I am only 2 hrs on shore, and sitting already with L and her fiancé J (a helicopter pilot) in the Hanger, the place to be for a beer in Juneau. I like the town, its little and has a good vibe. But this might be totally gone in 3 days when a cruise ship with 2000 people on board will anchor down. And that’s only 1 cruise ship. This little town can handle 7 of these big cheap entertainment driving cities. I dealt with only 15 tourist and was already ready to run away.
All the campgrounds are still closed for the season, and I park my Oto at a trail head parking lot. I sleep good and in the morning make some small talk with a local walking his dog. If I had realized that Romeo the local wolf was sniffing my Oto this morning. Excuse me, a wolf was sniffing my Oto, hmmm….no, I had no idea. The local continues: “Romeo is not to be scared of, but there was a pack of wolves the other day in the mountains and they killed a mountain goat. And with this nice weather the bears are also waking up. Have a good hiking day, bye.” Jeh, that’s gonna be for sure a good relaxing hiking day…
I need some more coffee and time to think this over and when I am sitting down reading a book a group of tourist comes up to me. “That must be an interesting story, do you mind”, I hear the guide saying. When I look up 15 people are staring at me, and are eager to hear my story. In 5 minutes I tell my story and after the question and answer session I can enjoy my peace and quite again. I am just not so into tourists (although I am one myself).
Next to Juneau sit the Mendenhall glacier and the hike I am planning to do will go along the base of the glacier. But what about the bears and wolfs. Well I can stay here and not hike, or just go and enjoy a hike. I stow my snowshoes in a backpack and off I am. There is hardly any snow on the trail, and I fully enjoy the good weather and the views of the glacier.
After a snack I decide to take a shortcut along the shore of the lake back to the oto, instead of the trail. The shortcut of course becomes a bushwack and I have to climb some easy rocks here and there. Suddenly I see 2 mountain goats looking down on me from a ridge. I kind of have no clue if mountain goats are dangerous at all. In Yosemite more people get hurt by deer then by bears. Will more people get hurt here from mountain goats instead of wolves or bears? I keep my distance but make some pictures. When I put back my camera, and turn around for a view over the lake, a mountain goat is keeping an eye on me from only 10 meters away. Well if its dangerous, I have at least a good picture.
For the rest of the time in Juneau, I enjoy the company of L and J. We go climbing, have dinner together and hang out.
The last afternoon I watch the sun setting over the Lynn Canal. I can see why Juneau is considered the most beautiful state capitol in the country.
Dag,
Iris (Juneau, 4111 miles)
