Monthly Archives: November 2019

Brief Cameo Appearance

Leave a reply

Aki must think I am crazy. All morning I’ve led her over, through, and around the Troll Woods looking for fish. She waited with patience as I made a few fruitless casts at each spot hoping to lure a fish to strike my hook. The little dog could have told me after the first three stops that the time for catching fish on the moraine is over for the year. Perhaps she is too polite. 

            Occluding fog reduced our view shed to fifty meters when we first arrived at the trailhead. Now the sun is burning through. The snowy peak of Mt. Stroller White suddenly appears. Dark, duck-like forms cruise in and out of the fog bank still floating over Moose Lake. 

            We move on until met by a trio of golden retrievers that show little interest in meeting Aki. She shrugs off the group rejection and follows me to a fog free Moraine Lake.  Above the lake, a circle in the clouds forms frame around the upper half of Mt. McGinnis. By the time we circle around the little lake, the fog has returned, banishing  the mountain. 

So Calm

1 Reply

The rain forest is darker than the last time Aki and I visited. Then leaves still held their fall color. This morning it’s all bare branches and fallen leaves quickly being reduced to mush. Only the bottom hugging sorel retain color. On the drive to the trailhead I spotted two lines of sand hill cranes heading toward the forest. Now, mixed in with the noise of a passing prop plane, I can just make out their ratching calls. 

            Weeks of heavy rain have swollen the beaver pond and flooded parts of the trail.  The pond is empty of cranes or other birds. My eyes are drawn to the islands of golden-brown reflected in the pond water. Aki breaks ahead of me to circle around a submerged portion of the trail. I follow her to a beach that borders a small cove. Gulls and mallard ducks are the only things that disturb the flat-calm water. 

            There is something calming about an expanse of undisturbed water. If I had brought troubles or worry to this beach, they would soon be forgotten. We stroll down the beach, over a small headland, and onto another beach. Here harlequin and golden eye ducks work the water for food. The Chilkat Mountains, looking crisp with fresh snow, rise across Lynn Canal. 

Peaking Through the Fog

Leave a reply

On a windless morning, Aki and I crested a small rise, which normally offers views of mountains and glaciers. Fog shrouded all these marquee things. It also framed a line of spruce trees and softened their reflection in the lake, without effort creating an impressionist scene. 

We could hear the honking of Canada geese over the roar of an invisible Nugget Falls and the scolds of a hidden Stellar’s jay. Behind us, the sun burned a silver disk in the marine layer.

Aki led me onto a small trail that paralleled the lakeshore. I didn’t try to hurry the dog, letting her linger as long as she pleased over each piece of pee mail. I was happy for the delay. It might give the fog time to part.

The little poodle-mix almost dragged me through the woods and onto the road through the campground.   When thickening clouds blocked out the sun, I stopped looking through openings in the forest for views of the glacier.

Aki spirits picked up each time we ran into another dog. She was trotting a few meters in front of me when we returned to the lake, which now reflected a blue strip of glacial ice. Soon we could see the mountains behind the glacier. Then the fog closed in again, returning us to a soft, white world. 

Rainforest Return

Leave a reply

Aki snuffles a patch of trailside grass. After watching her beaver away, I scan the Fish Creek Pond for bird life. Only the severed leaves of cottonwood trees float on the pond’s surface. Heavy raindrops plunk down on fallen leaves covering the trail. As the little poodle-mix finishes her investigation and seals the spot with urine, I try to ignore the chilling rainwater slowly working its way through the fabric of my expensive rain parka to soak the sweatshirt underneath. 

My little dog trots down the trail, undeterred by the rain or the hypothermic temperatures. While I was soaking up sun in California and Washington State, Aki went out each day in the rain. It’s as if she has never stretched out in the sun.

            While Aki squished down empty rainforest trails, I crunched over a gravel path, passing curated maples, ginko trees, and Henry Moore bronzes. While a North Pacific storm rolled over Aki and Juneau, I strolled along the Tacoma waterfront in crisp, dry weather. When I stepped on fallen leaves, they crunched underfoot. 

            The little dog and I push on to the mouth of Fish Creek. There gulls and mallards mutter to themselves and swim slowly away from the beach. The resident eagles are elsewhere. Maybe they have already joined the thousands of their kind that assemble north of Haines each November to feed on a late arriving run of chum salmon.