Douglas Island Rainforest Trail (and The House)

We had nothing scheduled on Tuesday, and decided to have an slow day. Crystal & Gary wanted to hike, so Matt drove them to a trailhead on the north end of Douglas Island. (Alaska won’t let you add an extra driver to a rental car contract unless it’s a spouse, so Matt got stuck doing all the driving.) Dominique and I, still nursing gimpy knees, hung around The House for an easy morning, reading and – for me – sorting through pictures from our most recent adventures.

Now a word about our Juneau vacation home. It was a lovely place in many ways, with lots of space for five people: 4 bedrooms and 3 baths downstairs; a gigantic open plan kitchen/dining/living room + a small sitting room and a TV lounge upstairs; outside decks all along the upper floor with stairs down to a flat party deck on the edge of the tideline.

Now the strangeness. The house seemed to be two structures that had been merged together, resulting in some really funky plumbing and wiring. When we arrived, hot water wasn’t making it to some of the bathrooms and the heat wouldn’t turn off – we sweltered for the first couple of days. A plumber and a heating guy eventually came and fixed things (we heard grumbles about this not being their first visit) so that was a win. Although there were lots of comfortable chairs positioned around the house, there were no side tables to hold a book or beverage, and almost no reading lamps, upstairs or down.

 And then there were the collections… On arrival, both dining tables, the eating nook and the coffee table were set up with multi-course place settings of china, silver and crystal service. Not wanting to break anything, we packed them off to the sideboard, then discovered another dozen fancy dinner services packed away in the (many) cupboards.

The closets contained strange decorations, and most had little room for coats/clothes because they were stuffed with throw pillows – in addition to the pillows found on every available couch and chair. We wondered if this house was used for large crowd entertaining or simply the haunt of someone with hoarder tendencies!

Despite its quirks, it was quiet and comfortable once we got the thermostat under control.

We decided to eat in that night, so Matt and I made a grocery run, then the 3 of us drove north on Douglas Island to meet Gary and Crystal at the Rainforest Trail.  Here’s the trail description:

“Near the end of the North Douglas Highway, this wheelchair- and stroller-accessible trail cuts through lush rainforest (hence, its name) to a small beach with great views of Admiralty Island, Lynn Canal, and the Chilkat Mountains, plus the occasional sea lion and humpback whale. “

We had great views of Mendenhall Glacier across the bay as we drove north.

The trail lived up to its rainforest name, with lush vegetation and intriguing textures everywhere. It’s a good spot for forest bathing, as a passing warden recommended.

I was especially intrigued by the many examples of wood ear mushrooms, which were very hard to the touch.

It was a quiet trail, broken occasionally by the music of songbirds.

We emerged on the rocky beach to find an adult and juvenile bald eagle posing for us. It’s a gorgeous spot, especially on a sunny day like this one.

After an enjoyable afternoon, we retired to The House and enjoyed a home-cooked dinner, chef’ed  by Dominique and me.