The Cruise Ships Are Here!

Downtown Juneau

The first set of cruise ships arrived in Juneau this weekend.  With the tourists, the whole of downtown Juneau came to life.  There are people everywhere and all of the sudden there are shops I didn't even know existed.  It was a great weekend weather wise, too, for the season start.  It had been on the rainy side lately so the sun was a welcome change.

Waterfall near Mendenhall Glacier

Since my last post on Windfall Lake Trail, I had been on several hikes.  Most were my usual favorites: Boy Scout/Crow Point Trail, Airport Dike Trail, Rainforest Trail, and the Mendenhall Glacier area.  I did do a few new ones, too.  One was the Mt Roberts Trail.  I had a friend in town from Japan last week (it was Golden Week there), and since nothing was quite open yet for the tourists, most of the activities had to involve hiking.  The tram to the top wasn't open yet either, so I thought it would be nice if we could hike up there for a view.  I wasn't certain of the conditions, but we went anyways and found it to be about as bad as I thought, but not bad enough to turn around.  We got at least to where the tram was, after trudging through muddy and icy conditions.  It will be at least another month or so before the snow up there clears for better conditions to go further.  Similarly, the Perseverence Trail I did this weekend wasn't quite cleared of snow either.  It is actually a fairly level hike, but about a mile or so in, we started hitting snow.  We hiked through snow for about a mile, and some parts were thigh deep.  As we were stepping in spots we hoped was packed snow, we often sunk in.  This made the hike difficult so we turned around before reaching the end of the trail.  The trail will still be there once summer hits.

Creek along Perseverence Trail

Mt Roberts Tram

After hiking Perseverence Trail, I went up the tram since it was Juneau Appreciation Day on Saturday and the ride was only $8 (normally it's $27).  Although I had been up there already, it was nice out so I thought I'd go up there again and have something to eat after the hike. 

I'm looking forward to summer a lot.  It has been a long winter.  I can see green grass growing and flowers budding here and there.  The change in season keeps things interesting even when I do the same hikes over and over again.  With warmer weather I am also starting to see more wildlife around.   So far they are mostly birds.  I've seen a few Eagles already.  I have yet to see a bear or mountain goats though.  Shouldn't be long now though before things get more interesting. The salmon will start running, bears will be out, and maybe I'll get to see a whale or two.  Come on summer!!