Momma Said There'd Be Days Like This

Every now and then you have one of those days where you look around and pinch yourself to make sure it's real. Wednesday was such a day, when Curt and I hiked up to Deer Mountain and Blue Lake. Our purpose (of course we had one, we work for the government) was to fix a cock-eyed stove pipe and charred patch of porch, as well as remove any garbage we found. It was a pretty tough and miserable assignment given the conditions that day and the terrain we had to cover (see images below). I'm still amazed by the fact that I weasel my way into jobs where I get paid to live out some people's trip of a lifetime.

Deer Mountain sits right above town and affords awesome views of the cruise ships, Tongass Narrows, and the airport on Gravina Island.
To get to Blue Lake you traverse this ridge north from Deer Mountain. This is looking southwest towards Dixon Entrance.

Blue Lake truly lives up to its name. The shelter there is a simple A-frame with few amenities, as opposed to the Deer Mountain shelter which is outfitted with oil stove, loft, and kitchen table, but the location renders all that irrelevant.

It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

The icing on the cake was after a day of hiking 11 miles up and around 3,000 ft peaks (starting at sea level, mind you) and getting paid for it, I had this delicious salmonberry pie to come home to. I'm the most bad-ass homemaker you'll ever meet.