Lena Beach

The weather forecast for today called for 100% chance of rain and high winds.

As I drove to work in the heavy and pouring rain this morning my car shook unnervingly from side to side in wind gusts that reached up to 50 mph.

Thankfully I was not driving my truck.

The good news was that it was warmer today than it had been over the past few days.

As I closed in on the city I noticed that the triplets - three mountains that I named one day last spring because all my downtown pictures somehow seem to include these same three Douglas Island mountain peaks, were dusted in snow.

I smiled to myself when I saw them, as I always do.

Winter is coming - slowly but surely but actually not so slowly......

An interesting development at work that has been both reassuring and settling for me has been my recent aquaintance with an unforseen ally. 

Someone powerful and accomplished and connected, who for some strange and unknown reason has recognized the difficult professional situation that I have at times faced, and seems to be motivated to act on my behalf without hidden agendas.

And unexpected but welcome development in my professional life......

After a two hour training downtown, some crazy, but thankfully low-key situations on a Friday afternoon at work, and a strange and interesting meeting in the afternoon that left me shaking my head, I met my Mountain Boy in the Valley for an early dinner.

The weather had settled by this time - grey skies still, but not raining and the winds had calmed.

LC was already waiting in the restaurant for me to arrive, and as I pulled into the parking lot I looked over at his truck and saw my goofy hairball dog, who began barking excitedly when she saw me.

Jamie and a raven apparently had a communal experience in the lot before I arrived.

After dinner we piled back into respective vehicles and headed Out the Road, agreeing to stop at Lena Beach on the way home.

The sun actually shone..........for just a few minutes.

Damn!!  Will I never learn??  Always a sucker for a Sucker Patch of blue sky.

Of course, by the time we reached Lena Beach the sky looked ominous again. 

The first time I visited Lena Beach was while I was still staying at the extended stay hotel downtown. 

It was mid February and I rode my borrowed mountain bike out of town, past the Valley, past Auke Bay and towards the Unabomber Cabin that I had just rented and was planning on moving into in just a couple of weeks.

I had plans to head up to Eaglecrest Ski Resort later in the afternoon, so got only as far as Lena Beach before stopping for a few minutes and then finally heading back towards town.

That was the same bike ride where I got pulled over by a way-good-looking blonde Juneau cop for riding on Egan Drive, when I should have been riding on the adjacent Glacier Highway. 

Ooops.

Lena Beach is a quiet, beautiful cove and is an eagle nesting area.

I have been there many times - watching eagles, watching the ferries pass by, watching the owners of private boats and kayaks as they enjoyed their adventures on the water, watching young families as they bar-b-qued during the summer, watching my Mountain Boy as he bar-b-qued for me, watching the salmon methodically work their way up the fish pass, watching as Chris fished here for the last time just an hour before catching a plane back to New Jersey.

Yes.  He spent two weeks in Juneau doing nothing but fishing, drinking and sleeping, and even fished his way back to the airport.

The picnic shelter at Lena Beach where we have both spent many hours eating and sitting and talking..........

This is a very protected cove, and even though open channel is very close by, this cove is almost always a calm and quiet place......

As with all of my favorite places, this one is quiet again.......

There were many very beautiful days this past summer, but I love these places so much more when I selfishly do not have to share them with others.........

Except for this man.

I willingly share these places with him........

Throughout the summer there were a couple of power boats that were parked in the middle of the cove, and accessible only by row boat.

They are now stored for the winter and the cove is empty.........

Jamie the Wonder Dog - named that by Gary (LC's brother) during the few brief days he spent with us here in Juneau in June before heading back to Minnesota.........

Lena Beach, with its quiet water and rounded rocks seems to be the one place LC seems to feel compelled to hone his rock skipping talents.

He's pretty good.........

As with many beaches in and around Juneau, this one is filled with rocks.

Most are rounded and ground smooth from years of exposure to water in the channel and almost constant rain.

But there are also large areas of sharp slate and mineral filled rock that is still in the process of breaking apart.....

One more of many picnic shelters that we crossed paths with this evening as we walked the beach.........

Walking the gravel road back to the vehicles.

This could be a quiet, fall, country road anywhere in the country........

The fish pass.

The last time we were here we spent a lot of time watching spawning salmon working so very hard to climb each step of the pass, many times getting close to the top only to be washed back into the channel due to the strong rapids.

I spent a lot of time this past fall watching the spawning salmon in waterways throughout the area.

This is my first experience with this annual event, and I found it incredibly interesting (and truthfully almost sad in some respects).

An amazing story of nature that I am still in awe of..........

A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature........Henry David Thoreau