A True Alaskan Adventure

This is the story of how my favorite pop changed from Root Beer to Mountain Dew Code Red, And how I found out how loyal my best friend in the whole world is, my dog Cozmo. The names of the people have been changed for this telling.
Alaska is a beautiful place full of wildlife, untouched scenery and adventure. This is a story about all 3! The story takes place on May the 29th between the times of 5:15 pm to 8:57 pm. I had a day off from my job, I work for the Seavey's Ididride Sled dog tours, and the day started off the same as usual. I got up and went to work. I know what your thinking, why would you go to work on your day off? Well it became somewhat of a habit. When you work like that for that long you don't really know what to do with yourself when you have time off. So I drove into work in the crew van which is about 25 years old and has only 1 working mirror. I said hi to everyone at work and then picked up my bike and Cosmo's kennel so he would have something for a house back at my house. Once I got back to the house I packed up my computer and headed into town to check my e-mail and do a little research for future college plans. I spent a good part of the morning there. I listened to Indiana Jones and dreamt of someday uncovering my own city of Gold!! Then I headed back to the house there I ran into two girls that I work with that also had the day off they where heading into town to check their e-mails. I asked them if they wanted to go on a hike latter. They seemed pretty excited about the idea and said they would come back and we would take the dogs on a hike. So I went to my room and popped in a movie and fell asleep. When I woke up the girls were back and where knocking on my door. I got up and we loaded the dogs and ourselves into the crew van and we headed off to the beach where we could start our hike. This is where our story begins.
"You wanna try it?" Nikki asked pointed towards a rock wall that rose steeply into the air.
"Oh yeah!!" I said looking at it. My sense of adventure was high as I had been stuck in the dog lot for the past month and a half.
"Even with your dog?" She asked looking at Cozmo my Siberian Husky who stood by my side.
"Yeah!" was my reply I looked down at him and he seemed to agree with my. The look on his face said "Lets do it bud! I need to do something!"
So we all three started the climb up the rocks. The two dogs that Adie had running up the rocks ahead of us. Cozmo. A little unsure at first soon got the hang of the climb and soon was far ahead of me as far as his leash would let him.
"Whoa buddy you cant go that fast." I said to him. He looked back as if to say "well hurry up then"
I could tell he was having fun. Being tied up on a chain all day while I work cant be very fun. A couple times during the climb he slipped little but a quick glance back at me and he started back up again. He couldn't let me beat him up the hill!! Once we got to the top there was a path that went winding out through the trees. Cozmo lurched forward wanting to run and explore more and more.
"Cozmo Stay close." I had to say to him repeatedly during he hike. He didn't seem to hear as he kept pulling at the leash. The two girls and Adie's dogs went on ahead of us leaving me and Cozmo alone in the Alaskan wilderness. Looking around I remembered seeing a sign at the trails entrance.
"CAUTION. Multiple bear sightings in the area. 5/28/08. And in my mind I was instantly alone in the heart of Alaska with nothing but myself a knife and my trusty dog!!! Which wasn't to far from the truth. As me and Cozmo continued our hike I couldn't see either Nikki or Adie anywhere I soon started to think what if I am alone?? Then I thought what if I run into a bear? I remembered seeing a brochure somewhere on what to do if you encountered a bear in the wild. Don't back down calm the bear with your voice and walk backwards. And if rushed to stand your ground because apparently 76% of bear charges are fake. But if you where charged if it was a brown bear play dead unless it starts to feed on then fight back. If a black bear DON'T play dead fight back immediately. Somehow this whole thing seemed kind of cool. Me alone with my dog out in the wild taking on grizzly bears!! Boy would I have a cool story to tell. Well my fantasy died as I turned the corner and the girls where about 50 feet below on the trail. So me and Cozmo took a short cut down to them. We had come out of the woods into a clearing. There was a boat dock and a cabin.
"How do they get down here?" Adie asked "They aren't here right now are they?"
"Don't think so." Nikki said
And after looking around some more we headed on through the woods again. We soon came upon another trail. This one was much wider and had gravel thrown on it to make it easier for tourists to walk. It was the trail to an old world War II fort.
"Wanna go to the beach?" Nikki asked It was along the same path. We all agreed and started down this new path. Along the way we passed backpackers and hikers alike many would stop and comment on how pretty Cozmo was , or to tell us about the Brown bear and her cub that they had spotted along the trail. We always thanked them for the warning but in my mind I really wanted to see that bear! A little farther up he trail we ran into 3 other dogs and there people. As the one dog passed he took a snap at Cozmo.
"Hey!!" I yelled at the dog
One of he girls grabbed the dog and said she was sorry. The other girl and I looked at each other and in my head I was like" I know that girl." As we started walking away from each other I turned around and asked "Are you Tieki?"
She smiled and said yes.
"I knew I knew you. I work for your husbands dad." I said.
