Hike 14: L'ux/Mt. Edgecumbe, Kruzof Island, Ak (Sept 22)

There's a volcano near Sitka that most people know as Mt. Edgecumbe. I travel to Sitka for work, quite often and on one trip, I mentioned that I was interested in climbing Mt. Edgecumbe. Well, sometimes if you put things out to the universe, the universe finds a way to deliver. I was going over on a Friday and mentioned it to a teacher-friend. She insisted that I had to stay over and we would do the hike on Saturday.

As we were climbing, our guide explained that it's name is actually L'ux or L'ook in Tlingit. It is an iconic mountain that quickly identifies itself as a backdrop to the community of Sitka. It received the name, Mt. Edgecumbe when Captain Cook passed through the area in 1778.

L'ook is located on Kruzof Island, near Baranof Island on which Sitka is located. To get there, a water taxi is required. We opted for a teacher-owned water taxi, Tongass Trolls, Tour, & Taxi. So, we were set, at the unholy hour of 630 AM, we met at the harbor to head to Kruzof. That morning, we woke at 530 to throw some muffins in the over and cook some bacon for the 30-ish minute breakfast cruise over to Kruzof. As we were going over in the morning, I realized that it was the first time I had been on the water in the past 4 years of visiting Sitka.

We landed at the cabin and started the hike. It is 7 miles, one way to get to the top of the mountain. It was chilly and the board walk had a thin layer of frost on it. Also, I didn't take out the sweet delicious bacon, and was hiking on an island that has a healthy population of bears. Great idea!

It's fairly flat, with minimal up and down, until the last .7 or .8-ish miles, and then you're heading straight up the side of the volcano. About 3 hours in, and on relatively flat ground, my knee started to hurt. This has been an on-going problem, and my physical therapist has told me what to do for it, but I haven't been doing it. I am the only person who can do anything about it, but I keep not doing that one thing to fix my problem. And I'm reminded of my lack of effort to fix that problem when I'm doing something that I want. So, now that I'm in the middle of a hike, I can't complain, because it's my own fault, and I've only got myself to blame. Which is a frustrating thing.

After leaving the trees, that's when you start to enter another world. The trees end, and the tundra starts. There is a pretty notable rut where the trail goes up with markers. The sign says to only follow the markers in the fog because the ruts will be exasperated by repeated treading.

The ruts were bits of pumice. Pumice is a very light rock. And it was weird to be walking up the side of a mountain with light-weight and tan colored stones sliding around your feet. The pumice pebbles were as sand-like in that the pebbles were loose and falling around your feet and not solid - unless you went over to the tundra/lichen that grew on top of the pumice. The last bit of the hike was a pretty consistent incline. And then you get to the top, and it feels like you're on mars.

Hiking companions. 

It was also a beautiful sunny day. Almost painfully sunny.

We decided to hike around the rim. On the northern side, we stopped and had lunch. The day started cold and with frost on the trail, and it never really warmed up. When we were out of wind and in the sun, I warmed up a bit, but not much. Up on the rim of the volcano, it cooled back down and I was wearing as many layers as I had. I was thankful for the lunch break, because my knee was really starting to get to me and I was starting to slow down.

And then, we started to come down the Volcano. At the risk of pouring lava (volcano joke) on the horse that is already in the middle of this blog, my knee really fucking hurt and I was having a really hard time coming down that mountain. A few times, I sat down and just starting sliding down to try and catch up, but that didn't help much. My hiking partners still had to wait for me. I was definitely the slow person.

Fortunately, not only does everyone in Sitka know each other, but everyone who decided to hike L'ux that day knew each other as well. One of the individuals worked at the hospital and was smart enough to bring drugs. I have never been more shameless about talking to strangers with drugs in my life. He had ibuprofen and aspirin, and I took the maximum he allowed me to take. I should know better. And that's another one of those lessons I learn the hard way - TAKE DRUGS ON HIKES - drugs like ibuprofen or aleve or tylenol.

That hike down was a really good reminder that if I'm going to keep doing this project, or simply be a healthy active human being that plays outside, I really need to do the exercises my physical therapist told me to do.

And then we got on the boat and went back to find Sitka in a power outage. I took a quick shower and went to the airport to fly home.

The trail on the way out. 

At the end of the day, it was a 15 mile hike for about 10 hours and peak elevation of 3202 ft. After, I realized that is the longest I've ever done on a day hike, and stupidest because I carried bacon in bear country.

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As a bonus, I took a few night pictures the evening before the hike. I've been having fun going out and taking night photos and am still learning the settings on the camera and the best way to capture these images.

A very bright moon-set. 

The last glimpse of the moon. 

Looking north to the mountain.