mm mmm Moraine!

So I know that I open up most of these blogs saying that I've done so and so hike that's one of my favorites, and this one is no different. However, I also think that the hike up West Glacier Trail over the moraine to the glacier is one of the coolest things I've done in my life. Last year I did this hike as part of my adventure into the ice cave, which made for some amazing pictures:

Sadly, though the course of time, the ice cave collapsed a few weeks ago (luckily with nobody in it). I was interested in seeing what kind of collapse had happened, as well as getting out to see the glacier up close and enjoy the beautiful day it was. The moraine is good fun to hike over, and there was a pretty cool little beaver dam at the base of it:

This hike is a lot of fun because I got to mountain bike, hike, scramble, and even rock climb a bit, so all sorts of good times are had. The view ain't bad either :-)


There are also some birds nesting there, so I made sure to keep my distance, but still managed to get some good shots along the way:


After checking out the birds, I went down to where the ice cave used to be. This used to be where it exited down near the lake -- quite a change:

The next few are the area where the cavern used to be -- it seems a lot bigger when you look at the hole left behind compared to when you were in it (note how small the people are next to it):


The rest of these are just general 'eye candy' from around the glacier -- I can never get enough of that amazing blue color! I'll have to go back again before I leave :-)

Top Notch Day

Today was probably one of the best all-around days I've had in Juneau between this summer and last. Work wasn't too bad -- still just entering the mountain of numbers I have into excel -- but after work was great. I wanted to do some more exploring around the Mendenhall glacier, so I first headed up the West Glacier Trail via mountain bike. It was full of all sorts of rocks and tree roots and such, and made for a great time. However, I couldn't find the trail head I was looking for, so I turned around and headed to the other entrance to the glacier. Along the way, I remembered that there is a big trail system that I hadn't explored yet that leads up to the glacier, so off I went to get lost in the woods. First off, it was an awesome trail, but one to be done on bike as the mosquitoes are out in full force!
Okay, maybe not quite that bad. But anyways, off I went getting as many bug bites as possible. In exchange for all the bites, Alaska decided to give me a wildlife show. First up (after the bugs of course), was the beaver! I didn't get to see one all the way unfortunately, but I did hear him splash into the water, and he left behind all sorts of obstacles to bike around:

I then rode and rode and rode, taking several wrong trails and going into all sorts of funky places, until I finally found the trail that leads to the visitors center. Then, to my delight, just as I got off my bike to walk on the platforms for all the tourists, just 15 feet to my right and 6 feet down was a young black bear! I've been this close to them before, but not with a camera, so I was very pumped and took farrrrr too many pictures...but some good ones none the less!! Roooaaarrrr!


I watched the bear looking around for food for about 15 minutes or so, and after he (or she) headed off into the woods, I progressed along to the sandy glacial beaches to get an up-close shot of the waterfall and glacier:


I had also caught wind of there being a mountain goat family living up right next to the waterfall, and right on cue, there they were!

So, my animal checklist for the summer is pretty well filled already (as I saw whales last week off Lena Point), and the remaining creatures include salmon (alive haha), Orca's, a Grizzly, and maybe if I'm lucky, a wolf! Keeping my fingers crossed.

Free at last!

So this weekend was a fun weekend because....I turned 21! Yay! It certainly wasn't necessarily the crazy time that might have been had in State College, but I think I was able to celebrate it in a uniquely Alaskan way. I had to work on Friday (ooooOOO Friday the 13th muhahahaha), and a birthday cake was awaiting me (thanks Paul!). It was quite tasty, and anyone who was there will attest to the large amounts of cake that I had, and also how stir-crazy I was to get outside and enjoy the day. First I rode my bike down to the Mendenhall Glacier to make a quick call home and have a 'zen moment' -- I love how easy it is to escape and enjoy the peace and quiet of nature.

I love visiting this glacier because there is a ton of stuff to do around there hiking wise, and it's exceptionally close to my office (maybe a 10 minute bike ride). I want to head up there and find more ice caves like I found last year, as they were beautiful:

I'm also very tempted to buy some ice crampons so I can hike all over the top of it and go ice climbing, but we'll see as they are a bit pricey....perhaps!

After visiting the glacier, I went downtown, and began my hike up the Mt. Roberts trail. This trail is the same one I posted about earlier, but this was the first time I had gone up there when the top was clouded over. I flew up the trail, and was very excited to see that there was a bit less snow, as I need some of it to melt off so I can hike up to the top! Being in the clouds is pretty crazy, but I think I prefer the view on a clear day better:

None the less, I think that I can be one of the only people that I know with a summer birthday who can say that they made a snowman on their birthday!

After this, I made my way down to the bar on at the tram on Mt. Roberts, walked into the bar, ordered a beer, and DIDN'T GET CARDED! :-( Had I known this I totally would've gotten drinks up there all of last summer. But it was still deliciously good:

I then proceeded down the tram and off to the famous Red Dog Saloon, where I had a great burger, another beer, and then 3 shots (on the house none the less!). One of them is the also 'famous' duck fart, which apparently is an Alaskan thing:


I even managed to find a little piece of Buffalo in Juneau:


All in all, it turned out to be a great day with no bad luck, and even though there was a marine layer in all day bringing low clouds and drizzle, it managed to put on a beautiful display along the side of Mt. Juneau as I headed home:


Today I didn't hit the bars, but I did go to the Alaskan Brewing Company, which meant free beer tasting! I got to try all sorts of yummy brews, and brought home a very delicious smoked porter for some sort of special occasion later this summer. Yum!

Kevin 1, Blog 0

So I've been battling my blog all night, but I think I have finally prevailed. Anywho, the big plan this past weekend was to hike or bike on both Saturday AND Sunday -- which would have been awesome, had I not worn myself all out on Saturday. And how did I do so? Well, there is a very cool hike which has a trail head basically in downtown Juneau, known as the Perseverance trail. It used to have all this mining stuff around it, and there is even a cool old mine shaft up there. So I decided that, based on my experiences from last year, and not consulting my trail book, that mountain biking it would be a fun way to go! Sadly, I forgot that it's about 1000 vertical over a 1.5 mile stretch. The trail itself is beautiful, with great scenic views and various waterfalls and such -- plus it's perched on a several hundred foot cliff!

I made several stops on the way up -- both for pictures and breaks to let my legs stop burning -- and finally I made it to my turn around point at the 'top' of the trail -- marked by a neat waterfall.

Despite my legs burning for a while, it was well worth the ride down, with lots of fun jumps, long stretches to fly through, and the natural air conditioning of flying through the trail. The cliff was a bit daunting, as can be seen with this random guy who was also biking (I snuck the picture), but never posed too big a threat :-)

By the clock, 1 hour up, 10 minutes down. So, by the end of the summer, I want to do this again, perhaps without so many breaks, but it's definitely one to repeat. I even found a bit of Philly on the way home :-)