Mermaids and Witches Along The Pirate Shore

Most folks that know me know I have been working to develop places to climb around Juneau. see LINK.  This post is about some great work, though not done by me.  

Greek legend speaks of Ulysses and his sailors approaching a rocky shore with sirens (mermaids) singing. The bAeauty of the sirens and the beauty of their voices called the sailors into the rocks and to their deaths. The sailors knew they would die and yet they could not resist and this is why the story resonates now, two thousand years later and will still resonate two thousand years from now. It goes without saying that Homer had his shit together. He captured the human desire to risk it all for beauty, love, or rocks so well.  

Pete Boyd kayaking along the Pirate Shore at low tide. MerWitch Cliff in background.

There is a rocky nameless stretch of shore north of Juneau that I call the Pirate Shore. I call it that because it’s a mouthful to say “the rocky shore between the Peterson Creek salt-chuck and Boy Scout Beach,”  and because this summer it was extensively surveyed for climbing by the pirate Ammon Mcneely.  Ammon took time off from climbing big walls to work as a guide in Juneau this summer. In his spare time he spent many, many hours exploring, cleaning, and mapping out cliffs along the shore. 

Brett climbing a V1 on Stowaway Boulder.

Ammon Mcneely, Stowaway Boulder

Ammon hiked down to the beach from where he lives for the view and because phone service is better there. Because Ammon is a climber he looked for rocks to climb. That's what climbers do. Pretty soon he was cleaning the Stowaway Boulder. It's a little boulder with a nice V1 and a V3-4 so far. There is more to do on the Stowaway. Ammon calls it his sanctuary as it's in a little niche off the beach. Early in the summer he found the Merwitch Cliff and cleaned a couple routes there as well. This time frame more or less coincides with when he contacted me at the Juneau Alpine Club about wanting to climb with us while he is here for the summer. 

Kevin Walsh rappelling MerWitch Cliff. Seen from the south. 

Since Ammon told me about this place, people have been going out there both solo and with Ammon and checking stuff out.  You can get to MerWitch and to Stowaway Boulder without a kayak but the rest of the Pirate Shore is a major bushwhack to access on foot as yet.  You could indeed stash treasure along the shore.  

MerWitch Cliff as seen from the north. 

It’s going to be fun to develop these cliffs. So far I have only seen and photographed the MerWitch Cliff, Stowaway Boulder, and the Siren's Wall but there are other walls tucked away along the shore and up the hill. Treasure. The rock is solid, they are close enough to town to get out there in the evening, and the view is knockout. Ammon named the furthest south cliff south the MerWitch Cliff because moss hangs like witch’s hair from the trees above and the sea below beckons mermaids. 




Most of Southeast Alaska feels like that; like elements of the natural world could become animated and speak. If I believed in ghosts, angels, or demons, I think they would like it here. 

I want to fall in ocean, Ensconced in the sound,
Abandon all hope, 
Surrender and drown.
All that I want are sirens...
I want to hear them sing 

Map. You get to Stowaway by turning left after the bridge at EVC. Merwitch is right. Follow the trail to the kayak beach and continue past. The trail fades and eventually disappears. Then rock hop around the shore to until you see MerWitch.

The Siren's Wall is further north and up in the woods from the beach. With some trailblazing it could be easily accessed from Boy Scout Beach. There are many cliffs tucked all over the place out there and some trail work might be in order. The Siren's Wall is quite extensive and about 100 feet tall. Right now it's a short but gnarly bushwhack up to this thing. it's sort of a semivertical slimefield actually. Yet, the climbing could be really good and the path improved with a few hand lines up there. It's a short distance up, the rock is solid, and Ammon has already done some work. 

Part of why I am writing this is so people can help him get some of this stuff done.

Ammon, Siren's Wall behind. It wraps around to the right with a lot of routes.

Looking west from MerWitch Cliff. A storm is coming.

The bigger picture is the fact that Ammon found these cliffs indicates that we can find a lot more places to climb and that the rocks of Juneau are not all choss and slate. Kevin Walsh, a geologist and climber, told me that Juneau’s rock strata were formed by several episodes of geological uplift from islands colliding with the main tectonic plate that left a mishmash of rock types that is both understudied and highly complex. Rock types differ within a very small area and from a climbers' perspective that means high quality rock exists in pockets that can be adjacent to choss and vice versa.  One must look to find and it seems the best options to look more closely are north of town.  

Ammon clearing brush near Siren's Wall.

An as yet un-visited cliff about 500 feet up a hill north of MerWitch and east of Siren's Wall (Below). I used a zoom lens as it is about a half mile from MerWitch. 

Note the eagle in the foreground has zero interest in rock climbing, witches, or mermaids. It's probably better off. Falling in love with sirens can get you in trouble. So can climbing..