Last Day In Kodiak

I woke up this morning to a downpour. My bike ride in was an adventure, and I had to spend about 10 minutes in the bathroom at work getting mud off of all my clothing. It still amazes me that my bookbag can be splattered with mud just from riding my bike to work. It continued to rain all day until I left, then it stopped.

Today was mostly wrapping things up at work, getting everything printed off for my portfolio and wrapping up projects and things. I did get to make a Remicade IV, which was very expensive. An error would have cost us $2700 on that one. Yikes!

After work I talk with John for a while about hunting, then met Sam and some Kodiak residents down at the brewery for some goodbyes. Then Sam and I got Subway and I returned one of my bikes. Walking back the sun finally came out, as if bidding me farewell from this rugged island.

These are Wes's favorite flowers, which are planted at the neighbor's house:

A Surprise Adventure

Work is winding down a bit. We called a pharmacy staff meeting over lunch; John bought us all lunch and I gave my final case presentation. I'm going to miss the people but I won't miss the bike ride :-)

So originally I was going to take Katie up Three Sisters today, but then she couldn't go, so my game plan was to do some errands and maybe walk around Near Island a bit. At 5:00, however, Josh (one of the hiking guides from the weekend Audubon hikes) texted me to see if we were still doing Three Sisters (I had given him our schedule of planned hikes in case he wanted to go on one.) So even though it was just us he wanted to go, so we did. When we got up there he drove past the trailhead I had used last time and said that we were using a secret trail which goes around the mountain (the North Sister) up to the saddle between the North and Middle Sister. I thought this was very cool. Indeed it was one of the most beautiful hikes yet. We hiked up a stream which magically turned into a hunting trail fifty yards up. How ridiculous.

But what truly was ridiculous was the prominent ridge lines of mountains stretching out before us, their sharp peaks lining up so you could just about walk across them if you were proficient at tight roping. We glassed two deer during this hike, including one that was bedded down 400 feet below us on the way down. We also talked a good deal about deer hunting on the island. Once on the saddle btn the two mountains, we hiked up the Middle sister in 10 minutes just so I could say I got another peak. The is the really rocky looking mountain in my pictures. The view of the Ocean and the bays behind the green-soaked mountains is hard to describe and impossible to capture in photos. I gave up trying after realizing that the only way to really see how beautiful it is, is to go there and look at it with your own eyes, which makes it that much more special.
After hiking down from Middle Sister, we hiked up the North Sister from the back (West) side. Josh bet that we could do it in 15 minutes since we did the other in 10. Then he starts blazing up this mountain. It was not small or gradual either. So for the first time I start to feel I need to slow down for sake of jelly-legs and deep breathing. I do just enough to give him about a 30 foot lead, but and the end am not too far behind him, though I am huffing and puffing pretty hard. He gives me a high five and says, not bad, 11 minutes. Completely uncalled for.
On the way down, one more adventure to cross off my list. My left boot had a malfunction. The whole sole came off, probably from all the sideways cutting I've been doing to get down these mountains, but none the less, it was inconvenient. But we made it down by 9:30. I'm guessing between 4 and 5 miles in 3 hours, including some extended scenery gazing. But some of those miles were pretty intense. What an awesome night.

The Pyramid Challenge - Accomplished!

Today I hiked the final mountain on my list: Pyramid! Katie and Esther joined me for this excursion into the unknown. It started out uneventful enough. The description from the trail guide was correct: it was in fact, a heart-pumper. You come to expect that on Kodiak though. I had a blast hitting the peak with Katie, and watching the two ladies ski on the ice flows on their butts at high speeds. Also testing out bear spray (you never know when you might see one :-)) and eating chocolate was fun. The area was beautiful and I saw some mountain ranges I've never seen before. It's gonna be another late night though, and we're taking tomorrow off of mountain hiking. I've only got a few days left here! I'm sad because I've made some amazing friends here. Work was fun as well.. the Pharmacy Tech
who has been gone for a few weeks came back and I have had a great couple of days getting to know Margie and appreciate her sense of humor. I'm also getting lots of Vancomycin practice, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on how you look at it. Time to relax so I can get some sleep. I thank God He led me safely down another mountain today. It was a beautiful trip.

