An "Oh Sh*t" Day On Mt McGinnis

I had set the alarm for 5:30 this morning knowing that the weather was going to at least be dry, and wanting very much to explore part of Mt McGinnis.  I had done enough research to know that it was one of the highest moutains in Juneau, that the trail was extremely steep and challenging, and that somewhere "up there" were outstanding views worth the climb. 

With that limited information I arrived at the West Glacier Trail at 7:30am well supplied with bear protection, food, water and a "turn around diet coke", trekking pole, compass, extra clothing, first aid supplies, and a fully charged cell phone and camera.

Before setting in I called my Mountain Boy (who holds his breathe each and every time I take these little jaunts, until I call him when I am safely back at the car), and a local friend (not colleague - private joke).  :-)

The day turned into an interesting and challenging day, with unexpected multiple "oh shit" moments......

These first pictures were taken just a few minutes into the trail.  It was a gorgeous and sunny day.  I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt for the first time - cool when I first started out, then warming up quickly as the day progressed and as I started climbing.

I walked the length of West Glacier Trail last weekend.  The trail begins flat and wide open, and as it progresses begins to climb - lots of rock scrambling, rock stairs and challenging inclines.  But a beautiful trail that is accessible for people with a decent amount of fitness. 

Even though it took me about 90 minutes to climb it, my second time doing this trail seemed to go much faster and easier than the last time.

A couple of pictures along the way.....

I know that people respond to Juneau in different ways.  Some find it claustrophic and closed in.  Others do not.  I was not sure how I would feel about living in Juneau.  It is a beautiful place.  But I was not sure how I would feel about living in this isolated city on a day to day basis - when it was raining, or foggy, or cloudy day after day.  And neither was my Mountain Boy.  We both questioned whether or not this place would "fit" for us - our need for space........

When I see places like this I don't feel closed in, regardless of the weather.  My Mountain Boy, after almost five months will be here in a few weeks, and I truly hope that he feels the same way.  Time will tell.

This is the site from the end of West Glacier.  It is such a fascinating view, that in truth I could spend hours just doing what I did last week - sitting, eating a sandwich, and looking out over this icy lunar landscape known as the Mendenhall Glacier and the ice field the runs for miles behind it.

Today I did not sit and enjoy the view for long though.  I wanted to see Mt McGinnis.

I scrambled up a long rock face, and (as the trail book had described) was prepared to do a search for the trailhead which was supposed to be difficult to find.

Once I had finished that first climb though, surprisingly I saw a small piece of flagging tape wrapped around a tree limb so found the trailhead easily.

The trail was narrow, unfinished and immediately challenging - both in terms of terrain and in terms of following the flagging tape.  They are all different and it took me a while to get into the rhythm of this new trail.  A few minor wrong direction choices, searching for and then finding more flagging tape, and I was good to go.

I made a committment to check the compass regularly from this point on.

A picture of one of the rock gardens I had to climb over and through to continue along the trail.

It was this same rock garden on the way back where I stumbled and fell, and jammed my finger between my knee and a rock. 

At the same time that was happening my bear spray fell out of an outside pocket, hit a rock (and since I had lost the safety cap on a hike on a trail Out the Road a few months ago) set the spray off.  Thankfully the can only released a tiny amount of spray, so no real damage done - except my finger hurt. 

But the whole incident was an "oh shit" moment.

Lots and lots of these kinds of climbs........

After a good deal of initial climbing the trail evened out for a few minutes.  Everything was muddy, watery, snowy, icy, but it was also around this area that I found footprints of someone who had walked this place before me.

Although the trail was marked with tape the nature of the trail still made it difficult to follow at times.   The footprints (after checking the compass) were heading in the same direction that I wanted to go, and the mud and snow made the prints easier to follow.

This snow-melt waterfall followed the trail for quite a while, and all of that water was the reason for the boggy and muddy conditions I found myself in the middle of for a while.

On the way up Mt McGinnis I managed to keep my feet dry. 

But on the way back I managed to step into very muddy sections that partially overflowed into my shoes.  Fun fun.  Compounded by stepping through an icy section with first one foot and then the other, so that I had completely soaking wet feet. 

I can't tell you how many times I have trekked for hours with wet feet in races.  It's just part of adventure racing and it is completely expected that it will happen at multiple points in each race.  It caught me off guard today though, although thankfully even though the water was cold the air temperature was warm, so it was not a serious concern.

Even more interesting though on the way back (also in this same area) I was gingerly making my way from one section of muddy icy snow, across a creek, to another section of muddy icy snow so that I could reach more dry land. 

I made a lunge across the creek and promptly fell through the snow and into knee deep water.  I lost my balance and fell onto my side making one side of me completely soaked from the hip down.

Crazily my first thought was to get my camera out of the side pocket of my trekking pants.  Whew!  It was OK.

But, between the mud, and the wet feet, and then busting through the ice, the entire episode through this area on the way back was an "oh shit" moment.

As I continued to climb I found the snow.  Lots of it.  It had not snowed in quite a while, so it was all that icy, dirty kind of snow you find in late May in the mountains.

