Today I hiked Barometer Mountain after work. To my knowledge, it's the toughest climb of any of the mountains that are accessible by the road system. My new friend Sam took myself and Pam from work down in his van. Pam is leaving this weekend, so she really wanted to get this hike in, and it was a great day fo
r it. Unfortunately, one of the first things you learn trying to hike trails in Kodiak is that you should bring an experienced guide with you so that you can FIND the trails. They are rarely marked and even with my map they can be hard to spot. We wasted an hour on the bottom of the mountain trying to find the trailhead to take us to the ridgeline. Finally Sam called someone who told us where to go and we started our ascent.
I thought yesterday was a steep hike, but this one took the cake. It was a CLIMB. I actually used hands and feet on this one, though it wasn't really dangerous. The directory says only attempt it if you
are very sure-footed and it is a nice summer day. After some serious calf-burning we made it to the top, where a family of Ptarmigan was waiting for us. There was also a cross from a kid who I believe fell from the peak last year and died. We found a jar with a journal of hikers and we all signed it. Thankfully I brought a dry shirt which I changed into before we went down. I'm running out of mountains, but I think I'll take a day off after this one :-)
Today I hiked Barometer Mountain after work. To my knowledge, it's the toughest climb of any of the mountains that are accessible by the road system. My new friend Sam took myself and Pam from work down in his van. Pam is leaving this weekend, so she really wanted to get this hike in, and it was a great day fo
r it. Unfortunately, one of the first things you learn trying to hike trails in Kodiak is that you should bring an experienced guide with you so that you can FIND the trails. They are rarely marked and even with my map they can be hard to spot. We wasted an hour on the bottom of the mountain trying to find the trailhead to take us to the ridgeline. Finally Sam called someone who told us where to go and we started our ascent.
I thought yesterday was a steep hike, but this one took the cake. It was a CLIMB. I actually used hands and feet on this one, though it wasn't really dangerous. The directory says only attempt it if you 
are very sure-footed and it is a nice summer day. After some serious calf-burning we made it to the top, where a family of Ptarmigan was waiting for us. There was also a cross from a kid who I believe fell from the peak last year and died. We found a jar with a journal of hikers and we all signed it. Thankfully I brought a dry shirt which I changed into before we went down. I'm running out of mountains, but I think I'll take a day off after this one :-)
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