Someone at work told me a couple of weeks ago that it was always sunny July 4 weekend. I told her that I was holding her to that prediction, and that if the weather was nasty then I knew who to blame.....
At 8am this morning it was 50 degrees. It was windy, with grey skies and a steady downpour of rain.
By 9am it was still cool and rainy. Dammit.
I had debated about hiking with the local hiking group and taking a walk up Mt Roberts this morning.
I hiked Mt Roberts early in the year, not long after I arrived in Juneau. There was snow at higher elevations, and I stopped at the tramway center after a couple of hours of continuous climbing.
It was a cold and windy winter day, all of the touristy shops and restaurants were closed, and I was the only person up there that day. I enjoyed the entire experience very much.
I took the Mt Roberts Tramway up there about six weeks ago, on a very warm and beautifully sunny day. The tourist draws were all open and in full swing, and the mountain was full of friendly visitors from around the world. I took beautiful pictures of sweeping views of the mountains and channel, and had a wonderful time that day as well.
But today, and even though the local hiking group is made up of very friendly, experienced and welcoming folks, I just did not want to be around people. And so I passed on Mt Roberts.
Many times I have driven by, and ridden by on my bike, a trail Out the Road that I knew nothing about, but have always been curious about. After looking it up this morning I realized that it was the Herbert Glacier Trail.
It was about 9 miles in length, with only 300 feet of elevation gain. An easy walk after having not really exercised for a few weeks.
So even though it was a colder day than any other July 3 I could ever remember spending in my adult life (summer in Alaska........) I was looking forward to being on a trail. More importantly, I needed to be out and away from the world.
My Mountain Boy has a chronic knee injury (a result of a combination of being both rear ended while stopped at a red light in Tennessee and very bad medical insurance), that has prevented him from doing a lot of serious hiking.
I have missed walking and biking and kayaking with him. The kayaking we can do together. The hiking and biking will have to wait until we can get him signed into my insurance plan - something I did not do early into employment with my new job because I honestly was not sure I would be staying very long (partly because of ambiguity about Juneau and partly because of ambiguity about unexpected issues related to work).......
He has the same injury to his knee that I had to my knee, and I had surgery a few weeks before coming to Alaska. It solved the problem, and we will get this issue solved as soon as we can so LC can do all the things that he wants to do.
And then we can hike together. Sometimes. Sometimes I will want to still hike alone.
Only fifteen minutes or so into the wide open and easy trail, I unexpectedly came across this old, rusty and bullet ridden vehicle. So cool. So random and unexpected.....
The early part of the trail contained very deep and thick brush on both sides, particularly a lot of large ferns and wildly growing devils clubs.
The Herbert River, as with the Mendenhall River that we visited yesterday, is now a fast moving and swollen river from continued snow melt at higher elevations, and all the almost non-stop rain we have had over the past couple of weeks.
By the time I was about an hour into the trail it had moved from being surrounded by lush undergrowth, to the mossy and small pine trees so typical of higher elevations in Juneau. Only I had not been climbing very much on this walk, so could not really figure out initially why I felt as though I was moving into an alpine environment.
LC figured it out........this trail backs up directly against both mountains and the glacier - too cold of an environment for ferns and devils club, but apparently conducive to the moss and small pine trees that I love so much.
Another unexpected sight along the trail, particularly almost ninety minutes in, was this sweet little bench overlooking a beautiful mountain and beautiful little pond. The mountain is located directly behind the trees, and was barely visible on this very wet and cold day. It did not show up in this picture.
A common piece of yard art down in Tennessee (particularly in rural Tennessee) is a very large full body wooden profile of a cowboy leaning against a tree.
When I first came around a bend in the trail and saw the way this tree stood, and the way the moss grew on this tree, it immediately reminded me of that same cowboy-in-profile.
It also reminded me of adventure racing. I have had some very very interesting hallucinations over the years while racing - a symptom of sleep deprivation.
While looking at my moss cowboy I went back in time to being out on trails for extended periods of time, and finding myself staring at strange things up ahead that were not actually there..........
After almost six months, I still get very excited when I see mountains up close......
With the exception of the last half mile, the entire trail was an almost completely flat, open and dirt/gravel trail, that is accessible both on foot and on mountain bike.
The last half mile the trail got more interesting - narrower, more roots and rocks. At this point I was walking on narrow trail with sheer rock face to one side, and the raging Herbert River on the other.
And Herbert Glacier. Beautiful......
I took the glacier pictures from a pretty and sandy beach area.
After taking my pictures and before heading back, I sat in the sand eating a ham and cheese sandwich and drinking a bottle of water (no turn-around diet coke today) and smiled.
I was sitting in the sand by a river, looking at a glacier, in the pouring rain in the middle of summer in Alaska.
It was July 4 weekend. It was 52 degrees. And I made it to the beach.
A couple of pictures taken on the way back to the trail head.
The river, the rock face and the trail.
I noticed small patches of white moss on the trail. I stopped to take a closer look and realized that there was a much larger patch behind a group of small bushes.
I have never seen anything like it before, and certainly never since I arrived here in Juneau.
White moss...........
A small bridge - one of a few that I walked across today in my travels.
It was not a long adventure today - I was back at the car after having been out for only 3 1/2 hours. But I needed the walk. I needed to be outside and I needed to be alone.
Because of that, it was a very good way to spend the morning.
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