"I thought you guys looked familiar!" Said. As we where talking the little black lab that was with her ran up to me and jumped on me. I crouched down to say Hi.
"Is this little Harper?" I asked referring to the little tiny puppy that she had in Sterling before we moved to Seward.
"Yeap! That's him. Little Harper!"
"He's huge now!" I said he was twice the size he had been when I saw him last about three weeks ago.
"Yeah he isn't tiny anymore!" Adie said
"No he's not." Tieki said smiling as her dog ran back to her.
"Well enjoy your hike!! And watch out for the bears!" Tieki said with a wave. We all waved back at her and started walking on our hike.
We crossed tiny streams over falling logs because we didn't want to get wet. If we knew what was coming up we would have worried. We started down a curving trail that went back and forth back and forth. We ran into many different people and as we turned one corner the trees split and the view was incredible!! You could see the Alaska mountains reaching up into the great blue sky and the Forest graveyard below them and separating them both was the great blue ocean.
"Its Beautiful!!!" I said. A passing hiker stopped with me.
"It is isn't it. Don't see anything like that anywhere else in the world."
"Yeah.." Was all I could say we stood there for a few more minutes then turned to each other and said goodbye. Its amazing how friendly people are up here. The trailed continued to curve back and forth for about another mile or so. When we got to the bottom we were right by the river that lead right into the ocean. It was beautiful. We started to cross the bridge .
"This is the clearest water I have ever seen." I said the water was crystal clear you could see perfectly all the way to the bottom even though it had to be at least eight feet deep.
"Yeah its weird usually its running a lot faster than this." Nikki said
And as I was sitting there admiring how clear and beautiful the water was Nikki gasped right next to me.
"There's the bears!!" She said I looked up and about two hundred feet away where the Momma bear and her cub. They where so peaceful just chilling by the side of the river eating their food. One of the dogs barked. Momma bear looked up at us then went back to eating. We were far enough away that we didn't threaten her at all. The sight was amazing we stood there for a good ten minutes before I moved to the end of the bridge and started to work my way along the opposite side of the river trying to see from a better angle. Cozmo trotting at my side seemed to understand something was up. He was very still and silent. He just stared at the bears with me. I'm sure he was thinking "That's one big play buddy!!!" Now I'm not gonna lie I was looking for a place that I could cross the river so I could get closer but looking back I'm glad I couldn't. We moved further down the river to the beach here the view was just as perfect seeing the mountains and the trees and the ocean it was too beautiful to put into words. (Which is what one of the hikers said about my dog!!..Not to brag though!!) The two girls sat down and I went exploring on the beach I found some very cool rocks which are now on my dresser and some very cool shells, which unfortunately I lost in the upcoming tale.. The two other dogs were running circles around us like Hawks searching for prey. Cozmo played a bit with them. Then I started making my way back to see where the bears where. But they were gone. Bummer. First of all I left my camera in the van. Which ended up being a good thing. So I decided to head back to the bridge and see if they were down the river a little more. So I'm walking and right when I get the bridge I put one foot on it the cub steps out on the other side. I froze. Where baby is momma cant be too far away. And I was right she steps right out of the woods right behind her cub. I am standing no more than ten feet from A momma Bear and her cub. So I did the one thing your aren't supposed to do, I coward down. I made Cozmo lay down and I squatted making my self look non threatening. While at the same time I grabbed the biggest stick I could reach Just in case I had to look big and tough. Thankfully I never needed it. The cub went down to the river underneath the bridge and me and momma got into a staring contest. I dare not look away for fear of a charge. She was the one that broke the stare though. Ha-ha!! Point for me!!. I thought I won but she yawned and lay down right were she was. So now I am still really close to a bear and her cub she has lay down on the trail our only way out and I am Frozen in the spot. What if I get up to leave and she thinks I am endangering her cub? The thoughts that went through my mind. So I decided hey If anything is going to happen to me Might as well tell everyone. I got my phone out, slowly, and sent out a quick Text message to everyone. It said "I'm sitting no more than10 feet from a brown bear and her cub. don't text back don't wanna spook them.. I'll let you know!!"
Then the waiting game happened. I think I waited there for about twenty five minutes before the girls got there they go within fifty feet of me before they saw her. Then they stopped. We waited another twenty-five minutes. It was apparent the bears weren't going anywhere soon. I had to make a move I slowly started to back away but Cozmo wasn't so stealthy he had done an amazing good job at laying there the whole time without a sound that he popped up once I moved.. Oh the look I got from the momma. It scared the crap out of me. She Didn't move but she never took her eyes off of me until we were long gone from her.
"Well that was exciting!!" Adie said
"That was a lot closer then I wanted to be." I said and in truth it was it was scary.
