Like a good Southeast Alaska day, the weather forecast
called for 30% chance of rain around 2 pm and 100% chance of rain by 4 pm. Jay*,
Em*, and myself aimed to start at the Jennifer Dr trailhead for Thunder
Mountain, at 9 am, and arrived right on time at 10:30.
The trail begins with Alaska
Switchbacks** to get up to the first flat area before turning East and
heading towards the ridge. At around 1600 ft elevation, the trail merges with
the DOT/Fred Meyer trailhead. The rain showed up earlier than we thought it
would, and we stopped for lunch around 230 at a ridge. The clouds had rolled in
and we were getting tired and cold so decided to turn around and
begin heading
down.
This was one of the few meadows, but yes, all foggy/cloudy.
What an amazing view! (Also, it was cold)
The ridge is up there somewhere, but this is where we had lunch and turned around.
We descended to the DOT trail head and crossed a couple of
nice meadows along the way. J and M live near the trailhead, so we knew we
could walk to their house to warm up and grab a vehicle. Because of some
problem knees, it was a slow decent. We had a nice long day of hiking 11 hours
in the rain. We got to know a new trail that none of us had been on before and
we’ll be ready for the next time we want to go for a jaunt up Thunder Mountain.
Next time, we’ll wait for sun so we can get the good view.
Bog Selfie
**Alaska Switchbacks = Straight up the side of the mountain.
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Update: August 4
I've begun to look at the mountains differently since I've started climbing to the top of them. I'm paying more attention to them and thinking about how difficult it would be to climb to the top. Well, yesterday I was on the way to work, and made a quick stop to drop off recycling and realized how nice it was, and the only reason I was going to work was because the weatherman lied to us and said it would be raining and I had planned on working the weekend and not hiking. At the recycling center, it was very clear that Thunder Mountain would have a great view from the top. So, I went home, grabbed my hiking shoes and went to the trail head.
I pushed myself, and after 30 min, I was tired and ready to turn around and settle with the fact that this mountain would be unconquerable for me, and that it'll just taunt me every day on the way to work. My legs were tired, I was breathing hard, sweating, and I wanted to turn around and do something easier than climb a mountain. I wanted to quit, and I honestly wondered why I made a public declaration of doing this project. But then, the lyrics to that song came back to me, "If you do what is easy, life will be hard." And remembered that it's not a race, I just need to get to the top, one step at a time, and it doesn't matter how long it takes, but it'll be worth it in the end. It's easy to sit at home and watch hours of cat videos, it's hard to climb up to the top of a mountain.
So, I took a break, and tried to pace myself. It really is straight up. I made it up to the top of the mountain in 2 hours, and spent 30 minutes hiking to a good lunch spot.
The best piece of advice I got before doing the Chilkoot trail was "Bring meat and cheese" for snacks because that's the type of fuel your body is going to need to keep you going, and you won't have the drops in energy that over-sugary energy bars will do to you. I've noticed how my body responds to different inputs and have really started to think of food in terms of fuel for my body. This is a new perspective for me. So, jerky, deli meats, and cheese. For those who know me, know that I am lactose intolerant, for those who don't, I'm telling you now. Bringing cheese is an issue, because I need to find cheese that has little to no lactose. Since finding out about this, goat cheese has been on the shopping list, but it also makes for an expensive snack. So, a block of goat brie, jerky, and a bit of wine were accompanied with this view. I can't complain.
The most difficult part of sharing is choosing the pictures, without having too many, but still having enough to show how beautiful it is and help shape the story. Here are the few from yesterday.
And when you hike alone, you take selfies. Sometimes goofy ones.
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