Porcupines

My poor Millie has been stung by Porcupines twice :(  First time it happenned, I was near the end of Perseverence Trail and she came out of playing in the bush with two quills.  She wouldn't let me near her to get it out, so I gave up and hiked 3 miles back with needles stuck in her nose.  Once home, I had my husband pin her down and I managed to pull them out.  I was not there the second time.  My husband was couple miles up Salmon Creek Trail when she got stung.  She didn't learn from the first instance.  This time, she was practically crippled with 12 quills stuck in her paws.  She was lying on her side, probably from pain, and could not move.  Brad had to carry all 62 lbs of her down the trail and rushed her to the vet.  They had to sedate her to ease her pain while pulling them out.  She was quite loopy afterwards and took couple of days before she was moving around like her old self.  I was away on a business trip during that time and was really sad I could not look after my baby.  For future reference though, here is what my husband says about how to pull out porcupine quills:

Let's start out with some facts and fiction...

FICTION:

1.) Porcupine Quills contain Poison. False! The American Porcupine does not. The Indian Porcupine does. Guess which country the Indian Porcupine comes from?

2.) Porcupines shoot Quills at enemies in Projectile fashion. False! They wave their tail and back when in distress and must physically touch an enemy for the Quill to stick in it. Likewise, if a dog touches a Porcupine, the Quill will stick in it. Quills do not "shoot out".

3.) Porcupine Quills are pressurized and must be snipped at the end before they are pulled out. False! This is utter bullshit. They are very slightly barbed, but not pressurized by any means.

FACT:

1.) Getting a Quill in you is very painful. True. Even one hurts like hell. Like a little dagger sticking into your skin.

2.) If your dog looks like she is in pain, take her to the Vet. Don't try to remove Quills yourself unless there is only 3 or 4 of them. Your dog may need sedating to kill the pain.

3.) If your dog has less than 5 Quills, you can avoid Vet fees by trying to remove them yourself. Read below for directions.

REMOVING QUILLS YOURSELF, WITHOUT A VET... (if there is more than 5, see a bloody vet!)

You will need:

1.) a strong grip.

2.) disinfectant (hydrogen peroxide etc)

3.) a set of balls

4.) a second person would help to keep Millie still.

First, have your disinfectant handy.

Now grip the quill as far down as you can, closest to the skin of the dog for best grip. What you want to do is very slightly turn the Quill at a very slight angle as you pull it. Don't pull it straight. The barb is not very big, but to avoid excess damage to Millie, pull it out quickly at a slight angle. As soon as the Quill is out, place it away to one side and do the next one.

Once all of them are out, dab the affected areas with disinfectant on a tissue to stop infection

That's it! All done. She'll be hurting for the rest of the day. Just let her rest.

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Hope this helped.

Granite Creek Trail

If it feels like it's been a while since I've posted, it's because it's been a while since I've done anything worth blogging about.  Since early May, it has been raining practically non-stop.  I knew it was coming, but I didn't realize it would be so soon.  I was quite disappointed at how short the summer was, and I expected to not see sun again until March.  I started off being quite bummed about the weather, but I decided to try to deal with it by looking for new ways to entertain myself besides hiking.  I joined the gym at work, went swimming couple times at the city pool, and let my husband talk me into going halves on an Xbox.  Just as I had finally found ways to cope with the bad weather here, I get a weekend full of blue skies.  I spent the Saturday checking the Eagle Crest Ski area and found that to be a great place to hike also.  I didn't hike all the way to the top though because I knew I had a long hike the next day on Granite Creek Trail.  I had heard it was a nice trail, but I didn't realize what an understatement that was.  It was an absolutely gorgeous hike.



The trailhead to 3.5 mile Granite Creek begins about 2 miles into Perseverence Trail.  Once turning onto the trail, you go up some narrow switch backs until you get to a snow bridge (pile of unmelted snow over the creek).  The trail from here gets a bit muddy in places, like most Juneau trails, but it's not too long before you gain elevation and start getting some nice views of the mountains.  Your first wow factor comes at the large water fall.  After admiring the falls a bit, you continue on until you reach what looks like your destination - an open view of lakes, creeks, and mountains.  Then you realize you've only travelled about a mile in so you know you're not there yet and keep going.  However, the view is just so amazing I kept taking photos. 



A little more ways in, I turn around and am amazed at the view again.  We stopped for lunch, but had to keep going afterwards since we weren't at the end.  We weren't quite sure how far to go, but we saw another big waterfall ahead and went closer.  There was a steep trail that went up to the top of the falls, and once there, it was just wow again.  Maybe because we just had so much rainfall, there were waterfalls everywhere and a large stream flowing.  I would rank this hike up there with those I've done in Banff, New Zealand, or Nepal.  I don't think my pictures do it much justice, but I thought it was just beautiful. 



