After work one night (remember we get off at 10pm) we decided it would be fun to do a spontaneous backpacking trip. We asked our friend Ben, a Juneau local, a good place to go and he told us Windfall Lake. This was about a 4.2 mile hike one way, not bad, so we decided to do it. Here are the highlights and the not so highlights of that adventure:
We saw a porcupine climb up a tree! Yah, who knew that porcupines are huge and climb trees?!
We never found a flat place to put up our tent, so at 2:30 in the morning after hiking a little over 5 miles - taking every possible branch in the trail and bushwhacking off the trail hoping to see that "just around the corner" perfect camp spot - we finally admitted defeat and settled for a less than desirable tent location on uneven, hard, bug covered ground. I wouldn't say we cursed Ben's name, but we sure had a lot of "what was he thinking telling us to come here?" moments.
All was forgiven in the morning when we saw the lake in the light. Wow! It was gorgeous, and we had a great morning playing on it. The forest service had canoes for public use, and we spent some time paddling out on the water (it felt SO GOOD TO BE ON THE WATER!). There was also a really nice forest service cabin that you can rent out for $30 a night. The family that stayed there through the night left early in the morning so we had the whole place to ourselves. We definitely want to come back to this lake, as we wanted to spend the whole day there but had to turn back to get to work by 2.
Also this week we did the West Glacier trail - hands down our favorite trail we've done so far. This 7 mile round trip trail takes you up to the Mendenhall Glacier, and from there you can take your time exploring all around this enormous, beautiful piece of ice. There were ice caves, and glacier arches, and waterfalls, and just about everything you could imagine in an Alaskan dream.
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| Best tasting water you'll ever have. |
The weather has been surprisingly warm the last couple of weeks so we decided to go for a swim on Saturday before work. We went out to Auke Lake and played around. Chris had fun using the rope swing, and I started to hate mosquitoes even more than normal as I realized my wet body seemed to be their favorite thing in the forest. Cool fact: Auke Lake looks black because of the tannin from the spruce trees - these are the same chemical compounds found in coffee, tea, and wine. But don't worry, we kept our mouths closed so we're still good on the Word of Wisdom.
On Sunday we taught Primary for the first time. We found out that we were actually just going to be subbing for the Valiant 10 class for 2 weeks and then were going to be permanent teachers of the Valiant 9 class. The teacher of Valiant 10 has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and the primary presidency assumed she would want to be released. She has asked to stay in her calling, so we will sub for her while she is in treatment, and then will take over the other class once she comes back.
Sunday evening we were invited to dinner with another young couple from the ward - Brooke and Garrison. They have the sweetest 14 month year old daughter, and it was so great getting to know all of them better. Brooke cooked halibut to make it a true Alaskan affair. They moved to Juneau the same week we did, so like us, they are new to the area and trying to make friends. After dinner we took a walk by the ocean where we ran into the bishop's family! It was a lot of fun and we look forward to doing more together.
Here's the best part of this post, which is this announcement at the end.........
Next spring, from April to August 2016,
we are going to thru-hike all 2,650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail!
Now, for anyone thinking that sounds a little crazy, or a tad bit dumb we want to redirect your questions and concerns to Aunt Susan. After much badgering, uncontrollable pressure, and refusal to take no for an answer, she has forced us into making this decision. Don't believe us? Here's the picture proof:
Our planning is well under the way and you will continue to receive updates as we prepare for this epic adventure. You will also notice changes to our blog as we give it a makeover to include a new page specific to the PCT.
Remember to pray and remember to play,
Mr. & Mrs. We-Make-Crazy-Decisions-Together Andrew
