We went out to El Yunque. This is the only tropical rain forest in the US. It was amazing. I've never driven though anything like it before. My favorite part was all the bamboo. I don't think I've ever seen bamboo growing in the wild. It was pretty exciting for me. You know, I'm pretty simple to amuse. :)
We went out and hiked to a waterfall and then continued up (off the trail) along the river. It was fun.
You should watch the video: I swung from a vine over a river just like Tarzan. It was awesome.
Can you tell that the season is winding down? What is this, my fifth post this month? It's exciting when I have time to explore and go on more adventures. Sky, Steph, and I took off early today to hike Mt. Jumbo. This is the tallest mountain on Douglas Island (across from Juneau) and actually a fairly difficult hike. We had to do it fast to beat the sunset, but we made it (of course). Here's a picture of Juneau from the top, and I'll put up the video as soon as I make it.
First, just check out this picture:
Ok, now we can proceed. So remember that time that I hiked up the west glacier trail in sandals? Well we passed a local that told me that I need to stick to the trail and not venture out onto the glacier. She said that, "Anyone who hikes on the glacier in sandals will die." So I heeded the warning and when we set out this morning to hike on the glacier, I intended on wearing sneakers. But I'm not a morning person and we got up so early (around 9am!) and I brought socks but forgot my sneakers. Oh well, I tried.
And then I got tired of wearing sandals and eventually went barefoot:
Overall, it was a fantastically fun hike. You can watch the video to find out if everyone who hikes on the glacier in sandals will, in fact, actually die:
I've been insanely busy. Sorry about not posting for a few weeks here. And now I come in with a weak one. But whatever. We went over to Mendenhall Glacier and we hiked up the west glacier trail (in my sandals) and I took one of my favorite pictures to date:
Hope you're all doing well and for those of you getting ready to go back to school, I'm sorry. But good luck.
My roommate Bryan and I (Matt wouldn't go after last time) hiked Indian River Falls. Don't let the guidebooks fool you. It's a LOT longer than they say. But we were determined, so we made it all the way (I've already been beaten by one hike this year, I wasn't about to lose again - btw, I haven't forgotten about Verstovia, I'm still planning on beating it some time). Go ahead and watch the video and then I put some pictures below too.
Before my mom died, I used to call her after all my big adventures and tell her all about them. I would always start with the same line: Mom, before I get into this story, I just want you to remember that I'm talking to you right now. I'm alive and well with no serious injuries. Everything is ok. I thought it would help her keep things in perspective.
I've gotten myself into some serious situations before, but I always knew I would survive. Maybe not come out unscathed, but survive, yes.
Not so today.
We hiked Harbor Mountain today and things turned bad surprisingly quickly. We (my roommate Matt, who will never hike with me again, and I) hitchhiked out to the trailhead. The trail goes up and over the far side of the mountain, and then it comes down the near side into town and it's just a short walk to our apartment from there. As usual, no map, no water, no anything. At least I wore shoes. :) Well, we lost the trail at the top, and then found it. We went down this trail for about a mile or so and then it dead ends. So instead of hiking back up to the top and searching for another trail, we decided (rather foolishly, in hindsight) to just cut diagonally down the mountain towards town. We almost fell off cliffs, we both got cut up pretty badly, and there were several times when I wasn't real sure we were going to make it off alive. The one good thing is that we're in Alaska, so at least I knew we would never run out of sunlight. :)
But I'm alive and well. And I'm talking to you right now, so everything is ok. :)
**Update**
Here's the short video:
**Update again**
My Mac crashed so I lost all the footage I had on this and so I won't be able to post the longer version like I had intended. Sad, huh? But at least this one was already up.
So yesterday, my friend and I attempted to hike Mt. Verstovia. It's a beautiful mountain just next to Sitka. The base of the mountain (like all of Sitka) is a rain forest. So it's muggy and it gets rather warm when you hike. But then it cools off as you ascend the hill, and then it starts to snow, and then you're up to your waste in snow and it's an all-out blizzard. My friend stripped down to his shorts at the base and he was too stubborn to put his pants back on when it got COLD. I was in jeans and sneakers, so although I was not completely prepared, I was in better shape than he was. :)
I've never been on a hike where the weather and hiking conditions changed so dramatically in such a short amount of time (our entire time on the mountain from base to "top" back down to the base was about 3 hours). This is also the first hike EVER in my life that I have not completed. We couldn't make it to the top because of the weather conditions, although we came dang close. You can watch the video and decide for yourself if you think we should have proceeded.
My personal favorite part of the hike, aside from the rapid descent in the snow, was my hat. :)
I posted this last week on youtube, but I thought I should put it up here on my blog because it is directly related to my exploration of our Perfect Little Planet. It's the "Hiking Gone Wrong" saga from Mexico. I think only my mother saw the original videos that I posted a year and a half ago. If you haven't seen it yet, it's a little over 6 minutes long, so get comfortable and hit play:
I'll post another story tonight. So if you're reading this on Sunday or later, click here.
