The Haps

So a lot has been going on lately...

Yesterday i climbed Mt Juneau
That was crazy, the mountain kicked my ass. I was planning on just going up and chillin for a bit and coming back down, I brought my small water bottle a pear and 2 granola bars. Well that would have been enough if i stuck to my plan. I climbed pretty hard on the way up, i made a few short stops but kept going consistently. So i got to the top huffin and puffin dripping in sweat and it was amazing. I could see so far and so much. So i sat up there and ate my pear and granola bars and just enjoyed it. I had heard that if you follow the ridgeline east you would be able to see the Juneau ice field. So i take off strait east inland. This was really cool because you are on the tip top of this mountain range and it goes on forever. So you are walking on this trail (no bigger than a deer trail) and you look left and its basically a drop off down the mountain and you look right and ITS THE SAME THING. It totally reminded me of Lord of the Rings. So i took this trail for a long time thinking yea i will probably turn back soon, but i didn't i just kept going. It was so cool
So i was really hoping to see the ice field, this thing is bigger that Rhode Island. I unfortunately didn't make it the whole way, there was still alot of snow. My stomach started telling me i am hungry. I new that if i was hungry now and i have at least a 3 hour hike back that by the time i made it back i might be weak from hunger. I had exhausted the water from my water bottle also. So with no food or water i figured it would be a good idea to head back.
I did fill up my water bottle with wonderful run off from the snow up there, It was some of the best water i have had, ice cold too. That water is actually where Juneau gets its drinking water from. I saw a family of Spotted Grouse that scared the shit out of me. They were beautiful.

The top of the mountain was unbelievable
I hadn't seen another person since the trail on the way up when i passed their asses
It was soooo quiet and soooo peaceful
I hadn't been somewhere that quiet in years.
why would anyone want to leave
There were little pools of water on top that waded in. i of course wanted to lose my clothing and dive in but none were big enough or warm enough for that. The ones that were big enough still had ice and snow in them.
I got like 3 photos and then my camera battery died. Damn
That just means i will have to climb it again.

Here are some photos before my camera died. This is a stream that i had to cross to get up the mountain. It looks alot rougher than it really was.



These next two photos are of the same shot, one of them is zoomed in and the other is zoomed out. You can barely see the people on the trail in the zoomed in photo. I took these to try to put in to perspective how massive this mountain is. These photos are only of half the mountain too. On the zoomed out photo try to follow the trail.




Some other news:
I am pretty sure that my manager and head chef at the tram is quitting. That means that place will completely fall apart. Therefore i would have to quit that job, everyone there will quit. Now one would think why not just hire another chef? Well let me answer that for you. The labor pool in Juneau is non existent. This town gets so over worked in these summer months. Juneau is bitting off a bite too big with 6 ships a day coming in. Over 12,000 people stepping on to the docks. This city need more hard working mid westerners to show them how its done.
By the time any new chef got done training at this point it would be the end of the season and the training period would be stressful and not worth it.
We will see what happens though. I would pick up a bunch of hours at Doc's and go from there.

I hope he doesn't quit because we have a good crew at the tram now. We have alot of fun.

Other thoughts:
It's not that i don't want to come home but i don't really want to come home. hehe
I am happy here right now.
I really am
I wish i could just keep traveling, why stop here, i wish i could just keep going. But i cant and i have to come back to MPLS. Once i am done with school its ON
Most people get done with school so they can start their jobs. NOT THIS KID.

It will be fun to come home though. I am sure when the time grows near i will be more excited about it.

all for now
peace
Brett