Awesome Hike...

The day started out early. A few of us rented a car from a local agency called Rent-A-Wreck. It was the cheapest place in town. Seriously, it was renting a wreck. Fortunately we had a pretty nice car. An Intrepid. We drove out to the Mendenhall Glacier visitors center with all the other cones (a term employees of cruise ships use for passengers. Because of their reaction of awe to certain things, they have episodes of wandering and those of us who know where we are going have to dodge them. Like cones in a test drive). Anyway, it was packed to say the least. Popular visitors site, but a fabulous view of the glacier face. We admired for a while and tried to get as close as we could at the visitor's center. In the process we saw up close some chunks of ice just floating in the water that fell off the melting and receding glacier. The water to the touch was amazingly cold. On our way back to the car I spied a sight I have NEVER seen in Alaska up close and personal, until today. A bear. YES!!! A bear just wandering through the brush just feet away from me. I whispered to my friends and then because we were so excitingly looking at the meandering bear in the brush we suddenly had a flock of cones upon us. They sprouted up from everywhere getting louder and louder snapping pictures, taking video, and some being obnoxious. Honestly though, I'd rather see a bear in the wild surrounded by almost a hundred tourists than be alone in the woods or in a small group and stumble on one. It WAS a sight to see. It was hiding out in the thick foliage and then it wandered out into the lake. It wallowed through the shallow end trying to catch salmon before it ended up on the shore. More spectators were just a few feet from it walking on shore and following its every move. I was so surprised to see such a calm bear. Its probably used to it just like at the zoos. I was happy to finally see one in the wild though. We left the populated visitors center and headed for the pice de l'resistance... the west glacier trail. We were told by our sources that we could follow certain trails and get right up to the face of the glacier. We were on our way. So we thought. We followed directions, but were mislead for about 40 minutes on a different creek trail. It was a nice walk, but put a little dent in our hiking time. We finally drove to the proper entrance and were on our way. The green foliage that was on this trail was so lush it was almost as enchanting as some places in Norway. The canopy made the mossy floor look extra green. We hiked through many mud puddles and over flowing streams. We were supposed to look for a turnoff that would take us along the lake to the face of the glacier. Soon we came to the difficult part of the hike. It was still prepped by rocks to use as stepping stones and rails planted in the ground to grasp onto. It was STEEP!! Whoa!! We were HIKING!! Up and up we went and confused as to where this turnoff was. We came to a point in the trail after climbing to about 1,000ft where it was marked with ribbons. It was clearly off trail, but there were footprints and ribbons. Three our of four of us decided this was not a good idea since the first part of that off trail was a steep climb down using tree branches on an almost nonexistent trail. We followed the marked trail (the proper trail) still upward. We did this for another 15 or so minutes reaching great heights, but wondering how we would get a turnoff to take us down to the glacier. We were overlooking the glacier now and that's not what we wanted to do. We turned around and hiked back to that point. We took the off trail. I've never had such a hike in my life. Using whatever we could to get over large boulders and muddy conditions and through thick brush. It was mostly down, but there were some ups to get over the ledges. We found a clearing and we were now on the floor of the stretch of land just before the glacier face 1,000ft. below where we just entered this off trail. We saw the glacier was close and began hiking down to sea level. It was steep, rocky, and uncertain. Previous hikers marked the trail with ribbons and rock sculptures. GENIUS!! Rocks piled upon one another to denote where they either camped or took the supposed trail. After some serious hiking over flowing rivers and previous ice fields now dried up, we were at the face. YES!! The glacier was looming overhead and we were right there. I touched the ice!! I landed on a glacier once before, but never hiked up to one. In fact I landed on THIS glacier. There were caverns below the glacier of blue ice and blue lakes. It was definitely a sight to see. We didn't have much time there because of our mistakes, but we took in as much as we could exploring. It's too dangerous to actually walk on the glacier without the proper cramp-ons (spikes attached to the shoes), so we just took it in from land. Besides the glacier at this point had several hollow caves below and was melting fast. If we were to walk on it, who's to say it wouldn't just cave in. We had to go the same route back as we came in. It was tough, but we made it through and i was slightly nervous always looking for the ribbons or the footprints. I was actually tracking on this hike to see which way to go. I guess I am a good outdoorsman. We made it back to the real turnoff point and all I could do at that time was wonder how much easier the hike would've been, lol. By the time we got back to the car I was exhausted!! Whoa! Talk about an awesome day. The wether did not let us down either. It was sunny most of the day. Fabulous. I hope for one more wonderful day in Juneau so I can get to the top of Mt. Juneau.

Just A Thought....

So I was out hiking in Juneau on the first beautiful day in MONTHS!! Yes, it's the coldest and rainiest season up here in the north. Oy!! It was breathtaking. The views, air, weather, scenery. It was all worth the exhaustion later and today. As I was hiking along there were several local folk walking dogs and enjoying the day. The dog would do it's duty and the owner would place it in a plastic bag. Then it dawned on me. This isn't a city park. This is a wildlife trail. There are bears and other wild animals that do their business quite frequently and no one picks up after them. There are no children running around here on the cliff sides and rolling in the dirt like they do in a city park. So there shouldn't be a concern for disease and bacteria from all the local dogs leaving their messes on the grass. It's completely natural. Why do we as humans have to pick up something natural (and smelly I might add) and place it in something unnatural (plastic) to be disposed of at a treatment facility that may use oil to run its facility in our ever increasing energy crisis? Not only that, plastic doesn't decompose as quickly as natural matter does. It especially bothered me when I saw a gentleman pick up after his dog, put it in a plastic bag, and then leave the bag on the side of the trail. WHAT?!?!? What is so different from just leaving it there untouched in the first place? Now he's just contaminated natural matter that could have decomposed and actually given nutrients to the life around it. Now that I think about it, why do we even pick up in city parks at all? We should just carry a scooper and then dump it under a bush or something. Natural fertilizer!! Especially in my hometown where deer run freely through the neighborhoods and parks and leave their droppings. We don't pick up after them so why dogs? I think sometimes we have our ideals backwards when it comes to things concerning nature.