Column: Why I love September

Watching the bears play on Sunday made me realize that September is one of my favorite months.

It’s not that I want summer to end or that I hate tourists (the local economy would be crippled without them) but it is nice to get our city back, so to speak. The pace of life slows. There isn’t that frenetic scramble of June, July and August. The chaos is getting that last trip to the alpine for deer, putting up salmon, berries, firewood – the chaos of the subsistence lifestyle. It’s about prepping for winter once the tourism industry has been mined.

Anyway, I hiked up a mountain at dawn with a buddy and we spent all day above the trees.

I’m not really a patient dude, but I sat watching bears emerge to fatten themselves with blue berries in the same bowl for over 10 hours. (Yeah, those bears.) The weather was perfect, a slight breeze to keep off the bugs, sunny and warm enough you don’t need cold weather gear, but cool enough you’re not sticky with sweat.

See full column at:https://www.juneauempire.com/news/why-i-love-september/