Salvage Trail Hike

Another sunny day in Ketchikan! Wow! A friend and I decided to go hike near Ward Lake where we'd be able to take advantage of the sun. Some areas in Ketchikan don't get any sun even when it's shining. The angle of the sun in winter here is so different from the East, and if you're in a valley, you'll never feel the warmth. (In fact, today when I took out my bike for errands around 1:00, there was still frost on the sidewalks and streets in Bear Valley, an area that never gets sun in winter.) (And no, it's not called bear valley because of bears - I'm not sure where that name came from...) The sun seems to make a semi-circle up from the horizon but never reaches anywhere near directly overhead. I've been thinking that we tend to "lose the light" around 1:30, and I thought maybe it was behind the mountains or somewhere (East Coast Fool syndrome again...). But yesterday when I took the time to note exactly where it was, I realized it was beginning to set at that time. Consequently, it's fairly dark by 4 PM - and we still have nearly three weeks to go until the shortest day of the year.

The hike up to the muskeg above the regular trail was very steep. Definitely the steepest trail I've been on. But once we got up there, the landscape flattened out. Snow covered the ground and all of the pools of water were frozen. We were treated to a gorgeous view of the mountains. The way the shadows played off the trees was so dynamic, and it was only 11:00 in the morning!

The trip down the mountain was just as hard as the trip up. In fact, I could feel the exertion in my legs as they felt a little "shaky" - I guess I just need to keep on building up...