Happy Columbus Day! A federal holiday but not a state holiday here in Juneau. This allowed G and I to take a hike together. After dropping the kids off we headed over to East Glacier Loop trail with D dog in tow. It was a beautiful but chilly morning, 36 F. Armed with hats and glooves we set out on the trail. It wasn't long before we came upon some bear tracks on an icy bridge. Wondering how far ahead of us he was and not sure what D dog's reaction would be we decided to put her on her leash. Thank goodness we did because around the corner a few minutes as we came to the end of the second bridge, I looked off to my left and there was a big black bear less than 20ft away. We slowly backed up over the bridge. The bear didn't really seem to notice us or care. He eventually glanced our way and SLOWLY meandered his way onto the trail and away from us. It was a very cool experience. I was amazed at the bears disinterest in us. G was super excited as this was his first real encounter with a bear. He had seen one at the glacier this summer from the visitors viewing platform where they are known to hang out and tourist can come and watch them.
We continued on taking the left side of the loop, the "harder" side. We scrambled over some rocks and climb stairs and makeshift rock stairs. On this trail you climb for about 30 min before the trail sort of levels off. THEN you find "THE STAIRS"... Holy cow are these stairs. Somewhere around 200 of them. There are multiple platforms and they continue around a bend. As G so well put it, "just when you think you are done there is another set just waiting for you". Shortly after the stairs is a small trail that takes you to a look out point. This look out point sits above the Nugget Falls and looks out onto the glacier. It was such a fun hike. Even D dog enjoyed it. It took us just over 1.5 hours with a few stops for water and pictures.
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