Mt Roberts Trail

I woke up this morning excitedly looking forward to trying out this new/old mountain bike that I have found in my travels in Juneau.  But very quickly it became obvious that I would not be biking today.  It was very windy, with strong gusts, and it was raining solidly and coldly.  I must be getting old 'cause wind, rain and cold would never have slowed me down just a few years ago.  Hell no.

Maybe it was age - maybe it was that I spent most of last year with an injured slash recovering slash rehabing slash reinjured slash recovering from surgery.......knee, and I didn't want to take a chance on messing it up.  Naaah.  It was that I was getting old. 

But either way, getting on a bike and riding on an island out to open water-ways just didn't sound like a fun time in that weather.  So on to Plan B.

What was Plan B??  Well - I wasn't immediately sure......but finally came up with a plan to hike up Mt Roberts Trail as far as the wonderful tourist attraction - Mt Roberts Tramway.

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=st+roberts+tramway%2C+juneau&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

This time around I was better prepared.  The weather was very wet and windy - and I was fairly certain that as I climbed in elevation it would begin to feel very cold.  So......baselayer/fleece/rain jacket on top........tights and rain pants on bottom.....wool socks and gore-tex trail shoes (I much prefer trail shoes to the hiking boots I have been wearing since I arrived in Juneau.  A nod to my years of adventure racing I think).  Fleece hat,  water proof insulated gloves and my Yak-Trax. 

Extra gear included another fleece in my dry bag, as well as carrying a compass/headlamp/first aid kit/knife/whistle/space blanket/food and water.  With the exception of the food and water it turns out that I did not need any of the extra gear I was carrying.  But honestly, given the cold temperatures, snow, ice, and slick challenging trails that I encountered, I am very glad that I had the gear with me.  I have been out in backwoods areas enough over the years to know that things can go bad-wrong very quickly.  Thankfully not today though.

I started out along Basin Rd with mountains all around me

Until I came to the Mt Roberts Trailhead

 

For the first 20-30 minutes I became a willing part of a most beautiful rainforest.  The trail was steep, full of roots, muddy from overnight rain, but soft underfoot because of pine needles and the ever-present moss covering everything.  And the elevation increased steadily throughout that section.

I am not sure what this plant is but I have seen it often on each trail I have explored in Juneau so far.  It first caught my attention the first weekend I was here, when I grabbed a hold of one of these plants to use as a balance check on a climb on a trail.  This plant has tough thick thorns/bristles - and they HURT when you grab onto them.

One of many beautiful overlooks on the early part of the trail - that's downtown Juneau and the mountains of Douglas Island in view.  Beautiful.

Some more photographs captured in between the pine trees, as I continued to climb in elevation.  It was at this point that I realized that I had climbed so much that I was no longer looking up at the mountains - that I was beginning to look directly across at them.  It was also at this point that I realized that I have been yearning to be in the mountains all along, and to be a part of them - not just an observer of them.

Eventually I had climbed enough that the trail began to be covered with long sheets of ice.  After carefully negotiating the first few icy sections I dug out my Yak-Trax.

And ice quickly turned to snow

And there it was - I was one with the mountain, and we were facing each other eye to eye.  Beauty that can make you cry.  Beauty that made me cry for just a minute before I continued moving higher.

Thigh deep snow on the trail by this time.

And finally, after only 90 minutes of non-stop climbing through a beautiful pine-tree filled rain forest, through ice, and through snow I contentedly made it to the top of Mt Roberts Trail - where the Tramway runs non-stop for tourists in the summer, and where the overlook provides miles of uninterrupted island, mountain and channel views.

I only stayed at the summit long enough to call LC, take some pictures, eat a muffin, drink some water, and put back on the gloves and fleece I had taken off during the climb up.  Sure enough the temperature at the summit was a good deal colder than it was down at sea level, and my fingers quickly froze while I got myself situated eating and dressing.

Although the trek down was a little dicey with the navigation of snowy and then icy trails, 60 minutes later I was back down on Basin Road and headed back to the hotel to warm up.  A wonderful exhilarating walk on a weekend day.