Greg -




Rainbow Falls Trail

  Jack and I headed back into town around nine o'clock last night.   All of the streets that border the water were closed as was the main street that runs through the commercial district in town.   There were a couple of bands playing - one was a folk group from Portland (what are the odds?) and the other was a heavy metal band playing outside a local tap.   A friend told me that someone had set up a fireworks booth on the dock earlier in the day which explained why every kid under the age of twelve had a wealth of Roman candles, bottle rockets, and smoke grenades.   It was complete and utter kid chaos.  Most of the adults were gathered on the city lawn talking and having drinks while we awaited the big show.  Every now and then one of them would throw out a "seal bomb" - a term referring to an M-80 used to frighten off or kill seals.   I have to say that it looked and sounded a bit like a war zone with occasional gunfire, tons of smoke, and streets completely void of traffic.

The fireworks were scheduled to begin at dusk, a length of time that could span four or five hours depending on one's interpretation.    The first of the show went off sometime around 11:45.   It was an impressive show that probably lasted around thirty minutes.  A stereo system was turned on after the folk band ended their performance and continued to play a mix of music throughout - mostly music from Michael Jackson's Thriller album.    Not my first choice, but it was an interesting juxtaposition.

Today, Jack slept in while I hiked the Rainbow Falls trail to the North Wrangell High Country shelter.  It is roughly an eight mile hike with around 2,000 in elevation gain.  I ran into snow about three quarters of the way up and had to periodically navigate my way across long stretches of snow field.   The trail follows board walk through the forest and muskeg.  The entire time I was climbing the endless set of stairs, I couldn't help thinking of the amount of work that was required to build it.  The boardwalk is constructed completely of yellow cedar and crosses streams, climbs steep sections of muskeg, and transverses the entire mountain.  The complete system contains roughly eleven miles of boardwalk.  As you'll see, the views from the top were incredible and the weather was perfect. 



Zimovia Strait





Looking West to Mainland Alaska



Zimovia Stait

Looking West at Zimovia Strait with Shoemaker Bay below