Sitka - Part 7

The day did not turn out exactly as I had planned.

OK, the day did not turn out anything like I had planned.

When I walked outside this morning the first thing that I realized was that it was much colder out than it had been since my arrival in Sitka.

Next I looked out at the mountains, and saw that many of them were covered in a fresh layer of snow.

The mountain immediately in front of me when I set foot outside of the Hostel this morning.............

After going to a grocery store and buying donuts and coffee to eat and drink I spent about an hour or so walking slowly, taking pictures, taking in what looked like new terrain to me now that all of the mountains were completely covered in light snow.

I had planned on visiting a Russian cemetery and then walking across the bridge and heading towards the airport and the police academy.

I did not make it to any of those places.

I happened upon a trail head in the back hills of Sitka and adjacent to a residential neighborhood.

The trail sign told me that it was called Gavan Hill Trail, and another sign told me that it was two miles to the overlook.

The overlook.

That should have been my first clue that what I thought I was getting myself into was not actually what I was getting myself into...............

The entrance to the trail was very deceiving, and was compounded by the fact that three young women and two friendly dogs as big as small horses came off the trail just as I was planning on heading in to take a little walk.

I called LC to let him know where I was, the trail I was heading onto, and what the terrain looked like.

A little walk to take a few pictures............

An interesting sign that I came across fairly early while still walking on very flat, easy and wide open trail............

I was still walking on a combination of flat gravel trail, flat dirt trail and the wooden plank trails that are so common in Juneau when I took these pictures.

The trail was filled with wide open sky and beautiful small sub-alpine trees, and I loved the sight of wonderful snow covered mountains in the near distance............

After 10 minutes the trail began to close in, and turned almost exclusively into a combination of wood plank trail and wood steps.

I was very pleased to be on trail, and as much as I loved going out to the state park the other day, really loved being out here and feeling like I was truly away from people and truly walking in nature..........

Fifteen minutes later the trail began to climb.

And did nothing but consistently climb for the remainder of my time heading in on the trail.

Somewhere during this time I began to realize that I was not going to be walking on nice and easy and wide open and flat terrain.

Somewhere during this time I recognized what this trail was going to turn into and made an unconscious commitment to stay with it............

First my gloves came off.

Then my hat came off.

Then the jacket came off and got tied around my hips.

Lots and lots and lots of climbing and I was loving the effort........... 

Every once in a while I caught a glimpse of the water or caught a glimpse of.......yes........bright and completely clear blue sky up ahead, and that urged me on.

My heart raced with the continual climbing, and my breathing was labored, but I was loving every minute of the effort and the journey that I had unexpectedly found myself on.

Eventually I climbed high enough that the first signs of snow began to appear on the trail..........

The more I climbed the deeper the snow became.

It was new snow.  Fresh snow.  Fluffy and soft and light and.........new.........

It was somewhere around this point that I got a phone call from my boss.

I missed her call and tried to call her back two or three times but it went straight to voice mail.

I figured that if it was important enough she would call me back, and sure enough someone else from her office called me and we talked for a few minutes while I sat balancing precariously on the end of a root sticking up from the trail.

I was glad she called me because it was about something that I needed to tend to when I got back to work on Friday.

Talk about a change of pace for a moment though............

As I started walking again I was reminded of a similar moment I had on Mt McGinnis Trail in Juneau late last spring.

I had been climbing for a couple of hours straight, and all of a sudden I received a text message from work.

At that very moment I was standing in the middle of a 45 degree ice field high in the mountains wondering whether I had gotten in over my head or not (I had) and was scrambling to try and read the text message (which I couldn't without reading glasses but was trying to anyway).

Ridiculous turned to ridiculouser.........

I had given myself until 12 noon.

That was my drop-dead turn-around time regardless of how far I had travelled.

At 11:50am I arrived at this...........

Was this it???

I had no idea.

There was more trail but I had no idea how much more trail or where it went.

I walked past this little overlook for just another minute to see what was up ahead, and when nothing was apparent aside from a whole lot more trail and a whole lot more snow, I decided that this is where I would turn around.

I walked over the overlook, took in the beautiful view that was visible from this place, brushed snow off the little wooden bench, sat down and called LC to tell him where I was and what I was doing.

I was in a beautiful place.............

The view of the trail I had just climbed..........

The city 2500 feet (I looked it up) below me..............

Between picture taking, heavy breathing, and almost consistent climbing it took me 1 hour and 50 minutes to reach the overlook.

It took me 55 minutes to get back down to the bottom.

On the way up I had seen this trail sign indicating a connector trail that popped out at the high school.

On the way down I took that trail...............

Within a few minutes of taking Cross Trail I was in this.

It felt dark and ominous and claustrophobic and I almost immediately regretted taking the trail...........

But thankfully that trail only lasted for a few more minutes before I hit wide open gravel road.

Wide open gravel road meant civilization was up ahead, and as happy as I had been to get away from civilization I was equally happy to safely find my way back to it...........

A very surprising and completely random find on a rock on the side of the trail.............

Not long after I took this picture the trail that I had been on dead-ended and I had to make the decision whether I wanted to turn left or right onto more wide open gravel road.

No signs to indicate anything.

Great.

I began instinctively to turn right (initially figuring it had to lead SOMEWHERE) when I stopped for a moment to re-evaluate.

Kind of like measure twice and cut once with wood - think twice before making a move in the woods.

And when I stopped I could hear traffic sounds leading from the trail to my left.

Turning left I hit the high school within 10 minutes, then black top, and eventually found my way back to town (coming in from the back side of Swan Lake Park).............

The sign at the trail head said 2 miles to the overlook.  A tourist book I have says three miles to the overlook.

Somewhere in between those two numbers is probably the actual.

As much fun as I had this morning (into afternoon) it is time to fess up.

I did a few things right and a whole lot of things very wrong today in my decision to walk on Gavan Hill Trail.

What I did right:

1.  Called LC to let him know where I was and where I was going, and called him again when I got off the trail and back to civilization

2.  Carried a cell phone

3.  Wore layers of technical clothing that I took off and put back on as needed

4.  Did not get wet (including getting sweaty)

5.  Took my time going up, but even more importantly in slippery conditions took my time coming back down

6.  Found a hard wood stick part way down off the mountain to use as an extra balance point

What I did wrong:

1.  Was undernourished and under-hydrated for such a strenuous climb

2.  Had NOTHING with me in case something went bad - no first aid kit, whistle, compass, head lamp, firearm, bear spray, kabar, extra layers of clothing, food or water

3.  My cell phone had only 3 bars when I went into the woods and was down to 2 bars before I got to the top.  I ended up turning my phone off for the almost-hour it took me to get down just to save the battery

I had a very great time on that mountain.  But I should have known better.  I did know better.

A great, awesome, lucky day.............

One last picture taken of the boat harbor close to town later in the day..............