The Eklutna Lakeside trail

The Eklutna Lakeside trail is 13 miles long with its designation, Eklutna Glacier. You can go beyond this point for longer hikes or whitewater rafting. Around 1995 I decided to hike the trail to the glacier. I also decided to carry as little as possible so I left my sleeping bag and tent at home and took a small pack with survival basics such as food, water and rain gear, though water was plentiful since the trail follows the lake for seven miles.

I had two days to do his hike even though it is recommended for almost twice that. I started out early Saturday morning walking briskly enjoying the warm (60 degrees) summer day and loving the back country with the mountains and lake near by.

Many bicyclists passed me as they scampered down the trail but I don’t recall seeing many hikers. Certainly I did not see any hikers near the end of the trail a half marathon away.

A half day later I was making excellent time though time was rather irrelevant to me at this at this moment. I was enjoying my time hiking in the state I loved and also enjoying my time alone away from the job at The Frameworks were I was a professional picture framer.

I didn’t stop much for breaks and come nightfall, if you can call it that at this time of the year in the land of the midnight sun, I decided to sleep for a while. As I said, I didn’t have a sleeping bag or a tent. I built a fire near the lake and heated up a bunch of large rocks which I buried in the sandy, rocky soil. I put on my rain jacket and pants and then laid on top of my warm bed to catch some much needed zzzzz’s.

I don’t remember how long I slept but I think it was just 3 or 4 hours. So since I wasn’t sleeping, I could be walking and that I did. Now it’s early in the am and I’m the only one on the trail. I didn’t see any large animals such as moose or bear- Just me, myself and I.

I finally made it to the glacier and boy was it worth it. Beautiful! I was also dead tired and my feet hurt. About a quarter mile from the glacier was a large bolder about 10 feet long and just as high. I decided that this was a great place for a nap and to break the morning chill. I built a small fire and lay between it and the boulder. It was nice and warm and evidently cozy because I feel fast asleep with my head on my backpack as a pillow. I think I got another four hours of sleep. I’m sure any approaching bikers may have thought that there was a bear beside that bolder growling because I’m known to be a loud snorer, especially when I’m very tired, and I was very tired.

I woke and ate a meal and decided it was time to head back to complete my marathon hike. My feet began to hurt a lot. I think I bought them a half size too small and with the swelling from the hike my puppies were barking. In desperation I tried walking barefoot. Nope, these wimpy feet couldn’t take that. I then tried with just socks-better but still a no go. I then stuffed my socks with leaves which helped but the leaves would not stay on the bottom of my feet and would work their way to the top.

I knew I would just have to tough it out so I put my boots back on. I’m sure my pace was half what it was the day previous not only from sore feet but from pushing myself so hard the day before. I was all but running the first day and back then I had a fast pace for walking and since this trail was mostly flat the whole way it was easy terrain.

I finally made it back to my car and was glad to be off my feet but not off the trail. I would have liked to go on like this for another week (with better boots) but responsibilities at home prevented that. I had a great time though and would recommend this hike or bike ride to anyone.

1980 Worldwide Security Polices Marksmanship Matches

Growing up in Iowa I spent a lot of time in the woods usually with my trusty Crosman pump-up pellet rifle. I was a pretty good shot with it and it feed me many lunches out in the woods- anything from squirrels to a sparrow: Yes I said Sparrow. I only pumped it up twice (normal is ten pumps) and only wanted to hit it. I ended up killing it and felt so bad I knew I had to eat it so the life wouldn’t be wasted. It was pretty tasty-both bites of it. I killed a mouse that way too. I didn’t eat it though.

I guess all the time in the woods shooting helped me when I joined the Air Force as a young Security Policeman because every time I shot the M16 rifle I scored expert. So when the announcement came for tryouts for the 21st Security Police team, I jumped at the opportunity.

The shooting consisted of M16 and .38 pistol at various yards and positions- I had never shot a pistol in my life. After some excellent instruction from SSGT Mizelle http://www.odmp.org/officer/9453-patrol-officer-louie-gordon-mizelle (who later was killed on duty as an Anchorage Police Officer) and SSGT Kilgore I shot all the matches very well. I had to place in the top five for first term airman to be able to compete for a position on the Elmendorf AFB team and if I qualified I could try out for the Alaskan Air Command team. I placed third with both rifle and pistol. Not bad for my first time out.

A few weeks later I tried out for the Alaskan Air Command team and also placed third in rifle and pistol. This let me advance to the worldwide competition at Lackland AFB, Texas competing against all the various commands and even a Canadian team.

