8/31/11
Two days to catch up on! Yesterday we wanted to get an early start. Even though the trail was only listed as being about 3 miles each way, it was quite an elevation gain, and one of the brochures said that the trail wasn’t too clearly marked after the 2 mile mark, Yoram was afraid we wouldn’t be back in time for the 2:30 ship departure and they’d leave without us—which apparently they actually do if you’re not back in time! Anyway, we asked for Room Service for 6:30 in the room and there it was—right on time! The food was wonderful again, and by 7:15 when the gangplank was down we were ready to hit the town of Ketchican. Ketchican is the rain capital of Alaska; apparently it rains there all the time, so we were thrilled when we saw only some clouds and even a few patches of blue in the sky! The trailhead was about a mile out of town, so we got a flavor of the town on our walk out—definitely not the showpiece of the state. Rusty trucks, old bikes left by the side of the road, at one point a mangled seat from a car was in our path. But we reached the trailhead pretty soon and headed up Deer Mountain—3 miles and 3000 feet. The trail was quite rocky, and the ascent was pretty tough and steep through a temperate rain forest—drooping moss, overgrown trees, firs and hemlock. Soon, though, we got to the mile mark and had our first view of the harbor—magnificent! We kept on going, up and up and up, occasionally catching glimpses of the view from the trail. Somewhere between the 1st and 2nd mile we switchbacked to the other side and got our first views of Lower Ketchican Lake—crystal clear blue and huge below us. It’s clearly fed from the mountain streams all around it. By that time, the trail was difficult again, but the views made it really rewarding, they were so beautiful At one time we looked down and saw a completely frozen lake—at the end of August! I guess it never defrosts. The view from the top was incredible. We were above the low clouds that would roll in and out; at first the lake below and the surrounding area would be in full view, then suddenly, we’d look back and it would have completely disappeared behind the clouds and mist!
After a while it got cold (it was about 54 degrees at the bottom and we were pretty high) so we headed back down. That’s where things got difficult. It was soooo hard going down! The rocks were wet and slippery, and the steps between them were so big, the pounding on my knees was awful! Plus, our calves were already sore from having done the elliptical the day before, so that was tough. And we kept twisting our ankles on the slippery rocks. But we finally made it (took us longer to go down than up) and with tons of time to spare, to wander the lovely town of Ketchican. There actually was a really nice city park, and nearby a bridge where people were staring into the water. I smugly thought how sad it was that this was the closest they would come to the beauty of the streams we saw in the wilds of Deer Mountain, when I realized they were looking at more than just the river. The waters were black with salmon—hundreds and hundreds of them, side by side all facing upstream! They were clustered towards the outer banks of the river, where the current was a little slower—just kind of chillin’ there, but almost wall to wall thick. A few blocks later (downstream) we figured out why they were resting, as we came to the fish ladder next to a 5 foot high rushing white-water rapid. Every few seconds we’d see a flash as a fish would jump out of the river and try to jump up the rapid, more often than not, hitting its head on the rocks or the concrete side of the fish ladder. It made me so sad to watch them force with which their heads hit those obstacles!
Anyway, after doing a bit of shopping, we headed back to the ship for a very late lunch by the pool and a much needed soak in the Jacuzzi. By the end we were pretty cold and soggy, since our feet were soaked through from the wet trail. We relaxed a little at the pool, and then it was time to get ready for the complimentary cocktail party which our tour director was having for our group. It was up on the highest deck, and the view was wonderful. Drinks and appetizers were free (finally Yoram got to have some alcohol—we have been too cheap and the prices too high for us to have bought any) and I had a delicious virgin strawberry daiquiri (basically a strawberry smoothie). Then it was time for dinner, again delicious, and the evening’s show—the 4 guys from the performing cast doing doo-wop music in close harmony. It would have been great had it been just them, but they had the band accompanying the, and I guess they couldn’t hear the band because they were in tune with each other but not the band! But it was fin anyway. After the show, we did a bit of research to prepare for today and went to bed.
When we woke up this morning, we were already pretty close to the port of Juneau. Juneau is much bigger and nicer than Ketchican, and despite the forecast of rain, it was cloudy but not raining. The clouds were high enough to give us a good view of the harbor and we couldn’t get off the boat until 10, so we decided to walk around the deck so we could try to stretch out our muscles. We did the 12 laps which totaled 3 miles, and really enjoyed with view, with Yoram stopping every now and then to take photos as we closed in on the port.
In town, we decided to go for the hike that would give us the view from the top of the Mendenhall Glacier, the town’s main tourist attraction, and a thing of magnificence! So we boarded the Juneau city bus, packed in like sardines, and began the long route to the trailhead, stopping every few blocks along the way. Most people got out at the stop for the Visitors Center, but we stayed on a few more to the place where we could walk a mile and a quarter down the road and get to the trailhead for the West Glacier Trail. Right from the viewpoint at the trail head, you could see the grey water of the lake and floating in it, huge, blue icebergs which have detached from the glacier at the very back of our view.
We started up the trail, which was also very wet, but a lot less steep and much less rocky. After crossing some rushing streams and climbing part way up we got our first view of the glacier.
I don’t know how to describe it with words—a vast field of ice, varying in color from dirty gray to white to the most vibrant, shocking blue imaginable. It was just breathtaking! We continued up and up, each time, getting a different view of the glacier, until we could see a second glacier in the background.
It’s obvious how much the glaciers have receded: the bottom one only flows into the lake at a small area; the rest almost looks like it has been dammed off, because of the stones and silt the glacier left behind as it receded. Also you could tell that the top glacier had been connected to the bottom one at some time, but now there was a huge rocky area between them. We finally reached the top, a little over 3 miles, with views of the mountains to the left of us, the glaciers straight ahead and the lake and harbor to the right—so worth the hike up!
We sat up there a while, had some fruit and relaxed before heading back down. This time the trail back down was much easier, and we took a side spur which led us right to the shore of the lake—freezing! There we met a couple with their 2 dogs, locals, who, after a short conversation, offered to drive us to the Visitor’s Center—which was huge because that saved us the mile plus walk back to the city buts the ride, and then another 1 ½ mile walk to the Visitors Center! Once we got there, we decided that since they had saved us 2 ½ miles of walking, we could do the East Glacier Trail, which led us up over the opposite side of the glacier. It was a nice enough trail, but the views from the other side were better, and we were getting pretty tired, after the morning walk and the 7 mile earlier hike.
By the time we finished the loop, it was pretty chilly and starting to rain, so we made a quick stop in the Visitors Center, had a look at the salmon viewing platform (there weren’t nearly as many here, but they were red and HUGE!) and splurged on the Express Bus back to the ship.
It has been a quiet evening—hot showers (it was really cold by the time we got back, and again, our feet were soaked through), and now catching up on some stuff and getting ready for tomorrow. I can’t wait, though to see the photos from today—it’ll be incredible if they capture even a small portion of the beauty and grandeur that we witnessed up on that mountain.
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