I think we reached about 2300 feet (from 83 feet at start of Perseverence Trail), but we still had maybe a mile to go and another 200 feet to climb.  Unforunately, we spent too much time enjoying the scenery and had to turn around because my friend had to get back by a certain time.  I'm not sure what's up there at the end, but I'm looking forward to finding out next time I go.  I'd also like to try to get out there a bit earlier to see more wild flowers.

For those of you who are quite fit, there is an option to hike up Mount Juneau (trail up also starts from Perseverence), hike along the ridge, and come down the Granite Creek basin to the trail.  I bet that would be an awesome hike.

Dan Moller Trail

Today Matt and I did a 3-mile (one way) hike with 1600 ft elevation gain.  It's an out and back through Muskeg meadows to the Dan Moller Cabin and back.  The hike is quite easy despite the elevation gain since it is a steady gain over the 3 miles.  The entire trail is also planked since the meadows are quite muddy with soft footing.  The planks can get slippery though, so becareful and watch your footing while you walk.  If you're dog loves water like mine, there are also many mud pits that she can jump in.  Your dog will definitely require cleansing afterwards.

At the end of the trail is one of Forest Service's newer cabins.  It sleeps 4-8 on the second floor and 2-3 people on the bottom floor.  (Requires reservation - $35/night.)  There is a furnace, wood stove, and an outdoor fire pit for heating options.  There is also an outhouse, although it was near full today... eww.  The cabin has great views of the mountains all around.  There's not a whole lot else up there, but if you felt adventurous, there is probably a way up to some of the surrounding ridges. 

Point Bridget State Park

Field of Fireweeds

This is my second time in the park this summer but it was a completely different scenery this time.  The trail that was all wet and muddy last time from the melting snow has now dried up, making the walk a lot more pleasant.  There were also many flowers and berries to see along the way.  About a mile or so in though, we veered off course to head to Cowee Creek where my friend, Matt, whipped out his fishing pole for a quick catch.  This time of year all the salmon are back in the creeks to spawn so a lot of people go to the creeks to fish for sport.  I'd only been fishing once or twice before with my brother and remember catching a tree back then.  My friend had to show me how to fly-fish, and although I had no luck hooking a fish, he let me reel in one of the ones he hooked. 

Once we had enough of that, we tried to find our way back towards the trail without back-tracking.  This turned into a long detour and couple of stream crossings.  Salmon are everywhere, and it was fun watching the dogs run around amongst them.  Matt's dog, Charlie, even caught his own fish!



It took a while, but we managed to bushwhack are way back to a cabin in the park where we relaxed a bit.  I took my shoes off in hopes of letting my socks dry in the sun, but wool doesn't dry so easily.  Oh well.  By then it was already getting late in the day so we headed back, but it was a great day out in the park with lots of wildflowers, berries, and fish!

Wild Blueberries & Worms

Wild blueberries

Alaska has a treasure trove of wild berries, many of which you can pick and eat.  One of the most common berries that I've seen around on Juneau trails are the blueberries.  I've seen them on trails to Crow Point, Outer Point, Point Bridget, and probably many other places.  When I first started seeing the berries I was so excited I picked a few that looked ripe, even though it was a little early in the season.  I had heard from someone though that there are worms in these blueberries.  You have to soak the blueberries in salt water overnight, and in the morning you will see the worms that have crawled out of the berries floating in the water.  I did just that, and saw a few little white worms that almost look like mini-maggots.  It was kinda disgusting.  I really wanted to have a blueberry pancake though, so I took the berries and made a pancake. Well, they weren't quite ripe enough yet and it didn't taste good.  Fail.  I decided it just wasn't worth the effort of trying to pick them at the right time and then deworming them, only to eat them with a slight fear that a worm or two might still be left in the berries.  I'm sure the worms won't stop the berry picking enthusiasts, but I went out and bought a tub of blueberries from the grocery store the next day for my pancakes. 

Pancake made with blueberries from the store - yum.

Hike to Gastineau Peak (3672ft)

Today's hike to Gastineau Peak was probably the hardest I've done since hiking in Switzerland back in '07.  It's also about three times higher than the highest I've done in Juneau.  The trail started on Basin Road at an elevation of about 300 ft.  The first hour and half of the trail is actually quite boring.  It's a steady hike up a muddy trail through the rainforest.  If I didn't have Millie with me, I could've avoided it by taking the Mt. Roberts Tram up from downtown to about 1800 ft.   That would've made my hike a lot easier.  There are couple of view points along the trail to the tram, but none are worth stopping for if you plan to hike past the tram stop. 

