Salmon Lake....

Our time to enjoy the outdoors with our current carefree sense is slowly inching away from us.  Soon we will be contending more with harsher weather and the darkness.  For now, we do not let even rain keep us inside.  We set out with our friends Tom and MaryJo in their boat to the back of Silver Bay.  From there, we paddled ourselves to shore and did a three mile hike to remote Salmon Lake.  We packed our gear on our backs, dawned our rain gear and I secretly hoped we would encounter a bear enjoying a salmon lunch.  We definitely got rained on and never encountered a bear feasting on lunch, although we did walk past plenty of scat and remnants of salmon that had been carried to the trail by bears.  We hiked all the way back to the lake and to the remote dry cabin built by the National Park Service.  All in all, it was a wonderful day.  We always feel so lucky to partake in days like this.  Days where we are outside, with friends, enjoying the wild.  The eagles and ravens called to make our presence known, watching salmon run remote rivers and streams, not seeing another soul, eating a lunch we packed in on our backs, down a trail that constantly required a "hoot" and a "yelp" to let the bears in the area know that we were sharing their space so that we did not happen to surprise them.  

This winter, I plan to hold on to days like this! The days when Alaska feels surreal and these days will pull me through the dark days when I question our sanity for even being here and loving this place.  

All seven of us in the group felt lucky to be together on MaryJo's last weekend in Sitka until winter.  We all bid her farewell with great memories of what feels like an epic summer.  We will miss her until her return in November.  

Gunalchéesh

Native Tlinqit word for Thankful