A Beary Scary Adventure

After a few days of the tourist-filled ship and port procedures, I was exhausted and overwhelmed by the droves of people packing the small Alaskan port villages. Irritated with this type of tourism, I decided to go off on my own in Skagway and do my own thing.

This seemed like a great idea and I was relieved the minute I walked into the Nature Conservatory to pick up a map of the near by hiking trails. I spoke with a representative who pointed me in the right direction, and then I was off on my hiking adventure in the mountainous terrain of Alaska.

I was blown away by the beautiful scenery and lush vegetation. The view was spectacular from portions of the hike. I could see the port and the tiny town, which has been practically untouched since the days of the gold rush.

As I made my way up the trail, I noticed that I was the only person on the trail. I found this odd, and continued my journey up the mountain, but with little extra power to my pace. After a bit of this brisk walk, which was now a rough hike upward, I began to feel anxious that I was the only person on the trail. I worried that when I did encounter another living being, it would be a bear. Bears are thick throughout Alaska, and all journey long I had been hearing amazing stories of defeat over bears by the mountain men of Alaska. These defeats, of course, were with very large guns.

So there I am, practically running up the curvy mountain path, scared out of my mind that I was going to have an encounter with a bear that I was unprepared for. I usually carry mase in my purse, but I left it in my backpack which was at my stepsister’s house in Chicago. I tried to think back to when I breezed through the pages of a Worst Case Scenario book years ago, but drew a blank as what to do when encountering a bear. A bus driver the previous day had told us that the rules for what to do when encountering a bear had changed recently, but my mind drew a blank as to what the hell you were supposed to do!

I increased my pace to a brisk jog and continued up the mountain, sweat pouring out of my pores and my fear filling the air around me. I had heard that bears could sense fear, so I tried to be as quite as possible, keeping my breathing to a minimum. Turns out that this is the absolute WRONG thing to do, as bears are likely to attack if they become startled. Making noise in actually encouraged… stupid me.

I become panicked at his point, as I am now very high up into the mountain, and still haven’t seen a glimpse of another human being. I kept telling myself that I had to be close to the trail’s end, which was at a lake, but around every twist and turn there was no sight of a lake, nor a break in the trees where sunlight would shine through.

My anxiety got the best of me and I turned around, proceeding down the mountain as fast as I possibly could without losing my footing and tumbling down. On the way down, my panic increased and I hoped that he bottom would come soon. I have never wanted to be surrounded by tourists that badly before.

On my decent down, I ran into a group of people. One woman, seeing that I am drenched in sweat and alone, asked me “Did the bears get your partner or are you traveling solo?” This mention of a bear sent me back into a fit of panic after I had just been comforted by the sight of people. I passed a couple more groups of people and contemplating turning back and going back up, this time following others in case of a bear-sighting, but decided not to out of embarrassment.

I finally made it to the bottom and slowly walked in to town, trying to cool down before running into anyone I knew. So much for that though. I immediately ran into my stepsister and her husband, who laughed at me and my beary scary adventure.

Moral of this story – don’t hike alone if you’re afraid of bears!

So Luxurious

Ahh, so I am on a cruise ship sailing up the coast of Alaska. This is a much different vacation style from that of my Europe trip. In fact, I don’t really refer to the Eurotrip as vacation, but more as an experience. (My idea of vacationing isn’t carrying around a 40lb backpack with all of you belongings, hopping from place to place, sleeping on disgusting beds and showering with blood-sucking leaches and going through the emotional roller-coaster that comes with all of the above.) However, I still love backpacking and get such a rush thinking about it.

As stated before, I really didn’t think I’d like the cruise-ship type of vaca. I had a lot of trouble adjusting to being told what to do and when to do it. A time schedule and appointments are something I haven’t had to deal with for quite some time. I absolutely do not like it when people tell me what to do and when to do it, so I thought this whole cruise experience would be me trying to figure out a way to screw the system. I figured there will be tour guides carrying the flag at the front of the group, which I WILL NOT EVER participate in. Vom… those tour groups make me want to ralph.

However…

This cruise has been amazing. Imaging tons of food, booze, a huge ship, and beautiful scenery. I am currently sitting on the deck watching the world, or at least Alaska, go by. There are miles and miles of beautiful water surrounded by mountains and glaciers. It’s a bit colder than I would like, I’d prefer this scenery with Caribbean temperatures. But, I guess I can’t have my cake and eat it too (and I’ve been handed the biggest cake possible by this vacation).

So… Other than watching whales and water flow by, I will be going on a dog-sled training camp excursion and a sea-plane and train ride into the glaciers. I must admit, it is nice to do absolutely no planning, and have your pops pick up the bill for all the booze you drink… and for the granddaddy to pay for your ticket to ride! God bless family.

Well, I’d better get going… I have a wine-tasting in a few!