A Good Sunday Morning

This morning I went hiking with a colleague from work at the West Glacier Trail.   This trail travels along part of the Mendenhall Lake, ending with close-up views of the glacier, and also provides access to the trail leading up to Mt McGinnis. 

Because of other obligations, we did not have a lot of time this morning, but since neither one of us had ever done this trail before we decided going in that we would just explore as far as time allowed, and walk it again together soon.

I carried my 44 Ruger on my hip with me on this trip.  It is the first time I have ever carried a firearm with me, and although it felt foreign and strange, I also felt secure carrying it.  Between carrying the firearm, a kabar duct taped to my pack and bear spray I felt more secure travelling in bear country than I have since I arrived in Juneau.

The weather when we set in was unsettled - foggy and cloudy but trying to clear.  There was no way of knowing which way it would decide to go, but both Suzanne and I carried enough gear and clothing with us to handle whatever the weather gods threw at us.

The trail began flat, non-technical and wide open.  It was easy going, and we took our time warming up, stopping at openings in the trail to snap pictures of the lake and the small icebergs that had calved from the glacier.

I never get tired of seeing the mountains, lakes and pine trees.  I told LC last night that I was wondering if my pictures were all starting to look the same.  He told me "no" - that every mountain and every body of water had its' own character and its' own story to tell.

This lake is the same one that I photographed just a week ago on a beautiful and very sunny day.  This is close to the location of the flute player I encountered last week.

My hiking partner - eager and ready for action!

More pictures of the trail.  It gradually began its incline, and for the next while we encountered slight uphills, a few bridges and fast moving creeks and streams.

A frumpy looking me.  You can't see the Ruger, but it was in a holster on my left hip.  And although it was reassuring to carry it with me, it was also aggravating as hell, because the barrel continually wanted to point forward instead of straight down.  When I picked it up from the store I tried to get a left handed shoulder holster but they did not have one.  My Mountain Boy ordered one for me down in Tennessee and now has it.  I asked him to just hold onto it for me until he gets here next month.

It became apparent very quickly that if I was going to carry it on my hip I needed a holster with a thigh strap as well, to keep the thing in place.   

Two of many streams that we saw in our travels this morning

After the first mile, the wide open and easy trail was history, and the going became more challening both in terms of technical trail and aggressive inclines.  Rain compounded the difficulty, but we're Juneauites and a little rain ain't nothin' but a thing.  An old adventure racing adage - if it ain't raining you ain't training.

A metal rail to aid with the uphill travel

Smiling the whole trip.  Gotta love it.  :-)

We eventually climbed enough to be able to stop for a few minutes and take a few pictures of the views.  There is something very joyful about being able to look across the lake and stare eye to eye at the mountains.  I find it to be a very freeing experience, and the mountains continue every day to call to me and beckon me to visit.

We climbed maybe 600 more feet in a very short period of time, but then second guessed ourselves.  Before the steepest climb we had come to a trail intersection.  The trails in Juneau are numerous, well maintained, and very beautiful.  But they are not always well marked.

We elected to take the left trail (and truthfully I always fall back on yet another old adventure racing adage when we are still heading in - when in doubt go up).  But after completing a tough climb, and then watching the trail consistently veer away from the lake and the glacier, we thought we had made the wrong choice.

A downhill climb, a brief stint on the other trail, and it became very obvious that we had indeed been on the correct trail the first time, and that it was eventually going to circle back in the direction we needed to go if we were going to continue.

So.......a steep climb back up to the trail intersection, a look at our watches, and a decision that we needed to head back and begin making our way to the car.

I'm not sure if Suzanne is smiling because she had just finished climbing back up to the intersection, or if she was smiling because we were heading back, but either way she was smiling and that's always a good thing.

We started a couple of hours earlier without rain jackets - had to dig into our packs for them as we were heading towards the intersection when it started raining heavily.  The rain lasted for only a few minutes, and then of course we were ditching the jackets again.

On the way back, sure enough it started raining heavily again.  More digging into our packs for jackets, and again it only lasted for a few minutes.

But then it began to hail.  Yes hail.  Unsettled weather indeed.  It is difficult to see, but this is a hail picture taken from underneath a pine tree along the side of the trail.

And yet again, within just a few minutes it had stopped as we continued hiking - we were both greatly enjoying the day, greatly enjoying the exertion, greatly enjoying the company.

Not too far from the trailhead we ran into a young female mountain biker who was carrying a rifle that was attached to the back of her pack.   I am not sure just how far she got on her bike, because after the first mile much of it was not what I would consider to be rideable (even by expert mountain biker standards), but regardless I was pleased to see her taking control of her personal safety.

After we arrived back at the car we ditched the packs, grabbed the food, grabbed the cameras, and headed for the large rocks by the lake to enjoy a quiet lunch.

The glacier once again.  I did not realize until recently just how much of a fixture this wonderful place is to both the trails and the city of Juneau.

These rafts were sitting unsupervised, unused and alone when we first headed into the trail and a couple of hours later they were still there.  As Mendenhall Lake feeds into Mendenhall River, Suzanne and I speculated that they were rafts that would be used for training staff, in preparation for the summer paddling season.

The trail was a beautiful space that incorporated moss-covered.....everything, pine trees, lake and mountain views, and was just challenging enough to want us to visit again to do more.  It was a good Sunday morning.