Gravina Island Hike

Our front window faces a chain of peaks on Gravina Island that have taunted me since our arrival.  Today I finally traversed them.  Hiking in SE AK off trail is a lot like ice climbing, it's fun in theory, but when you're actually doing it, it really just sucks.  The brush is so horrendously thick here, I can't even begin to describe how physically challenging it is.  Today was 12 miles, with 8-9 of that off trail hiking.  Normally one can hike at about 3mph, the 8 or so miles I did took me nearly five hours.  Lots of route finding around little cliff bands covered in dripping moss, and then the bear mace safety trigger continually getting ripped off in the bushwacking...........not easy, not necessarily fun, but it is what it is.

Airport ferry to Gravina.

The spew of the cruise ships.

Sarah Palin's road to nowhere on Gravina.

Kind of spooky seeing this.  Hard to describe.


Ward Cove down there.

The land of the perpetual cruise ship.


Only time I took pics was when the going was easy, like on the ridge tops.  



1 comments:

  1. Your pictures are amazing! Alaska looks like quite the adventure!

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