A pot of coffee consumed, breakfast eaten, we're heading out to the trail for another walk. Both of us feeling some lingering after-effects of yesterday's jaunt, but determined to begin this new habit. We were fit, oh so many years ago, but have spent too many years in the interim in high-stress jobs, and too many behind a desk. That ends now.
I'm toying with the idea of a range visit, but the weather is toying with us: will it rain or won't it? Only the Shadow knows ...
John 12:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."
Showing posts with label hike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hike. Show all posts
16 May 2010
05 July 2009
A Hike to Byron Glacier
My wife and I decided that the local park trails don't provide enough of a challenge, so we headed southeast to Portage Lake and hiked to Byron Glacier.
.It's bear country there (as it is most places around here), so I decided to carry openly, as an experiment. For the record, no one paid the slightest bit of attention until at the end, when we returned to the parking area. A tourist who had apparently just gotten off a Princess bus was glaring at me like she had just spotted John Dillinger. I smiled and said, "Hi!" She glared some more. Probably from some blue state where guns are E V I L ... Her problem, not mine.
.
The trail is well maintained, a gravel path rather than the asphalt which inserts such a jarring note while walking through the woods.
.
It was around 70 degrees, hazy and a rather more humid than normal, which make a warm day for an Alaskan. The bugs weren't bad, either, as the 98% solution of DEET we applied was more effective than the junk we used last time.
..
The trail is well maintained, a gravel path rather than the asphalt which inserts such a jarring note while walking through the woods.
.
It was around 70 degrees, hazy and a rather more humid than normal, which make a warm day for an Alaskan. The bugs weren't bad, either, as the 98% solution of DEET we applied was more effective than the junk we used last time.
Glaciers create their own micro-climate, with cold air and wind pouring off the thousands of tons of ice. When we got within a quarter-mile of the ice, there was a stiff, cool breeze. By that time, it was welcome. The half-dozen or so people at that end of the trail were walking with their arms out, like so many gooney birds about to make a take-off run.
.
The streams pouring out of the glacier were fast and cold. The coloring visible in the photo above is typical.
.
(Please excuse the periods between the paragraphs. Blogger does weird things to spacing when photos are added.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)