We intended to hike to Ship Lake Pass today with the Valley Wanderers. There was some confusion about which trail to take off the Hidden Lake Trail to get to the pass. I guess we ended up still on the Hidden Lake Trail and missed a turn somewhere. I was not familiar with either of these trails so I was just along for the ride! Rain was forecast for later, along with high winds. The high winds were very much already there and it looked like rain could come at any moment. But we pressed on and climbed off trail to the top of a hill to see if we could see a different trail down below. There seemed to be many small trails so simply heading towards the pass would likely have eventually gotten us there. We hunkered down among some hemlocks for a snack out of the wind. A couple of other hikers passed us on their way down and said they had tried to reach Hidden Lake but the wind was so severe they were forced to turn back. Bella was loose and ran after their big black dog, who didn't appreciate her barking and acted like he was going to attack her. I screamed at her and she quickly came back to me. Scared me for a minute there. Generally she is very friendly to other dogs as long as she is not on her leash, so I had not been too concerned. I guess now I will be concerned. I was a bit more cautious on our way back to the trailhead. Although she was fine even on her leash on the way back. We decided it wasn't really worth the trouble to hike a couple more hours to Ship Lake Pass with the ever thickening clouds and horrendous winds, so we turned back. It was a gorgeous hike and still 9 miles. I want to come back again and further explore this area. It's a trail that starts from the Anchorage hillside so farther from home that my usual favorite places. But was well worth the extra drive.
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