On top of Farm Island

Today, I accomplished a goal that I've had for several years now - to see what it looks like from the highest point on Farm Island.  I have to be truthful and state that the view from the top, although beautiful, was not spectacular enough for me to repeat this climb.  It was a tough one mainly because of the dense underbrush I had to fight through nearly all the way to the top.  The top is just under 2500' so it was a long struggle!

A view looking uphill during the first part of the climb at the mixture of elderberry, salmonberry, devil's club, currants, and occasional alder bushes.  If any of you remember the post about Devil's Club, there is one characteristic of this plant that I failed to mention then that I will mention now.  Devil's Club seems to be able to either change its appearance or quickly move to the place where once there was a less painful plant.  I grabbed Devil's Club at least twice today to use as a handhold when I was very certain that I was grabbing elderberry or alder.  I looked for a usable handhold, spotted an alder branch, reached for it, and somehow ended up with a painful handful of Devil's Club!  Sinister, sinister plant!  I have Devil's Club in the palm of my right hand, in my left cheek, and in my right buttock, and those are only the places where I know it is right now.  

This is the view looking downhill, the river is visible in the top right, from about 500' above.

The underbrush changed higher up but did not get any easier to walk through!  I named this part of the climb Purgatory Ridge as the suffering endured to pass through this ought to have a heavenly reward at the end.  I also thought these twisted willows looked like tortured souls reaching out for solace.  If any of you are wondering why in the world a person would spend one of their days off from work voluntarily inflicting this kind of torture on himself, I really don't have a good answer for you. 

 At least there was a game trail through this hell.  See that dark, muddy bit in the center of the willows?  That's the trail made by generations of moose, deer, and bears.

That is almost the summit there in the distance.  So close but so far!!

A look back down Purgatory Ridge as I neared the summit.  At least on this last stretch, the snow provided some brush free moments.

Finally, the summit!  Not totally what I had hoped for but still nice.  This is looking upriver at the first 20 miles or so of the Stikine.

Looking downriver out across the Stikine delta.  Wrangell is located on the other side of the low narrow point on the left side of this photo. 

A closer look at Wrangell.  Most of town is on the far side of this piece of land.  The structures visible in this photo are the buildings associated with the airport.

A couple more views looking upriver.

On the way back down, I was rewarded with this rainbow.  It was a nice gift after a difficult climb with a long descent just beginning. 

That's it that's all for this post, I'm beginning to fade and my body would really appreciate being in a prone position!  I've also got some Devil's Club spines to start removing!