Mount Riley Hike

Hey everyone! The entire Kickstarter crew is finally reunited in Alaska! Tamir and I (Yiwei) got here on the ferry on October 21st, and we've been enjoying the sunny and blisteringly cold Haines weather. Before the snowstorm arrived on October 30th, we took advantage of the lovely weather to hike Mount Riley, a small mountain right outside of Haines in Chilkat State Park. 

View of Chilkoot Inlet

You can't tell, but it is amazingly cold!

This was a great 6 mile hike through a birch, spruce, and hemlock forest. Once we reached the top of the mountain, we gained some great views but lost the protection of the trees. Before my fingers froze completely, I snapped some pictures of us enjoying the panoramic vista of the Chilkat and Chilkoot Inlets.

Chilkat Inlet

In the picture above, you can see the fresh and frozen Chilkat River runoff mixing with the salty waters of the Lynn Canal. When we took this hike, it wasn't even Halloween here, and the rivers were already freezing up as a result of the subfreezing weather we've been having. Temperatures have only been in the 30's, with windchills regularly dipping toward 0.

Rachel hamming it up for the camera

Even though it was cold, we took the opportunity to do the hike while it was still gorgeously sunny. It's a good thing we did, because the next day, Haines' first big snowstorm started.