Anton Larson Bay

So starts my last week in Kodiak! I took a couple days off this weekend to rest and recover from the breakneck pace that I've been setting, and to prepare for the breakneck pace I'm planning on keeping for this coming week! Today Kathy, a nurse from work, took a couple of us out to Anton Larson Bay to see the area and walk a trail or two. It was pretty, even though the clouds were creeping a bit. The drive was also nice, as you could see many of the mountains I have hiked from different sides as we headed towards another part of the island.

Another Alaskan Adventure

This AAA was quite the adventure. After work I decided to test out my new bike by riding out to Monashka and having another go at the mountain. This time solo. It was hard finding the right trail to go the the mountain, but after some backtracking I finally found the lake that shows that you are there. I named it Beaver lake because something has been chewing all the trees down. Anyways then I got to start the climb. Pretty steep, but well worth it. It was clouding up, or else the view would have been one of the best I've seen yet, but it was still a great view.

As usual you could see all the whole mountain range from the top, though this time it was of the north side of the island. You could see Three Sisters which I hiked last weekend and the wind turbines on Pillar which is above my house. You could get a great view of the ocean from up here as well, which includes Termination Point, the northermost point you can access on the normal road system.

The way down was turbulent. It started raining and getting dark, so I had some trouble finding the correct trail to take me back where I wanted to go. After a couple of false trails, which led me down thick hills on nasty little bear-trails, I backtracked and found the right one. Seeing Beaver Lake was a joy as I knew I was within a mile of the parking lot. I was way more tired than I thought I'd be though, so I took the next day off, putting off hiking Sheritan Mtn and Pyramid Mtn until a later time.

A Hidden Blessing

Yesterday I had a plan. I was going to hike my third high level difficulty mountain in three days just because it was nice. I thought it would be so cool. Unfortunately it was not meant to be. I got off of work early, and as I left my bike tire started to rub on something. Ends up something on the wheel assembly (my bike isn't really a high quality job) was not holding up to all my riding, and the wheel had starting rubbing up against the actually frame of the bike! Rubbing so hard, in fact, that the wheel was bent and warped like it had been run over. So long story short, I ended up getting a new frame for my wheel just so that I wouldn't return it in crumbled shape to the lady I borrowed it from. Well today I took it on a test run and guess what? I couldn't get it to stay tight and it started rubbing again. I had to walk my bike home and didn't get to go hiking again. So today was looking to be chalked up as a bad one.

On a side note, I met a cheerful lady at the community picnic sunday, who I had told about the canned/pickled salmon I had been given by someone on a hike last week. She had become incredibly excited and told me she would exchange me two cans of salmonberry jam for my two jars of pickled salmon. I had tried the salmon last night and realized it was not for me. So after my bike fiasco today, I sat with an unridable bike in my driveway and lots of things I still wanted to do the rest of the week. Then I realized I had forgotten my canned salmon. So I called up Eleanor and told her she could have it. She drove over and gave me a can of blackberry current and a can of blackberry/salmonberry jam. Then I asked her if she knew anyone who would let me borrow a bike for a week. She called two friends and within 20 minutes I was riding a replacement bike home from a really nice guy with an Australian accent. When I picked it up, he gave Eleanor rhubarb and a bottle of wine and she gave him the rest of her jam. Such is the barter system I've decided is used for everything in Kodiak. Hence my trip has been salvaged, and I've met some more friends who among the most generous people I know. The day has in fact not been wasted, and can hardly be considered a waste.

The Big One

Today I hiked Barometer Mountain after work. To my knowledge, it's the toughest climb of any of the mountains that are accessible by the road system. My new friend Sam took myself and Pam from work down in his van. Pam is leaving this weekend, so she really wanted to get this hike in, and it was a great day for it. Unfortunately, one of the first things you learn trying to hike trails in Kodiak is that you should bring an experienced guide with you so that you can FIND the trails. They are rarely marked and even with my map they can be hard to spot. We wasted an hour on the bottom of the mountain trying to find the trailhead to take us to the ridgeline. Finally Sam called someone who told us where to go and we started our ascent.

