Gold Cord Lake

It was raining all morning and had turned into a very boring day. I left in the car just to see if I could find a place with better weather, or at least not raining. I saw a tiny spot of blue sky over the Talkeetna Mountains so drove up to Hatcher Pass. There was quite a bit of sunshine in spots up there. No rain either. I did drive all the way up to the pass and Bella and I took a short walk on the little trail by the monument. I never even noticed that trail before. It wasn't very long and didn't really go anywhere. I considered hiking April Bowl Trail, but it was pretty cloudy and foggy, and I didn't feel quite that ambitious. So, I drove back down to Independence Mine and decided to hike up to Gold Cord Lake. It's rather short, only 2 miles round trip, but a lovely spot. The mountains were all obscured by clouds and fog, but the clouds were moving in and out, making for an interesting mysterious scene. I was surprised that it wasn't nearly as muddy as I expected. I didn't even need to create my own path around the big rock to keep from getting into mud up to my ankles. When we reached the lake, I just sat on my favorite rock and watched the clouds and fog roll around. There were several little birds taking turns sitting on the rocks out in the water. Bella enjoyed barking at them, thus causing them to fly away. It was just a peaceful and pleasant little steep hike to the beautiful little mountain lake. It's always nice to get away from just hanging out at home, even if it wasn't a huge ambitious hike.