FIFTY SHADES OF PINK AND GRAY
We
got a lazy start on Monday due to the rain.
There is something about the sound of rain on the tent canopy that
drains my motivation. Eventually we got
going, and after breakfast we drove north.
Our plan was an easy hike in Point Bridget State Park. We made a couple of stops along the way to
check out the scenery. The rain had
stopped, and we got glimpses of snow-covered peaks through the clouds and fog
on the far side of the Lynn Canal. We
actually drove beyond the park, intent on going as far as the rental car would
take us. It turns out that wasn’t very
far. Before long we reached a gate
blocking the road. There was a sign on
the gate warning of explosives (!) in the area.
Apparently there had been some mining activity here previously. That piqued my curiosity, but I knew Christy
wouldn’t have it.
We
doubled-back to the state park, which is a little different from the state
parks back home. There is no visitor
center, or parking lot, or even a bathroom.
Instead, there is a pulloff on the shoulder of
the road and a trailhead. That’s
it. And you know,
that’s exactly how I like it.
The
trail was uninspiring at first, but improved considerably once we crossed the
boundary into the park. We hiked into
primordial rain forest, under massive, mossy spruce. Boardwalks helped us avoid the dark,
mysterious swamps on either side of the trail.
While the trees were beautiful, the undergrowth was fascinating. Some areas were open, but others featured
horrific tangles of alder. Alder reminds
me of the rhododendron back home. The
real horror though was the devil’s club.
These shrubs grow everywhere, and they have thorns on the trunk and on
the individual branches. Even the leaves
are serrated. Literally every part of
that plant can hurt you. I almost wanted
to dig one up just to see if the roots had barbs.
We
eventually left the dense forest behind as we traversed a vast wet meadow. This exposed us to the rain, which had been
falling steadily throughout the hike.
The views would be great from here in good weather. There were no views on our visit, so we had
to settle for thick patches of fireweed.
Those pink flowers were blooming everywhere, and they added vibrant
color to an otherwise gray day.
After
a couple of miles we reached the Cowee Meadow Cabin. It is possible to rent this cabin, and the
price is actually pretty reasonable.
There wasn’t anybody home and the door was open, so we decided to have
lunch out of the rain. The cabin was
cozy, complete with a woodstove, but I definitely heard rats while I was in
there. Christy investigated the kitchen
cabinets, and found some crackers, ramen noodles, tang, and a bottle of whiskey
that wasn’t quite empty. What more do
you need?
After
lunch we resumed the hike and continued north towards Berners Bay. A short rise brought us to a view of the bay
and Lynn Canal beyond. The mountain tops
above were lost in the mist, but they were still beautiful. The highlight though was an incredible field
of vibrant fireweed. It was the best
patch of the hike, and I was compelled to bushwhack through wet, waist high
bushes to get some photos.
I
rejoined Christy, and she surprised me by suggesting that we follow the
coastline towards Point Bridget. The
trail stays back in the woods, away from the water. We decided to try her plan since it promised
better scenery and the rain had stopped.
Unfortunately, the whole coastline was a series of slippery rocks. We were rewarded though when Christy spotted
a sea otter just offshore. We wouldn’t
have seen that from the trail! We
eventually bailed out, but we did pass through a vast pile of blue mussel
shells on the way back to the trail.
Regaining the trail required a short but steep bushwhack up into the
woods. We managed to avoid the worst of
the devil’s club, and the alder wasn’t too thick. Still, it was a relief to get back on the
trail.
We
followed the trail through the woods before descending steeply back down to the
shore. From there it was just a short
stroll to the Blue Mussel Cabin. This is
another rental cabin on Berners Bay, a short distance from the end of the
peninsula at Point Bridget. There were
people here, and we exchanged pleasantries before resuming the hike. From there, some boulder hopping took us out
to the actual point. The boulder hopping
was good practice for some of the hikes that we would do later in the trip.
From
the point we had a great view out over Berners Bay and the Lynn Canal. We relaxed there for a while, watching the
fishing boats. The clouds persisted, but
we caught glimpses of the mountains peeking out of the clouds. We’d hoped to see whales or other wildlife,
but all was quiet.