But now we had a really tough decision. Wait for her to move which couldn't be until the morning or go along the beach. There were a couple problems with both first of all. We could be waiting for hours even days. From what I've heard about these bears. The other was that the tide was coming in. And along the beach there are places where the water is waist deep during low tide. We had to move quick. We decided to try the beach. Once we crossed the river which was thigh high. We ran into some kayakers who had come ashore.
"Watch out for the bears." we said.
They thanked us for the tip.
"Good luck beating the tides!" They told us. Now that made me feel really good. We started walking down the beach which seemed like it wouldn't be so bad it was really easy except for some slick rocks. we would be back at the car in no time. Wrong thing to think. we came to the first water crossing in about ten minutes.
" The water is only waist high here." Nikkei said.
Well waist high wasn't that bad until I stepped into it. The water was freezing and Cozmo looked at me like I was crazy. I had to pull him in to get him to swim across. It was only about five feet not to bad. We had about five more minutes of rocks when the big crossing came. It had to have been a hundred yards no joke of waist deep water. I was freezing already and didn't want to go in but looking at the rocks and seeing where the high tide water level was we decided to move quickly along the wall was a ledge the stuck out just enough for you to step on and the rock wall was jagged enough that we had good hand holds. But I was nervous Cozmo never swam before and I know its something they just know how to do I was still a little scared. But this time though he jumped in almost pulling me in with him. I lost grip of his leash and he stated swimming away. But when he saw that I wasn't coming he turned around and started coming back to me. So I started climbing along the wall and bless his heart he stayed with me the entire time. He kept going ahead and coming back as if he where cheering me on. When I reached the safety of the rocks on the other side I bent down and gave Cozmo a little pet. I then realized he had blood all over his face I freaked out trying to find the wound then my fingers started to hurt real bad. I looked at them and realized all of my fingers had nasty gashes and cuts all over them from grabbing the rocks.. I had a nasty cut on my palm and many little tiny cuts on my legs. But Cozmo seemed to now what was going on because he looked at me and Barked twice. As if to say "hey if you don't want to swim then lets move!" it was at this moment that I realized How fast the others girls moved when they didn't have to worry about having a dog with you. Adie's dogs stayed with her without a leash but Cozmo isn't to that point yet. We crossed once more in about knee high waters then we found that we came to a dead end. And what makes it even better the water had risen about two feet making it basically impossible to go back without swimming about a mile in neck high water. We made the decision to try to climb the mountain. Well I don't know how to climb a mountain b y myself let alone with a dog with me. But we really didn't have a choice within a half and hour we would be in water deeper than we could stand in. we had to do it. This was the moment I realized how much my dog loves me. We started climbing and he was ahead of me and it seriously looked like he was testing the ground for me. He would slide down and I would catch Him almost falling off myself. And he would try a new spot. If it was good he would look back at me as if to say its good over here. Its was amazing I have never seen a dog go rock climbing. But apparently he knew how to. Then we got to the part where I had to return the favor the path the girls had gone up had crumbled under there feet sending rocks and trees down on top of us, me and Cozmo slid down a few feet before I could get a grip on the rocks but Cozmo couldn't stop. He slammed into me and I thought we were going down. But somehow we stayed on. When I looked up his leash got rapped around a tree stump and it saved us from going over. That's when I made the Mistake of looking down. And to be honest I think Cozmo did too. We were so High up. I started to freak out. I don't want to die, I have to run the Iditarod I have to get back home and see my family again I cant Die now. And I started thinking People have been through far worse than this. I mean I could get my arm stuck and have to cut it off. To live. I wasn't going to die from falling off a stupid rock. Now It probably wasn't as bad as it seemed. Maybe not even a life or death situation,(Although falling from that height onto those rocks wouldn't feel very good) but I was determined to get out of there. And the Fact that Cozmo wasn't stopping told me it was time to move. The rock face was like shale. It just kept sliding whenever I pulled me myself up. Cozmo would get a good foot hold then he would basically pull me up. He did that many times before we found a tree that we rested on. Now at this moment I got pissed.(Sorry Mom) but I couldn't see the other girls anywhere they just kind of left us. I knew we still had about ten feet to go but this is where Cozmo needed me. I think he looked down because he all of a sudden didn't want to move. He started to cry and I couldn't blame him. He had to understand the situation he shoved his head between my legs and just cried. I hated the sound of his whimpering because it was my fault he was up here. And may I say those Goats are some amazing creatures to be able to live up there. So I picked Cozmo up and set him up on the rock ledge right above us. I then pulled myself up. Then I saw that there really wasn't a spot to put him down except the top . I picked him up again and he pulled himself up the ledge. And I didn't hear him. I panicked I thought he might have ran off got as far away the side of the cliff as he could but right when I got my hang up there I felt him give me a little lick kind of like a you can do it lick. I pulled my self up and grabbed him. It was then that I realized that he probably saved my life more than a few times during that climb. I must say, I love that dog. The other cool thing that I saw at that moment was that I had a cut on the inside of my right wrist. On my right wrist I have a tattoo of my grandpa's initials JEI. But the thing was that the cut Started from the middle of my forearm stopped right underneath the E On my Tattoo and the continued right above it into my palm. Which I take to mean that someone was pulling us up that mountain. As I was sitting there hugging Cozmo I hear
"Oh You're here." I turn around to see Nikki and Adie sitting on a stump waiting for me. At that moment I wanted to scream at them they didn't see that the path fell What I had to do to get up there But I didn't I just grabbed Cozmo and started trying to find a trail. Well we couldn't fine one so we just followed the cliff face because we knew it would end above the beach and we could work our way down from there. AS we were walking, you guessed it they left us back there we were wiped out Cozmo was so tired from pulling me up that mountain. We just followed the face. Then we caught up o them they where trying to force there way threw some brush. I looked to my left and saw an opening. The more I looked I realized..
