Mailbox Peak in Washington (FKT)

Just off the cruise at the beginning of September, I was looking for a hike/climb/run as a last real workout before volunteering at Primal Quest.  The FKT site has a lot of interesting possibilities, and I found one that didn't even have a female time posted yet.  The route up to Mailbox Peak looked like an excellent trail, the skies were mostly clear of smoke finally, let's do it.

I took a shuttle bus to the trailhead and a fellow hiker offered to take my picture in lieu of my normal close-up selfie:

It's a big ol' road right at the start:

The turn onto the new trail:

The new trail does several long switchbacks instead of climbing straight up the side of the hill:

Washington trail greenery (and no sign of poison oak, how nice):

An attempt at a picture of a bird, perhaps we were both a bit startled by our encounter:

Quite a lot of work has been put into this trail creation:

Excellent shade most of the way up:

A first glimpse of the area around the peak:

Things start to get more rocky higher up:

Mount Rainier!  Memories of our recent climb:

Crossing a talus field in the final climb toward the summit:

Well-placed stairs up through the rocks:

Climbing up to the horizon:

Back on dirt, OK, we're not quite to the top yet, and that final push was quite a haul.

It was worth it though - a very cool summit setup:

I wonder which came first, the name "Mailbox Peak" or the actual mailbox:

Another look at Mount Rainier for good measure:

Wonderful views all around:

The mailbox was stuffed full of stuff and covered in stickers:

And... a bicycle??  No idea what that's all about:

The split with the old trail (I followed the new trail up and back down):

Hmm, the bathroom is way over there, but sometimes you just gotta go...

Back at the bottom - thumbs up for this trail, I loved it.

Total time = 3:28:30, posted to the FKT site:
https://fastestknowntime.com/route/mailbox-peak-wa

A look at the shuttle stop, and I appreciated the bus option so I didn't have to fight for parking at the trailhead:

Thank you, Mailbox Peak!

Alaska cruise - Victoria

Our last port, the city of Victoria in British Columbia.  We had only an evening to roam around, so we hopped off right away to make the most of it.

Most impressive gardens and flowers and topiary!  We could have spent a day walking around looking at it all (and I'm guessing Butchart Gardens is even more spectacular).  The following photos are from John during his walk into town:

A large Native American totem pole:

Impressive parliament building:

Kip and I ran over to Beacon Hill Park, checking out the Mile '0' marker along the way.  It's the beginning of Trans-Pacific Highway (we were thinking it must include a ferry ride - yep, it does):

An inspiring Terry Fox statue - I remember from when I was young hearing about him running across Canada with an amputated/prosthetic leg.  You're amazing, Terry!

We couldn't miss this one - the world's tallest totem pole (with a Kip for height reference):

Hey a peacock!  We were pretty excited to get to see one up close:

Turns out there are a gazillion peacocks in the park, just wandering around like it's nothing special.  Pretty cool.

The main target of the evening - the Interactivity Board Game Cafe!  You can get a table, order some food and drinks, and borrow a game from their extensive library.  A wonderful place to hang out and learn new games.  We need more of these cafes in the world.  We made each other laugh with the Deadpool "create your own caption" cards:

Time to head back to the ship, with a few more sights along the way.  I believe these are whales spouting water while leaping out of a wave (as they do?):

The statue of Captain Cook, I'm not sure if John is quizzing Kip about the man's identity...

Another excellent totem pole, and the parliament building lit up at night:

Thank you Victoria, that was a fun evening!

And that's it for the cruise!  Highly recommend.

Alaska cruise - Ketchikan

Time for another walkabout in Alaska - we really enjoyed being able to debark and go climb a mountain.  Deer Mountain, in this case.  Just a small taste of Alaska, giving us ideas for a return visit someday.

On our walk through town toward the trailhead... aaaaahhhh!