I thought yesterday was a steep hike, but this one took the cake. It was a CLIMB. I actually used hands and feet on this one, though it wasn't really dangerous. The directory says only attempt it if you are very sure-footed and it is a nice summer day. After some serious calf-burning we made it to the top, where a family of Ptarmigan was waiting for us. There was also a cross from a kid who I believe fell from the peak last year and died. We found a jar with a journal of hikers and we all signed it. Thankfully I brought a dry shirt which I changed into before we went down. I'm running out of mountains, but I think I'll take a day off after this one :-)

Three Sisters Hidden in the Fog

Today was busy at work. We had alot of people admitted on IV antibiotics. I had to help recommend some Vancomycin doses. I also helped with a large amount of IVs.

After work, I met Jess and we went to Three Sister's Mountain on the north side of the island. It was so foggy we couldn't see the mountain and there wasn't really any well defined trailhead. By counting the turns in the road on my map, though, we were able to guess where the trail started. I was very happy when we found the correct trail, unlike yesterday. It was a vertical hike going about 1 mile in a linear plane, but it was anything but in a linear plane. It was a real calf-buster going up, but we were soon above all of the clouds and couldn't even see where we had come from. It rained lightly the whole time. I saw some brown speckled Ptarmigan on the way up, and as we hit the top the clouds moved out a little bit and we saw some real beautiful country. I hit the summit and attempted some nice pictures.

The way down was not only steep, but incredibly muddy, more of a controlled slide than a hike. But the feeling of satisfaction of finding an unmarked (oh yeah, it's not a marked trail on my map, but listed as unmarked) trail and coming back soaking wet was good. Tomorrow is Barometer, the top hike of many Kodiak lists. Can't wait!



Views from the Eastern most of the Three Sisters Mountains.
Bottom photo - A view of the lesser two sisters standing on top of the big sister.

Baptist Church Community Picnic

Today I went to Community Baptist Church. It was fun, and I saw my favorite hiking guide there. We are planning on hiking Barometer on Tuesday and he said he’ll probably come along now. At church they announced a community picnic at Fort Abercrombie, so my friend Jess offered to give me a ride. It was raining, but when we got there the rain let up and it was beautiful. They had three musical groups playing: One was a group of local native children with banjo-type instruments and they were awesome. Next was an amazing drum band. It only got better. The final act was a folk group who played Irish-like music and was from the local Russian Orthodox Church. They also sang some local fishing songs and Russian Orthodox traditional songs, and they rocked. During this we almost adopted a kid, who came over and sat on our laps the whole time. I also met about 6 people who I have met from around the village, included a news reporter named Sam who just moved here. It was pretty sweet eating fresh salmon and watching Scottish-like local music with the ocean and mountains in the background The food was amazing. I’ve never put salmon on hot dogs before, but it wasn’t bad. After the festivities were over, one of the organizers came over and gave me a foot and a half long Coho Salmon (Silvers as they’re called) filet. She said it had been shrink-wrapped professionally, but since they had thawed it out it had to be cooked tonight. So I had salmon baked with lemon pepper, dill, and onions for supper. Jess and I cooked it after we tried to hike up Monashka Mountain. Unfortunately we missed the point where the trail split and we got lost (a little bit). We eventually found our way back, after being on a trail we didn’t want for an hour or two. But the salmon was awesome and we have two mountain hikes planned for the next two evenings, because that’s when she has to turn in her car and we find someone else to drive us around for hiking trips.

Whales. Fishing. Fun.

So today John called and said we'd be going fishing. I ran down to Mack's, got my license, and we left for the great blue yonder. Before we left the sound, we stopped and jigged for bait fish, which in this case happen to be herring. I set the record for having 4 on my line at one time. After we filled up a bucket of herring, we went off to find some halibut. Halibut are bottom feeders and we were fishing with these circular hooks which allow the fish to actually catch themselves; you don't need to set the line when you get a bite. We had some octopus under the herring on the hooks, because octopus is tough and will stay on the hook no matter what. On the way we got some real beautiful views of the island from the water. I didn't really take many picture because it was wet and cold and windy, but the views were still amazing. We also got to see whales, some of which breached and came all the way out of the water and then flapped their tails at us! They were too far away for pictures with my camera but definitely not too far away to get a good view and realize how huge they are! Our fishing didn't turn out incredibly well. We only got a couple halibut, and only one was a keeper (10 pounds). But the good thing is that everyone else had plenty of fish already, so this one is coming back to Ohio with me! Start looking up recipes mom :-) It was such a cool experience fishing on those waters looking at the island that it didn't really matter to anyone how many fish we caught. The one I kept was small, but could still probably feed a family of 5 for at least a couple of meals!