"To the left it's a trail!!" I yelled to them. But Adie looked at me and said
"Its not a trail we already looked."
It had to be a trail. I went to check it out and sure enough guess what I came out onto a trail. Adies dogs both followed me and they looked so happy that we found the trail but Adie called them back and told me its not a trail. Well It certainly looked like a trail but maybe it was just a wide open path that nothing grew in except gravel and trail markers. So I just left them and started down the path as I looked down I saw fifty yards ahead of them they would hit the same path but further down the tail so I found a stream and cleaned out my shoes and let Cozmo get a drink and I waited. Sure enough ten minutes later they come walking up the path. When they got up to me Adie said
"Where did you go? We were looking for you shouldn't just disappear like that."
You have no clue how hard it was not to scream at her for leaving me and Cozmo. But At that moment I thought of Code red Mountain dew and how delicious it was so I just told myself if I was good I could buy myself one. Well I ended up buying three along with band aids and more antibacterial. But I found out that day that no matter how mad he makes me sometimes or how unhappy he thinks I make him I found out how much he actually cares about me and I found out How much he Actually means to me. Yeah sorry for the corny ending but its true. Thanks for being my best friend and dog companion Cozmo.

Home from Alaska

Hey everyone! Well Ive been home from Alaska for about a month now and I cant wait to get back up there!! I cant believe that my trip went by so quick! Sorry the blogs and pictures stopped, I lost internet access and I never really made it into town to update, and then I forgot my password, but anyway I'm here to tell you guys what all happened since the last blog. It may be a little long!! So since the last blog I stayed in Sterling for another couple of weeks doing the same old. We unloaded all the unused Iditarod drop bags ( Drop bags are what the mushers send to the checkpoints with all of there gear and food.) and picked up even more dog pooh, That never seems to end when you have 200+ dogs to take care of!! But eventually we were going on training runs all the time everyday! It took me a couple weeks but eventually I could tell what every dogs name was and where they ran in the team! It was amazing! But then came the day of the move, we were all up until early the next morning loading up dogs and gear and then ourselves into the trucks and dog boxes. I had been to Seward before but this time we had a little more gear and dogs then we did last time! We got Grandma and Grandpa Seavey's house and unloaded the dogs, in the lot of course which is right behind the house. There was still four feet of snow on the ground! After we unloaded all the dogs we went about with our usual chores of cleaning. We then ventured over to the cabins that they owned and did some work on them to. The next day we shoveled a lot of snow...half the trail was still under four feet and the carts couldn't get over the snow. So the next couple of days were spent sweating over the shovel. We gave tours every once in awhile usually only one sled but it was a Tour non the less. That's how the first couple of weeks went. My mom and Meghan came and visited, we went on an awesome boat ride on Resurrection bay and saw so many cool things. (The pictures are posted!) But the best part was when we went to see Indiana Jones 4 The kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It was amazing!!! But even cooler than that was the fact that I got to Mush my own Dog Team for the first time!!! I got to run a six dog team up to Resurrection glacier on about five feet of snow!! It was the coolest thing in the world!! My team performed perfectly and the run went on without a hitch! Shortly after my mom and Meghan went home and we started to get busy at the dog lot. Doing six sled each tour time and having six tour times it got kinda crazy some days. But it was still fun everyday I enjoyed going to work. Not many people can say they look forward to waking up and going to work. On our days off we would go hiking go to the ocean, but we mostly just went into town and hung out with the tourist crowds. That's how it went for a long time. The same old stuff. I came home home for one of my friends sisters weddings. Being home just showed me how much I had come to love Alaska. And I couldn't wait to get back. The end of the summer came way to fast everyone started to leave and my time came to an end as well. I said goodbye to everyone and had to go home. I got to meet Lance Mackey and other Iditarod champions on my trip, I got to start working towards my dream of running the Iditarod and made many good friends. I can say that I had a good summer!