The trail was still difficult to follow at times, but there was flagging tape and I eventually found it.  I had to continually pay attention though - both to the trail and to my compass.  Whenever I found either tape or footprints I felt reassured that I was still on-track.

I also continually payed attention to my surroundings.  This was bear country, there was no doubt about it.  Much of it mossy, much of it open, and I was very aware of my surroundings.

Another "oh shit" moment..........I came around a turn in the trail and scared a bird that had been on the ground.  He took flight in a surprising flurry of activity and scared the heck out me.  It had been very very quiet up to that moment, and as I came around the bend all I saw was something dark moving suddenly, and then lots of noise and activity. 

And then the "oh shits" started to come thick and fast.

The first came at this point and the picture does not even begin to do it justice.

I had been on the Mt McGinnis trail for about 90 minutes and had travelled "maybe" two miles.  Probably closer to a mile and a half.

At this point on the trail I stopped, having completely lost track of the flagging tape.  After visually searching (because I was on a tough section of trail with a steep drop-off immediately to my right) I looked up.  And hanging "up there" I saw a long piece of orange flagging tape waving in the wind.

My first thought was "you're f'ing kidding me".......

It looked straight up. 

I took a deep breath and took another look, and the incline was a good 60 percent, which was crazy steep.

Another deep breath.  An inspection of the trail.  A look at my watch. 

I had made a mental decision that I was going to turn back at 11:30am regardless of where I was or how far I had travelled.  It was 11am.

One more deep breath and I decided to forge ahead.  Or rather.....up.  Before I moved though I made a decision that I was going to stop right there, eat, drink my "turn around diet coke" and head back.  But I wanted to see what was up there.

Although it was very steep, the "trail" was also rooty and rocky which meant I had enough hand holds to be able to make the climb relatively easy.  I was aware though that coming back down was going to be a serious challenge.

When I arrived at the top of the climb this is what I found..........oh shit......

I sat at the snow line, with my back up against a pine tree (for reassurance and stability, because there was a big 'ole drop off right behind me), ate my sandwiches (bologna and cheese never tasted so good), ate my cookies, drank my coke, and looked at the snow and icy hill that towered in front of me.

There were footprints.  It seriously looked like there was an open area at the top.

Footprints.  Open area.

One more climb before I turn around???

I decided to go for it.

This was the angle I was climbing..........

This view was over my other shoulder.......

And this was what was up ahead of me........

I made it half way up the snow hill without any real problems.  But by the time I was half way up I also started thinking about making my way back down again.

I didn't like the thought of coming down this snowy and icy hill at all.  Not one bit.

What if I lost my footing and started sliding?  There were a few pine trees to possibly stop me from sliding out of control if I couldn't regain control myself, but if neither one of those things happened I was heading down a very steep drop-off.

There wasn't a whole lot of chance of that actually happening because the snow seemed fairly stable and walkable - but at that very moment I felt, while I was standing in the middle of nowhere halfway up a snow/ice hill, that I was moving into "getting in over my head" territory.

I turned back.

I arrived back at the snow line and my lunch-pine-tree and dug out my trekking pole.

Oh man - either hips or knees were gonna hurt by the end of the day.  I had a very long trek, almost completely on steep downhill ahead of me to get back to civilization.

Within 15 minutes of precarious downhill climbing I had my answer - knees.  Oh shit.  And I continued to forge ahead.

Although my knees were screaming loudly - and I got wet feet - and jammed my finger - and set off my bear spray - I made it most of the way back to the trailhead a little banged up but in relatively good shape.

With about 30 minutes still to go I thought that I was home free until I arrived at this point.

I worked my way through the water and mud and saw a mountain view and skunk cabbage patch that I wanted to take a picture of.

I snapped the picture, looked again at the skunk cabbage and realized that I had not seen these plants on the way up Mt McGinnis.  Hmmmmm.  Did I just miss them the first time?? 

No.  I didn't miss them.

Oh shit.

And that's when I realized that I had completely lost the trail.  I looked around and nothing looked familiar.  I walked a little faster for a few seconds, looking around me and not recognizing anything.

And for about a minute I went into total panic mode.  And I was scared.  For the second time today (the first being when I was half way up that ridiculously steep snow hill).

My brain began a frantic internal conversation.  Where did I go off trail?  How far back?  Godammit Karin - this is how people DIE in Alaska - they get off trail, get turned around, panic, wander around and then they're screwed!!!!

And just like that my panic attack was over.  And the rational part of my brain thankfully took over.

I couldn't see it very well, but I could see the glacier through the trees, so I at least knew which direction to head.  And a compass - I had a compass and knew which direction I needed to go.  I was OK.  Breathe Karin.  Settle....

I backtracked just a few minutes, found the trail, checked the compass, and continued on. 

A couple more occasions of searching for flagging tape but nothing out of the ordinary and I was back onto West Glacier Trail.

My knees were screaming, but after the trail I had just come off I was happy to deal with my old beat up knees on the way down.

It was a much more demanding hike, and a much more interesting day than I had anticipated, but I made my way partly up Mt McGinnis, and walked away from city and people today.  It was a good day and I am happy to have spent it exactly as I did.

A couple of final pictures on my way down to the parking lot.....