Hi there!
After a work trip brought me down to Kenai on Friday and Saturday, Fly and I made a side trip to Hope to try to look for spring bears. TheMother, TheFather, and TheRocketScientist converged there as well and we had planned on doing a hike, but when we arrived, we found the road was still closed and that dashed our plans. Time for Plan B.
It was 7:00 at night, but the sun was still high in the sky, so TheRocketScientist and I climbed to the top of a nearby mountain as a scouting mission for the next day’s adventures. It was steep and difficult to climb through the thick and tangled sections of alders, but we made it to the top, including the not one, but three false summits. We found the base of an old mining hut, complete with stone chimney, up at the top of the mountain and I wished that I’d brought my camera up with me. I was foolish and didn’t think we’d see anything interesting that I’d want to share with readers. At midnight, we made it back to the truck with still just enough light to see without using a flashlight.
In the morning, oatmeal was quickly heated and gulped down, while simultaneously putting on gear and lacing shoes and blinking away sleep; then TheRocketScientist, Fly, and I hit the trail at 7:00am and walked until we reached the base of the mountain we had selected for the day’s adventure. It was a grassy slope that seemed easy enough to climb, especially compared to the alder obstacles of the night before, but the incline was very steep and the dead grass was deep and springy. I was glad I have been using the rock climber at home to workout, but still I could only take about 20 steps before I needed to take a quick 20-second rest pause. Fly frolicked up and down the slope and munched on the new shoots of green grass that were just tentatively poking up through the old brown dry stuff.
About an hour into our climb, we sat and rested and looked down on the slope we had just ascended, admiring our hard work and the view it afforded us. To my surprise, I saw something walking down on the road we had walked along before starting our hike. Was it my parents? No. Was it a dog? No. It was a black bear! It was walking straight toward our parked trucks and my breakfast eating parents and for a minute, we thought it might walk past them, but then it veered off and disappeared into the woods somewhere and we never saw it again.
So, we climbed on up toward the snow and the top of the mountain, until we arrived at a wonderful alpine plant carpeted knoll and decided to stop and take another break. We didn’t think there were any bears above us, since we were close to the summit and it was snowy and rocky and unpleasant looking up there. With a hint of pride, TheRocketScientist set up his little chair that he had packed up the mountain and I dug snacks out of my pocket and nestled down on the soft alpine slope to sit and enjoy the scenery. At this exact moment, the sun rose above the mountain and bathed us in warmth and Vitamin D. Fly flopped down beside me and we had a lovely noontime snack of jerky, smoked cheese, and salted pretzels.
TheRocketScientist took a nap, until Fly ran over and licked his face to make him rub her belly. Then, she dashed over to the snowfield and jumped and rolled and slid all over the cool and wet snow. We watched a bald eagle rise up on the thermals that were building down below us: it soared in ever-higher circles on the rising warm air without ever flapping its wings. Little birds sang, a light breeze played with my hair, insects made friendly, non-creepy bug sounds, and the scent of the lichen and low growing Labrador tea created an incredibly pleasant atmosphere of mountain life.
However, the wind eventually picked up and was blowing down from the top of the mountain and the air was cold. I roused the napping human and called the snow-eating canine and we packed our stuff and headed back down the mountain, since we weren’t seeing any other wildlife. About half way down, the heat from the warming day hit us like a wall and we sweltered and sweated our way though the long grass and back down to the road in short time. Fly was especially thirsty and I mentally kicked myself for not remembering to bring a water dish for her. Happily, she found a creek soon after we reached the road and she quenched her thirst and cooled her paws with a big sloppy grin on her cute black and white face.
It wasn’t the hike we had planned, but it turned out to be a pleasant way to spend the day, and now I can look forward to returning later this summer or fall to do the originally planned hiking adventure!
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