0821 Mt Marathon

I feel guilty but a sunny day like today is really not usual here. I need to go out! I left SeaLife Center in about 12:30. It was about 1:15 when I started my trail. The trail is steep but not hard. After the tree line, you can see the resurrection bay. According to the map and the instruction, there should be a water fall. But I didn't see it. Only a creek. The end of the creek is Marathon Bowl http://www.seward-alaska.com/Info/MtMarathon/climbthe.htm The scenery is stunning beautiful there. This valley should be formed by the glacier. Many huge stones stopped on the slop. A couple took a nap on the rock. Quiet and peacful here. I took some pictures here by using my tripod. The creek shinning under the sunlight. The instruction said after here, you can reach the top by following the north ridge. There is no clear trail on the north ridge. Only steep slop. I tried to find one and climbed. I don't know which way other hiker take but this one is really tough. I spent an hour climbing it. Hopefully, you won't get lost since once you are one the top of the mountain, you can see every directions. It was worth to do this hard job. After climbing on the ridge, you can see whole Seward in your eyes! The boats in small harbor, the streets, sealife center and even the place I live! Cool! I took a lot of pictures here and almost didn't want to leave. I just seated there admir the views to 5:00 and started my journey back. I spent 45 min trying the racing trail. I don't believe anyone can go down from this trail! It is so steep and with each step the stone slided down. Scary. I gived up and climbed back and used the trail which I came up. Compared to the racing trail this one is much better though it is still steep. On my way back, people keeped coming up. Strange, sun supposed to go down very soon. Some people said they saw bears and other said mooses. I only saw dogs. Haha~ I backed to trail head on 7:30. Tired but happy.