Halfway done!

Today I was walking down the hall in the hospital and saw a bald eagle swoop down right in front of the glass window. I also made 4 IVs and did ER training on stroke meds. I'm excited because John said I can go fishing with him this weekend! It was a beautiful day, so I got out of work early, hiked to Spruce Cape, then watched Prince of Persia at the movie theater with a couple of friends. Good thing I didn't hike that much because I need to save up my strength for my Friday hike to Barometer Mountain after work tomorrow! I feel like halfway through my month I've already done everything I need to to make the trip a success. Well, I'm sure I'll be able to find more!

Today

Today at work things were a little hectic since we started a new barcode system hospital-wide today. We were constantly dealing with things not working and drugs not scanning for the nurses, so it was hard to focus and get things done.

After work I rode down to Buskin State Park (by the Buskin River). Anyday now I’ll be able to see and possibly catch salmon here. For now I wanted to explore the hiking and birding trails. It was ok and I actually did see quite a few small fish in the ice cold water. One jumped out of the water and about 5 feet downstream.

Then it was 7oclock and I though, well I still have 5 hours or so of good daylight, so I think I'll just hike up Pillar Mountain, which happens to be right behind my house. So I did, and got back by 9. Now I'm tired. If the weather holds out as beautiful as it has been, I might be set up for hiking 5 mountains in 5 days. We'll see :-)

Making the most of every day

My mindset on this trip has been to do something new every chance I get. Work was fun again today. I'm really enjoying this Hospital. The staff are one of a kind and John is an incredible manager. He is laid back and always respectful with how he treats the staff, but his obsession with quality assurance is amazing. Today he took an hour to take the whole pharmacy staff down to the ER room and run us through pretend codes. He gave us situations and had us rush to find the drugs, get them ready, state how we would find information. He even brought IV bags down for us to practice using the smart pumps and prime tubing. Tomorrow we are doing it again with heart attack drugs. I also was able to make the pre-chemo nausea IV for our chemo patient. I got a gold star from the nurse upstairs when I caught an intolerance to NSAIDs that wasn't noted in the chart and discontinued the patient's ibuprofen. A small thing, but it would be big if you were the patient getting sick in the hospital due to a mistake like that.

After work I rode over to Fort Abercrombie again to explore some more trails. I went on the Loop trail around Lake Gertrude and watched some sea gulls swooping around and around about 4 inches off the water. I also got passed by a lady with a loud bell on her back pack. If they scare bears away they work. I wanted to get as far away from her as possible! Then I caught the Piedmont Point trail. There were some cool bunkers on the coast. Then I went back, hiked to this ampitheater on the other side of the trail and came back on the 2nd half of the wildflower trail that I didn't finish last time. I think my favorite part about Alaska is that you can be driving on the road, and if just get out and hike a few hundred feet inland, you are in middle of the wilderness. It really doesn't take long to get somewhere exciting.

Week 2 at Work

Today was a good day at work. I didn't sleep real well due to my sunburn and sore muscles, but I still got up and rode my bike to work a little early. Today I gave a case presentation, worked with one of the pharmacists named Mort to make IVs, and then did calculations for a chemo dose. In between these things and some of the clinical following, I'm trying to help out John with some of the P+T decisions for the pharmacy. Well it looks like we have another couple days of cool weather, so for now I'll work so I can fully enjoy the sunshine when it comes!

Exploring God's Creation and a BEAR!

Today was the perfect day, the kind that makes one fear he may fall in love with Alaska. Blue skies and sunshine for the entire day: almost unheard of until today. Highs rose to around 70 and the sun is still blazing forth as I write this at 9pm. I started my day out by listening to last week's sermon from LCCN on Consumerism. Walking down the the Visitor's Center for today's big hike (6 mile roundtrip but a 4/5 on difficulty), I realized I was the only one who showed up besides Josh, the guide. He also informed me that he had to go to work at 1, so would be leaving early. Seeing as the trailhead was 12 miles outside of town, I suggested we throw my bike in his truck so I could go the rest of the way up after he had to leave, then endure the ride home on such a majestic day. Arriving at the trailhead, we did meet a girl named Jessica, who was waiting to go hiking with us, as well as 3 middle aged folks from Kodiak who were hiking to the top on their own.

