Lazy Mountain Climb

 We had  a pop up hike with the Valley Wanderers today. No official leader, just whoever shows up goes on the hike. We met at the end of Smith Road and hiked the Matanuska Peak Trail up Lazy Mountain. We had Michelle, Hilma, Erin, Lisa , Jo and Me and Bella plus Sasha, Michelle's gigantic beautiful dog to start. Virginia caught up with us at the wooden tripod. At Stonehenge, folks were mostly undecided, but I really wanted to climb to the top, and Erin decided to go with me. Virginia had to go back, but the others ended up following us to the top of Lazy. It had poured rain at my house last night and it was still very cloudy when we started. I hoped it wouldn't rain, and we got lucky, no rain. However, most of the view was obscured by low clouds. Matanuska Peak was totally obscured in clouds and never did pop out of the overcast. There were wildflowers everywhere and we did have a nice view of the valley below. Bella led us to the top as usual. I was really sad to see that the flag was missing on the summit. The pole is still there but the flag is missing. I hope it was taken down for a good reason. I thought that one had been replaced fairly recently too. Bella and I climbed up to the highest rocks, where Bella found a sweet golden dog named Mabel. They sniffed and happily, didn't get into an argument there on the steep rocks. I didn't bother with my usual 360 degree video from the summit because there was nothing much to see because of the low clouds. It was very windy as we started down and I was glad I had put on my windbreaker before reaching the top. Erin, Michelle and I and our dogs, were moving really fast and we headed right down to Stonehenge where we waited for the others. We all took a nice break and had some snacks, then down the same trail we had climbed. Erin, Michelle, and I took the Matanuska Peak Trail down instead of the shortcut to McRoberts Creek Trail. It's a little longer but not quite as steep. We got down before the others. I waited for a while, but the car was really hot so I went on home to feed Bella. She was looking pretty warm now that the sun had come out and heated up the car. Erin is a really fast hiker and somehow I managed to keep up with her. I suppose the others were taking a more leisurely pace. 

Once home, I pulled out my wood splitter and split the logs from the trees we cut down yesterday. Then I took advantage of the sunshine and mowed the lawn. I'm tired after the 6 mile hike and catching up on those chores. Bella is sound asleep. I would like to make a point of hiking up Lazy Mountain once a week this summer to help me stay in shape. It's a really good workout, regardless of the route taken.

Summit View

Note the flag pole but no flag