Salmon spawning!  We caught a quick glimpse on the way out of town, wow, that's a lot of fish (and that ain't the half of it):

It was rainy and apparently dark in the trees (the camera seemed to think it was darker than it really was):

And cloudy and windy - here's the "view" as we climbed:

We hadn't seen rain in so many months, these several days in Alaska were quite a novelty for us:

Trust me, we reached the top:

The start of clearer skies during our descent:

We can actually see the town of Ketchikan now:

A bit more scenery, yep, it was a good morning for a hike after all:

Time to take a closer look at those fish:

All down the creek there was a giant mass of fish working their way upstream:

Pretty crazy:

There was a lot of flopping around and jostling for position - glad we got to see this!

A totem pole in town:

Salmon art, and also, I'm quite impressed that so many fish had already made it UP these rapids:

I'm guessing fishing boats:

Time to go get clean and dry again:

The afternoon views from the ship were lovely:

Deer Mountain!

Sadly, leaving our final Alaskan port:

With Sunny, our Star Trek friend - see you in January!

Alaska cruise - Glacier Bay

A special day on the cruise ship - sightseeing while not even disembarking.  I really enjoyed Glacier Bay day.

NPS park rangers were on board first thing in the morning to give a presentation.  How did they get here? I wondered, which they promptly answered - by rope ladder from a small boat alongside the ship.  How cool is that?  I would have gone looking for this spectacle if I had known.

The rangers were great, as always, lots of good info, maps, and answers to questions.  I don't imagine they get many visitors at the park HQ, so boarding cruise ships for the day must be a highlight of their job.

There was plenty of scenery all the way up into the bay, also quite a few low clouds masking the mountains.  The rangers were like, don't worry, most every cruise ship gets to see glaciers.

Our first major sighting - this might be Reid Glacier to the west:

At the top end of the bay the ship did a "sit and spin", rotating slowly several times so everyone could get a view of everything.  It seemed like there was a one-at-a-time deal between cruise ships, as we had the place to ourselves for a while.  One of the rangers came on the loudspeaker and narrated as we marvelled.

Staking out a spot on one side of the top deck, waiting for the ship to turn around:

This is truly not a normal cruise for us - never seen ice in Caribbean waters!

Hey, check out the harbor seals!  Nice job spotting them, John (the rangers were totally focused on the glaciers the whole day).  The seals were quite tolerant of the giant vessel near them, but eventually decided to move elsewhere.  Very cool to get to see them:

Close up of Margerie Glacier, I think this is the one spot where we saw a small chunk calve off:

And the clouds started clearing so we could see the gorgeous mountains further beyond:

Happy for the binoculars - and the warm clothes:

Really enjoyed the glacier viewing with each turn of the ship:

And a change in the lighting:

That was most excellent!

We got back underway, with a side excursion into Johns Hopkins Inlet to see another glacier (just not as up close, but still impressive):

Somewhere in the inlet John spotted a bald eagle carrying a fish as it flew by.  As the ship proceeded back south through the long bay, we hung out at the balcony and watched for more animals.  This turned out to be a great idea, as we saw sea lions poking up their heads and lots of otters just hanging out watching us back.

Also a bunch of sea birds, maybe some terns.  I most specifically hoped to see some puffins, as I'm quite a fan of these funny colorful birds.  I asked the rangers about it, and they told me to watch for South Marble Island.  So on the way out of the bay I followed along on the map and checked out the island through the binoculars.  There were definitely birds there but too far away to get a good look.  Mostly black and white nesting birds flying around, not sure what they would be.

It was neat watching the rangers returning to their little boat; we were happy they announced that this would be happening so everyone could watch.

Here comes the boat:

A ranger climbing down a rope ladder dangling from the ship:

Looks like they got everyone back.  Well done and thanks y'all!

More wildlife watching - they kept appearing so we stayed out watching with the binoculars.  Porpoises leaping over the waves.  Bald eagles sitting on tree tops.

Then this bird took off and flew away and I was like "that was a puffin!" because nothing else flies like a puffin.  Wings furiously flapping to keep the round body in the air.  Right away John spotted another one sitting in the water and we confirmed that yep, tufted puffins!  It was totally worth hanging out with the binoculars that afternoon.

Yay for puffins and glaciers and another excellent cruising day!