Goats, Garnets & Garrett
Word spreads fast in Juneau about any number of things, and recently word got out that there were mountain goats roaming the lower part of Mounts Bullard and McGinnis. With the sun high and warm in the sky, it was an easy decision to head to the glacier after school today.
Garrett with the Mendenhall Glacier in the background.
The Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center area has a lot to offer. While the center itself is still closed, you can hang out at the pavillion (always a favorite spot – Dave and I got married there), walk down to the beach, out to photo point, around any number of trails or hike out to Nugget Falls – the closest spot to view goats IF they are on the mountain. Garrett and I opted for the hike.
Signs of spring. Mt. Bullard (elev. 4,225 feet) in the background.
There are lots of things to do out at Nugget Falls. You can visit the waterfall, build sand castles, chuck rocks in the lake, take pictures, scramble around on boulders, and search for garnets. The sandy and gravely areas out near the waterfall are full of itsy-bitsy versions of these gemstones. I always come home with a pocket-full that we add to Garrett’s ongoing collection.
Today's handful of garnets.
Did we see goats? Did we see goats! At first, we just saw one massive mountain goat, sunning itself on a rock above Nugget Falls. It was so big it looked fake. As we wandered back to the parking lot, we ran into someone who said that yesterday there were four goats above the falls. So I turned around and looked, and with my binoculars I spotted two big goats and one little one. Then I happened to scan left along the glacier side of Mt. Bullard. At the same time Garrett yelled, “I see five more!” And sure enough, five more goats were making their way down the precarious mountainside, headed toward the falls. It was very cool.
You can click on this pic to make it bigger. See that off-white speck up above the falls, by a pine tree? Big mountain goat. Trust me.
Enjoy the pics! And if you’re in Juneau, you should head out to the glacier. Spread the word!
Birthday Cabins
In the wee hours of last winter, I decided the Klein’s needed something to look forward to. I jumped online and made reservations for two forest service cabins. That’s right – no airline tickets to Mexico or Hawaii – but two future weekends at remote cabins in Juneau. There are a plethora of cabins across Alaska that have been built and maintained by the US Forest Service. You can reserve them up to six months in advance, and this is an important thing to remember because if in May, you decide you’d like to get a cabin some weekend in June, you will likely be out-of-luck. People around here take their summer cabin camping seriously – they reserve early and often. I was lucky to get Windfall Lake Cabin in April for my birthday and Dan Moller Cabin this past weekend to celebrate Dave’s birthday.
Windfall Lake Cabin
Dan Moller Cabin
In late April, the trail to Windfall Lake Cabin was lightly snow and ice covered, and Windfall Lake was mostly frozen over. We could see an open spot on the far side of the lake, hosting a handful of swans! The cabin lies about 4 miles from the road, and is fairly flat. For the first time, Garrett carried his own pack with his own gear, and he did great. We were out there not just on my birthday, but it was also Easter Sunday. We enjoyed finding Easter eggs filled with candy along the trail, playing hide-and-seek in the thick forest around the cabin, and watching a very large porcupine make it’s bed for the night in a nearby tree.
Dan Moller Cabin is located on Douglas Island, 3 miles and 1600 feet up a lovely mountain valley. As a family, we hiked this trail before when Garrett was four years old. In June of 2008, we were surprised to discover a lot of snow – rotting snow – which made hiking difficult. No snow this year! We hiked up Friday in the rain, taking our time and providing a whole heck of a lot of encouragement to Garrett. This trail is rated “More Difficult.” It’s a steady uphill path over a mix of planks and rocky, root-strewn trail. We stopped quite a bit for snacks. He loved hiking up to the clouds, and when we finally set eyes on the cabin, he raced us to the deck.
It appears that the original Dan Moller Cabin was built sometime between 1935 and 1950. It was in pretty rough shape when we were up in there in 2008. It was replaced last year with a lovely, two story cedar log cabin that easily sleeps at least 11 people. What makes this unique compared to many USFS cabins around Juneau is that there is a full stair case (versus a wooden ladder) leading up to the second story. Another beautiful feature is the covered, upper deck, complete with hooks to locate your hammock, should you hike one up there.
Cabin camping is a wonderful form of forced relaxation. We explored. We played lots of card games. We read. We sketched the view. Garrett discovered little Venus fly traps that grow naturally in boggy meadows. We watched a grouse sun herself just a step from the deck of the cabin. We met four sets of day hikers, as eager to see the new cabin as we were. And the weather on Saturday was clear, sunny and warm.
There’s nothing quite like slowing life down. It gives “quality time” new meaning. The hardest decision I made on Saturday was whether or not to play my round of solitaire inside the cabin or out on the front deck. Before bed on Saturday night, we lingered on the deck, watching the sun light up the mountain to our right as it set behind the mountain to our left. You don’t often get that kind of view while brushing your teeth.
For Dave and I, these birthday cabins certainly were a great way to wrap up one year of life and begin the next. I wonder what next year’s birthdays will hold?
Cabin Camping 301
Dan Moeller Cabin is located 1600 feet above sea level, in a high valley surrounded by mountain peaks on Douglas Island. This is not your freshman level cabin hike, but it was the only cabin that had weekend availability when we checked the reservation system several weeks ago. The hike is gradual and steady – up, up, up. And Garrett hiked it all, only holding our hands every once in awhile to help as needed. We had rock and dirt trail, planks through muskeg meadows, and snow! We hiked through pouring rain, past raging waterfalls and over snow melt streams. And we had a lot of fun! On the hike home, under blue skies with the mountain peaks around us, Garrett said, "I think I’m a pretty good hiker, Mom." Pretty good? That was an understatement!
To view a map of the hike see the hike from GoogleMaps and the custom map that Dave made so as to identify trail repairs for Trail Mix of Juneau.
Come visit our journal again soon, as we’ll post more pictures. Right now, we’re too tired and looking forward to sleeping in a soft bed!
Terrific Fall Saturday
The weather forecasters got it wrong again, and thank goodness. While we didn’t actually get blue skies and sunshine, we enjoyed the sun peaking through high clouds and highlighting the yellow and orange fall colors around town. As usual, we attended gymnastics (view quick video on YouTube of parachute game), and then Garrett and I headed to the campground with Cedar, while Dave kept Autumn company and showed her how to install an outdoor motion detector light.
The campground near our house is now closed for the season, so we bumped into just a handful of people enjoying the fall day as we were. Garrett rode his bike and I kept the camera handy. We stopped for a picnic lunch in one of the campsites, biked in to the bridge where we could see the glacier and waterfall, then biked back. He humored me for lots of pictures and even took a few himself. Be sure to view the photos of the day.
The leaves on Garrett’s tree, which was planted the year he was born, will soon fall. So we took a few minutes to snap a Klein family photo.
Gettin’ Out
Today I ended up staying home with Garrett, although he was feeling much better by the afternoon. Lori left for Ketchikan this morning so it’s just G and me for the next couple of days. Garrett keeps asking where’s Mama. My response is that she’s on an airplane. Later today he asked if we could go on the airplane.
Much of the morning was spent watching Sesame Street because that was the only thing that seemed to make him happy. By afternoon we just had to get out and “play in the white stuff”. We ended up getting the backpack out and taking Autumn for a walk. We’ve received more snow in the last 24 hours than we’ve seen all winter long so it was a great time.
I went out to the shed and grabbed the camping tent. The plan tonight is to do a mock camping trip and maybe sleep in the tent if he’s up for it. Garrett’s likely to sleep with me due to his sore throat so why not go camping?