Knowledge of local fauna and flora are not the only requirements of a trail guide. So are diplomacy and a gentle sense of humor, as guide Matt Cecil can attest.
He recently fielded this question from a tourist: ``How many times do salmon spawn and die during their life cycle?''
Cecil thought about it for a moment, then said, ``I guess it depends on your religion.''
Cecil, 26, has been showing tourists around Juneau's trails since 1996 for Gastineau Guiding. Last year, he started guiding glacier trips for Northstar Trekking as well.
Depending on the tour, he spends from two to five hours with groups of up to 11 people, including transportation to and from the location.
The guide is basically ``entertaining the whole way,'' he said. He doesn't find himself at a loss for words, though.
``There's just so much to talk about around here,'' he said. ``You could talk about salmon for an hour if you really wanted to.''
On a recent walk along North Douglas' Outer Point Trail, there were instructions on what to do if the group encountered a bear, including the facetious advice delivered with a grin: ``What we have to do is lock arms and everybody form a circle around me.''
In the first 15 minutes of that trip he had shared facts about devil's club, skunk cabbage, the root system of the Western hemlock, an abandoned beaver dam and lichen growing in the trees.
And he answered questions: ``Where does skunk cabbage get its name? What family is it in? Is alder what they use to smoke salmon?''
And this one from a couple of pre-teens, ``Can we eat?''
Many of the questions he gets are predictable, he said.
``Why is the glacier blue, stuff like that. What's it like here in the winter? What do you have a degree in, why'd you come here?''
He's patient with the questioners. The tourists are coming from a place that is very different, where they may not even see snow, he points out.
It may help that Cecil is a relative newcomer himself.
He first visited Alaska in 1993 when he and a group of friends drove here from the East Coast and spent the summer. He got a job at Fisherman's Wharf restaurant that summer.
On the way to and from Alaska he and his friends traveled through much of the rest of the United States, and he found no place on the whole trip he liked as well as Alaska. So in 1995, after graduating with a bachelor's degree in psychology, he and his girlfriend and his dog moved back north.
He returned to the fish and chips job and they spent that first summer camping in a tent in his boss's backyard.
Since then he's pieced together a living doing things he likes to do anyway - hike, ski and explore.
In the winter Cecil teaches skiing and snowboarding, and in the summer he works as a guide. He's taught himself about Alaska's wilderness through his company's training, by poring over books and spending time with other guides.
``He's great with people,'' said Bob Janes, owner of Gastineau Guiding. ``Matt is just sort of good at understanding what people need to hear, want to hear. He just greets people well.''
The fact that he's a recent Alaska transplant isn't a problem, Janes said.
``I consider him a local because of his local attitude,'' he said.
What does that mean? ``He's kind of ornery,'' Janes said. ``As far as I could tell he's lived here forever.''
Cecil hasn't yet become jaded by his work.
``I still stand there and stare at the bald eagles,'' he said. ``I'm completely enamored by it.''
``Plus it changes constantly,'' he said. ``Outer Point is hardly the same from day to day.'' Different flowers bloom and fade, eagles that were absent one day will show up in force the next.
The job does have its downside, though. When it's 40 degrees and windy and rainy, spending several hours cheerfully chatting about the great outdoors has its limits.
In his next job he will pursue another of his pastimes, but he'll be out of the weather. He's decided to start his own business, an indoor climbing gym. He's already put a down payment on a building to house it.
Janes said he believes Cecil has what it takes to make a go of it.
``He has the financial backing, and he's got the ability to do it,'' he said. ``He's ready, he's mentally ready to get on out on his own and he has the drive to do it.''
