

It was a hard hike only because it goes up and straight down to a valley to Ink pots. That means you climb up, climb down and up again on the way back. That saps you mentally. 

Fortunately for us, we met an amazing local couple who were senior to us, but do this hike regularly. We started talking to them and while San and Mr. Local started walking faster, I really hit it off with Mrs. Local and we just kept talking and walking. The last 4 miles was a breeze.. before we knew it, we were down and almost 30 minutes ahead of when we thought we will get down. Sometimes, a great conversationalist is all that is required to get me moving fast again! I didnt take a single photo on the way back. Just walked and talked. 

We really enjoyed their company and had lunch with them. We had packed parathas from Indian Curry house and they had their packed lunch. We decided to stay in touch and started driving back towards Banff. Our plan (which they thought was going to be luck driven, given parking and ticket availability) was to go to the Gondola and go up Sulfur mountain! 

More on that later.. 

This is a must see place in Banff.. the Ink pots is a hard hike, but don't miss it. Take enough water and pace yourself and go.. 

We made friends for life on this trip and that made it all the more special!