Life is easy. Why do we make it so hard? Jon Jandai at TEDxDoiSuthep

Climate Hike in Glacier National park 2014

View from the plane

The much awaited climate hike is over and I can't believe I am back in Dallas already. It was a wonderful experience. I got to hike with some awesome people and very knowledgeable Glacier Guides. In the excitement and planning for the trip, I didn't sleep the night before my flight to Kalispell, Montana. I am a chicken when it comes to flying in a plane. I prefer aisle seat not because I need more room for my short legs but to avoid the dramatic views in the window. I sometimes wish that the person at the window shuts the window so that I don't panic seeing the slanted views by mistake. But when the flight was about to land in Kalispell, I moved to the open window seat next to me and peered outside taking in the beauty of the scenery. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

DFW CCL team. Go team!

From the moment I landed, everything was taken care of. My teammate Ricky had already flown in. So, he picked me up and the five of us from DFW Citizens' Climate Lobby team went out for lunch. After lunch, I got dropped in my room at Glacier Guides Logde. This is an impressive eco-lodge that was LEED certified. Was happy to see a recycle basket in the room without a plastic liner. Got rid of my collected stash there.

View from my Glacier Guides Lodge room

I took a power nap and was ready for a short hike in the park. The hospitable host showed me the closest trail and dropped me there. Seeing a lot of people at the trail start, I was confident to do my solo hike. I was surprised to find nobody hiking the trail. I stopped to take several pictures and was enjoying the silence and the beauty of the trail. Suddenly, a fleeting thought came to me. What if I see a bear? Should I appear big? I didn't know what's the correct thing to do. I continued walking away from the trailhead saying to myself, "I am good to nature, so nature will be good to me". I turned around after about 40minutes and hurriedly walking back to the trailhead. By now I was scared. I hadn't seen any hiker on the trail. I made it back to the trailhead and walked back to the hotel. I asked the host. There is no chance that bears could come to the trail that I was on, right? She said, "No, they can be anywhere. All of this is bear country". I am just grateful that I didn't see one then.

The host, Jen was kind enough to give us a ride to Russell's Fireside which is the only

restaurant in the area with organic, vegan options. Amanda and Rebecca were nice to accompany me even though they had nice options near our lodge. I started looking forward to the hike. If I had such a good time even before the hike, I couldn't wait for it to start.

At 8am the next morning, we got picked up from our lodges to meet at Glacier Guides office were we were given our rental gear, packed lunch and snacks for the day. We did a moderate warmup hike on this day. We reached the Avalanche lake after walking for 3.5 miles. We then had a long option or a short option for the rest of the way. I chose the long option to train for the next day which was the longest hike day of the week. The views were breathtaking. I hiked 10miles that day before dinner. We came back to the campsite and found our luggage kept by the tent side. We pitched our tent. Rebecca led a yoga stretch for me and Amanda after which we savored a hearty dinner.

After dinner, we gathered around the campfire to listen to the speaker Dan Fagre. This talk was so educative. He clarified the difference between Climate change and natural cycle. Climate change falsely allows natural cycle to be part of the equation. This park has always had a natural cycle of alternating 20 yr periods of dry and wet cycle. This has been historically the case for 1000 years. What they have observed is that global warming is combining with the natural cycle changing the ecosystem drastically. Usually the park looses snow, alpine vegetation and animals in the dry season and gains back the loss in the following wet season. The park is just coming out of the wet season but due to global warming, the benefits of wet season was not realized, instead they has less snow, more wire fires. Now, the park is headed towards a dry cycle with the additional effects of global warming. He estimates the park will loose all of its 24 glaciers in 10 years. Most of the tourism that the park gets is from people visiting the park before all the glaciers are gone. The park had more than 100 glaciers at the beginning of the century. He said that the park has gone past the climate mitigation phase and is in climate adaptation mainly because the park is at a lower elevation. There is still a chance that we can save the ecosystems in places like Colarado but we need to act now.

