Alaska Day 5

Ahh, hotel rooms. A warm shower, a dry bed, no mud on your shoes - it was a touch of heaven that night.

We took the fast 4 hour ferry back to Juneau in the morning. It was fun during the day because we could see the scenery. It was pretty cold outside but we spent our fare share on the deck. We were in the middle of the ocean yet it felt like we were going down a river. There were so many islands that it looked like regular land. No open water like you would expect. Alex and I saw the tail of a whale - that was amazing. We hung around in the cabin for a while too, played hearts and ate $4 hot dogs.

Once we were back in Juneau, we loaded up our packs and headed out to our next destination at Blue Mussel Cabin. Because of the car situation, Amanda, Alex and I were dropped off at the trail head to wait for the others. At least we thought it was the trail head, however some locals informed us we were in the wrong place. So we decided we would walk on the road back 2 miles to where the real trail head was. We were joking around about getting the bear spray out and knowing how to use it, thinking we would never see a bear on the side of the road. Sure enough, not 5 minutes later and no more than 100 yards away, a bear pokes its head out of the trees and looks straight at us. We all froze then started backing away slowly, bear spray in hand. Fortunately the bear went back in the trees and we headed back to the original drop spot, hanging out on an overpass so no trees were close by! Then after a few minutes, another different bear crosses the road with a CUB right behind it. We were pretty freaked out then. Oh wait, there's more...another 10 minutes and a third different bear crosses the road in the same spot. We were close to a river and it was salmon spawning season but still - 3 BEARS!!! And in the middle of no where with only one can of bear spray?!? Are you kidding?!?

The others arrived about an hour later and we didn't start hiking until well after 8PM. It was already getting dark and we had about a 6 mile hike ahead. Plus the fact that we had seen 3 bear and couldn't see much up ahead in the trail. It was one of the scariest things I have ever done - felt like The Blair Witch Project. Every shadow, every noise freaked you out. We sang songs as loud as we could in hopes to keep animals away from us. At one point, suddenly a loud cracking noise came out of the trees and even the guys were scared - it ended up being a bunch of birds but still, I think each of us were at our wits end. Not to mention hiking in the dark, not seeing your footing unless you look down with your headlamp. We even had trouble following the trail because it was so dark and there were no visible landmarks. It took us twice as long and we were all completely physically and emotionally exhausted when we finally got to the cabin.