Aki and I climb up the old gold road that leads to Perseverance Basin. The sun, which yesterday lit up Juneau with garish light, now tries to hide behind a thin sheath of clouds. I can see you. Any thing that can tries to hide from the little dog and me. But their efforts are imperfect.

Keeping a wall of alders between itself and us, a marmot (Alaska’s Guinea Pig) lets out a peeping whistle to give itself away. The air is full of bird song but we can’t spot the singers. I want to watch the resident mountain goats feed on the flank of Mt. Juneau but until the return leg of the hike, we only find a patch of white goat fur caught on a trailside branch. While we walk down the Basin Road trestle bridge, a goat appears as a puffy white dot against the mountain’s gray stone. But even he is partially screened by a tall cottonwood.