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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 13, 2009 - 08:48pm PT
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There wasn't much doing in Wasilla come late October. The sun was vanishing and Sarah wasn't having it so I headed to Prudhoe Bay to chill my unrequited lust. The last day I saw the sun was about 5 November. After that it was 7-10's and all-you-can-eat 24/7. Determined not to emulate my 'fellow' Texans I availed myself of the world-class gym that Arco provided us. It even had an indoor running track. The trouble was it was only a 1/8th mile and the corners were really tight. I started running on the tundra after work. It was so much nicer for getting my Tao on. At Prudhoe Bay it usually doesn't get below -20F or pretty close to perfect jogging if you hate to sweat. It does take a while to suit up but one benefit is that when people ask you "Whatchya doin?" and you say "I'm going for a run outside" they pretty much don't bother you any more.
I had a nice loop I did of about 4 miles or so. It was kind of hard to tell in the dark and there aren't any landmarks on the tundra other than the pumping stations, wells, and roads, all of which I avoided. It was a real sort of Carlos Castaneda challenge to run on such uneven ground in the dark. There was never more than about 3- 4" of snow because the wind would just blow it away. It made a nice cushion and tended to soften mis-steps. There was never any problem with running into anything because even on the darkest nights it was so incredibly clear. When there was a moon you almost needed shades. I loved it, my 1/2 hour without Texans.
I went out one night after having skipped the night before. I followed my usual path and my tracks from two nights previous were still visible. Since I was feeling a little friskier I made a bigger loop than normal. It wasn't like I was going to get lost as the 'camp' could probably be seen from 100 miles away and I wasn't going that far! So like a good horse heading back to the barn on my return leg I came across the tracks I had made two nights back. It wasn't a real cold night, maybe -10F, but it was cold enough that my breath was freezing to my eyelashes like this...
I was used to this and kind of enjoyed it and often didn't bother to brush them off. The refractions kind of made it like running through a kaleidoscope. All was good with the world. After about five minutes of paralleling my previous tracks it slowly dawned on me that there was another set of tracks I was now following. It didn't take Stephen Hawking to deduce the gravity of this. Through my 'kaleidoscope' they looked significantly larger than my size 11's which measure 13". Camp was still a good mile or more in front of me. I stopped and brushed the ice from my eyelashes. Yep, definitely a large four-legged creature and a carnivore to boot. At this point was further running any use? With an academic curiousity I put one of my size 11's in his front footprint which was almost circular. There was room to spare. Then I put my foot in one of his rear prints. It was one size 11 wide and almost exactly two size 11's long. That is 13" x 26" or one big mofo for you technically inclined types. It is really strange what your mind does when your life is spinning before your eyes. It occurred to me that this guy must have had one hell of a finely honed schnozz to pick up the scent of a frozen Nike at -15F. He must have really wanted to make a friend, or an hors d'ouevre. Now, completely without Stephen Hawking's help, I faced the conundrum of had he been here two nights ago, one night ago, or 10 minutes ago? His schnozz might have been good enough to make that distinction but mine wasn't. The other major consideration was that although the tundra is generally flat it is actually riddled with 'frost heaves'. In the dim moonless light I can assure you that each and every one of them looks exactly like a Polar Bear awaiting the arrival of his hors d'ouevre course. At this point my brain wasn't much for making any sort of deduction other than "you had better start pickin' 'em up and puttin' 'em down sport because ya got nothin' to lose!" Suffice it to say I made it in a new Scared-White-Boy-Running-Back-to-Camp World Record time of whatever!
Here's the good part. The next day I was at my usual facility about 4 miles away, or a 45 minute stroll for Mr Bear. Suddenly people started murmuring, "There's a bear outside!" I ran to the door and there he was, strolling right along without a care in the world, easily as big as a Toyota pickup with way more torque and a killer (literally) black schnozz. He looked at me as if to say "Boy, you be one lucky suckka. Stupid, but lucky." After that, believe it or not, I still ran outside but I stuck to the road from camp to the airport and back. I figured even a Polar Bear wouldn't mess with a 727.
He had really big feet!
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MH2
climber
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Feb 13, 2009 - 08:54pm PT
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Thanks, again.
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scuffy b
climber
just below the San Andreas
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Feb 13, 2009 - 09:08pm PT
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Great. Thanks.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Aug 15, 2011 - 10:00am PT
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Bummed the photos are gone. Scary stuff. Glad you weren't a snack for the bear.
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wildone
climber
Troy, MT
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Aug 15, 2011 - 10:46am PT
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Thanks Reilly. I'll post a pic of my arctic running scene in a couple hours. Grim to say the least.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Aug 17, 2011 - 04:52pm PT
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Whoa, missed this the first time around, but . . . GULP!
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