After
a long break we started back. When we
returned to Berners Bay Christy saw a bald eagle. She’d actually spotted two earlier in the
same area, but I missed them. This time
we followed the eagle to his perch in a dead tree. I took a few photos, and even managed one as
he was flying away.
A VERY BAD DECISION
(or, the shortcut that wasn’t)
We
returned to the Cowee Meadow Cabin. At that point I made a horrible suggestion
that led to some of my poorest decisions of the entire trip. Instead of taking the same trail back, I
suggested combining the Cedar Lake and North Bridget Cove Trails. That would add 1.6 miles to the hike, plus it
would bring us out on the road a mile from our car. My information also described these trails as
“less maintained”. On the other hand, it
would give us a greater variety of scenery.
It would take us past a small lake and along a remote stretch of
coastline. For some reason Christy
agreed.
The
first mile along Echoing Creek was a steady climb through deep forest. The trail alternated between muddy and steep
and rooty and steep.
The overall climb was only a couple of hundred feet, but numerous steep
ups and downs increased the difficulty substantially. The horrible footing was the worst part
though.
Cedar
Lake was pleasant, but the wildlife I’d hoped for was absent. From there, a long, occasionally steep
descent brought us down to the Camping Cove Cabin on the coast. There was a family here, and they seemed
surprised to see us. Clearly not many people
hike this trail.
From
there we followed the coastline south.
This stretch of trail was challenging, too. We climbed up to traverse a cliff, before
descending and climbing again. More
steep ups and downs followed, but the thick forest limited our views.
We
passed some folks hammock camping, and then spotted a nice campsite below the
trail close to the water. From there we
descended to a small bay and a private cabin.
At this point we still had a mile to go and we were out of
patience. I thought there might be a road
leading from the cabin out to the road, which was only ¼ mile away. There wasn’t (the cabin must be only
accessible by boat or trail), but the forest behind the cabin was actually
pretty open. I suggested bushwhacking
out to the road. For some reason Christy
agreed.
We
followed a stream for a bit, heading north and then east. This brought us within 1/10th of a
mile of the road. Unfortunately we had
to climb up and over a minor ridge to get to it. This meant abandoning the open forest close
to the stream. The woods leading up the
ridge was a horrid tangle of alders and devil’s club. Unfortunately a better route didn’t appear,
and we were too stubborn to turn around.
We decided to bash our way through.
This
was the point when the rain resumed.
The bushwhack was awful. Areas that appeared to be somewhat open were
actually full of devil’s club. That was
to be avoided at all costs, which meant that we had to fight our way through
the worst of the alder thickets. The
only saving grace was the abundant blueberry bushes growing among the
alders. We were out of food, so those
blueberries kept us going. We eventually
pulled ourselves up to the top of the ridge.
From there, it was straight down the opposite side. The descent was a little better – at least
until Christy said that she thought she saw water below us. A few minutes later we discovered that she
was right. We were 50 yards from the
road, but between us was a deep, dark swamp that wasn’t shown on my map.
Going
back was not an option. Neither was
swimming. We attempted to bushwhack
around it, and eventually found a route through that only required knee-deep
wading. At least we didn’t need to worry
about alligators or snakes! Once through
the swamp, a final brief bushwhack brought us out to the road. A 10 minute walk along the shoulder brought
us back to the car.
Our
misery wasn’t quite over. We were
famished, and decided to stop at a restaurant for dinner. However, we ran into a couple of
problems. First, the campground gate
closes at 10pm. It was already after
9pm, which meant that we probably didn’t have time for dinner. Neither of us was interested in parking the
car outside the gate and walking in the rain a ½ mile to our campsite. Also, most of the restaurants in the
Mendenhall Lake area were closed. We
actually found a Thai place and decided to get something to go, but they closed
just as we arrived. Ultimately we ran to
the grocery store and picked up something that we could cook
back at the campground.
Back
at camp we discovered that a large group of teenagers had moved into the
adjacent campsites. Oh boy! We’d gotten a little spoiled having the place
mostly to ourselves, but that was going to change.
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!