I went to bed with a heavy heart that night. Next day morning, we woke up, broke the tent, got breakfast, packed lunch and snacks for the hike and loaded the vans with our day hike packs and poles. Today we did the 15mile hike to Piegan pass. It was 1800feet elevation climb in 4miles. One of the difficult hikes of the trip. Only 11 of us could go on this trip. Since it felt exclusive, many of us competed. There was talk of putting our names in hats to pick participants for the hike. But, Alix and Betsy are couple of the nice ones who gave up their spots to make that unnecessary. Piegan pass hike was challenging and rendered beautiful views of Piegan glacier, Gem and Salamander glaciers. We saw beargrass, monkey flower, Aspens and bear poop on the trail.

We went to the camp at St. Mary. I found that our tent had been already setup by Rebecca who did a different hike. Dinner was extra tasty today since it was curried vegetables in coconut cream and rice.  We relaxed and socialized before we were briefed on the hike options for the next day. We were to visit the Grinnell lake the next day. The options were to do a 8mile low elevation hike around lower Grinnell lake or do a 12 mile hike upto Grinnell Glacier and see the point were Glacier melts to form the lake. During this hike, we saw a bear about 30 feet from the trail. He was small and from a distance, I saw the mom. Dan told us that this glacier has been melting drastically. Apart from receding more, the height of the glacier at the melt point has decreased steadily. 20 years back, one could walk under the ice melt. Now, one can step on to the glacier from the lake.

We came back to rest at the same campsite that night. By now, I was feeling the strain of hiking 37miles over three days. Also my hiking shoes didn't have enough support that I would get unbearable feet pain after 10 miles everyday. Didn't know how important that is. Just found out the hard way. The sad part is, I had another pair of nice boots at home but I wanted to travel light. Now I know which set to take for the next Climate hike! This night, Michael Jameson spoke to us about his work across conservation groups, national parks and Canada to connect all the national parks in the area. By connecting these parks, we create corridors to help animals adapt to Global warming better. As our planet warms, animals have to migrate to higher altitudes. With current national parks which exist as Island, animals are forced to occupy smaller and smaller areas and hence are driven to extinction. By connecting parks, we provide opportunity for many species to reach higher altitudes along the entire western border of the continent. He has got a bill passed by 99 senators but the bill is being held up by Texas state senator, Ted Cruz. Ultimately, this just buys us more time for us to get our act together on Climate Change.

That night few of us decided to lay on the meadow to star gaze. We saw the milky way! I am guessing that it much be the eye of the milky way. We saw some shooting stars and artificial satellites moving in the star studded sky. How long has it been since I saw this? In Tucson, we used to drive to the end of town and get to see the stars. Its been more than four years.

We had three options for the hike the next day. This day, I felt well rested, so I choose to do the difficult hike to scenic point of 2400 feet elevation climb in 3 miles. But it turned out to be a popular hike and only 11 people could go on it. I decided to do the Cobalt lake hike instead which was 1800 elevation climb in 5.7miles. When I started the hike, I realized that I had damaged my right knee from the hikes the previous two days. I hiked slowly but the other hikers were very nice to let me be in the middle of the group. I ate so many huckleberries from the trail today. Saw many flowers. I was able to make it down without hurting my knee more. I pain is gone now after icing it for few days.

This night we didn't have to setup tents since we get to sleep in Tipis in Blackfeet reservation!
We did a talk circle this night. We introduced ourselves and shared our motivation to join Climate Hike. It was amazing to meet so many people who work for environmental non-profits during the hike. Some of us stayed up tonight talking until the northern lights started to light up the sky. We all became speechless viewing this rare event. Few of us had already decided to lay out in the grass looking at the sky. I was so contented to lay down on the tarp in my sleeping bag and look up at the star studded sky before I drifted into sleep.

I woke up the next morning to beautiful colors before the sun peeked out in the horizon. I could tell that the day will be good.
We put away our hiking shoes and got ready for our rafting trip. We split into groups of eight and boarded rafts with our guide. We paddled our way through rapids and calm water listening keenly to our guide's instructions. We had splash contests with our other boats. The water was so clear, the scenery very beautiful and the rapids were thrilling. I got to dip in the river.

