Independence Mine Hike

 I had originally considered hiking early this morning around Reflections Lake with the Valley Wanderers, at 8:30 this morning, in the dark, to watch the first rays of light at 10:30 during sunrise, to celebrate winter solstice. However, the last 2 days I had hiked around Reflections Lake, I found it was mostly glare ice. With my worn-out micro spikes on Wednesday, I had to get off the trail and into the trees to keep from falling over on the ice. On Thursday, yesterday, I wore my new spikes and was able to carefully make my way around the lake. But it was still treacherous. I pondered the idea of trying to negotiate that icy trail in the dark, coupled with the forecast for subzero temperatures. I decided to opt out of that idea. By morning, when Palmer was 5 degrees below zero, the rest of the group had made the same decision. I normally hike with my friend, Pam on Fridays and she suggested a short walk up to Independence Mine with our dogs. We met at 10 am. It was now fairly light, but the sun had not actually risen when we arrived. It was below zero at my house and my car thermometer varied from -5 to 0 as I drove to the mine parking lot. It was actually 3 degrees above zero when I arrived. But there was a substantial wind blowing, which I knew would make it seem a whole lot colder. 

I had bundled Bella up in her warm coat and booties, plus wore my warmest Canada Goose down Jacket and my new micro spikes. Pam and I braved the chill as our 2 dogs raced far ahead of us the entire way, frequently returning to make sure we were still coming. Our whole walk was about 2 miles, but our dogs surely ran at least 4. I think they had more fun than I've ever seen them have, racing full speed up and down the closed road. Bella suddenly launched off one of her booties. They are bright red, so I found it quickly. But soon after she managed to discard the other 3. I picked them up and hoped she wouldn't get too cold. Both dogs seemed to do fine, but when we got back to our cars, I could see that Bella was pretty cold. As it turned out, our hike far surpassed the Valley Wanderer's original plan. As we progressed, we finally climbed into the rising sun right at the mine buildings. It was a gorgeous clear morning, and it was a spectacular Winter Solstice Sunrise. We stopped at Hatcher Pass Lodge to grab a bite to eat but found that it was closed today. That was a little disappointing, but our short little hike was wonderful.

Eklutna Lakeside Trail

 The wind in Palmer has been blowing between 50 and 90 miles per hour for a week. I wanted to hike up at Eklutna Lake with my friend Jennifer, but we didn't know what horrors we might find there. We both had driving horrors just getting there. She came from Anchorage and I came from Palmer. But we both survived the harrowing drive in. It was dead calm at the lake. Unfortunately it was also only 6 degrees, but we and our dogs hiked to the cabin a little past mile 3 and back. Her dog, Lola was wearing her winter coat and Bella had on her coat and booties. We were both so bundled up that we managed to stay fairly warm. The trail conditions were great with just some hard packed snow and very little ice. We did both wear our micro spikes though. We took a nice break at the cabin then turned around. She was a little late meeting up and it meant we ended up getting back after sunset. But it was still light enough to find our way back even without headlamps. The lake has a little ice now but still has lots of open water. It will likely be at least another month before it is safe to walk or ski on the lake. Jennifer had never been up there in the winter and really enjoyed the beauty of winter up there. It is really gorgeous when there is snow on the ground and the lake is still open showing amazing reflections. It was wonderful to get away from the wind for a couple of hours. I thought my car might blow off the road on the way home, but I managed to keep it under control I hope this wind stops soon.

Long Lake Loop Again

 We.ve had about 4 days of extreme winds with 3 1/2 days of no power. Trees are down everywhere from the 80-90 mph windstorm. Pam and I usually hike on Fridays, so we decided to repeat the hike we did last Friday. My back still hurts, but that trail is not terribly steep. We still walked the whole loop of about 5 miles. It was very icy today and my rather worn-out micro spikes were not doing a very good job negotiating the icy conditions. I decided to buy a new pair as soon as we got back. Pam had nice new ones and had no problem. The wind has mostly subsided, but it certainly left a path of destruction along this trail. There were trees down across the trail all over. Sometimes we had to crawl under them, other times we could climb over, and sometimes we had to find a totally new path around them. Our dogs were small enough that they could usually just go under them. It was only around 10-15 degrees and even with multiple layers, after a while, we were all getting a little chilly and glad to get back to the cars. More wind is forecast for the next few days, so it was nice to get in at least a short hike in between windstorms. Still hardly any snow, with not much hope for a white Christmas. That's annoying considering most of the lower 48 states are having tons of snow, along with other areas of Alaska. I guess we're just going to have a windy Christmas! Not what I've been dreaming of.

Long Lake Loop Trail

 Bella and I met Pam and her dog Dahla at the Matanuska Lakes Trailhead and took a nice 4.5-mile hike along our usual loop around Long Lake. I had a bad fall earlier this week when Bella yanked on her leash while I was walking on my icy boardwalk. I landed on my back hitting it really hard on the edge of the step right next to my spine. I've been pretty uncomfortable ever since. So, I didn't want to do a long, or hilly hike. I especially didn't want to do one where I might need to carry Bella. I didn't even want to carry my pack with snacks or water. We ended up walking farther than planned, but it was a lovely day, and it didn't seem to make my pain any worse. I let Bella run the whole way off leash. She wore her booties and her warm coat since it was in the mid-teens before we started. It was very cloudy but no wind. We managed to avoid the heavy fog down along the river. But the sun through the clouds was very beautiful.

