DuPont Walk

Well, we're now in day 8 of the summer dry and hot season. It wasn't quite as hot yesterday - there was some high thin cloudiness in the late afternoon and evening and there is a fair amount of smoke in the area from forest fires in the interior. Pretty amazing though...and there's no rain in the forecast for the next week - although it is supposed to be cloudy some days.

I've been outdoors as much as I can stand - trying to hit the road by mid-morning and have been laying-up at home in the heat of the day.

On Tuesday I walked down to DuPont from the end of Thane Road. I don't think I'd hiked the trail in maybe a decade or so. The first quarter of the trail has been rehabilitated and is quite good. But the next segment - about half the trail I would estimate - is gnarly tree roots and rocks. Kinda like being on a stair climber - lots of leg lifting without actually gaining any altitude. It's not really difficult - but I do notice that as I get older my balance isn't as good as it used to be and it would be a great place to turn an ankle as you hippity-hop from rock to tree root to rock. The last segment is pretty good - some of it is boardwalk (that's kinda a generous description for planks set on the ground).

Whenever I think of the DuPont trail I think of Jim Larson. He and I hiked down there to fish for Dolly Varden when we were freshmen in high school. Think I posted a couple of pics from that expedition last year...

I also think of my dad. Hauling explosives on a barge from DuPont to the Juneau waterfront was his first job at the mine back in the 1930's.

At any rate, here are some pics from Tuesday...

Pretty waterfall from a little bridge (below) on the DuPont trail

This is a big tree and hard to believe it's still alive. I could crawl from one side to the other through the hole in the middle of the trunk

I assume this is the remains of one of the old powder magazines

The DuPont dock - or what remains of it...

The Norwegian Star outbound at the south end of Gastineau Channel

Damn these things are BIG!

Yesterday I played a couple of rounds of golf. Was panting by the time I was done and, of course, played poorly to boot. I'm thinkin' that I need professional help (again).

Leah and Amanda are both doing well. I spoke to Amanda late last week and she is busy, busy, busy. And she REALLY likes working at the camp in Southern California. Last week the kids in camp all had Spina biffida. The week before were kidney transplant kids and the first week were liver transplant kids. Don't forget to buy your Paul Newman popcorn to support these programs!

Leah is now working TWO jobs in Juneau...driving a 15-passenger van for the Eagle Crest zipline and working at a caterers. I think she is enjoying the summer - particularly since the weather turned nice. She is in great spirits.

I'm mighty fond of those gals...