Sunny Weekends

Skate skiing at Mendenhall Glacier

 When the sun is out, YOU too, need to be outside.  That is common knowledge in Southeast.  The problem occurs when the sun stays out for so many days, and you fill them with hiking and kayaking, and more hiking, that you almost hope for a rainy day just so you can be content with sitting still.  It seems every weekend has been nothing but sunshine this spring, so Ben and I have stayed busy, squeezing in every minute of adventure we could in the sun.

Ben on his teles

  For Ben’s big 3-0, we traveled to Juneau for a weekend full of “shredding the gnar” (aka skiing – for anyone not familiar with ski lingo).  As typical, the hospitality was amazing—Lindsay picked us up at the airport (which I might add was a true sacrifice—we arrived in Juneau at 6:45 AM on a Saturday!) and then drove us up to the mountaintop to ski at Eaglecrest. We were able to trek up to Pittman's Ridge above the highest ski lift for views of Admiralty Island and the bay.  It was gorgeous!  The only thing lacking was fresh powder (due to the aforementioned abundance of sunshine- turns out there are benefits to precipitation).

Up on Pittman's Ridge

Ben starting to head down from Pittman's Ridge

The skiing was still a blast, though, and the snow was fairly decent as the sun warmed the slopes as the day went on.  After waking up at 4AM to get on the early plane, and skiing all day long, we were pretty wiped out by 6 PM.  But the fun kept coming. That evening in Juneau, we were treated to a DELICIOUS enchilada feast by some of Lindsay’s friends, Katie and her husband, who are quickly (we hope!) becoming our friends as well!    We crashed at Lindsay’s that night, dreaming of smooth turns, our skis carving against the mountain, and the spring sunshine warming our bodies. 

We awoke to (not surprisingly anymore) another sunny day.  It was recommended by the Juneau crowd to go skate skiing at Mendenhall Lake.  We couldn’t reject the recommendation when our friends Tristan and Jess offered to let us borrow their skate skis.  Even better, they are both about the same size as Ben and me, respectively, so everything fit perfectly!  To add to this great deal, they gave us their car for the day to get out to Mendenhall.  Does it get any better??  Do people get any nicer??  These were the questions going through our head as we drove out the road to the glacier. 

Despite our senses and common sense telling us NOT to go on a “frozen” lake with temperatures in the high 40s and pools of water starting to accumulate in places, we did anyway because “everyone else was doing it.”  There were many people out walking on the lake, cross country skiing, and skate skiing. If all these Juneau people felt so comfortable, it must be safe, we reckoned.  Probably not the smartest choice, but thankfully we didn’t have to regret our decision.  The lake, true to everyone’s recommendation, was perfect for skate skiing.  

We skied around the lake, skirting the impressive icebergs, and then ate lunch right at the base of the Mendenhall Glacier.  Not a bad view.   We ended the weekend by going out to dinner with Lindsay, Tristan, Jess, and Phoebe and probably laughing harder than we had for awhile from the entertaining Juneau crew.  Thanks to all of our Juneau friends that made this trip so memorable! 

Birthday Boy

 

Although there have been many more weekends of fun to report on, the last one I will add to this post was this past weekend.   We were invited on a Hunter Family trip up Mt. Edgecumbe, which means we must be doing something right to get that prestigious invite.   Readers will not be surprised, but the day was……SUNNY.  Nothing but blue sky!  The trip started auspiciously with our arrival on the shores of Kruzoff Island.  We were greeted by 45 seals swimming in the bay, whale spouts visible nearly every few minutes, and many, many seabirds floating in the emerald green water.  It is the end of the herring season in town, so the marine life is still quite abundant.  It was hard to leave the beach behind, but we gathered up our energy and made the trek to the peak of Mt. Edgecumbe.

One of the many large groups of seals (all those black dots) hanging out in the bay feasting on herring

There were a few notable differences between this trip and our previous one in February:

Hanging out on top-- enjoying the lack of wind

-       We had an abundance of daylight this time—no need to run up the mountain to get back by dark

-       There was actually some snow on the mountains—we needed snowshoes

-       Due to the snow, we were able to glissade all the way down the mountain—quite the ride

-    There was a lack of wind, THANKFULLY, this time at the summit!  Much different than in February

-       The bears are out and starting to be active again—we got a call on our VHF radio from the captain of the boat coming to pick us up, alerting us that just down the beach from where we were standing (precisely where he wanted to pick us up) was a bear.  We were quite surprised since we had all been running around on the beach enjoying the abundant marine life.  I was always taught the adage, “Never turn your back on the ocean”, but as it turns out, in Sitka anyways, it does pay to at least turn your head to the side to look down the beach…..thankfully the bear ran up into the woods and we were able to safely get on the boat without trouble.

The ice on the post from back in February is quickly melting away...this one crashed to the ground right after I took this picture

 

Chena leading the way with Jessica, Bob, and Matt making their way up

Me doing a beautiful handstand on top...not really....I wish.  This is the talented, Jessica

The Hunter Crew

Starting the descent

Back on the beach waiting for our boat pick-up

Chena, finally tuckered out after a long day of hiking

We are so thankful for the invite from the Hunters to join them and can’t wait for our next trip to Kruzoff!  This weekend it is looking like its supposed to rain, which could finally give us a chance to relax and lounge around….but you can never trust that Southeast weather….it just might be sunny again!