Salmon Graveyard

We had work on Monday and Tuesday, so naturally the weather was beautiful. Dani and I had to get outside while it lasted so we rode our bikes to the glacier and did one of the short trails just outside the park one day before work. Since the cruise ship crowds were so bad near the visitor's center we stuck to biking on the Trail of Time pathway which was tucked away, peaceful, and still gave a good overlook of the glacier.

I have to say I'm a little bitter though because one of our guests came in the same day and mentioned that she walked the same trail we did about an hour later and saw a mother bear with her two cubs! We've seen bears from a boat, and I caught a glimpse of one while driving down the road, but I've been hoping for a real bear sighting while hiking. Just not the kind where I wake up with his nose in my tent.

On Wednesday Dani and I wanted to do a ridge hike between a few of the many peaks near Juneau, but the clouds were too low for us to be comfortable hiking to the top and trying to find a trail. So we opted for Sheep Creek, a shorter hike into a small gorge. The hike wasn't our favorite -- there was a lot of stinging nettle, no good views, and a noisy dog-sled camp nearby. 

Dani's creation

You can't see them well but there are five bald eagles in this tree

The cool part of our day was walking around where the creek runs into the ocean. There were hundreds and hundreds of salmon swimming upstream to spawn. They must have started not long before we got there because although there were quite a few salmon carcasses, they really hadn't started to rot and stink yet (but it was pretty gross to watch the seagulls peck out and snack on the eyes, it must be their favorite part or something). As you can see from the video, these fish were obviously pretty old -- their fins were tattered and it seemed like their scales were flaking off.

Anyways, good week!