Upper Dewey Lake, Skagway

My time in Alaska was all a bit of a whirlwind. I was only there for three weeks this summer. I was fortunate enough that even though my employers had me working there for free there were quite liberal with free time. I had three day weekends so I couldn't complain. Most of my free time fell on sunny days too! That was just bonus, because it was extra cold this summer. Even though I was better prepared for a cold summer, I was still freezing most of the time.

After meeting my new coworkers and reuniting with friends from the year before I made plans to do a 33 mile hike with friends in the last few days of my trip. I was feeling completely out of shape, so if I was seriously going to do this I had to start hiking on my days off. At the ranger's office we were told that if we could hike to Upper Dewey Lake then we would do just fine.

So I decided to do just that! For my first day off I packed a pear and water and rode a junky bike over to the trailhead. I was hoping to get my coworker, Chicago boy to join me but he was feeling under the weather (which he would give to me about two days later...I think it was Norwalk, the cruise ship flu). So I went alone. For those who remember my travels from last year will know how scared I get when I am hiking alone. I get paranoid about bear spotting and peeing in my pants. I had good reason to worry this year too, because the bears were more active then normal. On a side note I should point out that I made some good friends with a few active guys who told me that they get just as scared about seeing a bear!

The first half hour of the hike leads to Lower Dewey Lake. Lots of people traverse the trails to Lower Dewey because it only takes thirty minutes and you can easily get your blood pumping on the steep incline. So of course I passed several people along the way and I had traveled along the trail many times before. I was not scared at all. After veering off around Lower Dewey Lake I found myself alone on the way to Upper. All of a sudden I was alone hiking next to the falls that fell from Upper Dewey. The hike became increasingly steep. I was panting on my way up. Either I was really out of shape and I remembered how much I hated hiking or it was just hard! It took me at least an hour to get into a steady pace on the trail. I really wanted to listen to my ipod, but I kept thinking it would just be my luck to run into a bear with my ipod on. So I declined.

Although it took me about two and a half hours to reach Upper Dewey lake I only saw three people on their way back down. It gave me a lot of time to think. I could enjoy the beauty of my surroundings and I was grateful, even though I was exhausted. Alaska is so beautiful and I had only glimpsed a tiny bit of it. At the top I sat at an empty picnic table observing the view ahead of me. Shortly after I took a seat a man in his late thirties from France sat down next to me. He worked for one of the cruise lines. He quickly pulled out two chocolate bars, one for me and one for him. Then he pulled out two brownies from the cafe in town and another chocolate bar. He was joined by another cruise employee from Malaysia. We made small talk. I was fascinated by their kindness and humor. It was nice to make friends and share chocolate. Oh la la! Then they began yelling for their friend who was from Germany. He slowly made it to the picnic table with no shirt on. The first thing he said was, "When are we headed back? I have to be at work..." but the other two guys just bossed him around and told him not to worry. With this he stopped talking and just relaxed. I think we can use that all more in this life...stop worrying and just enjoy our surroundings.

After about thirty minutes I said my goodbyes and found a secluded place to write in my journal. It was such a beautiful place I wanted to write my thoughts while outside. I actually love doing that. I bring my journal with me everywhere, because I just never know when I might be inspired to write my feelings. It is very therapeutic. Then I took a few pictures and headed back down to town. In some ways this was the hardest part. It was muddy was really muddy at the top of the hike so I had to steer through that without slipping and getting my butt dirty. And it was so steep it was killing my knees.

On my way back down I tried to pay attention to the flowers and mushrooms. There are some really cool mushrooms in Alaska. I have even seen some that are red with white dots like the Smurfs had for houses! So of course I tried to take pictures whenever I thought of it. I must say, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting even though it was steep. I have a feeling that I could do the 33 mile hike in two weeks if I just kept it up! Is it a good time to mention that my legs were sore for about two days? It hurt just to go up and down stairs! That's what I get for thinking the hike wasn't that bad!