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| Hiking | 8.11 Miles |
3,380 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.11 Miles | 7 Hrs 53 Mns | | 1.54 mph |
| 3,380 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 37 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Our host in Ketchikan recommended this as the "must do" trail for adventurous types visiting his city. Deer Mountain is the hike that locals do to keep in shape and get out of town when the cruise ships threaten their sanity. The trailhead is less than a mile from the heart of downtown, but you don't have to go more than a couple of switchbacks before you leave nearly all of the tourons behind. That was fine with us, for while we were certainly tourists, we didn't choose to limit our experiences to only that which might be enjoyed before the cruise ship blew its bass whistle.
We started the hike in deep fog, hoping that it would lift at least enough for us to get a view or two. At each of the vista points, we needed to wait while the fog blew in and out - leading to lots of gasps and quick draws on the camera to capture vistas in the short windows of open sky.
Once we started down from the peak, though, the clouds really lifted in earnest and we were treated to spotty sunshine - a real treat in Ketchikan. About 1/3 of the way down, Michelle stops short and says "Oh my gosh, its a bear". Now, you have to know Michelle to realize how calmly she said this (she says everything calmly), but her body language said something totally different. She stepped behind me unconsciously as I assessed our position. Luckily, the bear and her cub (who appeared shortly after she did) were not interested in a human encounter, and they moved off the trail too quickly for me to even get a picture. I do have an image of her lovely black/brown face burned into my memory, though! We waited an appropriate length of time before continuing, and saw no further evidence of them even though we were in an area with tight switchbacks. I thought it was very lucky to see a bear so close - and Michelle agreed, but not until a couple of days later! |
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Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.- Barack Obama |
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