TUESDAY, AUGUST 27

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27:  

     Promised to be another lovely day, even though we could tell that clouds were beginning to come in.  So for our last day here, we decided to take the Mt. Healy Overlook Trail.

      This was described as a strenuous 4.5 mile round trip trail which led to the top of Mt. Healy.  The first mile only  gained about 500 feet in elevation, but the next 1 ¼ miles gained about1,200 ft.  “Strenuous” . . . doesn’t begin to describe how we felt about it about ¾ of the way through.  It was the hardest hike we’ve ever done . . . much more challenging than the Harding Icefield hike we did at Seward, and we thought that one had some pretty steep stretches!   In fact, about 2/3 of the way up, Bill stated that he just couldn’t go any further.  He encouraged me to go on by myself.  I thought it would only be another 30 minutes or so to the summit, so I agreed.  But I had to stop and rest every few minutes, and a time or two, I considered just turning around and going back downhill.  And I thought, “Bill was right not to attempt any more . . . these very steep places of climbing over rocks would really wreak havoc on his knee(s).”

      At one rest stop, I had been sitting against a boulder for several minutes, catching my breath and resting my legs.  I heard another hiker coming up the trail below.  I thought I heard the familiar sound of hiking poles.  I saw the edge of a hat and thought, “Funny, that looks a lot like Bill’s.”  Then here comes the hiker around the bend.  I squeaked weakly, “Bill??”  He couldn’t vocalize much better!  My first instinct was to be mad at him, because I was sure that he’d really screw up one knee or both.  But after a while, when I saw that he was doing ok, better actually than me, I was really glad that he had gotten his second wind and decided that he could make it and caught up with me.  He was a big encouragement for me to keep going, and stressed that we were almost there.  And, we were! 

     Had fine 360 degree views from on top, even though clouds were definitely gathering.  The view was definitely worth the exertion.

 

And, as always on these hikes to higher ground, one of the things that make it most enjoyable and rewarding, besides the feeling of accomplishment,  is chatting with other hikers on the summit as you’re resting and recuperating and taking pictures and enjoying the view. 

 

 

 This time, we talked with a young couple from France, who were very, very friendly and nice, and a couple of “mature” women, one of whom had lived in Ketchikan for 14 years and was now living in the Puget Sound area; the other had recently moved to South Dakota.  They were very fit – the first woman was wearing sandals!    

       Going down, while much easier on our cardio systems, taxed other muscles of our legs and calves.  We were being very careful not to slip or skid or twist an ankle.  I guess that’s why it took only an hour less than going up – 2 hrs vs. 3.  It surely didn’t seem that long.  We did stop to smell the roses on the way down, savoring once again the beginning of the fall palette.  

And an abundance of all kinds of berries, including yummy juicy blueberries.

 

And we saw the meaning of the term “flying squirrel.”  We saw 2 red squirrels high up in trees chattering noisily and leaping through the air to the next tree.  A funny sight. 

     I’d taken some prawns out of the freezer this morning to grill tonight – first time in a while that it looked like good grilling weather.  But Bill was too tired & sore to deal with that, so we stopped at a little family café up the road from the RV park.  Strangely, I wasn’t really that hungry, even though all either of us had had to eat all day were a couple of blueberry muffins & bacon for breakfast, and a granola bar & trail mix while hiking, so I just got a grilled cheese.  Bill ordered liver & onions – something he knows he won’t get at home!  And he got a couple of Alaskan Amber beers.  I took a few sips.  It was soooo good!  The best, smoothest beer I’ve ever had.  We’ll keep on the lookout for places that serve that label from now on.    

     After we returned home, our next-door neighbors, Michael & Carol, whom we had met on the bus tour yesterday and discovered that we were camped right next to each other, were out on their picnic table.  We stopped and visited with them for a while, and all of a sudden the wind really whipped up.  So we came inside . . . and within an hour, it started raining.  Not hard.  But still – what great timing!