Yesterday after work, I felt restless. I decided to drive to the end of the Harbor Mountain road and hike a little bit of the trail. The mountain road was made by the army in WWII. They had a radio tower/radar station on the mountain, I believe. The road is still used today, mostly by hikers and campers. It's about 3 miles to the trailhead, but it took me about 20 minutes to get there with the car. It's a narrow, winding road and there are lots of potholes from all the rain we've been having. But it was a nice drive. I listened to NPR the whole way and near the top, I had a great view of Sitka Sound.
The trail itself is 6 miles one way. I knew I didn't have time for that, so I just walked along and then turned around when I started to get hungry.
The whole ridge was covered by a cloud. It was really beautiful and eerie. I'll go back on a clear day so I can see the view of Sitka and the sound below. Here are some pictures from the trail:
I guess this counts as alpine meadow. I think the elevation on the ridge is about 2500 ft.
Sitka Trail Works does a really good job of maintaining the trails. I'm always so impressed with the boardwalks and staircases.
The only thing I can say is that it was really beautiful and peaceful. A few times, I had to just stop and listen. It was very surreal. The environment up there is totally different from the forest below.
In other news, business is good. It's about midway through the season and I have to admit I'm feeling a little tired. I have a hard time motivating myself to do fun things after work. It's very tempting to just go home, bundle up in warm clothes and stay in for the rest of the evening. But I feel compelled to take advantage of the long daylight hours. I hope to do more mini hikes soon.
Cheers!
