Thane

I woke up this morning and could immediately hear  that the heavy rain we had experienced last night was still with us.  I looked out of the windows and the pine-tree-filled hills surrounding our house had vanished - covered completely in thick bands of fog.

Damn.  I had really wanted to walk in the mountains today.  

But I would have been going alone, and safety demanded that I would not be heading out in thick fog. 

So while I was drinking coffee and waking up I stewed disappointedly about what to do for a Plan B.

My Mountain Boy came up with a partial plan - an all-you-can-eat buffet at the Prospector Hotel in the city.

I stayed at the Prospector for the month of February in Juneau.  

It was the off-season, I got a very good deal on a month long extended stay, and ate the buffet there a couple of times.  Always calorie loading before heading out somewhere. 

Tons of great food, and not badly priced, so a partial Plan B was in place.........

I'm starting to become introspective myself these days. 

I don't know how to eat lots of food just for the sake of eating lots of food....

Maybe the fog would clear this afternoon and I would ride my mountain bike today.

Maybe climb in the mountains away from sea level and away from the city and the people, on a clear day after work during this week.

Maybe take a very very long walk on a up-til-now unexplored trail this week.

Maybe.  Maybe.

Too many years training.  Too many years moving and pushing and straining.  Too many years to sit still for too long without feeling like the wolf I saw pacing back and forth in a too-small cage, while visiting a small outdoor zoo with my tiny son many years ago.

Still trying to find balance with my new life as well.....

Maybe.........

After brunch this morning we drove out to Thane.

The trip to Thane lasts for all of about five miles, is located south of Juneau and ends at a trail that I walked way-back-when on a freezing but sunny weekend day over the winter. 

 It is primarily little more than a strip of highway surrounded by mountains and forest on one side, and the channel and Douglas Island on the other side.

There are some residences along the highway, mostly hidden among the trees.  But not many.  And no businesses to speak of. 

Thane is locally best known for three things:

1.  The homeless campground where someone got shot in the head a few months ago (and survived) - playing with guns and alcohol while sitting with others around a campfire 

2.  The prominant and active avalanche chutes in the area that sporadically take out the power grid (and which cost Juneauites a small fortune a few years ago when the power lines were down for months - forcing the local power company to fire up diesel generators and raise rates by over 400%.  They say that there was not a clothes pin to be found for sale anywhere in Juneau, as enterprising locals all took to hand washing and hand drying their laundry......

3.  The place where a black wolf, widely believed to be Romeo, was dumped after being shot and killed this past year

But the reason I love it out there so much are the sandy beaches that can be accessed by multiple pulloffs along the way, the beautiful and outstanding views of both Douglas Island and the open channel, and the extraordinarily interesting remants of an old boat harbor and abandoned items that litter the part of the beach that is immediately adjacent to town.

This place is hugely interesting to me. 

Remnants everywhere of what once must have been a very large and busy harbor...

There are old rusted pieces scattered throughout this particular beach.  When I was there alone during the winter I rode my bike all the way to the end of the road, walked on the trail at the end, and then on the way back to the hotel (where I was staying at that time) stopped at every pulloff and walked down to the beach.

I had no idea what all of these rusted things were.  They were just artistic pieces of junk that obviously had some unknown story to share. 

I speculated alone at the time that they may be remants from the old Treadwell Mine, since the old mine is located immediately across the channel from this place, over on Douglas Island.

But My Mountain Boy recognized at least some of the pieces we saw today as being from old vehicles......

More of the old harbor, and a completely seaweed and barnacle encrusted old boat.....

A view looking out the channel, with Douglas on the right........

With the sky beginning to clear but with the mountains still covered in low clouds and fog.

With the exception of some duck prints, ours were the only prints in the sand this morning......

My Mountain Boy standing beside some of the old vertical boat harbor ties.......

Mt Roberts Tramway and the restaurant/gift store at the top hidden in the fog.....

Large rusted nuts and u-bolts on the harbor ties.......

At another pulloff along the highway we found this boat.  I would love to know the story behind this boat because seeing it just raises so many questions.  How long has it been lying abandoned on this beach?  Why was it abandoned?  Who did it belong to?  Was it abandoned surreptitiously or is it accepted here in Juneau to just leave a boat lying on the beach when it is no longer servicable?  What happened to it?  Was it just old or unservicable or too expensive to fix or severely damaged in a marine accident?

I don't know any answers to any of those questions.

But what I DO know is that Juneau spends a good deal of money (both privately and through public funds) to build statues and monuments and other icons to speak to both the history of Alaska and the history of Juneau.  

  And this boat is by far much more interesting to me than all of those other things......

Another view looking away from the city, and out towards the open channel.........

This gold mining car is located on the highway out in Thane, at the entrance to a private driveway........

While we were walking the beaches, we saw float planes every few minutes both coming in for a landing and taking off at Marine Harbor in downtown Juneau. 

The air traffic is non-stop right now - float plane and helicoptor tours for the tourists, private planes, and Alaska Airlines commercial traffic.

In another six weeks or so it will all be over.  Tourist season in Juneau will be done.

The cruiseships (anywhere from two to five ships per day every day) will be gone.  The cruiseship line stores will all be closed.  The pop-up restaurants and food vendors and tour vendors will all be gone.  The float planes will be gone.  The tour buses will be gone.  The helicoptors will be grounded.  The seasonal workers will all head home to wherever home is.  The parking lots by the water will all be empty again and so will the streets and sidewalks.

It has all been very interesting to see, but like almost every other Juneauite I will be glad when it is over.  So it can be quiet again.........

My truck.......I love my truck........

By the time we were only half way out to the end of the road in Thane we turned around to head back.  We were low on gas.

But before we headed towards Juneau, then the Valley, then Out the Road to go home, we stopped at a beautiful waterfall accessible from the road.

We took a couple of pictures from the road then pushed our way through dense woods so we could get closer to the falls.  It was worth the effort......

Another one of those LC-taking-a-picture-of-me-taking-a-picture pictures.........

This face was carved into a large log on the beach. 

The log was extremely large, weathered, and had obviously been in place on the beach for a very very long time.

Whoever did this carving knew that it was something that they could not take with them - that their work would remain on the beach for others to see and enjoy........