Once at the tram station, I stopped there only to let Millie have a drink at the water bowl they keep out for dogs.  The trail below had only a few places for her to get a drink, and it was a pretty warm day out for Juneau.  After the brief stop for water and a view, we continued on up the trail.  You get a view of Gastineau Channel most of the way up, and the view just gets better and better as you get higher.  The terrain also changes from rainforest to sub-alpine, and many wildflowers are in bloom.  The trail seems to be a widely used one, by locals and tourists.  The few we saw going up that morning were locals.  It was comforting knowing others were and will be on the trail since it was just me and Millie today.

A bit further up the trail we started seeing piles of snow leftover from the winter.  Good thing because that was Millie's water source.  She would either eat the snow or drink from the stream or puddle made from melting snow.  She also liked to roll around in it to cool off.



The climb was long and a little difficult since it involved narrow and rocky terrain in places.  It wasn't as muddy as the trail below the tram though.  There were also walks through thick vegetation and I worried that a bear might be around the corner where I couldn't see.  I jingled my bear bell occasionally & luckily I didn't see one.  I got to a place that looked like it could be Gastineau Peak, but I was disappointed to find out it was only the Gold Ridge.

The dreaded ridge

There was little more ways to go before hitting Gastineau Peak, but that little way required crossing what looked like to me as a trecherous snow covered knife edge ridge crossing.  I couldn't really see what would be on the otherside a little ways and I wasn't entirely sure if it was good idea to cross with only my sturdy hiking boots and an unpredictable puppy.  After consulting another hiker that came up behind me I decided I might as well give it a shot since it was just a little more ways to go to the top.  I tried to keep my eyes focused on the ground while crossing it though since I felt a bit of vertigo coming on looking down the sides.

Once at the peak, which my GPS said was 3672 feet, I had my lunch and got a few snaps.  I could see the trail that continues on to the peak of Mount Roberts.  It was only supposed to be another mile and 200 feet elevation gain (maybe a bit more in actual since you had to go down first to go up the peak).  Perhaps it was another 45 min or so to get there, according to another woman who was on Gastineau Peak with me.  I didn't plan on going all the way today, and decided to stick with my plan because I still had to get down and I wasn't sure how I'd fare.  I felt fine at the moment, but I figured I'd save that for another time. 

I always take it slow going down.  Given the steepness and rockiness of trail in places, I wished I had a stick or poles.  It's tough on your knees without them.  Then again, it didn't seem to do another hiker much good.  On the way down I ran into the guy who had convinced me to go across the dreaded ridge.  He had slipped and broken his leg!!  There were many other people already there attending to him.  They had put a splinter on his leg with his hiking poles, and called the tram station to get a gurney sent up for him.  After making sure my help wasn't needed, I kept on heading down.  I passed a medic on the way up, followed slowly by 2 not-so-fit looking guys struggling to get a wheeled gurney up top.  I wondered to myself how the hell they are going to get that thing up, and then down, but I quietly hoped they were trained and knew what they were doing. 

My legs were getting quite tired and stiff, but there's not much to do but keep going.  Another stop for water at the tram and we continued on down the lower half of the mountain.  Seemed like such a long way down.  It almost feels harder getting down than going up since your legs are tired.  It's a shame that going down isn't as enjoyable as going up. Regardless, we made it, and I'm glad to have done it since I had been looking forward to doing for so long.  It was a beautiful hike but I doubt I'll be doing that one again this year though.  There's plenty other difficult ones to try first.  Next year I'll shoot for Mount Roberts. 

The trail continues on to Mount Roberts

The Fish Ladder at the Hatchery

Final step in the ladder before being sorted and stripped of eggs

The Fish Ladder

It's salmon spawning season!  In the next couple weeks we are expecting salmons to start running up the creeks to return to their spawning grounds to lay eggs and die.  For an easy view of running salmons in Juneau, you can check out The Fish Ladder at the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery off of Salmon Creek Road.  The 450 ft "ladder" helps the salmon swim up to an area where they are later sorted for egg harvesting.  It's pretty amazing to see these fish swim up against current and through these tiny openings between each step in the ladder.  You can also learn here a little bit about the types of Salmon that can be found: Chum, Coho, Pink, Sockeye, and King.  Inside the hatchery you will find a small aquarium and gift shop full of salmon products - from smoked salmon to caviar. 

Seeing all of these salmons made me want to go fishing like some people were from a dock a short distance from the hatchery.  I'm not sure I'll get out there this year since I still need to get all the necessary equipment (poles, tackle box, etc.), but it's definitely on our must do list for next year.  We'll also be able to get the local rates for fishing licenses by then too.  (You have to be a resident of Alaska for a year before you are eligible for the discounted rates.)   All we have to do is probably catch one salmon and we have our dinner for the week.  I wonder if we can catch Sushi grade salmon.  I'm dreamin' of all-you-can-eat fresh salmon, salmon sushi, and smoked salmon... yum!