65.0°

I seem to recall that a horse that runs well on a muddy track is sometimes called a good "mudder". Well, one had to be a good mudder to hike in Juneau this so-called summer! A recent Saturday Parks and Rec hike to Peterson Lake was no exception.

The wooden steps at the start of this popular trail have been rotten and broken for a couple years, requiring a sloppy but short detour. The boards that used to provide a walking surface on the first half mile or so of the trail have been removed and often flung into the brushy understory. This leaves a series of mudholes that are knee-deep in places, if one is so foolish as to try to stay on the trail. Few hikers are so limited, and therefore there are numerous detours around the mudholes, and then detours around the detours. Because of all these circumnavigations, the "trail" has become more than 10 feet wide in places. But we told ourselves we were lucky - right after a heavy downpour, this section becomes a creek.

We almost turned around to try a different trail altogether, but some optimist always said, "Oh, maybe it will get better", and so we continued. And the trail did get better above the overlook for the big waterfall, although the improvement was temporary. Some boardwalk remains here, but the boards are slippery and cleats or Xtratuffs are recommended. Beyond the small meadows in the midsection of the trail are lots of slimy roots and mud. The approach to the cabin is very wet, although a small and very convenient bridge across a tiny stream has been added recently.

We finally squelched up to the cabin and picnicked on the deck. No, it was not actually raining, by some miracle! And despite the miserable condition of the trail, and the fact that two hikers had somehow fallen into the mud and become well soaked, lunch was a celebration with gales of uproarious laughter. If you are a Juneau hiker, ya' gotta be able to handle some (a lot of) mud!

Late summer and fall is not a great time to detect wildlife in the forest, but there were several families of chickadees conversing with each other, a flock of crossbills overhead, a few golden-crowned kinglets in the canopy, a downy woodpecker heard in a stand of alders, and some very talkative ravens. A bear crossed the road as we came down into the parking lot, and a few eagles hung around by the creek. On the boardwalk was evidence of the passing of blueberry-eating thrushes (spots of blue scat), porcupines, and maybe a marten (or some other small carnivore that also eats berries). Mice or squirrels had been busy on the bunchberries. And we saw a new beaver dam at the outlet of the lake, with several well-worn beaver trails from the lake up into the woods.

The skunk cabbage leaves were getting tired and beginning to lie down on the moss. Devil's club leaves were starting to turn yellow and limp. The blueberry crop was pretty good in places, although some of the berries came down the trail with us.

Having grumped our way up to the cabin, and groused most of the way back down, we arrived back at the parking lot. Some of us recalled an August hike, farther out the road, that was far worse, with trail sections eight inches under water, mudholes three feet deep, no bridge over a rushing torrent, and buckets of rain. And we said, "This wasn't so bad today - but we won't go back there until it freezes and snows!"

• Mary F. Willson is a retired professor of ecology and a Trail Mix board member.