Mountains Are Fountains Of Men

When we woke up this morning and looked out of the bedroom window the sky promised to make for a much calmer day than it was yesterday.

While driving to work yesterday morning I fought strong rain and even stronger winds as I made my way from Out the Road to downtown Juneau for an early morning training session.

This morning the sky was filled with white clouds, blue sky and a weak and watery sun. 

But sun none-the-less.

After a hurried and unhealthy breakfast of cinnamon buns and coffee, we packed up my pack with fresh water and a bowl for the dog, and bottled tea for the two of us, and headed out to Eagle Beach.

I noticed it first in the Valley mid-week, and then noticed it again today when we arrived at Eagle Beach - that the mountains look much larger, and much more rugged, when they are covered in snow.

And the Chilkats are now full of snow.

The pictures immediately above and below just called to me when I saw these two older ladies walking on the beach.

They were dressed in brightly colored coats and gloves and their tiny silhouettes stood out strongly against the huge and rugged snow-covered mountains behind them.

I shot the pictures blind, facing into the sun, and had no idea if they would turn out or not.

I am glad that they did..........

I have a little experience being up in the mountains in snow.

Early in my adventure racing escapades I did a race in the Smoky Mountains the first weekend in April.

Temperatures were supposed to be well above freezing for the duration of the race.

I knew that the forecast was not going to hold right from the get-go when we started the canoe portion of the race in freezing rain at 10pm on a Friday night.

By 5:30 the next morning when we finally got off the water both me and my two male team-mates were hypothermic.

After spending some time recovering we headed on bikes up into the mountains where the weather continued to deteriorate throughout the day.

As we continued to make our way higher into the mountains precipitation changed from freezing rain to light snow to eventually heavy snow coming in sideways at us by 4pm that afternoon.

We ended up using our emergency radios to call in for a pick-up by the race staff while we all huddled together under space blankets in high winds, blowing snow and fading daylight up around 5500 feet.

About an hour after that dreaded DNF (Did Not Finish), the race was eventually called and it took emergency crews from every county surrounding the race area until 11pm to safely pull all the stranded racers out of the mountains.

The mountains make their own weather. 

And weather forecasts mean very little. 

Although that was one of only a few DNF's I have had over the years, I do have far too many stories about freezing rain, snow, ice, river crossings and hypothermia while in the mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and N Georgia.

Good times...........

While my Mountain Boy burned a bunch of old mail, I wandered with James along the roadway and along the beach close to the road.

The air temperature was colder than I had realized when we left the house, and I dug into my pack for a windbreaker to throw over the two layers I was already wearing.

Lesson to remember now that it is almost November - bring hat and gloves. 

Especially gloves.

My hands were freezing the entire time that we spent at this wide open, channel and sand and snow-capped-mountain-filled beach........

We saw a couple of people walking at Eagle Beach this morning, and another couple at the Boy Scout Trail across the narrow river.

But the beach was very quiet.

It belonged to the ducks and the seagulls and the eagles and to us..........

Once our old mail and our junk mail was burned we walked along the beach.

Since the tide was out we walked out a long way, and whenever we do that I feel like I am walking closer to the mountains.

The Chilkats, filled with early snow, are calling to me and I want to see them a little closer.

We are toying with the idea of going to Haines again, or maybe Skagway.

I know that these Alaskan tiny towns are almost completely closed down for the winter but that is OK.

I don't need the tourist stuff. 

I just need to be closer to the mountains and closer to nature and away from Juneau for a short while.

The ferry ride alone will be worth the trip.............

As close as I can get to there from here.........

And more mountains behind us.  They cradle Herbert Glacier.........

With snow starting to appear in the mountains now, I have found myself thinking about my snow-shoes that have been sitting in the trunk of my car for the last few months, and am looking forward to the time when I can wear them again.

I also now find myself glancing more often at the cross country skiis and boots that I bought at a yard sale over the summer, and that have been standing in the corner on the back porch patiently waiting for the weather to change.

I have never cross country skiid before but am looking forward to trying out this new activity.

And every once in a while I click on the link I have in Favorites at work, and check on the status of Eagle Crest Ski Resort.  

There is only a dusting of snow on some of the mountains over on Douglas Island right now, but that will change very soon.............

The beautiful beach..........

While we were walking today I told LC that one of my favorite times out at Eagle Beach this past summer was the day we came out in the evening when the tide was waaaay out.

The wet sand was completely filled with thousands of different kinds of birds, and we had a wonderful time watching them and taking pictures of them.

That was the day when LC got within mere feet of an eagle resting on a log.

Neither one of us knows why this very beautiful bird allowed him to get so close, but as LC continued to speak softly to him, I held Jamie back and watched in amazement as the spectacle of this man and this bird communing with each other played out in front of me.

I took a great picture of the eagle in full wing when he finally left the log and flew away.

It was an encounter that I will never forget..........

One bare tree in between the pine trees, with the mountains behind it.......

After 90 minutes or so of being at the beach the weak sun finally gave way to increasing clouds, and with it getting colder we decided to head back..........

Sand in formation created by both wind and tides....

And a barnacle encrusted piece of driftwood........

The very beautiful Boy Scout Trail.......

The mountains are fountains of men as well as of rivers, of glaciers, of fertile soil. The great poets, philosophers, prophets, able men whose thought and deeds have moved the world, have come down from the mountains—mountain-dwellers who have grown up strong there with the forest trees in Nature's workshops..........John Muir