A dark descent

The past few days the wind has whipped around the island at 35-50 mph and rain pelts, not drops, flew sideways and felt like pecans being thrust at your face. I helped a friend out and watched her little dog for her this week and on Monday when he went out to do his business, the wind literally blew him off the porch. Needless to say we were both caught by surprise and he quickly retreated. Now I have to anchor the dog down when we go outdoors to avoid a Wizard of Oz experience for the poor little guy.

OLIVER

Times like these make me long for my fireplace and a quilt back home to just hunker down and wait out the storm. Here, I just hit the couch and dream of waiting out the storm. Eventually it does break and forget the house chores; I boot up, pack up and head out side. I never know when this might be my last walk for a while.

Before the weather took a dive for the worst (again), we headed up the backside of Battle Mountain It was a little easier today since we had been there before, it was like visiting an old friend. We stopped to take several pictures and even in the dusk, everything is still so beautiful.
Red Cove was quiet, no one out fishing today and the salmon season has drawn to a close. I have a lot of good memories from the hikes down here and look forward to doing so in the winter, too. I think even in the snow and cold these scenes are going to change but remain breathtaking.

Two weeks ago the sun didn't set until 10 pm and now by 8:30 the sun is down and with cloud cover most nights, it gets DARK, and DARK and fast.

We had only a few minutes up at the top and noticed the sun seemed to be racing toward the horizon, so we headed back down a little faster than when we headed up.

Every time we rounded a corner the sun set lower and lower and not one of us had thought to bring a flashlight. Again, I have a perfectly good one at home with fresh batteries waiting for what? Who knows, but we should have had one tonight. All I could think was "thank God there are no bears out here."

It was interesting to say the least as we switched leads heading down the trail and I ended using my walking stick to pick and tap my way down the trail trying not to twist an ankle or slip in the mud or trip over something.

It was inky black when we got to the truck and there was no pink color or stars in the sky. So much for rumors of a full moon tonight. I was reminded of my own words time and time again on my many journies..."this isn't dangerous, it's an adventure!"

SO, another Aleutian adventure to go down in the books and more memories to reflect on.