JoHanna and Maria were best of friends for years, but two years ago, Jo died after battling cancer for many years. The story goes that she wanted to have her family and friends spread her ashes at the top of China Poot - a steep mountain across Kachemak Bay - so that whenever her family and friends looked across the bay, they would think of her. At the end of her life, she and her husband Steve and children moved to Oregon so that she could get better care - so it has taken one or two years to pull all of this together.
Below, Jo's daughter Charity (right) and her friend Sara prepare to leave out of Homer Harbor around 6 am to goat across the bay in order to get to the trail head. In all, I think 14 of us made the trek.
This is a look at China Poot, about three miles up the trail. Steve, Charity and Sara were on a mission (we needed to get back to the boat at high tide - so it was a 12 mile hike for them round trip), and we were holding them back - so we hung out here while they took off at a good clip.
Another shot at China Poot. It's really steep near the top, and rugged rocks. Steve says from up there, you have a 360 degree view of the entire surroundings, including all the glaciers that are up top between all the mountain. By the way, look closely and you will see a hen spruce grouse in the tree mid to lower left of the photo.
Maria and I at China Poot Lake, about three miles up the trail.
Maria and I chose a tree along the trail to make a little shrine for Jo. We carved some words in the tree, and picked lots of fireweed to put there.
Maria collects heart shaped rocks, and we cut a deep hole in a piece of fungus to implant a heart shaped rock that Maria had brought along just for this.
The black flies were big, and they were hungry - just nuts. You can see why it's said that animals were driven off the side of mountains by these pesky critters. Maria and I had an endurance fest to spend all day on the mountain - as did everybody else. We were continually putting on deet insect repellant so that they wouldn't bite, but that didn't stop hundreds of them from buzzing us.
It was about this time that we began to notice lots of blueberries. Many of the blueberry plants didn't have berries but only buds, but amazingly, some of the plants were full and ripe. Blueberry plants are different up here than MN. There are two or three types. Low bush, and high bush. Most of the berries we picked were between the knees and the shoulders - so it was nice not to have to stoop so much as we do in MN. I'd say they were small to medium sized, but it was still the best berry picking opportunity that I've ever seen even though it is early.
Maria took a few shots of me while I was picking by the lake.
We picked the best patches on the way out. I had my rifle along, and we were being quiet, hoping to see a bear. Their sign was apparent along the trail. They were enjoying the berries too, as was evident in their scat. Dang - I shoulda taken a picture for you... :-)
Maria and I saw this spruce hen on the trail, and got a few photos before it flew into a nearby tree.
Maria picks some high-bush blueberries.
Just before this, we met a couple from Minnesota who were hiking out from a different trail. They said that they had met a big black bear on the trail just before they saw us - so we were close, but still no bear. I've got a good gallon of blueberries in the crook of my arm, and Maria has another bag just like it.
At home, I've cleaned up the blueberries while Maria checks all of her phone messages and puts out some fires. Steve and his parents are having a big dinner party tonight, and we need to wash off the sweat and grime and all of the bug spray. We are bringing a big slab of halibut, some baked beans, and a salad with melon and fresh blueberries.
I was amazed at the endurance of the three that hiked to the peak of the mountain. It was super steep and twelve miles. Lots of downed trees, devils club, rocks, and tree roots to negotiate. The trail got to be more and more dim as they went on, because few take it to the end. Also, as I found in my previous hike to the alpine country, rock doesn't show the trail so well, so folks make some piles of stones to mark the way. But they did this long hike between 8 am and 4 pm, so that they could get back for high tide, and get back to town to host the party.
I had dinner with one of Charity's twin daughters, and Steve, who remarked to me that it was a perfect day, and a great way to put final closure on JoHanna's passing, as well as fulfill her wishes. It was a great adventure!
Tomorrow morning I'm taking Steve, his nephew, and another friend from Oregon to the Tutka Lagoon for some fish snagging before they head back to Anchorage to make their flight back to Oregon.
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