Sunday morning, it was raining hard when we left Megan's apartment to go hiking. But then the weather god's smiled upon us and the rain stopped once we got to Ward Lake - and did not start again for nearly four hours, just as we finished our hike.
On the way to Ward Lake, Megan drove us by some houses that had been for sale and that she had looked at, and telling us why they would not work for her. She also took us by some other places of interest - and it was raining the entire time.
Once we got to the Ward Lake portion of Tongass National Forest, an area well maintained by the US Forest Service, the rain stopped. There are multiple locations to have a picnic with tables underneath covered areas, including even one built by the CCC back in the 1930s. We set out to hike the well maintained trail that circles the lake.
There were many signs with information about the local flora and fauna.
We came to a bridge that goes over the creek where the lake empties.
We continued on around the lake.
We came upon one of Megan's favorite root systems of an upturned tree.
Frog Pond Trail is an offshoot of the trail that circles the lake. It took us over the creek where the pond flows down into Ward Lake.
While we did not see any frogs, we did see a lot of lily pads on Frog Pond.
We returned to the trail around Ward Lake and came to the spot where people make wishes as they toss coins into the water.
There are some large trees that may qualify as old growth.
We also came across many banana slugs, including pale green, creamy yellow, spotted and for the first time, we even saw black ones.
Where Ward Creek enters the lake, from the bridge we could see salmon swimming upstream - but at this point the water was pretty calm and these salmon appeared to be on their last legs. If you look closely at the second photo below, just above the green spot in the middle is one of two salmon in the photo.
After a snack break for apples, we then set out on Ward Creek Trail. Just as we started, we met a woman with one dog asking if we had seen another small white dog, just like the one she had on a leash. We had not, but told her we would be on the lookout for one.
We continued to see more of the black banana slugs
Ward Creek Trail has three short side trails, each of which goes maybe 50 to 100 yards to a viewing platform. The first one has a nice view of a small waterfall and we watched as salmon tried to climb the falls - all that we saw were unsuccessful.
Did I mention that we saw a lot of slugs?
Once back on the main trail, we did encounter a small white dog. Fortunately, Henry had a tag with his name and his owner's phone number. Megan called the owner and using my spare bootlaces as a leash, we walked Henry through a tunnel to the Salvage Trailhead and reunited him with his owner and sibling.
We returned to the main trail and again saw many large root systems.
We continued to the other two viewing platforms.
We then headed back downstream to Ward Lake. We decided to stop at the viewing station by the waterfall and again enjoyed watching salmon trying to climb the falls.
We were not the only ones watching. This is one of two eagles across the river, less than 100 feet from where we were watching. You can see his white head and brown body just above the horizontal limb in the middle.
After our four hour hike, we called in an order for a bacon avocado salad and spinach florentine pizza at Stone Deck Pizza. Megan then took us on a tour, showing where she lived in prior years, as well as a few other places of interest. We then retrieved the salad and pizza, and had a pleasant dinner back at Megan's apartment and a quiet evening watching old episodes of Madam Secretary.
On the way to Ward Lake, Megan drove us by some houses that had been for sale and that she had looked at, and telling us why they would not work for her. She also took us by some other places of interest - and it was raining the entire time.
Once we got to the Ward Lake portion of Tongass National Forest, an area well maintained by the US Forest Service, the rain stopped. There are multiple locations to have a picnic with tables underneath covered areas, including even one built by the CCC back in the 1930s. We set out to hike the well maintained trail that circles the lake.
There were many signs with information about the local flora and fauna.
We came to a bridge that goes over the creek where the lake empties.
 |
| I know this is blurry, but I still like it. |
We continued on around the lake.
We came upon one of Megan's favorite root systems of an upturned tree.
Frog Pond Trail is an offshoot of the trail that circles the lake. It took us over the creek where the pond flows down into Ward Lake.
While we did not see any frogs, we did see a lot of lily pads on Frog Pond.
We returned to the trail around Ward Lake and came to the spot where people make wishes as they toss coins into the water.
There are some large trees that may qualify as old growth.
We also came across many banana slugs, including pale green, creamy yellow, spotted and for the first time, we even saw black ones.
Where Ward Creek enters the lake, from the bridge we could see salmon swimming upstream - but at this point the water was pretty calm and these salmon appeared to be on their last legs. If you look closely at the second photo below, just above the green spot in the middle is one of two salmon in the photo.
We continued to see more of the black banana slugs
Ward Creek Trail has three short side trails, each of which goes maybe 50 to 100 yards to a viewing platform. The first one has a nice view of a small waterfall and we watched as salmon tried to climb the falls - all that we saw were unsuccessful.
Did I mention that we saw a lot of slugs?
Once back on the main trail, we did encounter a small white dog. Fortunately, Henry had a tag with his name and his owner's phone number. Megan called the owner and using my spare bootlaces as a leash, we walked Henry through a tunnel to the Salvage Trailhead and reunited him with his owner and sibling.
We returned to the main trail and again saw many large root systems.
We continued to the other two viewing platforms.
We were not the only ones watching. This is one of two eagles across the river, less than 100 feet from where we were watching. You can see his white head and brown body just above the horizontal limb in the middle.
After our four hour hike, we called in an order for a bacon avocado salad and spinach florentine pizza at Stone Deck Pizza. Megan then took us on a tour, showing where she lived in prior years, as well as a few other places of interest. We then retrieved the salad and pizza, and had a pleasant dinner back at Megan's apartment and a quiet evening watching old episodes of Madam Secretary.
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