Most students wouldn’t even dream of walking straight up the side of a volcanic mountain for  nine hours, but for two SHS students that became a reality.

At the beginning of summer, seniors Jeremiah Voelz and Michael Frei went on a trip to Sitka, Alaska for ten days to spend time hiking, fishing, and exploring.

According to Voelz and Frei, they have always wanted to visit Alaska and have talked about going for many years. Being a part of Boy Scouts gave them the opportunity to go.

“We’ve been trying to go since I was a little kid and I’m going into the Navy on July 3” Voelz said. “[…] my dad said, ‘who’s coming?’ We’re going.”

While the group was not busy hiking, Voelz and Frei spent time “harvesting.”

“In Alaska they don’t go fishing, they go harvesting, because they cast their rod out and just reel it in. […] there are so many fish it doesn’t take long,” Frei said.  

They were able to catch about fifteen fish in less than twenty minutes.

On one particular day they decided to hike to the top of the volcano, Mt. Edgecumbe. The pair spent a lot of time researching the places they wanted to go and making sure the volcano wasn’t active when they wanted to hike up it.

“We were going to do an overnighter but the cheapest option was three thousand dollars, so we hitched a ride on a fishing boat and had to do it in one day. [We] hiked about 14 miles that day. There was a really cool cabin at the top,” Voelz said.

Frei and Voelz were dropped off at the island by fishing boat at 5:30 a.m. and started walking straight up the mountain for a 14 miles round trip. “On the hiking trail they don’t believe in switchbacks, they are strong believers in stairs and walking straight up the mountain”, Frei said.

“It’s an awesome place, one of the most beautiful places I have ever been,” said Voelz.