Northland

Sam studiously taking notes from her reading while I sip cocoa.

gem-like waters of lower Reed Lake

cuuuuuuute Mint Hut

another impossibly gorgeous glacial lake

After countless times packing and unpacking, evacuating and returning, I remained skeptical that the season was finally ended.  Because even after the final mopping, last breakfast, and my walking tour to bid adieu to favorite trees and flowers, there was just enough time to watch “Point Break” one more time.*  And then a bunch of us rode in a van together for a few hours, and a handful even stayed the night together in Anchorage.  If there’s a better way to ease a transition than Ethiopian food with a dear old friend (love you, Jams!), I don’t want to know it.  Also in the wildly helpful category: a fun hiking/travel buddy, and a decadent late night picnic spread in your cozy cabin.

Mountains and rivers and glaciers and clouds of fog like dragon’s breath have enveloped Sam and me in a chilly autumn embrace.  It sounds like a fairytale—go up Fishhook Road almost to the pass; follow the winding stream past gnarled willows and enormous mossy boulders tossed there as though by giants; try not to slip on the gooey muddy footholds climbing to the ridge; then, if you’ve been deemed worthy, the mists will clear and a squat red hut will materialize on the mountainside.  There you’ll find lakes of the bluest blue, smooth valleys of granite below jagged shale peaks, and, in spite of the crumbling and shifting and rushing waters filtering through the glacier’s terminus, a deep stillness.

And next, Denali.  A visit to my original Alaskan foray.

*Our staff lounge contains VHS copies of almost every Patrick Swayze movie.  “Point Break” played on repeat for the entire week of staff training in May, and was screened regularly throughout the season.