Bear Redemption

First things first, Chris finally got his redemption of capturing pictures of a bear in the wild! Our weekly glacier went from wonderful to amazing when we saw a beautiful cinnamon-colored black bear that the locals have named Nicki walking around. We were able to watch her for about 45 minutes as she walked around, caught a salmon and ate it for dinner, and then finally scampered off deeper into the woods.

Nicki hunting in Steep Creek

My favorite view of the night.

We used Wednesday to get in a large-mile day of hiking. The Treadwell Ditch Trail on Douglas Island isn't very well maintained once you get a few miles out, but it was a good trail to just knock out miles. It's a level path that follows an old ditch that was used as a flume for a mine back in the day. It's nicknamed "Juneau's Best Training Trail" because of it's length and little elevation change. We hiked 22 miles in one day, and that doesn't even include the walk to the trailhead from the bus stop! It was nice to be able to set up our tent that night, and we have to admit how much we've missed camping. On Thursday we only had about 5 miles back to our bus stop, and though we could feel the miles we put in the day prior, we also couldn't stop our minds from dreaming of the PCT. We know it's going to be hard - but we also think we can do it. And we are excited for the opportunity to try. 

Devil's Club - don't touch!

I look great in candid pictures - I just wanted to drink, but Chris wanted a photo at our turn-around-spot for the day.

Our route - Chris thinks you guys like looking at maps.

On Saturday, we went on a day date to downtown. We decided it was time to splurge a little and buy ourselves a locally-caught-fresh king crab's leg meal. And it was delicious! It was fun cracking open the shell and finding the fresh meat inside. This life by the ocean is pretty fun.

Can you imagine the size of this crab?!

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew