Juneau, Alaska                                                               Sept. 16-20, 2016

Juneau is wet!

There are no roads to the capital of Alaska!  Rugged glacier capped mountains to the northeast and water to the southwest prevent any road access.  You arrive either by boat or by plane.  The town itself is extremely tourist centric – there were four huge cruise ships in port one day.  So I preferred to head up or down the coast – or across to Douglas Island – to the rain forests.  Luckily I carried a lot of rain gear with me.

The hikes were worth getting wet!

My first path – wish they were all so smooth, level, and easy walking!

This is what the forest looks like from the outside.

This is what it looks like from the inside.

Everything gets wet!

 

 

But the colors were incredible!

And picturesque.

Remember that first path?  This one is more normal!

And little streams were everywhere.

 

A view of Douglas Island from Juneau.

A view of Douglas Island from Douglas Island!

A view demonstrating that you don’t want to stray far from the path!

And a view showing that you need to pay attention to the details surrounding you.

I was very proud of spotting this ptarmigan!  Can you find it?

Take the tram up the mountain, then climb the trail even higher.  (At least it’s dry up there, even if you are out of breath!)

The channel between Juneau and Douglas Island.

The fourth cruise ship at dock.

Juneau and Douglas Island looking north.

A small boat makes its own patterns in the water.