7/12-7/24 Alaska... Could've ridden 4.5!

[RickHeninger]

Well, my first time to Alaska blew my mind... I surprised two of my brothers and my mom who were part of the trip by introducing them to what's called the "Bore Tide"... It's a wave that comes into the Turnagain Arm of the Cook inlet... In the earthquake circa 1964 the bottom rose up and now when the tide is down, it is a mud flat... When the tide turns from a low negative tide you get a wave that builds up to 3 meters and comes into the Turnagain arm...

This wave is surfable, and even windsurfable... But the water is 55 degrees or so... I timed it so that we would pass the spot at the right time... You have to be to a certain spot 3 hours after the tide hits its point in Anchorage... There was a lone surfer standing in about 2 feet of water waiting for the tide... The 2 feet is glacial meltwater... Not warm... Sure enough the wave came and he jumped on it... BUT, could't stay with it and it passed him up at about 10 MPH...

Turns out the lone searcher was from Park City... And a windsurfer! Of course! He knows Bruce Myrums! He said to say hello Bruce... His name escapes me right now... But he was pretty hardcore... Should have known he was a Utahn! The YouTube vid isn't him but it is video of the bore tide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nas9n7iFcfI

Apparently, last year, Josh Stone tried to windsurf it...

Anyway, Alaska is beautiful! Blew my mind... We came back w/300+pounds of fish...

But my brother accidentally put his fillet knife down to the bone of my index finger... Nine stitches later I was fishing the next day... But windsurfing will have to take a 10 day break... Good news is no tendons or motor nerves were damaged... The summit tour of Denali was breathtaking... Brown Bears... Caribou... Moose... Sea Otters... Huge Calving glaciers!!!

I'll miss the UWA Gorge group though!

But the trip was amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Y6V4yfhdU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqJ_KAWvjsk

No, that's not me! Warning, if you start watching all the windsurfing clips... You're gonna need a Rockstar and some time!

[lesvierra]

ha ha... I wish by foot! Kind of!

It was a summit tour by Twin Prop De Haviland Piper airplane... Unreal view of the tent or igloo footprints of the summit camp at 19,000 feet! That is one gargantuan mountain...

Rick, I've been over them mountains twice by airplane. The first time, I repeated "oh my god" over and over again with an occasional tear rolling down my cheek. It was insanely beautiful and breathtaking. The second time we had to make it through this mountain gap and had to sail mountain side updrafts with multiple circles and attempts to rise high enough to pass. You know you have reason to shit when your pilots voice is cracking. All hell broke loose passing the gap. I took a self potrait at that second, my and my freinds cheeks are pressed back to our ears with the G force. I summitted Denali twice, once by the west buttress and the second time all the way from Wonder Lake in Denali national park. Absolutely amazing, moose, caribou, bear, tundra, rivers, all in your face.