A VERY Good Hike

A picture of me taken mid-morning up in the mountains.

The first time I was in Juneau I arrived late at night last November, and tiredly took a shuttle from the airport to the Goldbelt Hotel downtown, pleased and happy that my journey (at least for a few days until I had to head back down to Tennessee) was over.  While driving from the airport I could see the outline in the dark of both the channel and the mountains over on Douglas Island, and could see the lights from houses - first just a few and then more and more as we got closer to town.

The next morning I walked outside the hotel into the daylight and saw Douglas Island for the very first time, and I was speechless.  I called my Mountain Boy and talked quickly - unsuccessfully trying to describe to him what I was seeing in front of me. The island was bigger - much bigger - and more rugged than I had ever imagined it would be in my mind.  Even though I had seen pictures of it online, the pictures did not even begin to do it justice.  I was in awe.

Douglas Island is one of those magical, untamed and wild places that calls to me often.  It did that first day, and it has called to me ever since.......

So I was very happy, when I called the Juneau Hike Hotline yesterday to find out where the Saturday group hike was taking place, and found out that they were all meeting at Eaglecrest Ski Resort parking lot, and were heading up into the Eaglecrest mountains.  I was there!!!

Before I headed up to Eaglecrest this morning I stopped at a yard sale and bought a frying pan, some cereal bowls and a pair of Xtratufs all for $5.  I was excited about buying a great pair of boots for almost no money, but now am disappointed that I bought my new pair a few months ago for over $80.  If I had only known.....I guess a spare pair is not a bad thing, eh??

The ski resort closed for the season last week, but there is a whole lot of slushy snow still remaining, and I knew that I would again have an opportunity to use the snowshoes that one of my colleagues loaned to me.

When I arrived at the parking lot it was pouring with rain, but there were 8 of us who still showed up.  Some of the people I had met when I walked with them up to John Muir cabin about a month ago, and some were new to the group.

Within only a few hundred yards of walking we were digging out either our snow shoes or cross country skis, and we wore them the entire trip (which lasted for about 6 hours).  The first half of the trip it was raining hard, and I took only a few pictures because I do not have a waterproof camera (you can see in a few of the early pictures that I did indeed get water inside my camera, even though I tried valiantly but unsuccessfully to keep it dry).  But on the trip back the rain stopped, my camera dried out, eventually the sun came out, and I actually had to start shedding layers.  I took 86 pictures this morning.  This is only a small sampling of them........

Now that I have walked through these mountains, and just had a small taste of what is actually up there, I am more enamored than ever with this beautiful place.  I love these mountains, and feel a strong need to explore them, feel them, see them........

I called my Mountain Boy on the way home to tell him about my hike.  I told him that I love the mountains that I see every day around Auke Bay and further Out the Road.  The mountains are surrounded by water, covered in snow and pine trees, and truly beautiful to see.

But Douglas Mountains are truly beautiful to feel.  Because I was IN them, not just looking at and admiring them.  And they spoke to me.  I had a wonderful experience up there and want to do it again soon.