Ptarmigan Valley

 Bella and I joined the Valley Wanderers today to hike 8 miles round trip to the Ptarmigan Valley Bridge over Little Peters Creek. It has finally warmed up to the low 20's, so Bella didn't need booties and her coat. She happily ran the whole way. The trail was covered with snow but well packed down, so easy walking with only grippers. No snowshoes needed. I had forgotten how long this trail was and wondered if we would ever get to that bridge. When we finally got there, I saw Bella on the other side of the bridge, visiting with Chris who had gone ahead. We had our lunch on the other side. I was comfortably seated on a fallen tree branch. Bella was busy begging for food from each of the hikers. Madeline's dog, Biscuit was busy begging for Bella's food from my little bag of treats. We took the well-packed Winter Trail on the way up, but the group decided to take the Summer Trail on the way back. It wasn't quite as well packed, and Bella got pretty wet, bounding through the deeper snow. But it had a nice view of the valley in the distance. We had to detour around several fallen trees on that section too. It may have been slightly longer but was still a nice route. I was hurrying because I needed to get down in time to make it to Tiffany's house for her family Thanksgiving dinner. I made it with plenty of time to spare. Bella was soaking wet but didn't seem to mind as she fell asleep in the car on the way home.

McRoberts Creek Trail Matanuska Peak Trail Loop

 It was a bone-chilling morning, of 9 degrees at home. Even to take Bella for her morning walk, I wore my heaviest down coat and dressed her in botties and a winter coat. I kept all of her warm stuff on her until we drove down to the Smith Road Trailhead. It was only 6 degrees when we arrived. I was really having second thoughts about joining the Valley Wanderers for this hike, but I figured I could always turn back if conditions were too abominable. I kept Bella on her leash most of the way up to the metal tripod at the junction of the 2 trails, because I didn't want her to lose one of her booties if she got into the deep snow. They stayed on amazingly well until soon after I took her off her leash, her left bootie fell off. She didn't seem to be particularly bothered by it though. We had to cross several small streams, and her booties got really wet. When we got to the junction of the Matanuska Peak Trail, it seemed to have warmed up. I tried replacing her bootie, but it was frozen solid, and I couldn't get it on. I noticed the others were also frozen solid. Since it was now warmer, I decided to remove the others. They were almost frozen to her feet, and it was hard to remove them. I hoped she would be able to walk without them, but almost immediately she started lifting up her feet one after the other showing that they were too cold on the snow. So, I put her in my backpack and carried her. Once we finally reached sunshine, I tried letting her walk again, but it was still too cold for her. I put her back in the pack for the rest of the trip down. I must have dropped her leash on the trail when I put her in the pack the second time, because it was missing when we reached the bottom. She rode happily back there as we descended on the winding trail. My back wasn't quite as happy as she was, but it wasn't too bad. She was bundled into a thick fleece bag inside the backpack, so I'm sure was quite warm. Today was gorgeous with bright blue skies and distant fog down in the valley. I was so happy to be back hiking with the Valley Wanderers again. I have really missed our hikes. But at least our month off has enabled Bella to heal. She did great except for the extreme cold. Back at the car, it had only warmed up to 12 degrees Fahrenheit. At least I stayed warm with all of my many layers. We hiked a little over 5 miles and close to 2000 feet of elevation gain. 

Lazy Mountain Climb

 It has warmed up to a respectable hiking temperature, so Pam and I took our 2 dogs and decided to climb Lazy Mountain. We had heard trail conditions were pretty good, so we decided to go for the 4.5-mile trip up through the snow. I worried that my feet would be cold again, but they felt toasty warm the whole way. Bella was happy to have her buddy Dahla along again. The 2 dogs had a grand time running back and forth up and down the trail. I felt a little out of shape from a month of no big hikes. Pam also wanted to take it fairly slow. So, we just sauntered up, not trying to break any speed records. It was overcast, so not quite the amazing view we often get on this trail. But at least it was in the 20's and calm, making for great hiking conditions. We definitely needed our micro spikes on our shoes though. The trail was well packed snow from the many runners who like to train on the mountain. Above the first picnic table, the snow was a little deeper, but not so bad that snowshoes were needed. We met a few runners and a couple of dogs but mostly had the trail to ourselves. Meg, one of the most amazing athletes I know, ran past us on our way up and quickly disappeared, passing us again on her way down from the top. But we made our way comfortably to the top. Pam had a little fall on the summit ridge, hurting her arm slightly. So, she stayed there while Bella and I climbed the final rocks to the summit. I like to take my usual 360-degree video from the top. It's always a little sketchy climbing up that last rocky precipice, but I found the packed snow actually made it feel less treacherous. I remind myself not to trip as I climb up and down that last part. The overcast and clouds made the view a little mysterious, but in spite of the gray skies, it was still a beautiful view. We did have a few snowflakes on the top, but the storm waited until we were safely down before it really started to snow seriously. Bella did great and I feel that she is back to her old self. I think she was really happy to get out on a real hike again. I know Pam and I really enjoyed it too.

Bella on the summit