A few shots from a beautiful day on the Coastal Trail

[Blue_In_AK]

[Celebration]

1. Thanks for these!

Are you walking the coastal trail, or what?

Love it when you post pictures. It reminds me of your picture of the day. The bird one is great!

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Yes, we are walking the Coastal Trail.

It runs from downtown out to Kincaid Park, a total of about 11 miles. What we've been doing is parking the truck at different spots along the way and then walking two miles in and back out, four miles total. That's about all Yuuko can handle and is a good hour and a half walk. The section we did yesterday was from the parking lot at Earthquake Park out to Point Woronzof. The day before we did Earthquake Park to Lyn Ary Park and back. The day I had the fog and the ice skaters we went from Lyn Ary Park downtown to Westchester Lagoon and back. The other two sections we've done are Pt. Woronzof back toward Kincaid Park two miles, and then Kincaid Park towards Pt. Woronzof. The distance from Kincaid Park to Pt. Woronzof is five miles, so there's about a mile in the middle that we haven't covered. We've done that whole 10 miles a couple of times in the summer, but that's a pretty good hike.

Lyn Ary Park is actually the closest spot to where we live and in the summer we often just walk over there, then either go left out to Earthquake Park or right to downtown.

Here's a map. We live south of Northern Lights Blvd. in the northwest corner of that pink block there.



It's really a great trail, paved and wide enough for two-way traffic. In the summer it's used a lot by walkers, rollerbladers and bicyclists. In the winter the trail is groomed for cross-country skiing and packed down enough to walk on without sinking into the snow.

[Celebration]

3. Thanks

I love maps! :hi: Definitely a fun looking trail.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. It's a great trail.

Hat tip to former DEMOCRATIC mayor Tony Knowles for making it happen.

We did the Kincaid end today, 5 miles round trip. I'll probably post some pictures later. It was another really gorgeous day, and the light is so beautiful this time of year.

[HarveyDarkey]

5. Are those your ski tracks in the last one?

Beautiful scenery, wish I lived there.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. No, I haven't skied in quite a while.

These trails are groomed, and I believe these tracks are laid down by some sort of machine.

ed. I wanted to add that the U.S. National Nordic Ski Championships were held in this park on other trails reserved strictly for skiing last month. A lot of the Olympians came from this competition, including our own Kikkan Randall. http://www.usskiteam.com/crosscountry/athletes/athlete?athleteId=1079

[JeffR]

7. Beautiful indeed.

I love the ravens shot. And the last one is a photograph that could hardly be improved on, really tremendous. You're having a helluva good year behind the lens so far, Blue!

[Blue_In_AK]

9. Thanks, JeffR

The photo-a-day thing has really pushed me. I would recommend it for anyone as a motivational tool. It's a challenge to come up with different ideas of things to photograph every single day. Some days are just obvious, but others I have to really stretch my imagination, the days when it's gray and dreary outside and I don't even feel like going out. That's when I do things like the corner by the fireplace or the elephant in the room. Sheer desperation. :)

[JeffR]

10. With Still Life as an upcoming topic

I think you can safely describe desperation as pragmatism. Sort of reminds me of what's happening with health care reform, actually.:think:

[Mira]

8. It's so great to get a glimpse into what happens to make these shots come to be.

Though it's more than I can grasp, I like reading the details of the trails you are traversing.
The last shot is my very favorite it literally makes me feel like I'm there with you.
Beautiful.
Thanks.