Yesterday morning started with the Mt Roberts aerial tramway in Juneau. Completed in 1996, this vertical tramway climbs 1,800 feet from downtown Juneau to the Mountain House, with stunning views of Gastineau Channel. Once we got to the top, we decided to ignore the light drizzle and go on a hike along one of the trails. The first thing that hit me was the smell: pine cones, wild flowers, damp soil, and drenched trees. Took me right back to Costa Rica’s rainforest. The Proustian phenomenon. It’s a fragrance that’s not just full-bodied and earthy but invigorating. The smell of life and death, permanently twisted together into a continuous band. A thick mist stretched over the tops of evergreens like a gauzy canopy that shapes and reshapes the landscape’s contours. Area wise Juneau is the second largest city in the US (2,701.9 square miles) with a population of 33,000 people, 30,000 bald eagles, and a large portion of Alaska’s 3,500 brown bears and 21,000 humpback whales (the whale population has rebounded from near extinction half a century ago). I find it quaint (and quite lovely) that Juneau is not accessible by road, one can only fly or sail into (and out of) the city.
