Where do I even begin? It’s been forever since I was last on
here writing to you guys. So much has happened since the last time we spoke. Do
I dare try to tell everything?
Let’s see if I can retrace my steps. I think the last time I
was on here I was telling you about the Juneau Ridgeline. Well the next hike
topped it! We went up the Grandchild’s peaks and hiked up that ridgeline. There
was a pair of mountain goats that ran across the ridgeline right in front of
us. If you look behind you, you can look out Mendenhall Valley. You can see
Stroller White Mountain and Mount McGinnis. Turn to your right and you can see
down into Eagle Valley. There’s Amalga Harbor, the EVC Valley, Windfall Lake,
Eagle Beach, and Herbert Glacier. And just out past them were the mighty
Chilkats in Haines. We were up so high and it was so clear you could see around
the Chilkats to Glacier Bay.
At some point it was the fourth of July. Carrie and I were
headed to Glacier Bay National Park for the holiday. Well that was the plan. We
ended up running behind and I got on the ferry and Carrie didn’t. She had all
my gear in her car so no clothes, money, food, or tent. That’s okay though!
It’s Gustavus. When I got to “downtown,” Carrie’s little brother bought me
lunch. His crew was working In Glacier Bay so I wasn’t entirely alone with
nothing. A beer found its way into my hand and I headed off to the horseshoe
competition. After almost killing the
competition, I mean, I almost actually killed someone, we watched the slow bike
race. That’s my favorite Fourth of July event. Once that was over, we headed to
the egg toss. We hung out having a great time for the rest of the afternoon.
Then the events moved to the gravel pits in another part of town. I rode on the
front of a 4 wheeler to get there. This even was called the grease pole. It’s a
tree that’s been peeled and is being held up above a lake by a giant excavator.
They put money in the end and Crisco up the pole. Well I did it! I didn’t get
the money though. So I decided to go for showmanship and rub it in my hair.
While I was in Glacier Bay I met the coolest guys (last night I was finally
able to buy them a beer). One guy who is 49 and his best friend’s son, my age,
they were from Montana and were kayaking from Wrangell up to Cordova.
The next big adventure was when I decided to hike Windfall
Lake to Montana Creek to the Grandchild’s to Stroller White and then back down
and out. I started late after work on a Thursday after spending 40 hours that
week hiking around Perseverance Trail system for work. I headed out at 8 pm and
power hiked to Windfall Lake arriving at 10. I set up camp in the dark and lay
down for a restless night of sleep. The next morning I was up early and heading
for Montana Creek. The section right after the cabin at Windfall was so
overgrown I was just waiting to get mauled by a bear. But I was loud and
trucked on to get to the Grandchild’s trail at 1. I had a pre-summit beer with
Ryen as he hiked Montana Creek to Windfall before heading up at 2. I hiked
really fast and came up out of the tree line at 3 to see dark clouds rolling
in. It doesn’t normally thunder and lightning in South East Alaska, but it has
been like crazy this summer because it’s so hot and dry. So I emptied what I
could of water and food and hauled butt down the mountain. It took me 30 minutes
to get down. I started trucking to catch Ryen as he made his way to Windfall
Lake. Finally I broke out into the meadow and say wet foot prints on the board
walk and knew I was closing in fast to someone. Then in the distance I saw a
blue bag bounding across the meadow. I hiked as fast as I could and finally
caught up with Ryen. We spent the rest of the evening hiking out and picking
berries. I hiked 30 miles that day!
While all of this is going on, I’m working on our brusher
crew at work. Each week, I’m hiking 40 hours a week all over Juneau. One of
those days we had a close call. Our trail crew foreman was driving the excavator
on Perseverance Trail. He was clearing a rock slide and dumping the rocks into
the canyon below. On one of the turns the excavator tipped and he almost went
over the edge. The next day all of us were working on Mount Juneau and I sent
out a text that I’m going to use for this next section: Picture this; the air
is choked with fog as the incredibly hung over trail crew starts their weary Wednesday.
They were quiet as the eight of them climb Mount Juneau with brushers, McLeods,
Pulaskis, and their dolmar full of fuel. The light rain pitter patters on their
helmets as they climb 3500 feet, they think about how less than 24 hours ago
their foreman was inches from death as the excavator tipped over and started
down the canyon to the raging river below. Now above the clouds and fog, the
trail crew swallows the pain of hiking with all their gear and raging headaches
to begin the day of work. The next day we were up there again for another epic
work day. It was super foggy; you can see the person working to your left and
right but can’t see beyond them. You can hear the others working, but can see
nothing. You’re cutting trail with a hazel hoe or Pulaski. There are four guys
with big beards discussing which Disney princess they are. This paragraph should be read with a Morgan
Freeman voice. He narrators a lot of what Trail Mix does.
I decided to stay at camp this past weekend and had a
surprise visit from Carrie. We headed out to Echo Cove to go fishing. After a
couple of beers and watching the salmon in the water, seeing harbor porpoises,
and losing lures, we decided to go around the corner. Many corners later we
ended up in Berners Bay. We ran into a couple of porcupines and we wanted to
see what else we could find. Carrie had kayaked out there before and said there
was a river with tons of salmon just off the beach. So after agreeing to do
everything wrong to increase our chances of seeing a bear we went towards the
river. Carrie froze and I peered around her to see a sow and three cubs. And
because it’s Berners Bay, they were grizzlies and not black bears. They were
feeding and we stood there and watched them for what seems like forever. Then
we crept around to see if there was a better view. I stood out in the open as
mom called her cubs away. One crawled across a downed tree and sat in the
middle and watched me. We had a moment; it was quiet in my mind as we starred
at each other. Time slowed down and I thought hours had gone past, and then the
little guy followed his siblings and mother up the hill away from us. Carrie
said it was only minutes but it felt like eternity. We headed back to the beach
and found a nice cliff to rest against as we watched the sunset behind the
Chilkats. It was an incredible night. I thought nothing could top it, but I say
that every time Carrie and I do something epic, and then we do…
The next afternoon we hiked up Sheep Creek. It was quite
foggy but everyone said it was going to clear up. We came up to the weather
station at the top to find a group that looked like they stepped off the pages
of a Marmot catalog. They were incredibly lost and it didn’t take Carrie and me
long to figure out they were a bunch of green horns and we would have to rescue
them. They wouldn’t believe Carrie when she told them they were headed the
wrong way so we let them go. After leaving plenty of rock trails and carrions
we broke out of the fog to see the Taku Valley and a whole new adventure. We
drank our summit beers and planned the next big trip. The green horns then came
out of the fog and asked us if we found a dead end and I said we found a new beginning.
We pointed them in the right direction and we all headed out together. That
night at the bar by some miracle Fred and Brett from Montana were there. They
had paddled from 24 hours straight and decided to turn around and come back. It
was great to drink and to see them again. They are headed home for another
adventure. I’m really privileged to do what I do, see what I see, and meet who
I meet
Which Disney princess were you?
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