All my clear plastic packaging material for recycling

After the wonderful white water rafting trip, we were shuttled to the Glacier Guides office where we were greeted with a wholesome lunch. We were even given a ride to the airport by the trip guides. I couldn't believe that I was leaving Montana already. It is definitely one of the most memorable trips I have ever done.

After coming to Dallas, I haven't been able to do much. But I got around collecting all my ziploc bags, shrink wraps and snack bags from the trip. I will rinse the dirty ones and take them along with other plastic packaging to grocery stores for recycling. Refer to this short post for more details. http://carbonneutral-greengirl.blogspot.com/2012/02/recycle-plastic-bags-in-grocery-stores.html
I am by no means trying to say that I am great. There was another hiker, Catherine rock who didn't use any of these bags. She got here own tupperware for the trip.

Apart from saving my clear plastic, I also collected chips bags and energy bar wrappers to send to Terracycle. These are hard to recycle substances since they are a combination of metal and plastic. I will be shipping them to Terracycle, a New Jersey based company for recycling. After doing this collection, its very clear to me that recycling must absolutely be the last option. Even in this context, where all the participants care so much about the environment, I was able to salvage less than half of these bags and wrappers. One solution is to eat energy bars that come in compostable packaging like Thunderbird Energetica (available in Whole Foods). Bearded bros is one other local brand.
If many of you tweet Thunderbird and ask them to donate bars to Climate ride, they will heed our request. Here's mine:  @thunderbirdbar - why not supply @climateride participants your bars

I want to thank all my donors for making this trip a reality for me. I had such a wonderful experience and it has only increased my commitment to work for climate. Thank you all so much. A special Thanks to Thomas Wikman who contributed a third of the funds raised by me. Also, a shout out to Pete Meyer who donated $500 to my fundraiser. Both Thomas and Pete have taught me to be more generous with my climate donations. Pete decided to join the hike a month before and didn't have much time to raise the funds. He has paid the dues but if he raises enough to meet the minimum, he will be given a refund of the raised amount. Please consider donating to his fundraiser. Thanks! http://bike.climateride.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=3048

ClimateRide

ClimateRide, a set on Flickr.

Photos from the ride

Ride Experience (Sept 21st - Sept 25th, NY-DC)

I have been writing this blog in my mind for the last one week. Happy to be able to finally sit down today and put the thought into words. The ride was the most fulfilling, liberating, empowering experience for me. It was a different experience in every way. It keeps me beaming since I have been part of something phenomenal. I am little saddened that it had to end. I will try to walk you through the experience day by day so that you get a feel for it.

Day1: Coincidently, my parents were in NY visiting my sister. Their original plan was to start to India on Sept 18th. They made me happy by postponing their ticket to see me ride off.

My bro-in-law and parents

We started from Brooklyn, NY at about 9:30am. We were given the turn-turn direction sheet for the day. We had to reach pier 11 to catch the ferry that left to Atlantic highlands at 10:45am. At 10:15am, some of us stopped at pier 16 to participate in 350.org's Draw the Line photo op event. After a few minutes, we reached the pier to start the ride. I caught up with my Green America team Russ Guskin and Bob.

After the ferry ride, had a nutritious meal in Atlantic Heights. Then

Team Gream America,
Bob, Swetha, Russ

we started the hill riding. I was underprepared for the hills awaiting us in the ride. I now vaguely remember people warning me to do some hill training early on. Guess, I should have listened... The ride was beautiful. I had some problems clipping in my left foot and I got a slow start after lunch. But I was able to finish the day's ride of 48miles. Day 1 ride ended smoothly with a tour ride through Princeton. We camped overnight at YMCA football ground there. It rained heavily through the night. Many of us had to pee but were too tired to get out of the tent and find the restroom. So, many of us had disturbed sleep.