I felt like royalty because we were given new jackets and hat with the AAC (Alaskan Air Command) logos and the base commander had us flown to Eielson AFB, Fairbanks, Alaska in his private eight passenger plane to where we hopped on a KC-135 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_KC-135_Stratotanker that was flying straight to San Antonio on a mission.

The KC-135 is an in-flight refueling plane-basically a flying gas tank. It was cold and noisy in the body of the plane with the typical military decor, that being very basic...and green. About half way the in-flight refueling mission was cancelled so I got to lay down where the boom operator lies and view the earth as we flew over it. Later I was invited to the cockpit. That was cool. The odometer was like what we have in our cars but the miles rolled by instead of tenths of miles.

It was a long flight but I loved it. We arrived and settled into our quarters. The next few days were spent on the range in practice. What more does a guy need-shooting all day…for free, courtesy of the taxpayers, with his buddies. That was man heaven on earth.

On one particular shooting season we were in the prone position at 100 yards. My shots were all over the target, which was very unusually for me. They usually clustered tight at center mass. After viewing my target I figured out what happened. The guys on either side of me were shooting at my target on purpose. The next time I shot for the head instead of the chest and sure enough, upon checking my target I had a nice tight group in what would have been the forehead of a man. The rest of my target looked like it was shoot with a shotgun. We all got a good laugh out of that.

Later that evening I was initiated onto the team by glasses of beer being poured over my head. I don’t even drink! I felt accepted though so it was great. Even the Lieutenant was an active participant in that one.

Another bonus for me was that my mom drove from Tucson to watch me shoot. I was one of the only guys that had fans… well, a fan. She got to meet all my co-Security Policemen in Alaska and even spent evenings with us bowling or just going out to eat. She got close to SSGT Mizelle too and they both gave each other a hard time which was just like my mom and Louie. It was not embarrassing to have my mom there at all and in fact I think some of the other guys were jealous.

The competition lasted two days. The first day was M16 and the second, .38 special. Overall I did pretty good placing about 21st place for both rifle and pistol. I also beat both of the guys that messed with my target. He, he.

This was the last year for the Security Police marksmanship competitions. They changed it to a format that reflected more of what a Security Policeman does everyday. It was one of my greatest memories. My success on the marksmanship team led to being asked to be the number one marksman/sniper on the EST-Emergency Services Team http://www.americanspecialops.com/emergency-services-team/ that they were forming. It was a special operation unit similar to civilian SWAT. I had two jobs on the team. My main job being a sniper and secondary, when snipping was not practical, was in the number two positions on the entry team. The first guy went left; I went right to sweep the room.

Oh the memories.

Mike and Tony’s Big Adventures

Adventure 1

I love to ride horses and ride any chance I get. As a teenager I use to go to the stables near Sugar bottom in Iowa where I grew up to ride. This particular time I took Mike Daniels with me. I didn’t know if he had ridden before but I was about to find out.

The beginning of the trail was fine with no major incidents. Then Mike had to get off his horse because it let out so much air from its stomach that the saddle was getting loose and starting to list to the side making Mike list with it. He did what he could to adjust it with a little success. As he was attempting to get back on his horse it moved to the side, as Mike followed, it stepped on his foot.

So here is Mike trying to move this heavy horse off his foot in much pain. I tried not to laugh- I was unsuccessful. After a few attempts he finally succeeded and he mounted to get on our way. A little time later we had a nice flat opening so I decided this was a good time to race Mike.

I took off galloping at full speed with a good lead. As I was holding on, getting in my grove of the horse, behind me I hear a yell, “Awwwww!” Then a sound that sounded like a sack of potatoes being thrown to the ground. Thump! As I turned to my right to see what it was a horse came flying by me without rider or saddle. That was Mike’s horse.

Yep, that thump was Mike and the last half of the trail for him was a hike. Luckily he was not seriously hurt. I don’t know if he ever got on a horse after that.

Adventure 2

Mike and I often rode our bicycles all around Iowa City as kids and young teenagers. On this ride we were heading to the Coralville damn which was quit a long ride from our houses. He was on his Schwinn Sprint and I on my Schwinn Varsity and it was probably at least twenty miles out to the damn. All was well until we were riding along side the Iowa River across from City Park. For some reason, Mike crashed into one of the poles on the side of the trail. I guess that was the good part because if the pole had not stopped him the river would have.

So we continued on. About five miles further we were on a narrow bike path shared with runners and walkers. As Mike rode by a walker with his dogs he got tangled in the leases bringing himself to a quick stop.

We finally made it out to the dam with no further problems and Mike still on this side of the living. A little busied up maybe but still among the breathing.

