Mussel Beach

Two days out of Juneau we paddled by a forestry cabin around noon and it just begged us to stay. It's shoreline approach was the most difficult carry to a safe tide zone as we encountered the entire trip, but there was a chimney and that meant there was heat.... ahhh maybe some warmth and the ability to dry some of our gear. Yup, too good to pass up.


We knew the cabin was rented for the evening, but maybe the rain and colder weather would keep them away. We guessed we could use the cabin for our comfort till maybe 7PM and Lauri placed bets of when the renters would show up. I never got comfortable, for whatever reason, and I kept teasing Lauri that there would be a bunch of teens using the cabin to party. We set the tent up so we could vacate the cozy cabin on a moments notice.


About 8:30PM a three person family with two dogs show up and phew, we are feeing pretty good about our "stay and dry out" decision. Lauri breathed a sigh of relief and we thought my apprehension was for not. HA!... not so fast. Later 4 more adults, three more children and two more dogs make the cabin their home for a night. 10 people and 4 dogs in this tiny cabin can't be comfortable and it became VERY uncomfortable for us. They partied loudly till 5:00AM keeping us wide awake in our tent just 25 feet from the parties epicenter. Sigh...


Sleepless and a windy, marginal forecast kept us on land the next day while we prayed the next nights cabin renters would be more reasonable.


Not to worry, they were terrific. Two couples that had been friends from college in South Dakota and all grew up in Minnesota... very nice Mid-westerners. After a brief conversation we were invited back after dinner to warm up in the cabin.


The dry, warm cabin was made even more comfortable with easy conversation about living in Juneau for one couple and visiting Alaska from the other couples perspective. We could all agree that this Summer was a little too moist with Juneau's rainfall exceed 150% of average and was on its way to being the second wettest summer in Juneau's history. Hmmmm.


It wasn't long before we started a board game called Settlement of Catan in couples teams and with beginners luck Lauri and I left victorious for the evening. We apologized in advance for any early morning noise we'd make getting our gear to the water and bid our new friends good night.