One thing Matt and I missed this summer was lots of aerobic, weight bearing exercise. We rowed the dinghy around, we manually weighed anchor, we did what we called cockpit calisthenics, I tried to do yoga (some of those poses require mastery of yogic levitation when you're on a rocking boat), but what we really missed were long hikes up big hills.
The main problem was that in many of our anchorages much of the shoreline was like that in the photo. Steep, and even if you did get into the forest what you found was impenetrable without the aid of a machete. Very few areas were developed with trails. Sometimes there would be logging roads, but often those were overgrown. There were always the bears to worry about. And worse yet, the possibility of being chased by 'devil creatures'. (Read the wikipedia entry on Thomas Bay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bay.) They make Bigfoot, and bears, seem benign in comparison. We anchored one night in Scenery Cove in Thomas Bay, and now I am glad we didn't go venturing ashore!
In the future we'll have to find some sort of balance so that we get our exercise while we cruise. We did find that towns offered great land access; we discovered great hikes within walking distance or a bus ride from the marinas in Prince Rupert, Ketchikan, Wrangell, and Petersburg. Now that we're in Juneau we are surrounded by more trails than roads. Our bodies are finally starting to feel normal again!
No comments:
Post a Comment