The tree, and the Playboy Magazine

"With the thinking of a grade school boy which itself can be a swirl of confusing thoughts sees pictures of naked women it becomes a new adventure."

A boy’s curiosity is a never-ending adventure full of the mysteries of life. One of those curiosities is a girl. Girls can be beautiful and perplexing-something that does not change when they grow up. A woman is even more of a curiosity to a boy who puberty is just starting to begin. So when the trash mans truck broke down in our alley behind my best friend Mike’s house, which was full of some Playboy magazines, they quickly found a new home in the hidden corner of Mike’s garage.

With the thinking of a grade school boy which itself can be a swirl of confusing thoughts sees pictures of naked women it becomes a new adventure. We thought the best place to view our new find would be in the tree that bordered my house and Mike’s. Why the tree? I have no idea. Maybe we thought we wouldn’t be caught up there with the forbidden items.

As we started to climb my little brother Brad shows up and demands he gets one too or he will tell on us. So three little boy monkeys are climbing the tree and then we hear our big brother Wayne who is a young teenager. “Whatca got there?” he asks. “Nothing.” We stated. The problem with that is that Brad wasn’t as smart as we were by hiding the magazine in his shirt. His was flopping in the wind like an American flag on top a capital building.

To this day I still remember the grin on Wayne’s face when he saw what we had. It makes me snicker now thinking about it. The next part must have scared me because I don’t remember what happened next. I’m sure Wayne took them away from us. What he did with them I don’t know.

This was not the end of the Playboy adventure though. We opened a new chapter when we took them to the creek that flowed by my house-tore out the foldouts and dropped them off the bridge trying to see if we could make them land upright unfolded. Then watched them gentle flow down the stream sure to be found by a class mate so he could start his new adventure.

Christy’s Flattop Birthday

"But Christy is about nine years old at this time so dad, (me) has to carry most of the load for our overnight trip. Christy has a small bag with all her essentials, i.e. Teddy bear."

Flattop Mountain watches out over Anchorage, Alaska in the Chugach State Park, sitting at an elevation 3550 feet. From the trailhead it’s a three mile round trip with an elevation gain of 1252 feet. On a clear day you can see Mt. McKinley (150 air miles away) and Mt. Redoubt (Volcano) from the summit. It’s not a hard hike for a physically fit person. But Christy is about nine years old at this time so dad, (me) has to carry most of the load for our overnight trip. Christy has a small bag with all her essentials, i.e. Teddy bear. Me, I’m straining with my 3500 cubic inch backpack with food, water, sleeping bags and other goodies. I left the tent behind opting for just the rain fly since mosquitoes are not usually a problem that high. This saved me about ten pounds backpack weight and probably twenty pounds body fluid weight that I would have sweat out getting that load up the mountain.

This over night backpacking expedition is Christy’s birthday present. She asked for it as well as Barbie’s et. Kind of an unusual request for a nine-year-old girl but it wasn’t surprising. I use to talk about it all the time having spent a few nights up there myself. I use to run the mile and a half as exercise once a week with a goal of beating thirty minutes: my first time was close to an hour. The average hiker does this trail in two hours. I did make my under thirty minute goal with about five seconds to spare. I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest and my lungs burst.

Most of the hike is a series of switchbacks going to and fro. The last part is the most difficult with a little vertical ascending involved. So me, my overweight backpack and a nine-year-old girl are trying to get up to the top. Did we make it? Of course we did. This would be a boring story had we not.

It is very rocky at the top with no vegetation and very few good places to lay a sleeping pad and bag. I found a nice place in-between some large rocks using them as a windbreak. We set up camp (which meant clearing small rocks out of the way that would otherwise stab our backs that night), hooked up the rain fly using rocks to secure it and then explored the top finally settling to bed in our warm sleeping bags in the forty degree air.

I think we were the only people to spend the night up there that night. We woke once and looked out. Christy was amazed that she was looking down on the clouds about two hundred feet below us with more all around us shedding their cool mist on us. She was thrilled!

The next day we ate breakfast and explored some more. We later watched people paraglide off the side of the mountain. Very cool! We watched Anchorage below us with the Cook Inlet on two sides. It was so very beautiful. We tried to find landmarks like our house, grandma’s house and downtown buildings we knew. It was one of those moments that a proud dad will treasure the rest of his life.

The trip down was not near has hard except for the initial climb down. It can be a dangerous trip and many people had been seriously hurt up there, even killed. We made it with no injuries and with a lifetime of great memories of a weekend with just dad and daughter.