I slept good. I had fallen asleep on the couch with my laptop still on me, then climbed upstairs to the guest bedroom in the loft. I awoke after 7am and Holly was already up and reading news on her laptop. I joined her for morning chat and coffee before Doug was up and we had a simple breakfast of toast and jelly. Holly researched the low tide for today to be at 1:23pm, so she settled for a hike up Tonsina Creek to the waterfall. I always enjoy hikes to waterfalls, and a seen-mile hike sounds like just the right distance.
http://www.alaska.org/detail/tonsina-creek-trail
Tonsina Creek is south of Seward along the coast. The road to the trail head hugged both the sheer cliffs along the road as well as the rocky coast itself; this was a road that requires driver attention. We parked at the Lowell Point state park and hiked in. The trail is easy, with an elevation between 28 to 265 feet. The tricky part is planning this hike at low tide because the last 1.5 miles are along the coast. Crashing waves, squawking eagles, children's squeals, motorboat engines and leaves rasping are the noises that envelope hikers on this trail.
The dogs were offleash. I'd either hold them by their collars or hook them back onleash whenever oters with dogs passed us. Most other dogs were also offleash. Only twice did I have a slip. Once Sadie barked at a beach jogger and once Zeke ran after a French bulldog mix DESPITE me calling him. He's normally good at freezing on command when I call his name. Sadie is growing more intolerant of other dogs as she's entering her senior years.
Hiking in southern Alaska is like hiking in Washington state's rain forest. The spaghum moss glistens when the sun shines on it. The hemlocks tower high and the spruce provide the shade. The ground is soft and spongy. The only difference seems to be the 20-degree cooler temperatures between Washington and Alaska. Today's weather was the best weather yet on my road trip: it did not rain or get foggy today!
There were a lot of people of all abilities walking this trail. We crossed two bridges, walked over a long boardwalk reinforced with thin rope to prevent slippage, and then watched our footing as we maneuvered over the shale along the coast. Kelp, barnacles, crab shells and salt residue covered this shale rock. The farther out from the shore we walked, the bigger the shale was. A grove of dead trees stood guard near one section. Two glaciers were visible from across the inlet. Sail boats glided across the water, bald eagles soared overhead. This was the Alaska of vacation guides.
The entire hike was either close to or on the shoreline. At the 3.2-mile mark we could hear the waterfall, but we had to walk another .2 miles to reach it. This was well worth the hike! Had we stayed on the shore for another two miles, we would have reached Caines Head State Recreation area, an area accessible only by foot along the coast, and we could have explored old World War II bunkers. The bunkers are a popular overnight camping destination. Four young people were heading that way as we were heading back out.
The tide was now moving quickly back in. Several large boulders that were exposed as we walked to the falls were now covered in water as we returned back. I didn't want the dogs stuck close to water and moved on ahead in parts. Another couple from Wasila took Holly's advice about the waterfall and also said that was great advice. The falls aren't listed in the write-ups for this hike.
The hike took us 3:11 hours. The dogs were well exercised and happy to be back in the van resting as we dropped them off and returned to Seward for some beer at the Seward brewpub, perhaps one of the few breweries that actually closes in the winter. We passed on the food and just tried the stout and hefeweizen. The hefe ("El Jefeweizen") was at 6.3% rather strong and unlike most hefes too potent, and the Lager at 4.4% almost too weak in contrast to the Hefe. The 5% stout lacked body, but the Imperial stout at 7.3% was better. The beers were not cheap, but I knew that going into the establishment.
Holly cooked up some vegetables while Doug fired up some brats and that was our meal today, over a stimulating conversation about the current politics. I haven't been able to read up on all the news since coming to Alaska because no one else listens to news radio while driving.
Holly and Doug went to bed by 9:30pm. Their last words were to be careful walking the dogs later on because a male grizzly was spotted off Vineland Road, just a mile on the other side of Stony Creek. Perhaps the bear was tracking the moose we spotted earlier in the yard of a house nearby as we headed into town for beer.
Miles driven today: 0. Doug did all the driving in his Chevy pickup
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