The mountain was Kasheveroff. It made you feel like you were really hiking in Alaska. It was a fairly steep vertical trek. Jessica, Josh and I took the lead and blazed up to the 2 mile mark in about an hour, which was almost all uphill. The view was amazing, but our guide had to leave, so we bid him goodbye and waited for the other group to catch up. When they did, we took the final road to the top. Most of the way it was a 4-wheeler trail, which then turned into a stream trail which turned into a large slope of snow, which gave way to a rocky slope to finally reach the summit. All around the view was amazing from the top, revealing a wide open landscape full of vegetation and snowy mountain crags. Alaska is truly beautiful, but it is a really harsh type of beauty. You feel as though you don't belong there, but as a visitor you can be inspired and amazed by God's creation. It is motivating and refreshing, but when you are done soaking it all in, you realize that you still have work to do elsewhere, and you can't sit up here and spoil yourself with this glory forever.































From the top you could look around and see all the highest ranges from that side of the island, as well as all of the towns and bays. With binoculars I could see my house 12 miles away. It was getting late, however, and I wanted to get to a nearby coffee shop/sandwich place called Java Flats before 3pm when they close. We started the descent and went about 3 times as quickly as we did going up. Jessica and I were down in front because she also had to be at work by 3. She was a college senior who is working at the Marine Research Center on Kodiak for 2 months on a scholarship studying Blue Crab behavior. We were just walking along and talking when I heard her scream. I looked up just in time to see a juvenile Kodiak Bear about 30 feet in front of us on the trail. A young bear, but not young enough to be with it's mother (thankfully), it still reached about six feet while standing on two feet (according to Jess). I only looked up in enough time to see it bounding down the trail on all fours and hop into the weeds to disappear. My heart was racing because they are much bigger and more rugged than you would think and we knew we were in its territory. We talked in loud voices and waited for the rest of the group to catch up before we made it down to the parking lot (only about 300 feet away from the bear spot). After the hike I still had 12 miles to ride to get back to town, but it was a beautiful day, so I didn't mind too much.

I stopped at a place called Java Flats a mile from the trailhead. I had heard good things so I went in. The coffee shop had everything, and everything looked amazing. It is one of those places I could see myself going every single day, if it wasn't 10 miles away. A ranch burger on Jalapeno Cheese Bagel with Watermelon iced tea hit the spot for some reason. The peanut butter hot chocolate and home brew coffee also looked (and smelled) amazing. Prices weren't bad either. The 10 miles back were pleasant and gorgeous. I stopped at a couple of rivers to see if the salmon were running yet. Word has it pink salmon will be filling these streams up in a week or so. Fishing for them is not to get them to bite, but rather to try to snag the hook into their mouths, but they will be in so incredibly thick that I may even try my luck. I think this ride is where I got my terrible lobster sunburn today :-)

After resting at home for a few, I just could not get over how nice the day was. Ignoring a blister the size of Sarah Palin's house, I got Taco Bell and rode another 5 miles up to Fort Abercrombie, an old Defense post on the coast, built in WWII in response to the Japanese threat. They had 8mm guns and bunkers, which were cool, but nothing compared to the majesty of the ocean and rugged rock formations jutting out into the sparkling water. A couple of free spotting scopes are on the coast for bird and whale watching. What a neat place. I took lots of pictures, and hiked another mile or two, then rode my bike back to the B&B. That makes almost 12 hours of exploring today. I'm pooped. But it was worth it.

An Alaska Hiking Adventure, Part 1

Today I went at 9:30 on an Audubon sponsored hiking trip to Heitman Lake and Peak. While waiting for the guide to arrive, I met my hiking partners for the day. Katie was a 29 year old girl from Savannah, GA who was working at the hospital for a few months on travel assignment, as was Pam, a lady from work who is from North Carolina, and an older couple from Orange County was there after their fishing charter had been canceled due to bad weather. When our guide Josh arrived we headed to the trail head. There we discovered a group of about 12 children with their parents who we would be hiking with. The trail was uphill through mud, essentially just hiking through a stream. It was two miles to the lake, then we left the kids behind and several of us hiked the remaining mile and a half to the peak. It was a lovely view, even though the weather was overcast and fog was moving in on us. We saw several Sitka black deer from fairly close up, one of which I took a picture of from a distance. These deer are generally smaller than the ones we get in Ohio.