Day2: This day is a important day since its the longest mileage of 75miles. I was determined to do all of it. I tried to get an early start. In the morning, breakfast started around 7am followed by safety briefing. Had to wait till the talk was over to get ready and put away my luggage. Got ready and started at a reasonable time. Weather was perfect. I still had some problems clipping in on left foot. Strangely, I had trained with these clip-ins for two months and had no problems. The ride was scenic. I was riding with all advise in mind. Took this picture at around mile12 and went down this road. This was a narrow two way street without any shoulder. The traffic was not bad.

The wreck: I came to a steep downhill in same road as the photo (somewhere in NJ state). I was pumping brakes to control the speed. There was a truck with a small open trailer behind me. He kept honking at me. I was already at the edge of the road going downhill. He suddenly decided to overtake me and did it very close to me leaving no room. Don't know if his vehicle hit me or just the proximity made me loose control. I fell on my chest and my bike flew in the air. Luckily, I escaped with some road rashes. This truck guy did not stop but kept going. Lady driver behind him saw all of this and stopped to move my bike to the side. In the shock, I failed to note the license plate of this vehicle. In the shock, I didn't feel the rashes, thought I could bike to the water stop. Problem was my handlebar turned. I never lost consciousness since I didn't hit my head. Called the co-ordinator and the support van picked me up. Andrea cleaned and dressed up my wounds on the way to the water stop.

Patrick dressed my wounds twice everyday

Met with Patrick, the medic who checked out my wounds, applied creams, checked my consciousness and inspected my helmet for damage. Meanwhile Kai and Vince fixed my bike. I was able to ride my bike for 1-2 miles before the van picked me up to take me to the lunch stop to makeup for the lost time. Thankfully, all the rashes were in places that didn't interfere with my riding. I guess, I was meant to keep riding.

 If you see a bicyclist on the road, please leave 3feet gap to the cyclist. Please don't overtake when you don't have that space. Please educate your friends who hate bicyclists. This guy could have been in big trouble had he got caught. He knew that, that's why he fled.

Dave encouraged me a lot!

At lunch time, my team (Green America) lead (Russ Gaskin) learnt about the wreck and started guarding me the rest of my ride. I was able to bike 40 miles after lunch. I could only do it because of support of Russ Gaskin and Climateride leader, Dave. Dave was biking behind everybody removing the signs. Dave encouraged me a lot. He let me bike as much distance as I can without jeopardizing the goal to reach campsite for the day. I was then shuttled in by the van for the last 7miles.  Dave kept asking me how I am able to get back on the bike after the wreck. I strongly felt that I am meant to keep going. I was also relieved by the tamil saying, "The danger that came for the head went off with the hat!". So, I felt that the danger was over. That night at camp, this incident was announced and I shared my story with fellow riders. I became instantly popular as the "Girl in the wreck" :-). Many riders came and reassured me.

Day3: Gabe fixed my clip in problem this morning. Bob, Green America teammate offered to guard me today. Also met and made friends with another wonderful person Marla this morning. Marla was very supportive. Idea was that we will ride together until Bob catches up with me. It was very scenic ride. Made friends with a couple of horses. The white one started chewing on my bike handlebar and bit off some of my foam tape as in the photo.

We were biking and suddenly Marla's chain broke. I had to call it in and keep going. Today was projected to be the hilly day (1200 elevation climb) of 56 miles. It was a cold morning of about 48 degrees and the weather quickly changed. Bob caught up with me and we rode together for 30miles until the lunch stop. The ride up to lunch was through beautiful Amish country. It was laundry day for the Amish. It was nice to see the high raised long laundry lines. Reminded me of my childhood in India when we line dried our clothes. Its still that way at my parents place in Chennai (South India).

Eric was a pillar of support

At the lunch stop Eric took over as my guardian. He is a funny guy. He would ride ahead look back and inform me of each car and the precise time in seconds when it will pass me. I smiled and kept attacking the hills. After the day2 bad experience, I have started to strain my arms on downhills. By the time I reached the water stop, I had bad ache on my forearms. Eric advised me to stop for the day and recover so that I can continue the next two days. Rose, Climateride leader also felt I could use the shuttle. So, I chose to stop and take the van. I could have probably done 10 more miles but I had a slight headache as well from the changing weather or maybe because I didn't drink enough.

