"Wanna hike Barometer Mountain tomorrow morning? I took the day off work!", he asked.
"Let's do it!", I replied, and called my friend Joellen to reschedule our coffee date.
As I have previously mentioned, I try to never say no to an idea that Joe has, especially if it is one that requires us to spend lots of time together. I LOVE spending lots of time with Joe doing activities that are productive and/or challenging. Nothing brings us closer.
Now, if you've been following our adventures up here at all, then you've seen Barometer Mountain. It is the one you see from our living room and deck as well as the one in the background of our "playing with Jack" pictures from the winter.
It is a mountain that everyone hopes to climb at least once while they live here, though most won't, due to its perceived difficulty (which I now understand). It is not a good trail to take children on unless they are securely strapped to your back or have the sure-footing of a mountain goat, so many parents are simply unable to make the trek. For us, however, it is a perfect challenge.
Barometer Mountain has an elevation of 2500 feet. The trail runs up the ridge of it, completely exposed and visible from the road below (with binoculars). The 2400 feet climb from the base to the peak occurs in just about a mile and a half. Translation: this is a steep climb. There are no trees to grab onto to aid in the ascent (or descent, for that matter), so good balance is very helpful.
We started our journey at 9:30a.m. after a good breakfast of oatmeal and omelets. We had our camelbaks filled with water, snacks, a camera, emergency raincoats and a loaded "bear" gun (a 500 S&W) and were full of energy. Looking up from the road, we could see that we would be hiking up into the clouds, which was very exciting for me. I had visions of having cloudball fights with Joe (yes, I know this is impossible, but I can dream, right?) and couldn't wait to make lots of jokes about having my "head in the clouds".
The hike started through an area that has lots of tall vegetation and salmonberry bushes.
I worried a little bit about stumbling onto a bear (we were very much in "bear country"), but relaxed somewhat when I reasoned myself into thinking that a bear wouldn't be very good at hiding its huge, smelly body and I would probably notice it before it noticed me. Plus, I had Joe with me and a huge gun in my backpack and that made me feel safer. I'll admit though, every time Joe casually said something about the berry bushes, my brain would only hear "bear" and I would tense up for a second until my senses caught up with what he was actually saying. I was very on-guard, but still relaxed enough to enjoy everything around us.
About a third of a mile up, the terrain moved from taller vegetation and shrubbery to open fields of flowers, low bushes, grasses, mosses, and rocks.
The trail kept a steady incline and mainly consisted of loose rocks, packed dirt, and some thick clumps of grass.
Due to the lack of surrounding trees, the view was always huge and beautiful any time we turned around to look at it. We could easily see the airport and the Coast Guard housing areas, and in the distance we could spy the city of Kodiak jutting out into the huge expanse of Alaskan ocean.
The trail provided a series of deceptive points that confused us as to how close we were to reaching the summit of the mountain. When we looked up, we saw a ridge, but had no idea if it was the final summit or not because we couldn't see beyond it, especially once we were in the clouds.
The ridges forced steep climbing efforts that involved almost crawling up the mountain on our hands and feet.
I was glad that I had worked so hard on building up my hamstring muscles over the previous year because they proved very helpful. Getting to the top of the ridge and looking up to see another one was a little disheartening but at the same time it was motivating to see the next obstacle that needed overcoming. We still never knew if that next obstacle was the final one.
Once we entered the cloud layer, breathing became a tiny bit more difficult and there was an added chill to the air that was refreshing while we were moving but a bit cold while we were resting. We could no longer turn around to see an expansive view and our drive to get to the top increased.
I became quite a self-motivating-pep-talker during the difficult second half of the upward climb. Where Joe and I had enjoyed chatting with each other on the first part of the journey, we were both now turning inward and focusing our minds and muscles on the challenge ahead of us. I was huffing and puffing, pushing my muscles to their limits, and lecturing myself in my head about the virtues of never giving up. I reminded myself that just because I was mad that the peak was so high and seeming so far away, my anger wouldn't bring that peak any closer and I just needed to push through it. I knew I had the strength and the will to do it if I channeled my energies. I don't know exactly what Joe was telling himself in order to keep going but I know he mumbled something likened to "we'd better find the Ten Commandment Tablets at the top". I had to laugh and was sort of glad that he was finding the hike as much of a challenge as I was.
After five or six or the aforementioned "pseudo-summits", I looked up at one last summit and noticed that Joe, who had already reached the top of it, was smiling and walking at a more level elevation. He was at the top! I scrambled up to meet him.
The feeling of being at the top was wonderful. It had been a tough 2 1/2-hour climb and we had finished it! For the most part, the clouds obscured any views that we might have enjoyed as a reward, so I instead focused on how beautiful it was that Joe and I's bodies had allowed us to come this far. We were strong, healthy, and determined and we enjoyed being together. The journey up had reminded me of that.
During a small break in the clouds, we were able to see part of Bell's Flats and the road that works its way out to Fossil Beach. We could see eagles and a small layer of clouds floating below us. We felt so high up and our energy was quickly restored.
After a short rest, lots of pictures, some snacks, and good rehydration, we started our trip down the mountain. The same trail is used and I was worried about getting down the parts where we had needed to crawl up. There were lots of loose rocks and some muddy spots that were perfect for slipping down.
We took it slow and sidetracked through the grass whenever possible. There were times that I was crab-crawling down in an effort to not lose my balance and go tumbling down part of the mountain.
We broke through the clouds and enjoyed a beautiful panoramic view. Joe took pictures that I later stitched together for a 180 degree view (see here). A Coast Guard helicopter flew right in front of us and we scrambled to get the camera out to photograph it, but missed our chance by a few seconds. We caught it on its next fly-by when it was a little bit above our heads.
We enjoyed seeing our house from the mountain instead of our usual view of seeing the mountain from our house. We were sure we would look at Barometer differently every time we looked at it from the living room window now.
We focused on noticing and taking pictures of the beautiful little flowers and plants that we saw on the side of the trail. I loved what I called the "diamond" plants which were little leaves that cradled shimmering balls of water that sparkled in the light. Joe perused options for flora to plant in our gardens next year (things that obviously are accustomed to Kodiak lighting conditions).
The trip down took just under two hours and in total, we had spent five hours on the mountain. We unloaded the gun and drove into town to get halibut fish and chips from The Chowderhouse.
The food was delicious and comforting to our tired bodies. We looked through our pictures, chatted about our adventure, came up with ideas for what our next hike should be, and agreed on our need for a nice long nap (which we took, right when we got home!)
The soreness I felt for the next few days was a pleasant reminder of our fun "date". I'm almost looking forward to hiking Barometer again. Almost.
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