A deer hidden in the bush. My hiking group.

After the hike we headed back and I went to the Channel Side Chowder house for a bowl of seafood chowder and a cheese roll. Good stuff. Afterwards I met my hiking partners at the Kodiak Brewing Company to meet and chat with some locals. I met one man who gives ATV fishing trips and teaches you to catch salmon in the stream with a fly rod. I might call email him and set something up. I'm pretty exhausted today but I might try to go on the bigger and tougher hike to Kashevaroff Mtn tomorrow.

Working at PKIMC

Lately I've been getting used to being a pharmacist in Kodiak. The people here are incredibly kind and the hospital staff are incredible. I've been spending the last couple days getting trained up on hospital life, learning how to make IVs and work the Pyxis machine. I've also been keeping up on each patient in the center and going over their charts daily with John, talking about what is going on and what we should be watching out for. I've also been working on some projects. Today I spent a decent portion of my day preparing a report of drugs to discontinue before surgery for the hospital's main surgeon. After work I went on a bike ride, bought some rain pants (yesterday I rode to work in the rain and spattered my pants with mud), and went on a walk by the pier after supper. Supper was interesting. We had a coastal version of curry, something Suzi's roommate had made in college. Looking forward to going on a couple of big hikes this weekend; hopefully the weather holds out...















Plaque beneath giant bear statue. A pretty view from the dock.

First Day at PKIMC

I started work today. Orientation took a good portion of the day, then I got to meet the Pharmacy staff. I think I'm really going to like John. This should be a good rotation. First days are exhausting though. That with the cloudy weather had me feeling like staying in tonight. My bike ride is insane in the mornings. About a mile straight up this monster hill. I don't even need coffee in the morning now. Wes caught some fish today while we were at work and we had that for supper with some greens. Nothing like fresh rockfish with homemade tartar sauce. Mmmm. Mmmm. I think he said tomorrow we are having Lingcod, another kind of fish he caught.

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I found this on my cell phone and just had to put it up. When I was sleeping in the airport last Friday night, this guy was sleeping on adjacent bench behind me, curled up with his dog. The funny part was that you could never tell which snoring sounds came from which creature. Creepy, but funny.

A Day to Explore...

{For those wanting my address: 312 West Rezanof, Kodiak, Alaska 99615 - they don't take packages to the house though, so those need to be mailed to Wes's PO box: PO BOX 8983, Kodiak AK, 99615}

Today I decided to try my luck exploring the island by myself. I walked around the high part of town to try to find the road to Pillar Mountain. It’s the mountain that goes up behind my house, and I’d like to try to hike the 2.5 miles straight up sometime when I feel ambitious enough. Unfortunately the rode was under construction today. Instead I rode around town a bit getting my bike dialed in, then rode out to Near Island to explore the backside of it.

I had a great time walking along the rocky coastline. I saw some interesting birds and plants. I also found the place where seaplanes land; they were flying in right beside me and splashing into the water.

Later in the day the sun came out for an amazing afternoon. I just had to get back outside so I rode back over to Near Island and hike the other side. I took the long trail on accident and pretty much did a loop around the whole island. The views from the edge of the trail were just breathtaking (Check them out on my Facebook page - If you don't have facebook I'm going to try to get it made public and put the link on her). Unfortunately I could not find the shorter trails and kept picking the long ones so I was out there for several hours. Suzi had warned me about what she called 'vagrant fishermen', or guys who came here to seek fortune in fish, which was not as fruitful as they hoped, so for the summer they were living in tents down by the ocean. It turns out she was telling the truth, as I happened upon one of these tents. I was too scared even to think to take a picture, so I crept away quietly.

Upon returning home we had falafel for supper. We ended the night with a game of pinochle, which I WON!!! Thanks to Pete for all those lessons. I start work tomorrow with my orientation, but I'm not too worried; the folks at Providence seem very nice.