Night 3 was lobby training night. Met up with my lobby partner, Brian Levy and relaxed at the Bonfire after. The Bonfire was superb with pleasent music by Mateo and Tatateo. While listening to music, I lifted my head and saw stars above the tree tops. How long has it been since I have seen stars? Miss living in Tucson especially for this. Got a short massage to relax my arms and shoulder from Anthony, one of the masseurs traveling with us.

Day4: We had to get an early start today to complete 65miles before dinner. Dinner is usually followed

Marla, couldn't have done it without you

by speaker series for an hour or so. We had to start by 7:30am and this morning was very cold. I also found out that this day's ride is going to be even more challenging with 1700 feet elevation climb. I was very nervous this day. Couldn't explain why? Was it late reaction? Maybe I was grasping the narrow miss on day2. I also felt the bruise underneath the rash above the right knee.

This day Marla rode with me the whole time. It was beautiful but very hilly. When I could see the end to a downhill, I was able to ride down it but if it was a long and/or steep downhill, I got down and pushed my bike down. Riders passing me inquired if I was alright. They didn't know I was doing this to deal with my jitters :-). Without the momentum from going downhill, I couldn't attack some uphills on this day. I have to thank Marla for being so patient with me. She stayed behind me at my pace. Of course, we got picked up by the van to the lunch stop. There were a few long miles on roads with heavy traffic which didn't help with my nervousness. I slowly got better through the day and biked until the hill that was at 21 degree angle around 59th mile. We were only able to do 33 miles that day but Marla stuck with me throughout. Lot of riders were picked up from the road since dinner was about to start. Few riders had strained their knee so much. One girl did so well throughout and could not ride on Day 5 due to a swelling behind her knee. All riders biked their maximum during this ride thats the beauty of the ride.

Day5: This is a long bike ride day as well. We had to do 70 miles to get to DC. It was hilly in the beginning and easy when we finished. We had to be at boathouse in DC at 3:30pm to start the finale ride. So, few of us got a head start at mile 25. We had to bike only 45miles and we were all set to do it.
This day was so beautiful. The weather was perfect. I rode for about 20 miles when Russ found me. He biked behind me the rest of the way. There were many highlights to this ride. After the strenuous hilly rides with traffic, it was a treat to ride in the Georgetown Branch trail for 10 miles. We got to ride in speeds we have long forgotten we are capable of.

We reached the boathouse ahead of time and waited to start the finale ride to Capitol hill. DW newsman was there to capture this event. Bike leader Blake who usually briefs us the safety instructions ripped open his top shirt and rode with us in our climate ride jersey. We lined up and started the three mile ride. There was police escort and free path through traffic until we got to capitol hill for the speech.

We then rode to yards park to collect and disperse. It was a truly amazing experience for me. The leaders and fellow riders were great. They were friendly, supportive and encouraging. It is refreshing to experience such company. I am definitely going to do this again. Only next time, I will go after more training. I miss everybody I met in this trip.

Lobby day: Brian and I were to lobby with the senators on Sept 26th, the day after the ride. We met at Yards park (on Day5) and came up with a strategy. I met briefly with House representative alone in the morning. It was short and the representative is a pro-climate congressman. So, that was easy. In the afternoon, Brian and I met with two Texas senators. Brain works for CCL (Citizens climate lobby) and hence more experienced. I learnt a lot from this experience. Look forward to work with CCL more in future.

I didn't have photos with all the people who supported me. All Climateride leaders were amazing and the riders were great. I really miss the community I was part of last week. It was depressing to come to Dallas and enter my apartment Thursday night after living with at least one other rider for last five days. I have registered for Climate Hike in Glacier National park for 08/2014. If you are impressed with my efforts on this ride and/or wanting to help various environmental non-profit organizations, consider donating what you can to my fundraiser to participate in Climate Hike next year.

Note: I promise that I won't send multiple fundraiser emails about the hike.