Sooo remember when I acknowledged that we still had a ways to go before we pull off this next planned adventure.  Well, we still have a ways to go, as in pushing it till next hiking season (and I don’t mean this Fall).  At the time I wrote my last post I was healing from a rather hard impact with a snow covered mountain…while on “sticks”.  I have “healed” for the most part, but certain other ailments have returned, namely Morton’s Neuroma in my right foot.  In addition, per one of my faithful readers (Rosanne), and information she was able to obtain from credible sources for us, it’s just gonna be TOO DAMN HOT, (for us…namely ME) to thru-hike the Grand Enchantment Trail during the time period we had pushed our start date to.  While we could pull it off with the current water report that has been provided and updated by Brett Tucker, (the genius who put together this amazing route through Arizona and New Mexico) alas, the temperatures will not be optimal for me (as in triple digits in some places).  I can not risk becoming overheated over a prolonged period of time, and/or dehydrated…for any amount of time.  Going into V-fib and/or carrying an AED just doesn’t seem all that fun, and it’s not fair to ask Paul to carry extra water for me, even though he would (cause that’s the kind of man he is).  This trip, while challenging, was intended to be at a slower pace, with no rigid timeline, so that we could better enjoy the experience and the sights. With that said, we have “opted out” of doing the Grand Enchantment Trail, for the time being.  Early next Spring seems to be a more reasonable, and family friendly time to do it.  Our daughter will be done with college, will have passed her boards and into her career by then, and our son will be fully into his career as well.

We have not however, abandoned the quest for adventure, for I have in my previously chocolate stained hands, plane tickets, ferry passes and permits to hike the Chilkoot Trail, of Yukon Gold Rush fame, the first week of August.  It is a 33 mile route that starts just outside Skagway Alaska, goes over the Chilkoot Pass (a “mere” 3,525 ft…at a predominantly 45 degree angle of ascent) via the “Golden Stairs” ,and ends in Lake Bennett, British Columbia.  Upon completion, we will return via train to Skagway, and then take the ferry to Angoon for the next part of our Alaskan adventure which includes fishing with my father for Silvers, Kings (Salmon) and barn door size Halibut.  A possible fly-fishing excursion into the heart of Brown Bear country is in the works as well, considering that Admiralty Island, upon which Angoon is located, has a prolific population of Brown Bears (which are bigger than Grizzlies) that in actuality accounts for about 10% of the Brown Bear population in Alaska.  So we got that going for us.

Stay tuned for additional “Mini” Adventures and/or mis-adventures as Half Dome and some hike-in fishing adventures are on the “Do-it” list this year.